Does Your Advertising Have a Goal?

You know all about the importance of setting personal and business goals, but what about setting goals for your advertising? Such goals are also important to the success of your sales and marketing efforts. The three traditional goals of advertising are to inform, persuade, and remind. However, you should add one more goal to that list, especially if you run a small or medium-sized business. That goal is to break even on the cost of running your ad. If the ad makes money immediately, that's a bonus. Why just break even? Your strategy should be to create an ongoing relationship, not just a one-time transaction. You want to build a base -- a growing list of customers who come back to buy over and over again. Long-term growth and stability are the keys, not just one-time, short-term gains. "The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time." - Henry Ford Advertising your business is important. Advertising your business on a consistent basis is even more important. Your business has to get noticed. It needs traffic, and that traffic needs to buy. Instead of thinking about advertising your business as an expense, think about it as an investment. It's an investment with the goal of breaking even quickly while generating ROI for years to come. Here are eight reasons you need to advertise consistently with a purpose and goal in mind. Get Noticed -- At any given time and in any market, only 2 to 4% of consumers are ready to buy what you sell. It's nearly impossible to predict when this group is going to actually make the purchase. They'll buy from the company that comes to the top of their mind when they're ready. The company that's most consistent in being seen and getting noticed will win the business most of the time. Remind Them -- People tend to forget quickly. Busy lives and long to-do lists can make anyone forget about your business. Just because you sent one postcard doesn't mean a prospect will remember your business when it's time to buy. In the advertising race, the tortoise beats the hare. Your Competition -- Your competitors won't quit advertising anytime soon. You shouldn't either. Shifting Quicksand -- Your market is constantly changing. You have to be nimble and adjust with it. Change up your ad copy and design. Test it, measure it, and tweak your ads until you achieve your desired return on investment. Momentum -- Advertising consistently not only informs your audience that you mean business but also serves notice to your competitors that you're in it for the long haul. Advertising boosts the morale of your own staff as well, signaling the vitality of your brand. Current Customers -- You know your competitors are nipping at your heels, trying to steal away your customers. Don't take your current customers for granted in your ad campaigns. Remind them on a regular basis the unique value you bring to the table and deliver for them. Don't assume they know already. Past Customers -- One of the fastest ways to boost sales is to reactivate past clients. Most customers leave a business because they feel unwanted and neglected. Tell them you're sorry and that you want them back. Give them an incentive to come back again. Many will come back. This time, don't neglect them. Communicate regularly and tell them that you appreciate their business. Advertising is not just for boosting sales; it also works for retaining customers. It's much cheaper to retain a customer than to find a new one. Advertising to current and past customers is an investment that makes lots of cents! Competitive Advantage -- Nothing helps you maintain a lead over your competitors like consistent advertising. Whether you're there now or you'll get there soon, once you have the lead, keep the foot on the pedal, so the competition has little chance of catching up. You must have both strategic and monetary goals in mind when advertising your business. When done with a purpose and vision, your ad campaigns will produce real ROI and real customers who will pay you back for years to come. To start and build momentum, advertise consistently. You'll end up creating your own economy.

Using the Law of Reciprocity to Advance Your Business

In social psychology, reciprocity refers to the natural human tendency to want to return a favor -- to give back after someone has shown generosity to you. You've no doubt experienced such times in your own life, when you've felt such a sense of appreciation for a kindness done that you felt inclined to respond in kind. That's what reciprocity is all about. Giving to Give -- and Build Relationships Of course, there is another type of reciprocity -- one born more from a sense of obligation than appreciation. But that first type (the one inspired by an act of generosity) offers a far more valuable return on the good deed done. Why? By inspiring feelings of goodwill, this type of reciprocity makes the recipient much more likely to return the favor willingly, rather than through a sense of duty. Why is this important to your overall business success? Because the person who reciprocates willingly will be much more likely to stick around to continue the relationship long-term. Giving to Get -- and Build the "Bottom Line" The reciprocity that's based on duty and obligation is less effective because it creates feelings of unease in the recipient -- the same sort of feelings you get from owing a debt. This type of reciprocity makes people feel as if they are being pressured, or even coerced, into reciprocating. When you give to get, it's like tying a string to the gift and continually pulling it back toward you, rather than releasing your hold on it and giving it away free and clear. This type of reciprocity isn't true reciprocity at all, since it doesn't inspire the other person to want to return the favor. As a result, it will only create resistance in your prospect, a situation that's usually counterproductive to your marketing efforts and your long-term business goals. 5 Ways to Use Reciprocity to Advance Your Business Here are five suggestions for creating genuine, positive reciprocity in your prospects, customers, or clients: 1. Offer something for free -- with no strings attached.Giving a small gift every now and then can be a great way to say thanks to your customers for their business and their loyalty. If you do this without asking for anything in return, you may be surprised at the goodwill you build over time. Gestures like these are never wasted, even though they may not seem to be making a difference. Sincere generosity increases your customers' esteem for your business, which makes them eager to return. 2. Go the extra mile for your customer. Spend a little extra time helping a customer solve a problem. Take a moment to pass along some helpful information you come across that relates to your client's business (B2B) or your customer's interest, need, or profession (B2C). Doing something unexpectedly nice shows your customers you value them as individuals and not just as your key to profits. 3. Make things right whenever a customer is dissatisfied.This is another way to demonstrate how much you value your customers, making them enthusiastic about buying from you again despite their initial dissatisfaction. Their respect for you will grow in direct proportion to the amount of empathy, patience, professionalism, and generosity you show when such sensitive issues occur -- particularly when they are upset and reacting with impatience themselves. 4. Treat both customers and prospects as if they matter.Courtesy, friendliness, and respect will go a long way toward creating loyal long-term customers who will become the best advertisement for your brand. By making your service as personalized as you can, you tell your customer, "You are important." 5. Offer your website visitors helpful information at no charge. By attracting people to your website with the promise of value-added content, you'll soon become the go-to source for the answers they need, and they'll value you, as well. Try the above five tips to start laying the groundwork for the reciprocity that's sure to follow.

About Your Copy

Before we start, let's get one thing clear. This post is not about the copies we make for you on our copy machines. It's about the copy (text) that appears on your website and in your promotional materials. No matter what type of business you run, copy affects every part of your business. It's the cornerstone of your marketing, and it affects the executive team, the HR department, and every aspect of the organization. How? To answer that question, let's first take a look at what copy is and what it is not. Copywriting is the act of producing written text (copy). It's not the same as "copyright," which refers to one's legal right to produce and publish content. Wikipedia explains copywriting as "writing copy (text) for the purpose of advertising or marketing. The copy is meant to persuade someone to buy a product or influence their beliefs." That second part is especially important because it's the key differentiator between success and failure in copywriting. Weak copy will be thrown in the trash, while good copy will move the recipient to the desired action you want them to take. This applies not only to advertising and marketing but to any type of business and even personal communication. Effective copywriting is sometimes referred to as "a salesman in print." It can be seen in brochures, billboards, websites, emails, TV and radio ads, catalogs, and many other places where the goal is to move someone to a desired action. That action might be purchasing your product, engaging with your company, or picking up the phone to request more information. In short, copywriting is all about making the recipient move and act. Copywriting dates all the way back to the nineteenth century, when the newspaper industry was beginning to boom. At that time, copywriting referred to the words written by journalist being copied from their desk into the newspaper. Times may have changed, but copywriting is as crucial now in helping to sell your products as it was then in helping to sell newspapers. Good copywriting answers the problem of how to get more sales. Two big buzzwords today are content marketing and inbound marketing. Both essentially refer to copywriting. While effective copywriting is part science and part art, the fact is that anyone can create copy that moves people to act. Well-crafted copywriting doesn't need to be full of hype or written with bold typefaces and capitalization that beats people over the head. There are three basic steps you can take to create compelling copy. 1. Know your audience. It should be a given that you know exactly who you're creating the copy for. The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to create powerful copy. A demographic profile can help you not only create your copy but also know who you will be sending that content to. The following are some examples of data you'll find in a demographic profile: Gender Age Family Status Income Occupation Interests 2. Focus on them, not you. Everyone wants to be the center of attention. This applies in copywriting as well. The focus should be on the recipient, not how great you are. Your copy should answer the question: How will the products and services you offer benefit your customers and make their lives easier? Your copy must be able to answer the #1 question in every recipient's head: "What's in it for me?" In terms of copywriting, your product or service is far less important than its ability to fulfill your customers' needs. 3. Always include a call to action. Always. No matter what marketing medium you use to send and communicate the copy, there should always be a call to action. Never assume that the recipient will know what you want them to do next. Tell them exactly what the next step should be. Should they call, fill out a form, or visit your showroom? Make it crystal clear. It takes time, skill, practice, and patience to become a master copywriter. For businesses that want to produce effective copy that moves people to act, following these three simple steps can go a long way toward achieving that goal. Communication tools may be expanding and evolving, but one thing will never change: the need for good, effective copywriting. Bad content produced across multiple marketing channels will work just as poorly as it did across one. Change the words used to communicate your uniqueness and to tell your story, and you will change your business.

5 Ways to Make More Money Simply by Using Your Time Well

We entrepreneurs want to do everything personally. This often includes menial tasks that can cost us money. Sure, we get the satisfaction of doing it ourselves, but that satisfaction comes at the cost of profit. Broken faucet? We're on the job! But the time spent fixing that plumbing is time we didn't spend on the business, and that lost time could have earned us far more than what we saved by doing the job ourselves. Making money is rarely about saving it. It's largely about getting more out of every second of every day. When people talk about the richest people in the world, they don't just talk about their net worth. Instead, they talk about how much money they make per second or per hour. That's because deep down, we all know that life is a marathon, not a sprint. It's about making proper use of our time so we make more money per hour. So how can we accomplish more in less time? Here are five ideas to get you started. 1. Focus on the Jobs That Make the Most Money There are plenty of things an entrepreneur has to get done, and not all of them are business-related. Marketing, house cleaning, link building, and customer service are just some examples. Which of these isn't like the others? Which one won't make you money? If you answered house cleaning, you're right. Time is money, and if you spend your time on the little things, you'll end up sacrificing the big things -- the jobs that can pay for your food, rent, and car. Time management isn't just about finding time to do everything. It's about prioritizing and finding the time to do the right things. 2. Relax Many of us wrongly associate relaxation with lethargy or laziness. Nothing could be further from the truth. While most people would find it unthinkable to relax when they have a business to run, that's not true for those who make hundreds of dollars per hour. Relaxation allows a person to create space between their work and themselves. It gives them the time to rest, and with that time the ability to see the forest for the trees. Bury your nose in your work, and you'll start to lose perspective. Time off helps to maintain that edge. Taking some time to relax also lets you recharge. Most entrepreneurs handle multiple aspects of the business every day -- juggling numbers, thoughts, ideas, and who knows what else. Even in short bursts, such activity can be extremely tiring and can rob a person of their energy in record time. An entrepreneur low on energy is more likely to miss out on an important detail or two, and that can spell disaster down the road. 3. Get a Personal Assistant A personal assistant is there to make life easier for you and to sort out the little things, which is great since it lets you focus on the big issues instead. For as little as eight dollars per hour, you can hire someone who will perform basic tasks, such as making sure your bills get paid on time or doing your grocery shopping for you. If you develop a good relationship with your assistant and they prove trustworthy, you could even end up using them to sort through your email, so only important messages get your attention. Depending on your situation, you might not even need your assistant to be in the same country. Virtual assistants can work well as researchers and email handlers from anywhere in the world. 4. Find Out When You Do Your Best Work, and Work Then Each person has a different rhythm. Stephen King works in the morning and until noon. So did Henry Miller, who would work from morning till afternoon, spending evenings with friends. They understood they had a rhythm. Instead of fighting it, they embraced it fully. You should do the same. Figure out when you do your best work. Make a chart if it helps. Once you figure out when the best ideas come and when you feel in the zone, work out your schedule so it coincides with your ideal work time. 5. Get a Maid A clean workspace is a usable workspace. It's relatively easy to find people who can clean your house, wash your dishes, and cook. Those chores take time you could be spending on marketing a new product. Focus on making enough to afford to pay someone to clean your floors, while you ensure your financial independence and future. When it's all said and done, it really boils down to this: You need to figure out which aspects of your life make the most money and which ones can be delegated. If it isn't worth your time, don't do it. It's as simple as that.

Promises to Keep

In his classic poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Robert Frost speaks of taking a moment to watch the snow collect on the trees along a dark lane, presumably on his way to somewhere important. He closes with these lines: The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. As business professionals, we all struggle at times with similar feelings, conflicts, and doubts. We may want to stop for a moment in the middle of a busy day to enjoy a mental break, but in the back of our minds (or even the front sometimes), we can't shake the nagging sense that we should be focusing instead on the work that lies ahead. Like the narrator in Frost's poem, we, too, have promises we must keep -- commitments we've made to customers, vendors, employees, colleagues, family members, and friends. That can often mean long days, sleepless nights, and not a lot of extra time to watch snow falling on trees. In our drive to stay ahead, we often miss the forest entirely -- distracted by the hundreds of tiny details that make up our days. That's not to say our promises aren't important. Quite the contrary. In business, our word is what ultimately matters most to our customers, shareholders, vendors, and employees. Failing to keep our commitments can have dire consequences for our companies and our reputations. But there's also something to be said for taking the time to stop and look around. A small mental break might help to spark a bold new thought or rekindle a flame burnt out by trying to get too much done in far too little time. Such moments are important to our own well-being and to the health of our companies. They can't come at the expense of getting things done, but they should come more frequently than many of us allow. So as you go about managing your business, take some time to notice the little things around you. Like the fall of snow on the trees that line the path that wanders through your day.

An Important Business Lesson from an 8-Year-Old Girl

There's something undeniably different about this time of year -- an almost palatable sense of wonder, excitement, joy, and possibility not always seen in our everyday routine. Amid the hustle and bustle of shopping, planning, and reconnecting with family and friends, we often find ourselves thinking back to seasons past -- and forward to the future with renewed energy and hope. For a few weeks each December, we're willing to suspend disbelief and imagine the possibility of what we cannot see. New York Sun writer Francis Church shared his thoughts on this very subject more than a century ago. "The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see," Church wrote. "Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world." Church addressed his commentary to Virginia O'Hanlon, an eight-year-old girl who had posed a very simple question: Is there a Santa Claus? While intended to quell the fears of a questioning child, Church's words could just as easily apply to each of us in business today. Like young Virginia, we, too, find ourselves in doubt sometimes -- unsure whether we should trust the instincts that have taken us this far. In Virginia's case, those doubts were fueled by "little friends" who told her Santa Claus was not real. For us, those "friends" often manifest themselves internally as a quiet, yet nagging voice that assures us we'll find safety in convention and by taking the road more traveled. And so, like Virginia, we need an occasional reminder that seeking the unseeable and trusting the unknowable can lead to places many would consider unattainable.

Times They are a Changin'

If your business is planning to rebrand itself (whether through a name change, a new logo, a business merger, or some other means), remember the name and/or logo is not the only thing that changes. Rebranding can be a large-scale operation that involves effort from multiple departments. While your to-do list may seem endless, here are a few of the top items to consider to ensure your rebranding process runs smoothly: Create a list of all printed collateral that needs to be updated (such as letterhead, envelopes, business cards, flyers, brochures, labels, forms, notepads, and packaging). Give us a call anytime if you have questions about turnaround times, company colors, logo changes, quantity purchase discounts, or anything else related to your printing needs. Update your trade show booth, banners, posters, giveaways, company pens, name-tags, and other trade show related materials. Keep customers in the loop by mailing "we're changing our name" postcards, including a blurb in your newsletter, and providing social media mentions (among other things). Update employee bios. Add your new name to each employee's company bio to show the transition. For example, "Mark Davis has worked at XYZ Company since it was founded in 1989, when it was called ABC Company." Change your name and logo on invoices, accounting templates, quote preparation software, and other types of reporting software. If you're considering a web domain name change, make sure the new domain name is available before switching, and then set up your old web address to forward automatically to your new website to ensure a smooth transition. Update email addresses and consider using an auto-responder to remind people to update their email address books. Also update email signatures and inform readers your address will be changing so they can update their spam blockers -- especially if you send email newsletters. Ensure your phone service provider has the correct company name, so it shows up correctly on caller ID. Inform all professional organizations, business groups, subscription services, and other interested parties of your name change. Update on-hold marketing messages and voice mail messages. Consider using both names with a greeting such as: "Thanks for calling XYZ Company, formerly known as ABC Company." We know that rebranding can be a daunting task, but you don't need to go it alone. Our team of printing professionals can help you every step of the way. When it comes to updating your print collateral, we're here to help, from developing creative new ideas to carrying the finished products to your document storage area. Give us a call today.