Advertising Small Business Wonderfulness

April 2, 2013October 23, 2014 / Duane Christensen

1966 was too early for me, but I remember listening to tapes of Bill in the late 70s and early 80s. Awesome humor. Unmatched.

Bill Cosby released a comedy album in 1966 called “Wonderfulness”. What a great title. Just the word itself makes you want to listen to it. But do YOU have wonderfulness?

Do people know all the WONDERFULNESS that your product or service can deliver?

What do you DO for people? Think about that question. Go deeper than the obvious, “surface” answers. Figure out what you really DO for your customers. Figure that out first.

Then, how do you tell them? How do you advertise?

If you begin “shouting” at folks about what you sell, you WILL be ignored. You’ll be ignored because thousands of others like you are doing the exact same thing. Your words have become mere background noise. Static. Annoyances.

Advertising can drive sales. Advertising can double your sales this year. It CAN if you scrap your current, non-producing ad plan, and start fresh.

WHAT IF…

What if you talked to your prospect about what’s going on in THEIR life? What if you talked to them about what is truly important to them? Or about something they wish to fix. About pain they want to be rid of? About something that can make them feel happy. Something that will better their lives. ??

Because isn’t THAT what we all want? To be happy – successful – respected – loved – content – admired – free of stress – financially secure – independent – healthy – attractive – comfortable – safe – secure – etc., etc.

What people want…is to better themselves. So, tell them how your product or service can aid them in their journey. Will you continue to tell them in the same ways as most other businesses do? Will you continue to say the same things? Will you continue to hope and pray that a Facebook page is all you need?…that it’s the magic potion you’ve been waiting for?

Define your TRUE customer, find out what they REALLY care about. What “moves” them? What WONDERFULNESS can you share with them?

Have a day full of wonder!

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media

Sioux Falls

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Word of Mouth

November 4, 2012October 23, 2014 / Duane Christensen

Word-of-mouth is super-wicked-awesome!

But if the speed of your good word-of-mouth isn’t fast enough for you, then a smart and strategic advertising plan will help you get where you want to be. Notice, I said, “smart and strategic”. If you don’t say the right things in your ads or have a plan in place that offers great potential…you could advertise unsuccessfully until you’re broke and blue in the face.

Image courtesy of “imagerymajestic” / DigitalPhotos.net

In the past, your advertising may have failed miserably. So, duh, of course your word-of-mouth outperformed your past advertising. All you have to do is decide if you’re OK with the pace of your current word-of-mouth. If not, you need to find some people who know how advertising works.

HOW do you find the right “ad people”, who know what they’re doing? Well, for starters don’t believe all the statistics, percentages, and pie charts that are wildly and irresponsibly thrown at you. They can make numbers look as good or as bad as they want.

I don’t care WHERE you advertise. All I want you to fully comprehend is that you cannot advertise generically. The days of only telling people WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE are over. And if you don’t change the way you advertise, you’re making it way too easy for your competition to snatch up the people you wish were YOUR customers.

I still see gobs of advertising that was created from a template in which all you have to do is insert any business name. Bzzzzzt! Warning! That’s a great way to watch your stream of new customers keep dwindling. And it’s a recipe for wasting money.

Have you ever thrown a Ben Franklin into the fire? Try it. I bet you couldn’t do it. So, why keep burning money on advertising that doesn’t work?

For more help with local advertising performance, and advice concerning what you should actually SAY in your ads to make them work better, consider my local advertising book, “Take a Bigger Slice”. Or ask if I have an extra hard copy laying around to give you.

Duane Christensen

Results Radio Townsquare Media

Sioux Falls, SD