Introduction
Warren Buffet is considered to be the
most successful stock investor in history. And the numbers speak for
themselves; he is the third richest man in the world and as of
today, stock in his company Berkshire-Hathaway sells for $2,793 a
share! Buffet's investments have made money when the market is
up and even more money when the market is down.
Warren Buffet's insight is so valuable that every year, thousands of
Berkshire-Hathaway stockholders make their pilgrimage to the
company’s stockholder meeting to listen to the amazingly simple and
stunningly profitable investment tips from their precocious leader.
If Tiger Woods is the king of golfers then Warren Buffet is king of
investors.
What is his secret? Simple – it’s a recipe that combines stern
discipline, ruthless accountability, and careful information
gathering. Warren Buffet is famous for never investing in a company
he couldn’t understand. Remarkably his strategy is used by savvy
business owners to market and grow their businesses as well.
Think about it.
What if you considered yourself to be a Marketing Investor? What
if you coldly looked at your advertising as if it were a share of
stock that had just two weeks to pay for itself? What if you
partnered with marketing “advisors” who grew your sales potential
much like an attorney watches your legal liability and an accountant
protects your financial position?
Here is what would happen -
You Would Absolutely Dominate Your
Marketplace and Demote Your Competition To A Dismal Future Of
Desperately Holding On To Second Place. |
Why? Because your business will have discovered a marketing
system that would pound your message into the minds of
your prospects, so when your prospect is ready to buy, you would
have absolute confidence that they will remember your product
and buy it regardless of price!.
This brief report will give you valuable insight into seven
powerful marketing investment secrets used by an elite club of
marketers. Marketing Investors hold these gems close to their vest
because they cannot afford to let their competition know these
lethal tips that guarantee a market monopoly. (Pop Quiz: Guess Who
is Warren Buffet’s best friend? – Bill Gates)
We invite you to review these secrets. Many rapidly-growing
small businesses have built their businesses around these
highly-effective marketing principles.
These secret strategies can be put to use immediately; however we
want to remind you of one sobering fact, the business that reads
this report and takes action will be the winner. Simply
reading this material and tossing it in a folder will only place
your business on death-row – just waiting for your competition to
become the next Fortune 500 business legend.
So Read and then Act.
Let’s Get Started.
Secret #1: Picking the Right Road
“If you don’t know where you are going – any road will get you
there”
The same goes for marketing and advertising – if you don’t have a
marketing plan you can be only sure of one thing – that you will
never be truly successful. Yes, you may get a few sporadic sales but
you will never achieve what we call “knee-wiggling” success.
Knee Wiggling Success
is: |
- Watching your sales grow consistently every month
|
- Spending less money on your marketing while seeing more
customers walk through the door
|
- Being able to raise your price and get more business
rather than less
|
- Learning that your customers are selling your product and
paying you for the
privilege.
|
Knee wiggling success is not a fairy-tale. Even while you are
reading this report, our clients are seeing extraordinary results
in their own businesses. The key to getting started is to take the
first step of every Marketing Investor – Know where your headed.
Don’t just make a mental note, actually take out a piece of paper
and write down the objective of your marketing plan.
Here are a few great examples of a clear and measurable marketing
objectives:
Effective Marketing
Objectives |
- Increase Saturday sales by 50%
|
- Turn 25% of first-time customers into repeat customers
|
- Fill my contact database with 25,000 hot prospects
|
The reason why the Marketing Investor writes down their objective
is because they are betting on one stunning fact:
98% of their competition will not even bother
to take the time to write down their marketing objectives.
This is why the marketing investor wins every time – because they
know where they are going – and with their goal in hand – the set
out to find the tools to get them there.
Take a moment to fill in the blanks
"Our advertising plan must __(achieve what?)___ within ___(time
period)____.
Ready? Ok, let's move on -
Secret 2: Marketing Like A Tossed Salad
I love a fresh garden salad with Ranch dressing. When you look at a
great salad, you can’t help but dive into the plump red tomatoes,
the crisp ice cold lettuce, the salty olives, and the crunchy
breaded croutons.
Strange thing though – I never fantasize about devouring a full bowl
of olives or a cup of croutons are a plate of lettuce. However, if
you combine these ingredients together – ring the dinner bell,
you’ve made something different all together – you’ve made a
tossed salad.
Like a tossed salad, the best marketing plan includes a mix of
effective advertising tools. They might include a generous helping
of newspaper, some radio advertising and a dash of direct mail or
they are a spicy mixture of provocative press releases, hard-hitting
brochures, and neck-snapping business cards.
A "business killer" for any small business advertiser is to gamble
your entire marketing plan on one advertising tactic – especially if
you are just starting your advertising program.
What you want is a diversified marketing plan. A diversified
marketing plan does the following:
A Diversified
Marketing Plan . . . |
- Reaches all of your prospective customers not just
newspaper readers or radio listeners but all of your
customers.
|
- Uses each advertising vehicle to strengthen the other so
that the customer receives a consistent message
|
- Uses the unique strength of each medium to accomplish the
overall marketing objective
|
A diversified marketing plan protects your marketing investment.
It also helps you highlight which advertising is working and which
should be eliminated.
While the details of selecting the right mix of advertising can't
be covered in this report - we encourage your to answer these
questions:
1. Who is my target customer?
2. How do they gather information they need to make a purchase?
3. Can you reach them through their favorite
information/research source (i.e.. Internet, Newspaper, Magazine, or
Radio station).?
4. Will your ad stand out and catch their attention?
If you are having problems answering these questions or just need
someone to walk you through this process - Email us at
secrets@terrasimedia.com,
our Marketing Advisors would love to assist you.
Once you have written down the answers to these questions - read
on to the third secret - Be An Ad Mechanic.
Secret #3: How to Be An Ad Mechanic
Put on some old jeans, t-shirt and your favorite ball cap – it's
time to climb under the hood of a successful ad.
Every great ad has four easily recognizable parts:
Anatomy of a Great Ad |
1. Capture Eyeballs with “The Hook” : |
A hypnotic headline that literally drags a person’s eyes
across the page and down the ad. A headline that hooks will
peak curiosity and beg to be read. A jaw-dropping headline
that hooks gets the heart pumping and the brain thumping.
Every great ad has “the hook”
|
2. Convince With Evidence |
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury . . .” You know what
comes next – a compelling outline of the evidence. In an ad,
the very first sentence after the headline begins laying out
the evidence supporting the headlines claim. The evidence
gives the customer a rational reason for purchasing your
product or service.
|
3. Comfort with a Safety Net: |
Your customers absolutely hate taking a risk. No
matter how well you support your product or service they want
a guarantee that they are not being swindled. Every great ad
has an iron-clad, no hassle guarantee that reduces the
customer’s risk to zero.
|
4. Compel them to take action |
The best salespeople know that their prospects want to be
nudged over the finish line. And a great ad does just that –
they make it easy for the customer to buy, call or visit a
showroom to buy the product.
|
The debate over what makes a great ad can be settled in one word
– profit. If your ads have these four elements and are easy
to understand and benefit-oriented you are sure to see sales from
your ad.
Warning:
Why You
Shouldn’t Advertise Like A Fortune 500 Company |
Ever heard of
institutional advertising? Institutional advertising is what
you see on TV during the Superbowl or an episode of Friends.
Institutional ads are created by large Fortune 500 companies who
are seeking to create “brand awareness”.
Brand awareness is a fancy way of saying, ‘They remember our
company name’. Brand awareness is a good thing to have if you
can afford to wait for years to see it. Big companies think in
terms of years not weeks, and they don’t mind not seeing an
immediate return from their ads. This isn’t the case for small
and medium sized business owners.
You need to see an immediate return – that means that if you run
the ad on Sunday – you see paying customers walk through the
door on Monday. |
The Capture, Convince, Comfort, Compel
formulae is specifically designed to get a rapid-response to your
advertising. The Marketing Investor understands this potent
advertising secret and they use it to see an immediate return on
their advertising investment.
Secret #4: It’s Alive!
I saw the offer in my Sunday newspaper and I couldn’t resist
checking out the web site to get more information. The website did
its job – I signed up for the free email newsletter and that’s when
I was enrolled in the most persistent Marketing system known to man.
Here’s how it went:
Week 1: |
Received an email thanking me for ordering the newsletter and
promising to stay in touch |
Week 2: |
Received another email informing me that the company wanted to
offer me a special deal in the next couple of days and to
remember to open the email when it arrives |
Week 3: |
Received special offer – but I decided to not to order |
Week 4: |
Received another email letting me know that they hadn’t
forgotten about me and a call that day could still get me the
special offer. |
Week 5: |
Received email informing me of a discount exclusively for the
first 1,000 orders – I took the bait – hook, line, and sinker |
Week 6: |
Received Thank You email with a list of other services I might
want to consider to complement the product I had just bought. |
This system was methodical, smart, and effective. Look at your
own marketing – is it what I call “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em”
marketing?
“Love ‘em and Leave ‘em” meaning you make your offer once and
then throw their name in the trash if they don’t respond? If so, you
are missing a goldmine in sales.
Let me tell you a story . . .
When I first met my wife-to-be, I let her know, somewhat
prematurely, that I wanted to lifelong relationship with her. Like I
should have expected, she told me to cool down and try “being
friends” first.
Now most guys would have taken this as a “no-go” and moved on.
Not me (I can be a little dense at times), I believed that the best
way to increase my chances of finally “going steady” was to stay in
contact. So, I cooled my heels but stayed in constant contact and
after three months, I finally proved my sincerity and the rest is
well “history”
Your prospects and my wife act the same way; most of them won’t
simply fall into your arms the first time you make your offer. Most
likely you will need to stay in constant contact with them until
they are ready to buy.
In marketing, the most persistent business wins. A Marketing
Investor views each customer as long-term investment. If the
prospect is indeed a prospect (with the willingness and ability to
buy) staying in consistent contact will turn them into a customer.
However most businesses lack the Marketing System that will
filter their suspects, nurture their prospects, and reward their
clients. Here are five quick steps to take to create your Marketing
System.
5 Steps to Creating
Your Marketing System |
Step #1: Identify Your
Prospects |
Take all the time necessary to get this step right. Ask yourself
this question, “What does my ideal customer look like, act like,
and want”. Take out a piece of paper and draw a stick figure and
label what brand of shoes, shirt, and pants they wear. Imagine
what they do to relax. What books they read, what songs they hum
to themselves while daydreaming – get the point? |
|
Step #2: Find Out How Your
Prospects Get Information |
After identifying your prospects, the next step is to see where
they like to hang-out, what they like to read, who do they
depend on for information. Look at the stick figure you drew in
the first step and ask yourself the question “What does this
person have in their carry-on to read on the plane?”. Is it a
newspaper or magazine (which magazine). Do they love to unwind
with the local “Easy-Listening” radio station or surf the web?.
Find out where your prospects are most susceptible to listening
to your pitch then go to Step 3 |
Step #3: Ask Them to Dance |
Even you haven’t heard the latest marketing buzzword – know is
the time. It is called “Permission Marketing” and it’s the
latest holy grail among marketing egg-heads. Permission
Marketing is simply asking your prospect for permission to stay
in contact with them. Once you have received this permission,
you can open the flood gates of persuasive, compelling, and
action-oriented communication.
It is very important that you get this permission because
without it, you are just a spammer. A what? Not the nauseous
gelatin meat that you find pressure-packed into a cute tin. No,
I mean the marketers who send email and snail mail to those who
didn’t ask for it. This type of marketing never works. Don’t try
it – get permission. |
Step #4: Make it
easy to buy or give permission |
It never ceases to amaze me to read a brilliant advertisement
that ends with a toll-free number in micro-type at the bottom of
the ad. If you have gone through the trouble of writing a great
ad – make sure that you make your toll-free number, web address,
office location as BIG as possible.
Don’t make your “ready to buy” customer search for your
contact information.
This goes for getting the prospect’s permission to contact
them in the future. Make your contact form easy to understand
and complete fill-in within one minute. Resist the urge to get
every shred of information that you possibly can. Remember your
prospects are time-starved and everyone hates filling in forms.
At the most, ask for a name, address, and email address.
Finally, if your form needs to be mailed back to you – spend the
extra quarter to make it postage-free. |
Step #5: Get The Referral |
This step is the most widely known and the least used. Always
ask for the referral; even if your prospect does not buy from
you – ask for the referral.
You will be shocked by how many will not purchase your
product or service but will refer to you two or three other
friends that will! The bonus to asking for the referral is that
most likely you will make the sale without needing to spend as
much time or money as you did with the initial person who made
the referral.
If the person does buy your offering – then definitely ask
for a referral. Referrals from satisfied customers is the most
powerful marketing tool known to man (and the oldest). A couple
of years ago, at the height of the Internet craze, the term Buzz
hit the advertising lecture circuit like a Oklahoma twister.
Everyone wanted to know the secret of harnessing the power of
Buzz.
Here’s a quick lesson on Buzz and it goes like this:
Lot’s of Referrals = Lot’s of Word of Mouth = Lot’s of Buzz
The companies that enjoyed the benefits of Buzz just did what
savvy Marketing Investors have been doing for centuries, getting
others to refer their product. |
Secret #5: A Baby only A Mother Could Love
Before I began helping small business owners with their marketing
and advertising, I worked for one of those big, fancy Madison Avenue
Advertising agencies.
If you were to visit my old agency, you would immediately
recognize the reverence that surrounded the “Agency’s Work”.
Magazine ads in gilded frames adorned the walls, sleek television
sets played the latest television commercial in a ritualistic loop
begging to be noticed.
If you traveled to the top floor, you would enter the inner
sanctum of the agency’s power – the Creative Department – remove
your shoes Moses, you’re on Holy Ground.
Don’t misunderstand me - I love to watch clever commercials. As a
matter of fact, I have a Superbowl party every year to watch the
commercials – not the football game. But guess what, clever
commercials don’t sell.
That’s right I said it! Cute commercials with dancing monkeys
or cannons shooting hamsters only entertain – but they don’t sell.
Much to the horror of the big agencies, it is the ugly, text-filled,
white-space choked, ugly duckling ad that pulls customers through
the door like free lemonade in Texas. The reason for this seemingly
contradictory phenomenon is deceptively simple – ads that sell -
sell and ads that entertain – do just that - entertain.
Remember the “Mean Joe Green” ad that Coca-cola aired in the
early 80’s. Just thinking about that little kid offering the
battered and beaten football giant a Coke still chokes me up.
But, the folks at Coca-cola pulled the ad after a couple of
months. Why you ask - because it didn’t sell. Sure people were
reminded that little kids are cute, innocent and surprisingly
generous but this didn’t make people switch from Pepsi to Coke!
Coca-cola realized that the best ads simply said – Drink Coke
because it tastes better. You know what – that’s the type of ad that
the Marketing Investor absolutely loves because it earns money every
time.
If you have an advertising agency helping you with your marketing
be on guard for what I call “The Beauty Myth’s” They go something
like this
Ad Beauty Myths |
1. “A Good Ads Makes Good Use of White-space” |
Newspaper ads are too expensive to waste space. Make your case –
sell your products benefits and take as much space as you need.
If you can’t fit it a newspaper ad, write your prospect a
letter. White-space doesn’t sell – words do. |
|
2. “People Hate To Be Sold – You Must Hide Your Sales Pitch” |
Wrong, people get annoyed with businesses who confuse or mislead
them. Customers actually will appreciate your business clearly
telling them what your selling, how it will help them, and how
they can learn more, and where they can buy it. Don’t be afraid
to sell and you will find out that your customers don’t mind
buying. |
|
3. Pictures Sell |
This point actually is close to the truth. Nothing attracts
attention like a photograph. However, don’t use your photograph
as the headline – because a picture means something different to
each person. A picture without a headline is likely to get
confused and ignored. Always accompany your photograph with a
hard-hitting headline that will drag your prospects eyes down
the page. |
|
4. “People Scan Ads They Hate to Read Them” |
Wrong! If your ad rep or advertising agency tells you this –
tell them your not interested in their services and show them
out the door. This person is guaranteed to take and lose your
money quicker than a Vegas slot machine.
The common adage among savvy Marketing Investors is “The More
You Tell, The More You Sell”. Research has shown that the more
text you use to explain the benefits of your product the more
you sell – not less! Your prospect wants to hear what you have
to say about your product and your information makes it easier
for your prospect’s to say yes. Don’t fall for this Marketing
Beauty Myth. |
Secret 6: Test, Test, Test!
Recently a daily newspaper began selling advertising packages to
local businesses that looked like a great value but was actually the
most ludicrous idea that I had seen in a long time.
The deal went like this – If you bought a package of 2,3, or 5
ads they would deeply discount the last ad that you ran in the
package. Sounds good right – who would pass up a discount deal?
Here’s the catch, you had to pick one ad to run and you were not
allowed to change it. This means that if your first ad bombed, you
were stuck with paying for the bum-ad for the remainder of your
contract! No matter how much you begged, you couldn’t change a
single word!
I told all of my clients to run from this deal like the “Black
Death” because it violated a cherished secret of the Marketing
Investor – Test Everything. Test your headline. Test your first
sentence in the ad. Test your offer. Test the size of your ad, test
where you put your 800 number. Test, Test, Test!
Testing your ads can be time-consuming.
The good news is that there are simple and inexpensive ways to
easily test and track your advertising. Our agency, Terrasi
Media has built easy-to-use systems that even the most
time-starved entrepreneur can use to test their ad's
effectiveness. Email us at
secrets@terrasimedia.com to see what we can do for your
business. |
The Marketing Investor will test dozens of ads until she finds
the one with the best results. Once that ad is found then the last
and most profitable secret becomes important:
Secret #7: Rabbit Farming
I’m sure you have seen the cute television ad that Visa is using to
promote the Visa Check Card. In the commercial, a man with his
little daughter are purchasing two bunny rabbits. Of course, the man
wants to use a personal check and the clerk begins to ask for an
endless litany of identification.
In the meantime, the two fertile bunnies are reproducing at an
exponential rate right before the shocked girl’s eyes. The
commercial ends with the pet store full of bunny rabbits.
Ask yourself a question, if you had an ad that made you $3 for
every $1 you spent. How many times would you run the ad? That’s
right – as many times as you could afford. In how many newspapers or
radio stations would you run the ad. Let me guess – everywhere that
would take the ad. Just like those bunnies your ad would be
everywhere.
This is the last secret of the Marketing Investor. I call it the
power of multiplication and it’s the single most important
sales-building principle in marketing. Once you have found your
winner – bet the farm on it. Don’t be shy – run the ad as many times
as you possible can.
Here are some ideas:
- Put your headline on the back of your business cards with
the line “Ask Me About This Ad”
|
- Put your ad on the back of every store flyer. You will be
amazed at how many people will show up at your store with the
flyer
|
- Put your ad on your web site linked to a contact form for
more information
|
- Use your ad as the “on-hold” message on your telephone.
|
- Read the ad to everyone who get’s your voicemail
|
- Place the headline to your ad below your signature on your
stationary and emails
|
Multiplying your ad will allow you to truly maximize your
advertisements sales-building potential. Another added bonus: your
ad will drive your competition nuts. No matter where they go – they
won’t be able to escape your success.
Putting All The Pieces Together:
You've just absorbed a ton of information. I would suggest
printing out this report and adding notes in the margin to help you
digest the material. After you've spend some time reviewing the
Seven Secrets promise yourself that you will act on what you've
learned.
I've discovered that the winners in business consistently do what
their competitors won't. And the area that most business owners
neglect the most is their advertising. I've also found that
the business who concentrates on perfecting their marketing strategy
always beats their competition.
Here are a few quick suggestion to get you started:
1. Subscribe to the Hypnotic Ad Journal email newsletter. We
created the Hypnotic Ad Journal to teach small business
owners the insider advertising techniques that create sales
instantly. The Hypnotic Ad Journal is free and you can sign
up by simply filling in your contact information below.
2. Contact our offices or email us at
secrets@terrasimedia.com
for a free advertising consultation. When you do, one of our
Marketing Advisors will help you analyze your current advertising
and suggest ways to improve your ad's performance. We guarantee
that we will give you at least one sales-boosting ad idea - give us
a try - Email us at
secrets@terrasimedia.com or click here
to contact us online.
Thank you for reading The Seven Secrets of The Marketing
Investor. If you found this report useful, feel free to pass it on
to a friend or colleague. If you need extra copies, Email us at
secrets@terrasimedia.com,
and we will be happy to send you additional copies.
We wish you luck and look forward to hearing your advertising
success story.
All The Best,
J.P. Terrasi
Call us for a FREE quote on your next
marketing, advertising or printing project!
(239) 677-8752
877-JP1-MKTG (877-571-6584)
Email:
jp@TerrasiMedia.com