Category: entrepreneur

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EBPP GAINING IN 2004

Electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) started showing signs of renewed life in 2003, after its introduction in the late 90s. It took a few years for the idea to take off, and industry experts are considering 2003 a success, but a high rate of adoption by we average Joes and Janes is still a number of years away.

If you examine the electronic bill payment landscape you will note that the current usage surge is largely by the Generation X demographic, in spite of the fact that a single-source option is not yet in place. Forecasters thought that banks would probably be the single-source option, but there is still no solid consolidated infrastructure among those banks that have systems in place. The way its working now is very much like the way automated teller machines (ATMs) used to operate, that is providing access only to certain cardholders with specific affiliations.

While banks are taking steps toward consolidating infrastructure, in 2004 we will likely see a continued proliferation of individual organizations, where each has its own presentment and payment strategies and solutions. Consumers will have to go to multiple sites to pay their bills, and for the short term will put up with that system.

For the long-term though, the single-source EBPP system is going to be the process of choice for consumers. Eventually, theyll want to receive and pay all bills electronically from the single site, but that wont happen until the above mentioned consolidation.

Many banks will work overtime during 2004 to educate consumers about the benefits of online banking, because it will be a cost saving to them. There is a lot o upfront costs to banks and financial institutions, the ultimate benefits of processing payments through the Feds automated clearing house (ACH) instead of through the Postal Service are immense. It all boils down to a cost-saving issue.

I wonder how long it will take the average entrepreneur to embrace this new EBPP? Will you and I be comfortable maintaining a web site or some type of electronic presence so that we can electronically bill our customers/clients for goods or services? Perhaps this is how our forefathers felt when Henry Ford tried to replace the horse and buggy with his auto machine, but I must say I find a certain comfort in the good, old-fashioned paper trail.

I must confess that I do use the electronic trail on occasion, especially when I know the mail wont beat the due date on my suppliers invoice, but to transact all commerce via EBPP is another matter. One must admit however, that at least 1/3 of our office space these days is dedicated to files filled with paper.

Still, that old paper trail is comforting much like the cookie crumbs dropped while walking in the woods that assure us well find our way home again.

 
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WRITE ATTENTION GETTING ADVERTISEMENTS

The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, no business can exist for very long.

All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.

Generally, the “ad writer” wants the prospect to do one of the following:

a) Visit the store to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check and send for the merchandise being advertised.

b) Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.

The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what’s written about the product – is not doing its job completely.

The “ad writer” must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.

In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all ads are written according to a simple “master formula” which is:

1) Attract the “attention” of your prospect.

2) “Interest” your prospect in the product

3) Cause your prospect to “desire” the product

4) Demand “action” from the prospect

Never forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting: If the ad is not read, it won’t stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!

Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you’re just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success as an advertising copywriter.

CLASSIFIED ADS

Classified ads are the ads from which all successful businesses are started. These small, relatively inexpensive ads, give the beginner an opportunity to advertise his product or service without losing his shirt if the ad doesn’t pull or the people don’t break his door down with demands for his product. Classified ads are written according to all the advertising rules. What is said in a classified ad is the same that’s said in a larger, more elaborate type of ad, except in condensed form.

To start learning how to write good classified ads, clip ten classified ads form ten different mail order type publications – ads that you think are pretty good. Paste each of these ads onto a separate sheet of paper.

Analyze each of these ads: How has the writer attracted your attention – what about the ads keeps your interest – are you stimulated to want to know more about the product being advertised – and finally, what action must you take? Are all of these points covered in the ad? How strongly are you “turned on” by each of these ads?

Rate these ads on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best according to the formula I’ve given you. Now, just for practice, without clipping the ads, do the same thing with ten different ads from a Wards or Penney’s catalog. In fact, every ad you see form now on, quickly analyze it, and rate it somewhere on your scale. If you’ll practice this exercise on a regular basis, you’ll soon be able to quickly recognize the “Power Points” of any ad you see, and know within your own mind whether an ad is good, bad or otherwise, and what makes it so.

Practice for an hour each day, write the ads you’ve rated 8, 9 and 10 exactly as they’ve been written. This will give you the “feel” of the fundamentals and style necessary in writing classified ads.

Your next project will be to pick out what you consider to be the ten “worst” ads you can find in the classifieds sections. Clip these out and paste them onto a sheet of paper so you can work on them.

Read these ads over a couple of times, and then beside each of them, write a short comment stating why you think it’s bad: Lost in the crowd, doesn’t attract attention – doesn’t hold the reader’s interest – nothing special to make the reader want to own the product – no demand for action.

You probably already know what’s coming next, and that’s right. Break out those pencils, erasers and scratch paper – and start rewriting these ads to include the missing elements.

Each day for the next month, practice writing the ten best ads for an hour, just the way they were originally written. Pick out ten of the worst ads, analyze those ads, and then practice rewriting those until they measure up to doing the job they were intended to do.

Once you’re satisfied that the ads you’ve rewritten are perfect, go back into each ad and cross out the words that can be eliminated without detracting from the ad. Classified ads are almost always “finalized” in the style of a telegram.

EXAMPLE: I’ll arrive at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon,
the 15th. Meet me at Sardi’s. All my love, Jim.

EDITED FOR SENDING: Arrive 2pm – 15th – Sardi’s.
Love, Jim.

CLASSIFIED AD: Save on your food bills! Reduced
prices on every shelf in the store! Stock up now while
supplies are complete! Come on in today, to Jerry’s
Family Supermarkets!

EDITED FOR PUBLICATION: Save on Food!
Everything bargain priced! Limited Supplies! Hurry!
Jerry’s Markets!

It takes dedicated and regular practice, but you can do it. Simply recognize and understand the basic formula – practice reading and writing the good ones – and rewriting the bad ones to make them better. Practice, and keep at it, over and over, every day – until the formula, the idea, and the feel of this kind of ad writing becomes second nature to you. This is the ONLY WAY to gain expertise in writing good classified ads.

DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS

A display or space ad differs from a classified ad because it has a headline, layout, and because the style isn’t telegraphic. However, the fundamentals of writing the display or space ad are exactly the same as for a classified ad. The basic difference is that you have more room in which to emphasize the “master formula.”

Most successful copywriters rate the headline and/or the lead sentence of an ad as the most important part of the ad, and in reality, you should do the same. After all, when you ad is surrounded by hundreds of other ads, and information or entertainment, what makes you think anyone is going to see your particular ad?

The truth is, they’re not going to see your ad unless you can “grab” their attention and entice them to read all of what you have to say. Your headline, or lead sentence when no headline is used, has to make it more difficult for your prospect to ignore or pass over, than to stop and read your ad. If you don’t capture the attention of your reader with your headline, anything beyond is useless effort and wasted money.

Successful advertising headlines – in classified ads, your first three to five words serve as your headline – are written as promises, either implied or direct. The former promises to show you how to save money, make money, or attain a desired goal. The latter is a warning against something undesirable.

EXAMPLE OF A PROMISE: Are You Ready To Become A Millionaire – In Just 18 Months?

EXAMPLE OF A WARNING: Do You Make These Mistakes In English?

In both of these examples, I’ve posed a question as the headline. Headlines that ask a question seem to attract the reader’s attention almost as surely as a moth is drawn to a flame. Once he’s seen the question, he just can’t seem to keep himself from reading the rest of the ad to find out the answer. The best headline questions are those that challenge the reader; that involve his self esteem, and do not allow him to dismiss your question with a simple yes or no.

You’ll be the envy of your friends is another kind of “reader appeal” to incorporate into your headline whenever appropriate. The appeal has to do with basic psychology: everyone wants to be well thought of, and consequently, will read into the body of your ad to find out how he can gain the respect and accolades of his friends.

Wherever and whenever possible, use colloquialisms or words that are not usually found in advertisements. The idea is to shock or shake the reader out of his reverie and cause him to take notice of your ad. Most of the headlines you see day in and day out, have a certain sameness with just the words rearranged. The reader may see these headlines with his eyes, but his brain fails to focus on any of them because there’s nothing different or out of the ordinary to arrest his attention.

EXAMPLE OF COLLOQUIALISM: Are You Developing a POT BELLY?

Another attention-grabber kind of headline is the comparative priced magazine headline: Three For Only $3, Regularly $3 Each! Still another of the “tried and proven” kind of headlines is the specific question: Do You Suffer From These Symptoms. And of course, if you offer a strong guarantee, you should say so in your headline: Your Money Refunded, If You Don’t Make $100,00 Your First Year.

How To headlines have a very strong basic appeal, but in some instances, they’re better used as book titles than advertising headlines. Who Else wants in on the finer things – which your product or service presumably offers – is another approach with a very strong reader appeal. The psychology here being the need of everyone to belong to a group – complete with status and prestige motivations.

Whenever, and as often as you can possible work it in, you should use the word “you” in your headline, and throughout your copy. After all, your ad should be directed to “one” person, and the person reading your ad wants to feel that you’re talking to him personally, not everyone who lives on his street.

Personalize, and be specific! You can throw the teachings of your English teachers out the window, and the rules of “third person, singular” or whatever else tends to inhibit your writing. Whenever you sit down to write advertising copy intended to pull the orders – sell the product – you should picture yourself in a one-on-one situation and “talk” to your reader just as if you were sitting across from him at your dining room table. Say what you mean, and sell HIM on the product your offering. Be specific and ask him if these are the things that bother him – are these the things he wants – and he’s the one you want to buy the product…

The layout you devise for your ad, or the frame you build around it, should also command attention. Either make it so spectacular that it stands out like lobster at a chili dinner, or so uncommonly simple that it catches the reader’s eye because of its very simplicity. It’s also important that you don’t get cute with a lot of unrelated graphics and artwork. Your ad should convey the feeling of excitement and movement, but should not tire the eyes or disrupt the flow of the message you are trying to present.

Any graphics or artwork you use should be relevant to your product, it’s use and/or the copy you have written about it. Graphics should not be used as artistic touches, or to create an atmosphere. Any illustrations with your ad should compliment the selling of your product, and prove or substantiate specific points in your copy.

Once you have your reader’s attention, the only way you are going to keep it, is by quickly and emphatically telling him what your product will do for him.

Your potential buyer doesn’t care in the least how long it’s taken you to produce the product, how lone you have been in business, nor how many years you’ve spend learning your craft. He wants to know specifically how he is going to benefit form the purchase of your product.

Generally, his wants will fall into one of the following categories: Better health, more comfort, more money, more leisure time, more popularity, greater beauty, success and/or security.

Even though you have your reader’s attention, you must follow through with an enumeration of the benefits you can gain. In essence, you must reiterate the advantages, comfort and happiness he’ll enjoy – as you have implied in your headline.

Mentally picture your prospect – determine his wants and emotional needs – put yourself in his shoes, and ask yourself: If I were reading this ad, what are the things that would appeal to me? Write your copy to appeal to your reader’s wants and emotional needs/ego cravings.

Remember, it’s not the “safety features” that have sold cars for the past 50 years – nor has it been the need of transportation – it has been, and almost certainly always will be the advertising writer’s recognition of people’s wants and emotional needs/ego cravings. Visualize your prospect, recognize his wants and satisfy them. Writing good advertising copy is nothing more or less than knowing “who” your buyers are; recognizing what he wants; and then telling him how your product will fulfill each of those wants. Remember this because it’s one of the “vitally important” keys to writing advertising copy that does the job you intend for it to do.

The “desire” portion of your ad is where you present the facts of your product; create and justify your prospect’s conviction, and cause him to demand “a piece of the action” for himself.

It’s vitally necessary that you present “proven facts” about your product because survey results show that at least 80% of the people reading your ad – especially those reading it for the first time – will tend to question its authenticity.

So, the more facts you can present in the ad, the more credible your offer. As you write this part of your ad, always remember that the more facts about the product you present, the more product you’ll sell. People want facts as reasons, and/or excuses for buying a product – to justify to themselves and others, that they have not been “taken” by a slick copywriter.

It’s like the girl who wants to marry the guy her father calls a “no good bum.” Her heart – her emotions – tell her yes, but she needs to nullify the seed of doubt lingering in her mind – to rationalize her decision to go on with the wedding.

In other words, the “desire” portion of your ad has to build belief and credibility in the mind of your prospect. It has to assure him of his good judgment in the final decision to buy – furnish evidence of the benefits you have promised – and afford him a “safety net” in case anyone should question his decision to buy.

People tend to believe the things that appeal to their individual desires, fears and other emotions. Once you have established a belief in this manner, logic and reasoning are used to support it. People believe what they “want” to believe. Your reader “wants” to believe your ad if he has read it through this far – it is up to you to support his initial desire.

Study your product and everything about it – visualize the wants of your prospective buyers – dig up the facts, and you’ll almost always find plenty of facts to support the buyer’s reasons for buying.

Here is where you use results of tests conducted, growing sales figures to prove increasing popularity, and “user” testimonials or endorsements. It’s also important that you present these facts – test results, sales view, and not that of the manufacturer.

Before you end this portion of your ad and get into your demand for action, summarize everything you’ve presented thus far. Draw a mental picture for your potential buyer. Let him imagine owning the product. Induce him to visualize all of the benefits you have promised. Give him the keys to seeing himself richer, enjoying luxury, having time to do whatever he would like to do, and with all of his dreams fulfilled.

This can be handled in one or two sentences, or spelled out in a paragraph or more, but it is the absolute ingredient you must include prior to closing the sale. Study all the sales presentations you have ever heard – look at every winning ad – this is the element included in all of them that actually makes the sale for you. Remember it, use it, and don’t try to sell anything without it.

As Victor Schwab puts is so succinctly in his best selling book, How To Write A Good Advertisement: Every one of the fundamentals in the “master formula” is necessary. Those sitting across from him at your dining people who are “easy” to sell may perhaps be sold even if some of these factors are left out, but it’s wiser to plan your advertisement so that it will have a powerful impact upon those who are “hardest” to sell. For, unlike fact-to-face selling, we cannot in printed advertising come to a “trial close” in our sales talk – in order to see if those who are easier to sell will welcome the dotted line without further persuasion. We must assume that we are talking to the hardest ones – and that the more thoroughly our copy sells both the hard and the easy, the better chance we have against the competition for the consumer’s dollar – and also the less dependent we will be upon the usual completely ineffective follow through on our advertising effort which later takes place at the sales counter itself.

ASK FOR ACTION! DEMAND THE MONEY!

Lots of ads are beautiful, almost perfectly written, and quite convincing – yet they fail to ask for or demand action form the reader. If you want the reader to have your product, then tell him so and demand that he send his money now. Unless you enjoy entertaining your prospects with your beautiful writing skills, always demand that he complete the sale now, by taking action now – by calling a telephone number and ordering, or by writing his check and rushing it to the post office.

Once you have got him on the hook, land him! Don’t let him get away!

Probably, one of the most common and best methods of moving the reader to act now, is written in some form of the following:

All of this can be yours! You can start enjoying this new way of life immediately, simply by sending a check for $XX! Don’t put it off, then later wish you had gotten in on the ground floor! Make out that check now, and “be IN on the ground floor!” Act now, and as an “early-bird” buyer, we’ll include a big bonus package – absolutely free, simply for acting immediately! You win all the way! We take all the risk! If you are not satisfied, simply return the product and we will quickly refund your money! Do it now! Get that check on its way to us today, and receive the big bonus package! After next week, we won’t be able to include the bonus as a part of this fantastic deal, so act now! The sooner you act, you more you win!

Offering a reward of some kind will almost always stimulate the prospect to take action. However, in mentioning the reward or bonus, be very careful that you don’t end up receiving primarily, requests for the bonus with mountains of requests for refunds on the product to follow. The bonus should be mentioned only casually if you are asking for product orders; and with lots of fanfare only when you are seeking inquiries.

Too often the copywriter, in his enthusiasm to pull in a record number of responses, confuses the reader by “forgetting about the product,” and devoting his entire space allotted for the “demand for action” to sending for the bonus. Any reward offered should be closely related to the product, and a bonus offered only for immediate action on the part of the potential buyer.

Specify a time limit. Tell your prospect that he must act within a certain time limit or lose out on the bonus, face probably higher prices, or even the withdrawal of your offer. This is always a good hook to get action.

Any kind of guarantee you offer always helps you produce action from the prospect. And the more liberal you can make your guarantee, the more product orders you will receive. Be sure you state the guarantee clearly and simply. Make it so easy to understand that even a child would not misinterpret what you are saying.

The action you want your prospect to take should be easy – clearly stated – and devoid of any complicated procedural steps on his part, or numerous directions for him to follow.

Picture your prospect, very comfortable in his favorite easy chair, idly flipping through a magazine while “half-watching” TV. He notices your ad, reads through it, and he is sold on your product. Now what does he do?

Remember, he’s very comfortable – you have “grabbed” his attention, sparked his interest, painted a picture of him enjoying a new kind of satisfaction, and he is ready to buy…

Anything and everything you ask or cause him to do is going to disrupt this aura of comfort and contentment. Whatever he must do had better be simple, quick and easy!

Tell him without any ifs, ands or buts, what to do – fill out the coupon, include your check for the full amount, and send it in to us today! Make it as easy for him as you possibly can – simply and dirert. And by all means, make sure your address is on the order form he is supposed to complete and mail in to you – your name and address on the order form, as well as just above it. People sometimes fill out a coupon, tear it off, seal it in an envelope and don’t know where to send it. The easier you make it for him to respond, the more responses you’ll get!

There you have it, a complete short course on how to write ads that will pull more orders for you – sell more of your product for you. It’s important to learn “why” ads are written as they are – to understand and use, the “master formula” in your own ad writing endeavors.

By conscientiously studying good advertising copy, and practice in writing ads of your own, now that you have the knowledge and understand what makes advertising copy work, you should be able to quickly develop your copywriting abilities to produce order-pulling ads for your own products. Even so, and once you do become proficient in writing ads for your own products, you must never stop “noticing” how ads are written, designed and put together by other people. To stop learning would be comparable to shutting off from the rest of the world.

The best ad writers are people in touch with the world in which they live. Everytime they see a good ad, they clip it out and save it. Regularly, they pull what makes them good, and why they work. There’s no school in the country that can give you the same kind of education and expertise so necessary in the field of ad writing. You must keep yourself up-to-date, aware of, and in-the-know about the other guy – his innovations, style, changes, and the methods he is using to sell his products. On-the-job training – study and practice – that’s what it takes – and if you have got that burning ambition to succeed, you can do it too!

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. WHAT’S THE MOST PROFITABLE WAY TO USE CLASSIFIEDS…

Classifieds are best used to build your mailing list of qualified prospects. Use classified to offer a free catalog, booklet or report relative to your product line.

2. WHAT CAN YOU SELL “DIRECTLY” FROM CLASSIFIEDS…

Generally, anything and everything, so long as it doesn’t cost more than five dollars which is about the most people will pay in response to an offer in the classifieds. These types of ads are great for pulling inquiries such as: Write for further information; Send $3, get two for the price of one; Dealers wanted, send for product info and a real money-maker’s kit!

3. WHAT ARE THE BEST MONTHS OF THE YEAR TO ADVERTISE…

All twelve months of the year! Responses to your ads during some months will be slower in accumulating, but by keying your ads according to the month they appear, and a careful tabulation of your returns from each keyed ad, you will see that steady year round advertising will continue to pull orders for you, regardless of the month it’s published. I’ve personally received inquiries and orders from ads placed as long as 2 years previous to the date of the response!

4. ARE MAIL ORDER PUBLICATIONS GOOD ADVERTISING BUYS…

The lease effective are the ad sheets. Most of the ads in these publications are “exchange ads,” meaning that the publisher of ad sheet “A” runs the ads of publisher “B” without charge, because publisher “B” is running the ads of publisher “A” without charge. The “claimed” circulation figures of these publications are almost always based on “wishes, hopes and wants” while the “true” circulation goes out to similar small, part-time mail order dealers. Very poor medium for investing advertising dollars because everybody receiving a copy is a “seller” and nobody is buying. When an ad sheet is received by someone not involved in mail order, it is usually given a cursory glance and then discarded as “junk mail.”

Tabloid newspapers are slightly better than the ad sheets, but not by much! The important difference with the tabloids is in the “helpful information” articles they try to carry for the mail order beginner. A “fair media” for recruiting dealers or independent sales reps for mail order products, and for renting mailing lists, but still circulated amongst “sellers” with very few buyers. Besides that, the life of a mail order tab sheet is about the same as that of your daily newspaper.

With mail order magazines, it depends on the quality of the publication and its business concepts. Some mail order magazines are nothing more than expanded ad sheets, while others – such as BOOK BUSINESS MART – strive to help the opportunity seekers with on-going advice and tips he can use in the development and growth of his own wealth-building projects. Book Business Mart is not just the fastest growing publication in the mail order scene today; it’s also the first publication in more than 20 years to offer real help anyone can use in achieving his own version of “The American Dream” of building one’s own business form a “shoestring beginning” into a multi-million dollar empire!

5. HOW CAN I DECIDE WHERE TO ADVERTISE MY PRODUCT…

First of all, you have to determine who your prospective buyers are. Then you do a little bit of market research. Talk to your friends, neighbors and people at random who might fit this profile. Ask them if they would be interested in a product such as yours, and then ask them which publications they read. Next, go to your public library for a listing of the publications of this type from the Standard Rate & Data Service catalogs.

Make a list of the addresses, circulation figures, reader demographics and advertising rates. To determine the true costs of your advertising and decide which is the better buy, divide the total audited circulation figure into the cost for a one inch ad: $10 per inch with a publication showing 10,000 circulation would be 10,000 into $10 or 10¢ per thousand. Looking at the advertising rates for Book Business Mart, you would take 42,500 into $15 for an advertising rate of less that THREE TENTHS OF ONE CENT PER THOUSAND. Obviously, your best buy in this case would be Book Business Mart because of the lower cost per thousand.

Write and ask for sample copies of the magazines you have tentatively chosen to place your advertising in. Look over their advertising – be sure that they don’t or won’t put your ad in the “gutter” which is the inside column next to the binding. How many other mail order type ads are they carrying – you want to go with a publication that’s busy, not one that has only a few ads. The more ads in the publication, the better the response the advertisers are getting, or else they wouldn’t be investing their money in that publication.

To “properly” test your ad, you should let it run through at least three consecutive issues of any publication. If your responses are small, try a different publication. Then, if your responses are still small, look at your ad and think about rewriting it for greater appeal, and pulling power. In a great many instances, it’s the ad and not the publication’s pulling power that’s at fault!

Finding your “Niche”

When you are considering starting an online company, you want to make sure you find the right product. What do you want to sell. What is your passion. What subject or topic do you have a lot of knowledge about. Let me start by telling you that selling an information product online is easier than selling a service. But, selling a service online makes more money with monthly memberships.

Before you spend all your time working on a website and writing up eBooks, you want to be sure that your customers are going to be interested in what you are selling. Do your market research. Start by seeing how many competitors you have -this is a good sign. Read through newsgroups, discussion boards, and chat rooms and learn about your target market customer base. If you already have an email list, send them a survey to see what they are most interested in.

Most internet marketers preach that there are three reasons why a customer will want to buy your product. Your product has solved a problem for your customer. Your product has made life easier or more comfortable for your customer. You are very passionate about your product and it shows in everything you do.

When researching your niche, you may want to use www.Amazon.com and find the current top sellers. Find out what people are reading about. You will want to research keywords with keyword tools such as www.wordtracker.com. You need to discover which keywords are being searched for frequently.

Doing a little poking around your competitors sites isn’t a bad idea. This is one way to come up with ideas on what would make your company different or better. Take a look at their traffic rankings and their related links. By analyzing this information, you can see how many visitors they have each day and how profitable their company is.

Once you find your passion, ask yourself does this serve my customers. You want to provide an excellent service to each and every person that spends their money with you. This cuts down on complaints, bad reputations, and, worse of all, chargeback’s.

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Advertising 101 For Entrepreneurs

Now that weve covered the approach youre going to take in your ads lets take a look at Aspects of the Approach. These are actually subsections that needed a place to live, but dont tell anyone.

Tone & Personality:
You have to make a decision about your ad relating to its tone and personality. What disposition/character/behavior/or attitude is going to be the most effective?

Now tone is the undercurrent of your ad or the mood. Personality is the make-up of the ads character. Its important to think about this because some advertisers ignore it and when they pull the pieces together (picture, copy, etc) the ad doesnt project anything.

For instance think of the grabber line being, Big budget delivers big results. Hmm? Just as money cant solve all social ills, big budgets dont automatically create inventive advertising. Many times weve seen an enormous budget plus a rotten idea = a huge failure. Yet, there are times when we see a small budget plus a first-rate idea = marvelous success. Be prepared to make do and still make it fantastic.

Break the Limits.
If you have a small ad, demonstrate that youre better than the space youre in. Remember the prospect doesnt care about the size of the ad, he only cares about what youre doing for him.

Turn Adversity Into Advantage.
If your client insists on showing woodchucks in his jewelry ad, turn out the best woodchuck jewelry ad ever. Youll get points for originality, and because its a zag youll probably get results.

Use Whats Already Available.
Before you spend a lot on photos and illustrations, look at what you have lying around. Its free.

Can the Approach Work?
Not to discourage free form thinking, but you should reject approaches that demand too much BLT (budget, labor, and time). Instead, prepare ads that require your talent and not months and bucks.

Frugality Makes You Timely.
The smaller the production budget, the sooner your ad can get in the market. This is the Rule of Thumb. The reason is because youre not relying on other resources. So, unchain your ads from expenses and move fast.

This is worthwhile because if economic conditions suddenly change (and they will), you can quickly respond with a new ad message that addresses the new economy. You might decide to say, Now more than ever, it pays to use our product. Youll again leave your competitors in the dust because theyre tied to expensive ads and long production timetables.

Watch Your Language.
Most people dont realize the power thats packed in language. One misused phrase can upset thousands of people, so keep you antennas up and use your judgment.

For instance, use nothing at the expense of a certain group. This will offend people. Instead, show that an ad can get results from scores of readers and a smile from every one of them.

Dont make fun of the prospect in a were just kidding way. Hes not paying much attention to your ad, so he wont get the subtle nuances of your wit only enough to be insulted.

If you can follow these hints you should be able to work out a cracker-jack ad for either yourself or a client. Next week well take a look at handling the media.
-30-
KNOW THE SCORE
by Maureen Stephenson

Advertising 101 By/For Entrepreneurs

When youre doing your ad, remember that you must use psychology. You must, and I mean MUST, make your prospect want your product more than anything they can think of and right NOW!

By the time they get through reading your ad, they should be panting to run out to your store or shove their check in an envelope and run to the mailbox.

Today Im going to give you some tips that will help you. First always remember that enticing, siren of advertising AIDA. Who is AIDA you ask? Well AIDA stands for,
A=Attention Grab your targets attention.
I=Interest Create curiosity
D=Detail Provide details
A=Action Call for action

If you have AIDA before you every time you start to do an ad, youll never fail. The most important point is the call to action. Youd be surprised at the number of sales that are lost because the client is never asked to order now, try it for 30 days, fill out the coupon – or whatever you use to make your client take action.

Here are some advertising pearls that will keep you on the beam:

Force yourself to operate under deadlines. When you start buying advertising space youll have to meet deadlines so get used to them.
A good headline answers the question WIIFM (Whats In It For Me)?
A customer who buys from you two times is twice as likely to buy as a customer that only buys from you once.
If youve got a good product, a good, liberal, strong guarantee should go with it and will increase your sales. The amount of returns/refunds you get will be insignificant compared to the increase in sales.
The more your sales letter looks like a personal letter, the better it will work.
Remember the 40-40-20 rule for using direct mail. It breaks your success in three ways: 40% of you success is using the right list, another 40% is having the right offer, and 20% is everything else (copy, format, graphics, paper, etc.).
In advertising it is better to offer a Free Bonus than to offer a discount.
Direct mail advertising statistics show that mail delivered on Saturdays and Mondays get the poorest response. Best days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday-and in that order.
Use testimonials in your ad and put them before the call to action and after the details about your widget.
Buy 1 get 1 FREE always out-pulls 2 for the price of 1.
Nothing is more powerful than goodwill except ill will. If a client is dissatisfied, make good and make it fast.
Always make your customer feel like theyre the most important customer you have, and theyll keep buying from you and not your competitor.
If you want to mail an ad for your business to prospects, research mailing lists on the Internet at:  HYPERLINK “http://www.edithroman.com”
www.edithroman.com Youll have access to virtually every direct response mailing lists in the U.S.
Sales copy can never be too long, it can only be boring.
You can increase your response rate from a mailing if you add a post-it note on your sales letter. You can say something like, Only for the month of June, or Reply before 6/30 to get the discount.
The best way to keep tabs on your competition is to become their customer and see how youre treated.
In Direct Marketing (which ads by mail are called) there are only two rules: Rule #1: Test everything. Rule #2: See Rule #1
Ad copy type-set in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS is harder to read than all lowercase of Mixed Case.
Repeat your offer and guarantee on your order form.
Whenever possible, give your customers an extra added and unexpected bonus or gift along with the order to show your appreciation.
There are only three ways to grow your business: (1) increase the number of customers; (2) increase your average dollars per sale; (3) increase the frequency you do business with your customer. Always remember, turn-over may feed your ego, but it wont feed your family.
The more you treat your clients as friends, the more likely theyll talk about you and do more business with you.
Dont ever let a Holiday come and go without offering your current customers a special deal in an ad. Use the event as the hook for the ad, and if you research the subject youll find theres a holiday of some sort almost every month. Not just the big ones like Valentines Day or Easter, but use ones like Groundhogs Day, National Dairy Month, Boy Scouts Week, or whatever you can work into your product line.

Now that Ive introduced you to AIDA, and given you all these marketing pearls you should be able to compose an ad that will not only increase your presence in the marketplace, but also bring you more clients, business, and profits.

-30-

KNOW THE SCORE
by Maureen Stephenson

Image, Timesaving and Cash Saving Tips

Since entrepreneurs are wearing all the hats in their business, every little shortcut or tip that makes life easier is always welcome. Let me share some been there-done that information with you to make your business life a little easier.

Office furnishings and decorations say a great deal about you, so to convey the image you want to convey pay attention to these:

Furniture Arrangement: Setting your desk in the middle of the floor with chairs facing it conveys a formal atmosphere. It conveys to your clients that you want to maintain a distance from visitors. Instead, place your desk against a wall (not facing it) to convey confidence.
Messy Desks: A small amount of messiness implies comfort and friendliness, but too much clutter makes visitors think you dont care about making a good impression on anyone. The opposite extreme, an immaculate desk conveys coldness and could be perceived as you not having enough work to do.
Decorations: Plants, drapes, and artwork will convey a comfortable, relaxed attitude. Books and artwork express your sincerity.
Awards & Certificates: If job-related, they reassure visitors that you are experienced and competent.

Planning is essential for the entrepreneur, and all you need is 30 minutes to plan your entire week if you use the OATS formula.
Objectives: What results do you want to have by week end? Write them down and rank them.
Activities: List the necessary activities you must do to achieve your goals, and rank them.
Time: How much time will each activity require? Plan realistically allowing more time than you think youll need to compensate for unexpected problems.
Schedule: Look at your calendar and decide when you can do each activity. Most people underestimate the power of a schedule, but you wont accomplish anything if you dont schedule the time.

Underlining reading material is another great timesaver. With the mountains of material entrepreneurs must read to keep abreast of their niche, being able to find it again when you need it is essential. After youve read the article/book/paper/report, then go back and underline the important information so you can find it again easily. The reason for underlining after you has read it. is because most of us underline too many words before weve finished the passage and understand the key points. Wait until youve finished an entire section or chapter, then go back and highlight key points.

Returning phone calls is another time-stealer for entrepreneurs. Time-management experts recommend setting aside an hour a day to make and return your phone calls. But which hour do you choose? The best times of day are the first two hours of the morning or the last two hours of the afternoon. Those are the times when most people are in the office and accessible.

Do you think business is doing better because of your optimistic attitude? I would think so. However many management experts are now saying that pessimists make better managers. Why? Because theyre always thinking of what could go wrong and are coming up with solutions to problems in case the worst happens. My suggestion is not to toss your optimism away, Ive found it very helpful some days, instead force yourself to write down everything that could go wrong with a new project, ideas, or employees. (Remember Murphys Law Whatever can go wrong, will.) Personally, I think Murphy was an optimist! My advice is to be optimistic but be prepared. Once you do this youll naturally be prepared with solutions if disaster does strike.

In this present age of computers and time-saving gadgets, we are at times prone to purchasing the latest thing that promises to save us some work. When it comes to purchasing software, a good question to ask yourself is: Is it better than a pencil? The answer will help you decide if the expense is really justified. Keep in mind that computers are supposed to make your work easier and faster.

For the entrepreneur that travels overseas often, consider registering your handprint with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and obtaining an INSPASS card. Its not exactly Star Trek technology, but its close. With the card, all you have to do is slide it through a machine, press your hand against a screen, and slip on through bypassing the lines. For information wit to: INSPASS, P.O. Box 2010, Newark, NJ 07114-2010

Want to impress your clients with Broadway shows? Call the Actors Fund of America and ask for Fund Tix, 212-221-7300. The tickets are double the price, but half goes to charity (tax write off) and the seats are great.

Are there days when you want to give up? Is your family telling you youre too old to try something new? Well age isnt always a factor in your success or failure. Consider these famous examples:

Actor George Burns won his first Oscar at age 80.
Golda Meir was 71 when she became prime minister of Israel.
At 96, playwright George Bernard Shaw broke his leg falling out of a tree he was trimming in his backyard.
Painter Grandma Moses didnt start painting until she was 80 years old. She completed more than 1,500 paintings after that; 25% of those were produced when she was past 100.
Michelangelo was 71 when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
Albert Schweitzer was still performing operations in his African hospital at 89.
Doc Counsilman, at 58, became the oldest person ever to swim the English Channel.
S. I. Hayakawa retired as president of San Francisco State University at 70, and then was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Casey Stengel didnt retire from managing the New York Mets until he was 75.

Entrepreneurs often have crazy ideas for making money and giving good customer service. The next one you have, remember the story of Phil Romano the founder of Fuddruckers the national hamburger chain. He once owned a small, out-of-the-way Italian restaurant called Macaronis. He packed the place every Monday and Tuesday nights, a time when most restaurants struggle to keep their doors open. How? Apart from the obvious fact that Macaronis served good food, Romano had a gimmick based on the old Psych 101 principle, Random rewards beget regular behavior.

If you happened to be dining there on a randomly chosen Monday or Tuesday night, you and the other 200 customers received a letter instead of a bill at the end of the meal. The letter stated that because the Macaroni mission was to make you feel like guests, it seemed awkward to charge guests for having a good time. So, once each month on a Monday or Tuesday, and always unannounced, everyone would eat free.

What did it cost Romano? One night comped out of 30 reduces his revenues by 3.3%, but he has a full house on 8 nights a month when the place would normally be empty. Word-of-mouth testimonials are one of the most effective forms of advertising, and in one fell swoop Romano got a couple hundred tongues wagging.

Remember what Goethe said; Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
-30-

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How to Start Your Own Home Newspaper Clipping Service

Information is power!

Yes, information is power. And Now you can plug into that power with
your own newspaper clipping service!

Newspaper clipping is a very lucrative business, and it’s growing in
demand and popularity. Thousands of people in all parts of the world are
making hundreds of dollars each week, just reading and clipping news items
in the privacy of their own homes. The good news is that there is still
plenty or room for you to carve out your own niche and cash in on this
excellent work-at-home opportunity. Your success and income will be
limited only by your desire to work hard and succeed.

In this so called “Age of Information” we live in, individual people,
government agencies, and private corporations have an almost unlimited need
for news and information about the topics that affect their daily lives and
transactions.

Information is truly power, and especially for businesses, the more
information they have, the better off they are. That means they will pay
to get their hands on any tidbit that will help them do their jobs better.

You can take advantage of this need and make your way into the
exploding world of information management, and, best of all, you can make
an excellent income with a minimum investment.

What is a newspaper clipping service?

Many of you may harbor some misunderstanding about just what a press
clipping business is all about. If you explain to friends or neighbors that
you operate a press clipping business, most of them will think you pore
through obituaries, funeral notices and wedding announcements, and then
clip these and send them to friends and relatives for a fee.

In reality, very few people make a living with this type of service
these days. Successful press clipping services have contracts with
companies and organizations that want to keep current on any number of
matters reported in the papers.

Some companies hire clipping services to keep track of what their
competitors are doing. Other companies, including businesses of all kinds,
use clipping services as a means of locating sales leads and new customers.
National magazines and newspapers are always in need of different or
interesting material, and frequently employ home-based clipping services.

Many government agencies also have a great need for information about
the tasks they need to perform. For example, most agricultural states have
an agency whose job is to encourage proper soil and water conservation. In
Minnesota, for example, the Board of Water and Soil Resources is charged
with making sure the thousands of farmers in its state are practicing
proper conservation tillage and other land preservation practices.

The Board of Water and Soil Resources has a great interest in any kind of
information that relates to soil conservation or water pollution. In a
local small-town paper prints a story, for example, about a local farmer
who has achieved great success in growing crops while reducing his use of
chemical pesticides and herbicide, this would be an excellent item to clip
for the Board’s information and public relations efforts.

What you need to get started

To set yourself up in this kind of business, you’ll need only a pair
of scissors and as many different newspapers and magazines that you can
subscribe to. A visit to your local public library will be very informative
about the many kinds of publications – both newspapers and magazines – that
are on the market.

You can reduce your costs by borrowing or trading used and unwanted
newspapers and magazines from everyone you know. You might also ask the
library to let you have any documents they would otherwise throw out or
place in the recycling bin.

You should also visit your local wholesale paper house, or make a deal
with the local stationary store to buy labels at a discount price. You’ll
want to attach these labels to the top of each clipping you send to your
clients. On these labels, you’ll want to print the name of the publication
the clippings came from, the date it appeared, as well as your name and
address.

The next step is simply to start clipping articles that mention or
talk about specific companies or people. File your clippings in envelopes
or boxes according to industries or types of businesses, by company name
and also according to the names of the people mentioned.

Once you have ten or more clippings that talk about a particular
company or person, put them in an envelope and send them to that company’s
owner or public relations director. You should include a short letter with
the clippings explaining your service and fees. One the next page is a
letter format you can use for your own business:

Jan. 1, 1993

Public Relations Director
ABC Corporation
P.O. Box 123
City, State, Zip

Dear Person:

Enclosed you will find several newspaper and magazines clippings that may
have direct and important relevance to your business and customers.

As an experienced information researcher, I can supply your company with
articles that may contain information on how to better serve your customers, improve your products or service, or help you keep abreast of what your competitors are doing.

I’m sure you will find this service invaluable. My monthly fee is $50. If
you do not find this amount acceptable, please feel free to call me and
I’ll negotiate a fair price with you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon and discussing my service in
greater detail.

Sincerely,

Your name
Address
Phone number

You should try to get your clients to agree to pay you a monthly
“reader’s fee” for which you agree to look for anything in the newspaper
about him or his company or industry. Every time you spot an article, you
clip it, and send it to your client. A minimum monthly reader’s fee is
usually $25, but it can vary according to the number of publications you
read and the number of clippings found.

What earnings are possible?

Generally, a clipping service that scans statewide publications charge
about $50 per client, or $100 per client for those who want clippings from
national publications. These fees are monthly, and you can easily see how
you could make very good money with just 20 or 25 clients.

To promote and build your business, you can scan your local business
services directory and send out a solicitation letter to each of those
listed. A couple of days after you’ve posted your sales letter, you should
follow up with a phone call.

A short, to-the-point ad under “Business Personals” in your daily
newspaper will also bring in new clients for you. As soon as you can
afford it, go with at least a small display ad in the yellow pages of your
telephone directory.

You should definitely contact public relations firms, advertising
agencies and civic organizations in your area. Explain your service and ask them if they have
any special clients or needs you can help them with. You’ll find many of
your local political and “cause” groups very interested in receiving
clippings about their opponents.

Clipping services in one form or another have been around since the
advent of the printing press, and they are more in demand in our modern
“Age of Information” than ever before. It is certainly the kind of
business anyone who knows how to read can set up and operate with an
absolute minimum investment.

The ultimate success of the business will depend on your drive and
tenacity, your willingness to work hard and make your service the best and
most valuable it can be.

One last bit of advice:

Once you land your first client, that business or agency can lead to
more customers for your service. After you have worked with a certain
company for three or four months, ask them for a recommendation, or an
evaluation of your service. Here is a letter format you can use:

Jan. 1, 1993

Public Relations Director
ABC Corporation
123 4th Street
City, State Zip

Dear Person:

I am writing to ask a favor of you. You have been using my clip service
for three months now. I would appreciate it if you could give me a frank
evaluation of the quality and value my service has provided to you business
and information needs.

Enclosed is a stamped, self addressed envelope for your reply. I would
also like your permission to use your comments in brochures, ads or letters
used to market my newspaper clipping service.

Thank you your help, and I look forward to hearing how my service has
worked for you.

Sincerely,

Your Name

That’s it. You should really give this a try. A newspaper clipping
service is a great home business opportunity for just about anyone.

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How to Design your Web Site

When a customer visits your website, you have roughly ten seconds to capture their attention, so you better think carefully about what you want to include. Some websites go directly into the navigation and content of their websites on their first “index” page. Customers can surf around the site and decide if they want to buy the product or service. This is not really the wisest option available. Of course, every site does need the standard index page chock full of frequently asked questions, testimonials, order form, etc. But there is a better way to “capture” your visitors by using a squeeze. A squeeze page captures your audience with a screaming headline and brief key points about the customer’s problem and how you intend to solve it. Sometimes a squeeze page offers a free report or newsletter. Either way, all squeeze pages purpose is to retrieve the customers name and email address, or sometimes they ask the customer a burning question.

So what is the point in retrieving the customer’s name and email address? Have you heard of opt-in lists? An opt-in list is gold to an internet marketer because you can send your customers information which will hopefully attract the customer back to the website to either purchase a product or service being offered. Spamming is illegal and having a great opt-in list is really necessary to any Internet marketer. You can also use your list to make money as an affiliate with another company. You can send customers an email from the site you are promoting and make profits as an affiliate. This is a great way to earn extra income indeed.

Squeeze pages are sometimes the first page found on a website. Sometimes they are pop ups on the index page of a website. They are very crucial to any Internet marketer’s business.

21st Century Business Women

When the first generation of women entered the workforce in earnest in the 1970s, they succeeded in the only way they could – by imitating men. Authoritarian leadership and tight control was the hallmark of that day’s businessman, and women were not exactly welcomed into the ranks of management. Well ladies, that was yesterday, and today is today!

Forget what your mama or your boss told you, because following the rules can be bad for your career. Today’s CEO/entrepreneur can no longer tap his/her company’s full potential using a “command-and-control” style. The 21st century business woman needs to be able to build a vision based on the awareness of economic transformation, then help her partners and staff fulfill that vision. She must draw on a wide range of skills to get to the top and stay there. Following are 7 Key Characteristics that are essential:

1. Sell the Vision: A leader with a fresh, independent plan for her company’s growth and future has a distinct advantage in luring and keeping great talent and investors. Vision is not some lofty ideal, but an obtainable concept that is easy to understand and will make the company grow to another level.
2. Reinvent the Rules: While women have traditionally been socialized to please others, the 21st century leader knows that good girls rarely post great returns. The strong managers/owners today not only anticipate change, they create entirely new organizations that respond to shifts and search for innovation.
3. Achieve With A Laser Focus: Go where others fear to tread! Being aggressive and ambitious has long been considered male traits, but they are key qualities for new leaders. Today’s business woman has the ability to home in on opportunities that others may simply not see, and then excel in that uncharted territory.
4. Use High-Touch in a High-Tech Era: When a number of leaders are conducting business by e-mail, voice mail, passwords, and PINs, the female entrepreneur succeeds because she guides with a strong, personal, bed-side manner. Today’s business woman is just as technologically savvy as her peers, but her skill with staff and customers is “high-touch” which gives her a critical edge and separation from the “pack”.
5. Challenge or Opportunity? – Women are great at turning a challenge into an opportunity instead of using the “slash-and-burn” approach. They are able to make bold strokes, but they also win the cooperation of others in the organization in making any transformation a success.
6. A Customer Preference Obsession: In this information age which makes it easier to shop around for the best “whatever”, businesses must work harder to give people what they want before their competitors do. There is no substitute for spending time with clients to become expert at their businesses and learn their demands. Female leaders are almost intuitively adept in doing just that, and without the client even suspecting.
7. Courage Under Fire: Show me any career woman or female entrepreneur today that isn’t able to “stand-the-heat” in any tough-call situation. Their decision-making skills are rooted in a high level of confidence, because they’ve had to weather and surpass any and all “corporate” storms they’ve encountered over time.

It takes a certain mind-set and bravado for anyone to start their own business and succeed, but it’s even more difficult for a female entrepreneur. Let’s face it, ladies! We’ve always had to be twice-as-smart and twice-as-confident as any male counterpart in the corporate world. After all, if we can bear and raise the future generation, how can running a successful business scare us?

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Frugal Marketing for Entrepreneurs

How many e-mail messages do you send everyday? Youre probable missing out on a simple, inexpensive marketing tool. Seize the opportunity to promote your business to a highly targeted market without spending a dime by utilizing your e-mail signature line.

If your email signature line only contains your name and contact information, youre missing out on advertising to e-mail recipients that have opted for communications from you.

These people are key members of your unofficial marketing network. They are your prospects, clients, press contacts and colleagues and your signature line is the perfect, unobtrusive space for a unique promotional pitch.

Try these tactics to turn your sign-offs into sales:
Highlight what your company offers.
Offer an incentive for recipients taken a specified action.
Use the associated web address for the incentive, if its also on your site.
Give better visual positioning to the promotion rather than contact info.
Play with eye-catching fonts and colors.
Use less than 64 characters/line so that words dont wrap to a new line.
Write a signature for different categories of recipients.
Change your signature copy frequently.
Never miss a chance to get your product or company noticed.

Another thing that many entrepreneurs dont think about is the letters they send out. They are merely accepted as solving a problem or answering a need, when you can carry the e-mail idea over into every piece of mail you generate.

On the company letterhead simply add a line at the bottom of page 1. It could be a tag line of sorts made up of a slogan that brands your services or business. Try to come up with something unique so that every time its heard the prospect thinks of you.

Examples of this would be, Good to the last drop, which of course is Maxwell House Coffee. Finger-lickin good, which is KFC chicken, and so on. You get the message of what Im saying. Play around with this until you come up with a pearl that is uniquely you.

If your business/service does not lend itself to this idea, then focus on increasing your credibility by using a membership tag line. For instance a funeral home would be less than tasteful using the line, Our clients are dying to visit us; but they COULD use the line Members of Undertakers Assoc. of America at the foot of their letterhead. This establishes immediate credibility in the mind of the recipient, even if the letter they received was a direct mail advertising letter.

When youre an entrepreneur in todays marketplace you have to be inventive and creative to buck the big boys on the block. I suggest that every entrepreneur read about the life of P.T. Barnum to get a better understanding of a truly great entrepreneur.

It isnt always the almighty dollar that gets the best advertising for our business; its the best IDEA that makes you stand out in the crowd.

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491 words
Figuratively Speaking

I’m tired of reading those boring business articles, and I’m thinking that you might be too. So, as you read on, relax and put down the pad and pencil, and enjoy a few chuckles with me.

Some interesting trivia compiled by Clark Consulting has to do with that business giant, Donald Trump:
• Percentage of professionals surveyed who say it’d take more than the prize of $250,000 for them to intern for Trump was 38%
• Percentage who say that Donald himself couldn’t pay them enough to work for him was 27%

How well do you perform as a boss?
• Percentage of workers who would cover for their boss if he/she made a mistake was 46%
• Workers who wouldn’t cover for their boss was 45%
• Men who would cover for their boss was 51%, women was 40%

What do your workers think?
• Workers who say not asking for help when they need it is the biggest mistake when networking is 37%
• Not keeping in touch with contacts was thought to be the biggest mistake by 25%
• Not thanking people for their help was considered a mistake by 22%
• Percentage of workers who burned their bridges with past employers was 13%

How do we feel as Americans about work?
• Those who feel as though they live to work rather than work to live equals 34%
• Citizens who feel our culture places a higher value on success at work than success at home was 74%
• Those who felt that the American value of hard work and long hours has had a positive effect on our culture was 33%

How about the opinions of female workers?
• Percentage of women working for privately held businesses owned by women was 52%
• Women working for privately held men owned businesses was 38%

We owe those enlightening figures to the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, and from the Census Bureau we find that:
• In minutes, the average length of an American’s commute to work is 24.4
• The average commute in North Dakota, the state with the quickest drives to work, is 14.8 minutes.
• The percentage of Americans who drive to work is 77%
• Those who car pool is 10%
• Those who use public transportation is 5%

Now that you’re armed with all those figures and statistics, the next speech you give to your favorite organization can be peppered with some fascinating trivia.

This may not seem like a very valuable business articlee often forget in our zeal to be a success that there must be time made for laughs. Every once in a while we must remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.”

GET YOUR PRODUCT LISTED AND SOLD THROUGH
MILLIONS OF MAIL ORDER CATALOGS

An average mailing by a small, one person mail order company is
generally about a thousand pieces, and many such operators
rarely mail more than a hundred pieces per week. If you know
your conversion statistics, you know that the order return on
mailings is about 1% to 2% when using a rented list of names, up
to 5% or more when mailing to your own customer list.

Using those figures, the response rate would be about 2 orders
from a mailing of 100 when using a cold list, and about 5 to 10
orders when mailing to your own customer list for each 100
pieces mailed.

Contrast this to a major catalog mailing house such as Miles
Kimball, Hanover House, Lillian Vernon, Johnson-Smith or L.L.
Bean, each of whom might consider a mailing of six million
pieces a month or every few months.

Keep in mind that these are catalog merchandisers – mass
mailers, not manufacturers. Not publishers. Mailers!

They BUY what they sell from somebody. It could be from you!

WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?

Catalog houses are owned and operated by extremely sharp people
and they are highly selective in the products they choose for
inclusion in their catalogs, so to even be considered, your
product must pass some pretty rigid tests:

1. Since some catalog companies specialize in a certain type of
merchandise, they will choose only what they think their
customers will buy.

2. Virtually all of them will want to test-market a product
(possibly only a hundred or so) before making a complete catalog
mailing. If the test shows promise, they will purchase a large
quantity (1,000 to 5,000 or more) for their roll-out mailings…
and continue to purchase such quantities as long as the product
continues to sell.

3. Catalog mailers want to deal as close to the original source
as possible, such as inventor, the patent owner, copyright
holder, manufacturer or publisher. The reason for this is simply
that these are people who can offer them the largest discount on
quantity purchases. If you are merely one of many dealers who
had to purchase the product from a wholesaler who purchased from
a distributor, who purchased the product from the manufacturer,
you would not be in a position to offer the lowest price to the
catalog company.

4. The item in question should be new and unique, not something
that’s been around for years. Naturally, it should be a good
mail order item.

HOW YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR ACCEPTANCE

First and foremost, you must look and act the part of an
established, professionally operated business. This means you
must have printed stationery with a company name that coincides
with the products you are offering, and all correspondence must
be typewritten.

If that seems trite and elementary, you would be surprised to
see how many companies receive scribbled hand written notes on
ruled paper with wording such as “I would like you to include my
product in your catalog.” Sorry, it just doesn’t work like that.

Even if you are not the actual inventor or manufacturer of the
product you are selling, you can qualify to have it included in
a large mailers’ catalog where everyone can profit from it.
Imports are very popular catalog sellers, for instance, so if
you locate a new item from overseas, you can arrange to become
the U.S. distributor. Yes, it means a sizable investment for
stocking inventory, but if you have faith in what you plan to
sell, it should be worth investing in.

Before offering it to any catalog mailer, however, it would be
in your best interest to test-market the item yourself. You
certainly don’t want to offer a “loser” to a major catalog
mailer. You’ll want to be sure this is something that will sell,
so everybody is happy with the deal. Perhaps even more
importantly, it will bond your relationship with the catalog
companies and they will be eager to do business with you the
next time you come up with a new product.

PRICING YOUR PRODUCT

This is crucial. A price that’s too high means it will not be
accepted; priced too low and you will not make a profit – no
matter how many are sold.

Keep in mind that some catalog mailers specialize in low priced
($10 or less) items, while others have geared their sales to the
higher bracket of $50 or more. When making a list of catalog
houses to approach, check their catalogs for prices of their
current merchandise.

There are three basic levels of retail prices:

1. The pre-established price by owner or manufacturer

2. Actual dollar value based on production costs

3. Perceived value by prospective buyers

If you are not the primary source for your product, the
manufacturer may have already set the retail price along with
distributor and wholesale discounts, so you will have to work
those figures in any deals made with catalog companies.

Assuming you have pricing control (granted by the original
source, or you are the originator) you can set the retail price
according to the production costs which can be a 5-to-1 or 10-1
ratio. If the item costs $1 to make, you can set a retail price
of $5 or $10 on it, depending on what you think it is worth to
the consumer.

SIMPLIFY YOUR PRICE STRUCTURE TO COMPANIES

The most common price structures are usually set in various
quantities like dozen or gross; or, 100, 500, 1,000, etc. Don’t
use these price structures when trying to interest catalog
companies in your product. Right from the start, give them your
rock bottom lowest possible price.

For examples, if your usual prices are:

100 @ $4.50; 500 @ $3.75; 1000 @ $2.75 and 5,000 @ $1.95

give them your 5,000 quantity price no matter how many they
order for their original test. Even if they only want 100 for
testing, give them your $1.95 price – but be sure to tell them
this is your lowest price that is for regular 5,000 quantity
purchases, so they know they’re getting the good deal.

TIME TO CREATE YOUR PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE

Company buyers are busy people, so you’ll want to make your
presentation quickly, clearly, and distinctly, eliminating all
fluff and extraneous material or wording that might tend to bog
things down.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Descriptive folder or flyer about the product (Information sheet)

Glossy photo of the product

Possible advertising copy (although they will probably re-write
it)

Terms of your sale, including freight charges

Brief cover letter

(Optional) Sample of your product IF it is small, light weight,
inexpensive, and if you think it will impress the company.

Send this mailing package via First Class Mail!

How many of these promotional packages should you mail? Only you
can answer that question, but here’s a tip: Don’t expect only 10
or 12 to produce much response for your product. It might
require 50 to 100 or even 500 such mailings before you begin to
see worthwhile results. Of course, a lot depends on the product
itself and whether it is for the general public or restricted to
a more selective audience.

Whenever possible, try to determine what type of merchandise
each catalog house offers before sending them your offer. If
they cater only to men and your product will be used primarily
by women, why waste time and money? The same would apply to a
low priced item such as $5 offered to a catalog house whose
clientele happened to be sophisticated or wealthy people
accustomed to buying merchandise in the hundreds of dollars.
Match your product with the catalog company’s line as closely as
possible.

HANDLING THE BUSINESS

If your product is a good one and if you have made a good
impression in your promotional materials, sooner or later you
will get an order for a trial quantity.

Fill the order promptly. Use sturdy boxes and have your own
shipping label (printed with your company name & address) on
each carton, typing the catalog company’s name and address with
the customer’s shipping number above the name.

SELLING ON CREDIT

Unlike the conventional mail order business, selling to catalog
houses is not a cash-with-order type of operation. It’s
conducted on credit, so you’ll need invoices to send to your
customer after shipment has been made. There are a few
variations of credit terms, but the best for you will be
“Payment due EOM or 2% discount within 10 days. “EOM” means end
of the month following the date of shipment.

Use your best judgment whether you will ship prepaid or bill
your customer for the shipping charges.

HERE’S A FINAL TIP

If you can get some free publicity for your product along the
way, it can help you reach catalog houses in addition to
bringing you additional sales.

Check magazines that are read by the type of people who will use
your product and look for departments such as “New Products.”
Many magazines carry such a department under different titles.

Send a publicity package to the editors which will include the
glossy photo of your product, News Release that tells who will
be interested in the product and why, and a brief cover letter.

If you get a few magazines to accept your offer, they will give
you a mention in their New Products department. This will in
turn bring you a few or a few hundred orders, depending on the
circulation of the magazines and how much demand there might be
for your product.

More importantly, it can link you up with some catalog houses.
They often scan magazines looking for new products to be
featured in their catalogs. Thus, instead of you contacting
them… they will contact you.

The end result is that it can bring you many retail orders as
well as attract a few catalog house buyers who will ultimately
sell your product in their catalogs.

If each catalog house mails 10 million catalogs a year, and your
product is featured inside, I shouldn’t have to tell you how
many products can be sold this way. Better stock up now!