Advertising success is easy if you understand the 100% rule:
It is better to convince 20 people 100% of the way, than to convince 100 people 20% of the way.
When you think about it, it's obvious. Convincing someone 20% of the way doesn't result in a sale. They might be walking around, occasionally having a nice thought about you, but nice thoughts don't keep the lights on. Nice thoughts don't move inventory ... and most importantly: Nice thoughts don't benefit the consumer with your product or service!
Isn't that really the bottom line? None of us are in business just to move product. We are in business because we feel deeply in our hearts that what we are offering something great to the world. Communities can't run without the products and services offered by the small local business. We are all in business, ultimately, to give.
But, in the end, it doesn't matter how wonderful we are ... we have to be found in order to do what we do best.
Once we start applying the 100% rule to our marketing budget, advertising decisions become very simple. We will get into the psychology of buying later, but for now it is best to keep a few simple tips in mind.
- One convinced person equals an actual sale.
- Always think about convincing one person 100% of the way.
- It usually takes a single individual ten or more times, seeing or hearing your ad, to truly realize you exist.
- You will get the best value if you concentrate your advertising dollars in venues where you can have a permanent presence.
- This means it is better to start out with a consistent ad every night on late-night TV for six months, than one ad showing during the Super Bowl.
- It's better to start out with a small sign you can afford to keep out on a side road, than to have a huge billboard that will break your wallet in two months.
- It's better to start out with a small classified ad that runs regularly in the paper, than to risk your entire advertising budget on one big page.
Start slow, build big. Success is a process that slowly climbs, like a well-made staircase. Each step building on the previous success. If you start out with a small, but consistent advertising budget, maintaining your position until that small market is convinced 100% of the way, you'll make a little money. You can then increase your advertising budget to the next market level that you can consistently maintain - until you have fully convinced that market. On and on, until finally, you can consistently maintain the huge billboard or back page of the paper.
Advertising on ChallisIdaho.com is an easy step that can fit into any budget. Five dollars a month can be maintained consistently. Unlike print ads, which have to be renewed periodically, your link on ChallisIdaho.com runs day and night without interruption. Customers will be confident that when they need your product or service, they will be able to find you. They will consistently run across your advertisement while looking for other products and services. Much like the Yellow Pages, customers will always know where they can go to find what they want ... a big step towards convincing them 100% of the way that they should buy from you.
Click here for our Options and Prices.
When you are a small business owner it is hard to keep up with all the things necessary to keep your business going. We are all faced with the dilemma of meeting today's demands, while also planning for the future. We have to manage today's customers at the same time we are looking for tomorrow's customers
The internet has brought a whole new dimension to advertising needs for local businesses, and it is hard to keep up. Yet keep up we must.
Here are some facts the small business owner might not know:
- Your business is probably listed online on numerous pages that you have never seen.
- There are many popular sites (such as Google Maps) that allow anyone to post reviews about your business.
- People with chips on their shoulders are posting mean spirited reviews every day.
- The internet expands exponentially. It is very easy for programmers to write programs that creep through the web cataloging and copying information.
- If you have changed any information about your business in the past five years, the old information is probably still posted somewhere. This is because stuff gets posted, but rarely edited
- Getting seen on your own is practically impossible. It's worse than finding a needle in a haystack... at least the needle is sharp!
- Most of the information on the internet about your business is out of your control. It will either be in forums that can't be changed, huge sites (like Google) without the will to change, or numerous small sites without the ability to change.
- The best defense we know is a good offence. It doesn't matter if you are listed all over the place in venues that you cannot control ... if you are listed prominently in a venue that you can control. The only thing that matters is what people actually find and see!
Let ChallisIdaho.com help you with your internet presence. A link with us shows well on searches and can be controlled totally by you. Click here: for our options and prices.
