Author: JT

In the time poor world we now live in, people don’t read ads … they scan them. So it’s important you nail these four components:

1. VISIBILITY: The unconscious eye is attracted to ads by these four factors: ad shape (rectangular ads which are taller than they are wide are best for guerrillas), colour, graphics, and of course, headlines.

2. READABILITY: Scanning begins at the top left of an ad, continues through the middle, and stops at the bottom right – a ‘Z’ formation. Check out our YouTube video on this:

3. THEME: You have but three seconds to impart your message, so use subheadings, underlining, bold, or something to emphasise the essential words along the scan motion from top left to bottom right.

4. STATS: Now, convert attention into a buying decision with you logo, unique selling proposition, business name and any other statistics a reader may need to be transformed into a customer.

If you create your ad contrary to scan motion, the reading of your ad will require additional time and energy, increasing the likelihood of the ad being ignored.

I am receiving more and more email marketing and quite frankly, I have no idea how people get my email address. And to be honest, if they were educating me, I would have no issue but when they are just trying to flog me products, I get really upset.

One of the emails I got last month was from Hubspot and they started their email by saying this: ‘It’s pretty easy to identify bad milk; but what about bad email lists?’

They had my attention and they identified the following 5 questions to ask when you upload a list. This is very different to a list that is created by people who subscribe to your e-news, marketing, etc.

1. Does everybody on this list have a prior relationship with your business?

Yes? Move on to the next question.

No? Get rid of the list – the recipients will consider this spam.

2. Do you have an unsubscribe list?

Yes? Nice job! On to the next question …

No? Every list should be accompanied by an unsubscribe list.

3. Did you purchase, rent, or lease the list from a third party?

No? Excellent! Next question!

Yes? Any sending you do to this list will get flagged for spam.

4. Will the people on the list be expecting (not surprised) by your email?

Yes? Awesome. One more question.

No? Game over.

5. Have you emailed these contacts within the last 12 months?

Yes? You’re good to go.

No? Twelve months is a long time so chances are, a big chunk of your list already forgot about you and will be surprised by your message.

Source: Hub Spot http://bit.ly/GCuMUa

At a recent Industry Leaders Round Tables meeting, I had a club owner tell me his traditional marketing was no longer working. He told me that he would advertise in the local paper for 3 or 4 weeks and then take a break.

This discussion reminded me of a list that Jay Conrad Levinson had shared, courtesy of Thomas Smith, in 1885. It stated:

• The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
• The second time, he does not notice it.
• The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
• The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
• The fifth time, he reads it.
• The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
• The seventh time, he reads it through and says, ‘Oh brother!’
• The eighth time, he says, ‘Here’s that confounded thing again!’
• The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
• The tenth time, he asks his neighbour if he has tried it.
• The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
• The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
• The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
• The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
• The fifteenth time, he is tantalised because he cannot afford to buy it.
• The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it someday.
• The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
• The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
• The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
• The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering.

From my experience, the people who get bored with traditional marketing are the owners and marketing directors. They want to keep changing their marketing message to keep their job or try for the magic, ‘Boom!’

Keep your message consistent and you will reap the rewards!