Advertising is not mystical. Fancy Ad Agencies try to mystify the process because it makes them more money. Agencies usually make more money when you spend more money. That doesn’t seem right does it?
We all know smart and successful business people who swear they’ve “tried advertising” and it just didn’t work. How can that be? It works for McDonalds. Advertising works for Empire Carpets (like gang busters). Geico, Home Depot, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, and millions of other successful corporations all advertise.
Here are some basics of successful advertising.
- You have to have the right messaging.
- That message must to speak to the right audience (your target)
- The medium you advertise on must reach the right audience (target)
- The messaging must be repeated to attract your busy target
- There needs to be a compelling Call to Action for the target
- You must have and use your successful Sales Process to close the sale
Now while technology and innovation create massive opportunities to do the “advertising” parts, most businesses fail in the advance planning and follow up stages.
These folks who say they’ve tried advertising and it “didn’t work” typically weren’t targeting the right clients because they didn’t focus on Targeting.
They say things like “we have something for everybody”. That’s a recipe for disaster and worse, wasted time and money.
The second area of failure is usually in the Sale Process and Follow Up. We’ve come to learn many professional services businesses do not have a sales process that doesn’t involved their principle rainmaker. In other words, the only person who can bring in money is the boss and if the boss doesn’t speak to the prospect on the phone, they do not become a client.
You need a sales process, and you need massive follow up. We can help you plug up those holes in your business and you’ll find the advertising magically begins to work!