The majority of small business marketing is done blind.
Unfortunate, but the truth, nevertheless.
If business owners aren?t active copying each other (not realizing the copiers are themselves being copied by the ones they?re copying), then they?re attempting to emulate the marketing strategies of the enormous corporations, with their deep pockets and vast budgets.
Sorry to say all this does is lead to what?s often called ?marketing incest?, because everybody just gets dumber and dumber. In short, it doesn?t work, chiefly because there?s no way for the business owner to tell what, if anything, is in reality making him any money.
However, don?t give up just yet. Because so long as you follow a small number of simple but very powerful rules, you ?ll quickly find your advertising becomes profitable.
So here are 5 advertising secrets for successfully marketing a small business
2. Marketing with a definite call to action (direct response)
The most effective form of marketing is direct response marketing, which, in contrast to ?ordinary? advertising seeks to elicit a selected response from the target market rather than just wishing, usually in vain, to grow the ?image? of the business or promote that most nefarious of frauds, ?brand awareness?.
2. Measuring and testing
Business owners must watch every marketing piece or campaign like a falcon, and determine to the highest accuracy the responses they get. From the shortest email to the most complex multi-step direct mail campaign they MUST know what?s happening with the prospect? who?s buying, how much are they spending and what services are they spending their money on?
They can tell, with a very modest margin of error, exactly how many sales and how much profit every single item of marketing they?ve done has ever made them.
And by a procedure of stepwise-refinement, they can take so-so ads and transform them into powerful marketing machines that churn out massive profits like clockwork, year in, year out.
3. Accountableness Because sharp small business owners track every little thing, they make every ad carry its own weight.
There is no hemming and hawing and ?gut instinct? permitted. It all comes down to the numbers.
If an advertisement isn?t turning a profit, it?s cut from the campaign, in a flash.
4. Feedback, not failure
When an ad doesn?t make a profit, your average business owner falls into despair and feels he or she has missed the boat.
Savvy marketers don?t do this. They understand it?s a numbers game, and by coming up with an ad which didn?t work, they?ve learned a lesson worth learning: one more way NOT to write an ad for that product or service in that market. The key is to let your emotional attachment to results drop away and be more objective.
5. Every piece MUST include an offer
Effective marketers recognize every single piece of advertising they do MUST have one offer (and one offer only). It must be specific, clear and unambiguous.
Moreover, for best results it must be time- or quantity-limited to make it more desirable. This is altogether contrary to what common sense would suggest but it works. It?s called ?scarcity? and it?s probably the most potent weapon in the marketer?s armoury.
I promise, if you pay attention to these five simple strategies you?ll get an immediate increase in your profits.
Jon McCulloch is perhaps Europe?s top direct response expert. Visit his website now and take just three of the 52 FREE small business marketing tips he?s giving away today, and actually put them to work in your business and you?ll be amazed by the results.
They?ve all produced substantially better results for businesses just like yours in the last two years.
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