A Business In One Sentence
Marketing expert and author, Geoffrey Moore, has a useful
fill-in-the-blank method for creating a theme and
positioning statement for your business. I prefer to use
his same system for creating clarity for myself in what I’m
selling, creating an elevator or introduction speech, and
also material for my website, brochures and business card.
Using this same method for each niche I have also keeps me
focused and on target for where I am going and what comes
first. I know it will do the same for you. As a public
speaker, I also like to use the same exercise to create a
one-line message for each workshop or engagement. This way
the participants and I start from the same page. I like to
say it provides the tree trunk that all the branches stem
from.
This exercise is designed to be simple and achievable in 15
minutes. However, if this seems somewhat daunting, see if
your beliefs are still in the clouds of wanting to deliver
too much to too many to soon. If this is the case, there is
a great book I recommend that will support you in narrowing
down: Niche and Grow Rich, by Jennifer and Peter Sander.
This book will support you understanding the market place
you want to enter and in narrowing your thoughts.
Exercise
For ___________________________
(Hints: Who is your target customer, your niche? Is there
a geographic relevance? If so, add it. Examples: Seniors,
women business owners, teens between 13 and 18. If a
specific geographic area: Writers in the Washington DC
metro area.)
Who ___________________________
(Hints: This is where you qualify your target customer and
time of need. Examples: Who are obese. Who are 62 and
older. Who own a business. Who are in high school and take
music.)
Our product/service is ____________________________
(Hints: What is your product or the service? Our product
is a line of workshops. Our service is training. Our
service is executive coaching. Our service is training or
engineering or accounting.)
That provides ______________________________
(Hints: What are your key features of this product/service?
What are the major benefits of this product or service?
What are the tradeoffs? That provides shortcuts (software
training) at a discount/premium price. That contains no
chemicals. That contains no hidden costs. That contains
no markups. That contains life support.)
Unlike ____________________________________
(Hints: Who are your competitors? What are the products
not serving the needs of this particular niche? Unlike
other retail sellers, which have…. Unlike store-bought
goods, these…. Unlike other coaches…. Unlike other
workshops….)
Our product/service _______________________________
(Hints: Your product/service serves this niche by doing
what? Our product/service helps this group increase their
personal leadership skills. Our product/service helps this
group overcome…. Our product/service helps this group
reap the rewards of….
Taking This Forward
Once you have completed this exercise, whether it is for
your overall business theme or better yet a narrower one,
you can move this information forward into all your
marketing information.
Create a paragraph with this information, then edit and
refine the language so that it fits your customer’s reading
style. This is especially important if your style is
different. Each word you use has an energy attached to it.
This energy either detracts or attracts customers.
Catherine Franz is a Master Life and Business Coach, well-known international speaker and author, living in Northern Virginia. She lives and breathes attraction, prosperity and abundance. http://www.AbundanceCenter.com
Cluttered Advertising Does Not Work
If you use print advertising as part of your marketing mix and your ads are cluttered they generally will not pull like clean and crisp advertising does with simple messages. As a young man I sold advertising for a very popular Aviation Magazine Called the Pacific Flyer and the Editor and Publisher Wayman Dunlop use to always tell me to keep my clients from cluttering their advertising.
Eventually I realized if I allowed my customers to clutter their ads too much they would not pull the proper results and there would be fewer repeat customers. He was right then and that same principle is very true today.
Do not clutter you ads. You see, today even more so, because people are busy and only scan the advertising, you only have a second to catch their eye and make them look and if it is too cluttered their eye moves on that the advertising dollar is lost.
So, often small business owners who advertise want to put as much as they can in their yellow page ads and in their newspaper or print advertising and often against better judgment from their advertising representative mostly due to ego the ad stays cluttered and is not effective.
If you pick up any trade journal in any industry you will see the same thing. Every month I read over 70 Trade Journals or rather page thru them and read parts. Due to habit I also look at all the ads and only rarely do you see the perfect, simple ad, which conveys the message and grabs the reader. You should consider all of this in 2006.
Lance Winslow
5 Print Ad Essentials!
Writing an effective print ad, particularly a classified advertisement, requires that you remember five essential points. Failure to implement these points correctly can cost you much in the way of time lost and a sale missed.
You’ve just cleaned out the attic and straightened up the garage. You’ve identified items you no longer need, but they certainly have a cash value to them. You could really use the money, but you don’t want to post the information on eBay. What to do? You create a classified ad!
Unlike in times past, the classified advertisement you run with your local paper will more than likely have exposure beyond the printed copy. Smart newspaper publishers, knowing the inroads that the internet has had on their businesses, now allow advertisers to have a copy of their advertisement appear online. This is important as newspaper readership is dropping rapidly as internet usage continues to climb sharply. Still, a printed copy is smart especially if the classified ad section of your local paper is popular.
When designing your ad, you need to come up with an eye grabbing title. The title you choose will help the reader decide whether they want to read more or continue scanning their eyes toward other ads.
List the item you are offering for sale predominately within the name of the title. If you have several items to sell, consider a catchy title such as, “30 Year Contents of Attic” which will indicate to readers that you probably have antiques. If you state, “Assorted Sporting Goods” you will attract people who are looking for a bowling ball, fishing equipment, children’s toys, etc. The key is attracting the reader and encouraging them to read your ad.
Beyond the title, the following five points will help you in your campaign:
1. Be descriptive The clearer you present what you have to offer for sale, the better your responses will be.
2. Do not abbreviate Not everyone understands what an abbreviation means. Spell it out and erase all doubt!
3. Specify the price Particularly if you are selling just one item, list the amount you want for that item.
4. Highlights I like ads that stand out. If the newspaper offers decorative symbols, characters, or fonts use them to draw the reader’s eyes to your listing.
5. Ad campaign One day listings only work for popular items. Do you believe your item will sell if you list it for just one day? If you list it longer, you can always cancel the ad. Remember to find out what the newspaper’s policy is about online ads too. Your buyer may only see the ad online.
Some newspapers will design the ad for you, if you find writing ad copy to be a difficult task. Not everyone is gifted in writing clear, concise copy. If they want your business, they should be happy to provide this service.
Matt has over twenty years experience as a wordsmith, writing ad copy, creating articles, and designing websites. His chief sites are: Aviation Employment Board, http://www.aviationemploymentboard.com and Corporate Flight Attendant Community, http://www.corporateflyer.net