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Chapter
1. Getting Ready: Research & Planning © 2002 - Jody Hornor |
In
This Chapter: --Target Marketing --Positioning for Profits --The Sales Process --Assemble Your Tools --Avoid Costly Mistakes --Involve The Troops --Book Table of Contents |
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Avoid Costly Mistakes in Developing Ads and Materials Everybody thinks that, because they have PageMaker, they can whip out a great brochure just like that. But, that’s far from the truth. Good advertising has far more to do with a well-written sales message than anything else. Writing sales copy well is one of the most difficult things most entrepreneurs ever tackle. I see so much time and energy being wasted when a simple commitment to learn, and practice can pay tremendous dividends. So I’m going to suggest you read this section, over and over again. And that you pick up other books on copywriting, and read them over and over again. And that as you write anything from a business letter to a brochure, that you review the parameters of "good" advertising set forth in this chapter. If you get in the habit of assuming everything you write can be improved upon, and that each improvement could double or triple the response you get to the particular piece, then you’ll be on your way to being a successful writer (or be able to better evaluate the writing from copywriters or ad agencies). Even if you’re trained in advertising, developing your own marketing communications or assessing the creative work of your agency, may be one of the toughest jobs you have. And, whether you're trained for the job or not, YOU, not your agency, have the ultimate responsibility for the profitability of your communications programs. That means that regardless of your background or job title, you must understand all elements of marketing and advertising, and know how they relate to one another. Then you need to learn how to be an effective coach, even though you may never have played (much less wanted to play) all the positions in the game yourself. Information is the starting point for every effective piece of marketing communications. Worksheet 27 on Ad and Brochure Planning, is designed to help you develop solid, comprehensive information from which you or your agency or creative director can work. Even if you do all the work yourself, use this worksheet to organize your thoughts. Plan Ads and Brochures So They Work! Each ad, brochure, or direct mail piece is a short sales presentation. When used for lead generation, you are selling the appointment, not the product. In other words, don’t concern yourself with features, technical specifications, and the like. Instead, focus on one or two main benefits that will make the reader want to see a salesperson. The following will help you develop concept and copy for use in a variety of materials from direct mail pieces to product brochures. You’ll facilitate your creative process, if you first define the Features, Advantages, and Benefits of the product or service your organization is promoting. —tangible components which enable the product to perform its stated function. A feature is what it [your product or service] has. Advantages —the ways the features operate to perform functions better than competing methods or products. An advantage is what the feature does. —the results the reader/prospect receives as a consequence of using your product or method. Benefits are always stated in terms of gains or avoids, and may be either concrete or abstract. For example, "This product will save you $500 per month." A benefit is what a feature does for the user. Features and advantages are useless without an associated benefit, so structure your thinking this way:
Once you have listed the Features, Advantages, and Benefits of your product or service, rank the benefits in order of importance. Benefits are ALWAYS stated in terms of gains or avoids So, in the above example, when writing the copy, you might use the benefit to create a headline like: "Get more time to spend with
your family...." Develop a list of the most frequently heard objections along with your answers to those objections for your agency or writer so these issues can be addressed in the copy. Again, rank these in order of importance.
Direct the reader to take a specific action. For example: "Return this card today for more information." Or, "Place your order before November 15, and you’ll receive a 10 percent discount." The Importance of Being Specific Wrong: Our warranty is better than the competition. Right: Compare our 5-year warranty to XYZ’s 1-year coverage. Assume that your agency, writer, or creative director doesn’t know anything—a safe assumption that will benefit everyone involved. Telling a credible story to your prospects depends largely on good communication of everyone involved in the project. Your products may be complex or the jargon largely unfamiliar to your agency or writer. Guidance from the onset will prevent problems. Explicit direction at the onset will save time—both yours and your agency’s—by eliminating the need to return for more input, clarification, to rewrite copy, or redo layouts. You’ll pay for all this extra time directly or indirectly! Time spent redoing a job means higher costs on the job, missed deadlines, and resources diverted away from other important tasks. And, you’re likely to get a less than satisfactory product. Visuals, Charts & Photographs Copy is only one part of an effective advertising piece. An appropriate photo, chart, graph, or illustration can help draw attention to your ad and help clarify potential benefits to your reader. When addressing a technical audience, for example, a flow chart, engineering drawing, or system diagram often communicates more than just words alone. Even a rough sketch, in some cases, will help convey your message more effectively. A brochure or direct mail piece is a sales call pre-qualifier. Tell
your story quickly and persuasively, with the appropriate goal in mind. |
"The principal job of an advertisement is to sell
goods. Therefore, you should use layouts and illustrations in which
salesmanship comes first and art second." In one of a series of marketing classes I was conducting a woman, after hearing the principals of good advertising, approached me. "I have an ad agency and we do all that stuff — but it just doesn’t work", she said. Instead of trying to second guess what she was doing, I invited her to bring her ads to the next session for evaluation. Upon seeing them and not recognizing a good headline or copy, I queried her about her ad agency, only to find out she was working with just a designer. He did a competent job of layout. Upon further scrutiny the real culprit became obvious. There was no address or phone number in the ad! "How can you expect results? You have no address or phone number listed in your ad," I said. "Oh," she said, "we don’t want to be bothered by all those phone calls!" And to be sure, she’d never be bothered by more
business either! A simple test to put to all your written communications: Circle all the I’s, me’s, we’s, our’s, and uses of your company name. Then use a different color ink and circle all the you’s, your’s and the recipient's name. If the I’s, me’s and we’s are greater in number, you’ve done a good job of talking about yourself and not to your reader. Resources: FREE Downloadable WorksheetsYou MUST sign in to have access to these -- once you've signed in, bookmark the page from which you download to avoid having to sign in every time you access them. Marketing Plan
Worksheet |
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