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Why Image Ads STINK!

Why Image Ads, For Lack of a Better Word, STINK!
By Clyde Goulet

So many times when I am visiting a new client for the first time I ask to see their marketing material, if I haven’t collected a bunch already by playing prospect and testing their selling process before I get there. They sometime bring out these fancy, glossy brochures that have pretty pictures of their product or a wonderful rosy description of their wonderful service.

Many times I will come prepared with a handful of ads they have run and more times than not, they’re these “image” ads that do nothing to tell a prospected customer or client absolutely nothing. The business owners have been sold by people selling them brochures that they need to have glossy stuff to impress their customers and “look professional.” What a load of fertilizer!

If you have read any of my other articles you now know that your advertising must fill the need of the prospect to have the question of: “what’s in it for me” answered in your advertising message. You must know that this is the question that they are asking when contemplating the purchase of your goods and services. All your marketing material must expound on the benefits of why it is in the customers’ best interest to purchase your goods or services.

So many business owners make the mistake of trying to build brand identification when there may not be a need to do so. If you want to try and compete with the companies with the multi-million dollar advertising budgets, then go right ahead, I will see you in Bankruptcy Court. It is foolish and unnecessary to do so if you are using the techniques of effective, measurable target marketing. It may be enough to be the only logical choice for consumers in your particular niche.

Most image ads fail miserably in conveying the benefits to the consumers and do not answer the important question that compels buyers to make the decision to buy. A well crafted mail piece or information package with multiple customer testimonials will go much further to influence in a positive manner anyone who may pick up your literature. The ability to sell in print is a critical aspect of your sales function and can be accomplished with a good knowledge of direct response copywriting.

You can also hire a professional copywriter to craft your sales presentations and construct a marketing campaign to compliment your customer profile. The more targeted your message, the better your results will be, I will guarantee those results. Knowing who your customers are will also assist in crafting that targeted message.

If you stop and think for one minute where most people open their mail, you get an idea of how fleeting your opportunity is to get a prospects attention. I open all my mail very close and sometimes directly over a trash can. Since I am a student of marketing, I examine every piece and read the copy before I pitch it. I can’t think of any glossy flyer or brochure I have ever received that was saved from the trash and made it to my “A” pile.
There is not enough space or time to discuss the benefits of a two-step marketing approach where you are getting prospects to raise their hands and say they are interested before you send them your expensive company materials. You should just know that in what is shaping up to be a tight economy and many businesses chasing after fewer and fewer paying customers, you had better be lean and mean when it comes to your marketing budgets.

When I advise the clients I have in my phone coaching group, I always stress that their marketing materials should always stress the BIG benefits to the customers or clients they are trying to reach. If you give your future customers and clients a reason for wanting the benefits you offer in your marketing, you will get the sale. If you tell them how you are better than brand X because you are bigger, cheaper, have more awards, you will (yawn) bore them and they will move on.

Never lose sight of the fact that everyone who makes a buying decision will be asking themselves the question: “What’s in it for me, (my company), (the people I represent), (my stockholders).” Answer that question with your marketing material and you have inserted your foot in the door. Big, dumb, glossy image ads do not accomplish this for the most part. Do not get suckered into buying this type of ad just because everyone else is doing it to.

Clyde R. Goulet is a business consultant, copywriter, and national expert on both the topic of Short Sales and small business development. For further business insights visit his website and download an expanded world class FREE REPORT. This no cost FREE report highlights some of the common problems small business owners have in spending limited dollars to get the absolute most bang for their marketing dollars.

Clyde also has information and resources at his site that will help any business, large or small go to that next level. For your FREE REPORT visit:

http://www.resultsmarketinghome.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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