Featured Report: 40 Hot Tips for Improving Your Marketing

Inside this free report are 40 hot ideas for increasing the effectiveness of your marketing. These ideas have been drawn from a multitude of sources over time. They are the results of campaigns conducted by various leading advertising agencies and marketing companies.

How were the comparative results obtained in some of these examples? 

By using split run tests. Only ONE element (e.g. offer, headline, photo) is changed in the campaign in any one test. By isolating a feature like this, marketers can accurately track which version worked better and by how much.

A note of caution...

These results should be taken as indicators only of what might occur if re-done right now, today. Human nature doesn’t change, but lots of other variables do. And the test results apply to a multitude of different campaigns and products. So, take the results more as guidelines as to how you might trial changes to your own marketing, to lift response. That said, I'm sure you will find great value in reading about these 40 elements that have been tested, and how they have increased response rate time and time again.

Use the contact form below to request this free special report.  Ensure that you enter into the contact form the name of the special report so we know which one to send you.

How OUTRAGEOUS are you prepared to be in your guarantees?

When a client phoned me, he was obviously frustrated. "We’ve got the world’s best auto security locking system, but our ads barely pay for themselves” was his opening remark.

 

I just happened to have a copy of the magazine he’d advertised in, so I grabbed it. His ad had a good position, right hand page, early in the magazine.

The headline on his ad was ‘STOP THIEF’ (set under a big red stop sign). The copy then opened up with “No longer is your car at risk with the such and such security system”, followed by a list of bullet point features (incidentally I changed the name of the product for reasons you'll see below) …

Fairly standard stuff … features like: Easy to operate, self-locking, etc. But then, ‘hidden’ in the third bullet point was the statement: ‘Ignition suppression which completely and totally makes it impossible to start the car when then system is activated.’

My first reaction was that the client had lost a powerful opportunity to sell his system. He’d fallen into the trap of trotting out a bunch of fairly standard features, while what I saw as his BIG benefit was hidden away in the third bullet point.

Interestingly, while he was on the phone, I started flicking through the other ads in the magazine. Lo and behold … there was another ad a few pages further on … and its headline was ‘STOP THEIF’, and it too had a bunch of bullet points. This second ad was for the much cheaper security device, a steering wheel lock. No comparison to Mike’s high tech solution, but because they both had similar bullet points, appearing to be a competitor.

I challenged him: “Mike, you claim it’s impossible to start the car?”

“ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!” was his emphatic response.

“OK, here’s the deal”, I responded with my entrepreneurial adrenalin starting to surge through my veins. “I’ll write you an ad FOR NOTHING, and let’s see how it works. You run it and if it beats your old ad, and you continue to run it, then we can talk about a fee.”

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes to write the new ad. There was a man in a suit standing in front of a very expensive sports car … and the headline read:

I was convinced it would absolutely blitz the marketplace. Perhaps get him loads of PR too, as the media picked up on this outrageous guarantee. I was really excited with this ad, and eagerly sent it to Mike.

Now, for the real test. The only place that counts. The market.

So, how did my ad work against his original bland ad? Well, I’d love to tell you my ad with the totally outrageous guarantee statement did create an avalanche of orders. I’d love to tell you that … but I can’t. 

You see, for unspecified reasons … Mike never ran my ad. I’m still trying to figure out why. (I think I really do know!)

Still, this should serve as a challenge to YOU. Are your communications bland? Are your ads making the same ordinary statements that your competitors are making, that keep your great product or service in mediocrity?

Think outside that box! What are your compelling guarantees? What COULD they be that’d set people’s imaginations on fire? What sets your product or service apart that will bring prospects to you in big numbers? What is it about your product or service that takes the focus right off price, and has people knocking at your door, saying “I WANT THAT!”?

Why you should consistently seek PR...

You may be amazed at how receptive the media is to your story. If you have been performing ‘awesome’ feats for clients, and your clients love you for it, TELL your story to the business magazines and the daily press. Of course, they won't be interested in something that is a straight plug for you. But if it is tied to a theme ... like small business making a success ... winning against the odds ... helping others to succeed ... adding value to others in creative ways ... then that IS news.

When you DO succeed in getting a write-up, you'll get a boost to your profile and to your credibility. ‘If it’s editorial, it must be true!’ But the potential doesn't stop there. With the publisher’s permission and acknowledgement, reproduce the article and use it in every way you can... mail it to your clients, to your prospects, or add it to your testimonial sheet. In short, one simple article can work for you for YEARS.

If you'd like more strategies to bring your business success in these unstable times go to: www.resultscorporation.com.au ... for a free report.

How to mix a 20 TIMES multiplier ingredient into your ads

It’d be fair to say many businesses don’t advertise (especially in tough economic times) because they believe it ‘doesn’t work’. But here’s the rub. In one of our surveys of businesses, almost NO ONE had done any testing of the elements that make an ad WORK. Most especially, they hadn’t tested their headlines or offers.

It’s disconcerting, not only when you consider that running ads is expensive, but because there’s a massive ‘opportunity cost’ of having ads under perform. Especially when testing these elements can MULTIPLY response by 2, 5 or 20 times.

So what’s a ‘great’ headline?

Great headlines are those that GRAB attention, FLAG down a prospect, and COMPEL them to read on. In stark contrast, most ads just say, ‘Here we are, here’s our contact details’. Boring and useless!

DON’T advertise unless you are committed to creating an ad that performs like an ‘engine room for enquiries’. That’s why we spend a LOT of time in Marketing Help Online teaching how to write great headlines.

A quick idea on how to write a good headline

Try studying the ‘mail order’ ads that appear over and over again in the media. (The Sunday supplements are full of them.) If these ads appear often, and they’re genuine ‘direct response ads’, you can be sure they will have been tested to get the most effective headlines, offers and wording.

You’ll quickly see how these advertisers are harnessing the power of a headline, tapping into human nature, and hitting the right ‘nerve’. You’ll get ideas on how your own headline can be improved. And even if your effort doubles your response, or gets 20% more, how bad could that be?

Hit upon the RIGHT headline and your profits go through the roof.

If you'd like more strategies to help you battle the recession, go to www.resultscorporation.com.au