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Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful — Chapter-02: Defining Advertising And The Three Possible Responses
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OUTRAGEOUS ADVERTISING that’s outrageously successful
- Defining Advertising And The Three Possible Responses
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Most advertising stinks.
For instance, this has probably happened to you: some hotshot salesperson comes walking into your place of business and tells you that you’ve got to get your name out there.
Get your name out there? Um, what exactly does that mean?
“You know, get your name out there. Like Pepsi and Chevrolet or maybe Goodyear with their blimp.”
It makes me want to scream, “Go away!”
See, here’s the thing. If you’re reading this book, you are most likely not like Pepsi or Chevrolet with unlimited resources to just get your name out there—and you probably don’t have easy access to a blimp. That’s not the way you run your business, or at least it shouldn’t be. If the big esoteric task of brand building is your game, this is definitely not your book. Go away. I mean it.
On the other hand, if you are like the 99 percent of small business owners who are dissatisfied with the results they are currently getting from their advertising, then this IS the book for you.
The only type of advertising that you should be doing is what we call “direct-response advertising.” This is advertising that is measurable and accountable. In other words, this is advertising that works.
So, if you are looking for advertising that produces real results, this is absolutely the book for you. I mean it.
My friend and business partner Dan Kennedy put it best: “The kind of advertising that you want to do is the kind where you pay for it with a check on Monday and it generates enough money so that you can cover the check by Thursday.”
this is direct response, NOT BRANDING
Direct-response advertising asks the customer to respond and allows you to track that response. Brand building, on the other hand, is advertising that gets the name of your business, products, or services out there but you have no earthly idea whether or not it is paying for itself.
It’s that simple.
Ninety-nine percent of all businesses cannot even think about brand building. Brand building will simply make you go broke. You may be told it will multiply your profits, but I contend that you can’t multiply zeroes.
The kind of advertising I advocate does more than just get your name out there. It gets your message, your offer, and your deadline out there. Here it is; come and get it. Direct-response advertising does three specific things that I will discuss in detail in chapter 5:
• It makes an offer.
• It gives a deadline.
• It allows you to track response.
[Embedded image: /library/Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful/images/00017.jpeg] [OCR from embedded image; verify layout in the extracted image asset.] ATTLVING OUTRAGEOUS ADVEISING
OUTRAGEOUS exercise
Go back one year and assemble all of the advertising you spent your hard-earned money on to promote your business and put them into three piles:
Pile #1: Brand-building advertising that promoted your company, but you have no idea whether it paid for itself or not.
Pile #2: Direct-response advertising that promoted your company, and you were able to track a good return on your investment.
Pile #3: Direct-response advertising that promoted your company and you know for a fact that you did NOT get a good return on your investment.
Now … I want you to throw out all of your advertising that’s in piles #1 and #3.
Finally, I want you to look at pile #2 after you finish reading this book and decide how you can take the lessons you’ve learned from OUTRAGEOUS Advertising and apply them to pile #2 to make the results even better … OUTRAGEOUSLY better!!!
GOOD NEWS!!! often direct response leads to branding
If you do want to get your name out there, then I have some very good news for you. When you do direct-response advertising, and especially if you do OUTRAGEOUS direct-response advertising, you often get the byproduct benefit of branding.
People start to know who you are while they are being urged to take direct action.
For instance, I sent out eighteen pieces of direct mail a year for my business at Gage Menswear. Because of this exposure, I knew that if I stopped advertising to my customers for a while they would still keep coming in the store.
Plus, I also knew from various national consumer surveys that my stores had the highest recognition factor of all of the competitors that were in my same category (menswear retailers).
You really do get the benefit of branding through direct-response advertising, but the best news is you don’t have to directly pay for it.
yellow pages: a yellow brick road
A lot of people look at various media such as radio, newspapers, TV, and yellow pages and think that they cannot use this type of advertising as direct response.
That simply is not true. For example, let me show you how to use your local yellow pages as direct-response advertising.
Now before I show this to you, I want to make sure you understand that in most cases your local media salespeople hate it when you try to insist that you only run direct-response advertising.
Why do you think that is?
Well, the answer is simple. It’s because they don’t want you to be able to track results because they know that if you are able to accomplish that and do not get good results, you will likely stop advertising with them.
So, when you get a yearly visit from your local yellow pages sales representative, he or she will adamantly try to talk you out of running a direct-response ad and only place a brand-building ad.
How do I know this? Because if you pick up any yellow pages and look at the ads, just about all of them are brand-building ads, ads for which you can-NOT track results.
Try it yourself. Go to your local yellow pages and look at all of the ads in your particular category. What do you notice about them? Two things:
In very few cases can you track responses … AND
They all look very similar, don’t they?
Why do you think this is? It’s because the yellow pages don’t want you to know if you are actually getting a return on your investment. They don’t even want you to have the ability to know.
Yet the great thing about the yellow pages (and every other type of media for that matter) is that you can still use it to do OUTRAGEOUS direct-response advertising.
On the next page is a great example of how to place a direct-response ad in the yellow pages. It was created by Larry Conn for his own carpet-cleaning business. In fact, Larry got so good at creating direct-response yellow pages advertising that he started a whole new business of teaching entrepreneurs in every field how to make this work for their own businesses.
Now let’s take a look at Larry’s yellow pages ad. First of all, it has a compelling headline (see chapter 5) and great testimonials (see chapter 7).
But those don’t make it direct response, although they certainly make the ad more effective. What makes this direct response is the fact that there’s a money-savings coupon in the ad complete with a dashed coupon border that allows Larry to track response.
The other thing that makes this a direct-response ad is the “Allergy Relief Hotline,” which allows Larry to track how many people call it, and those people can also be transferred directly to Larry’s office.
[Embedded image: /library/Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful/images/00027.jpeg] [OCR from embedded image; verify layout in the extracted image asset.] “YouGettheMost SparklingClean, Fresh and Flfy Carpet Ever eenor It's FREE!” MyPromiseto You: If all you want is a cheap“brush the dirt ofr the surface” cleaning, I respect- fitly ask that you call someone clse. You willfeel my Allergy Clean Processrw is the most thorough deaning you have ever had, The contaminasts that five in your dirty traflie lanes will be gone making your entire home healtuer. No spots will come back or I will redlean it for FREE. If you are stillnot pleased, 1 will efund your payment"Larry Conn LonyCoy dedicatrd so molbing Here'sSome of Hundreds of Testimonials on File: gour bome healriier and cleaneir Suor “An excellent job, You take the time to do it rightr 1977,Ae har peromaly dewwd poer Jennifer MacKenzie, Castaways, Newport Beach Butched, dfooded “Very good and thorough!* The Friedlanders, Bonita Canyon, Newport Beach and wparod28747+ carperz,so le wowbe “My carpets are clean, spot-free and ook great! Lary is very lknowl. edgable in the business and gave us quality caref Thank you, you did a
- 10s Moneyback CynthiaFrhling,BonitaCanyn,NewportBea great jobe” Gusrantee “Our chairs were very dirty and they came out like new. Excellent!” -Alergr Cean Prorssfor Carpet Anna Jean Sweet, President Oasis Senior Center, CDM “Excllent workt My carpets were restoned to"like-new” condition. Water Damige Restoration Phillip Schwartz,PhD, College Park, Irvine -Carpet Restrech “The,restretching and dleaning mademy carpet ook like new and and Repair sared us fhoasands in replacenernt costs!” ·Oriemtal Ann Bohks, Belcourt, Newport Beach Fabrik Protectant Rug Cleaning Don'GambleWhen Choosinga Carpet CleaningCompany! A-ALLERGY Allergy. Offer forNew Clients: ReliefHotline: CLEAN $770ff “Discover 7Ways on Can Find Allergy PROCESS Four First Service Reliefat Home” 1835 Newport Blvd. 1(800)777-7777 CALL LARRY NOW A109-291 • Costa Mesa ar(949) 650-3068 24Hours 24Homrs
Larry can tell exactly who calls from this ad and how much they spend with him when they get their carpets cleaned.
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OUTRAGEOUS boost
The “Allergy Relief Hotline” in Larry Conn’s yellow pages ad is a great example of giving customers and prospects a secondary nonthreatening way to respond to your advertisement without them having to call a live person. Giving them a free recorded message to listen to will substantially increase response. See more about nonthreatening ways to respond later in this chapter.
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OUTRAGEOUS resource
Larry Conn provides a FREE sixty-point evaluation of your current yellow pages ad. You can take advantage of this for your business at www.outrageous-advertising.com/yellowpages.
three piles of advertising
Most of your advertising won’t find quite as targeted an audience as your yellow pages ad, but your goal will be to make it even more targeted. In order to do that, you must first understand a basic concept: people divide all advertising into three categories.
The easiest way to understand this is to visualize three piles of mail. I call these three piles “A” (the YES pile), “B” (the MAYBE pile), and “C” (the NO pile).
The A pile is what you absolutely have to look at this instant.
The B pile is advertising that you think you might be interested in but are just not sure about, and you set it aside for now.
The C pile is advertising that you absolutely have no interest in at all.
Fooled you with that B pile, didn’t I?
We think we divide our advertising into only two piles—either YES or NO—but the truth is that much of the advertising we look at falls into the MAYBE pile as well. The MAYBE pile is often overlooked by most entrepreneurs, and it costs them a bunch of money. Not me. I don’t overlook it. In fact, I teach it.
yes or no – or maybe later
The two top choices are clear and simple.
The A pile, which is the same as the YES pile, contains the things you must look at immediately. You feel compelled.
For instance, if you take a medical test and you are waiting for the results to be sent to you by mail, those results are part of the A pile. Yes, you want to open those immediately. Your child’s report card falls into the same pile. This pile is not to be ignored because it is information you want and need.
The C pile, which is the NO pile, is exactly the opposite of the A pile. As soon as you see who it is from, you know you are not interested.
For instance, if you recently purchased gutters for your home, you are not going to be interested at all in an advertisement for gutters. Gutters? The answer is no—C pile.
However, life’s choices are not always that simple.
Sometimes in business no doesn’t mean no. It just may not mean yes. Instead, it may mean, “Let me think about it.”
And though neither “no” nor “maybe later” is a successful sale, there is a huge difference between the two, and a successful business recognizes the opportunity of a “maybe later.”
Of course, this means first recognizing the possibility of “maybe later” as an answer. And that’s a challenge for many businesses that don’t understand the basic psychology of a customer—EVERY customer.
options equal opportunities
Everyone is afraid of being sold.
And though the chances of a customer actually acting impulsively when something is interesting can be high, your first impression is not your only opportunity to reach a customer. Of course, that first impression is where OUTRAGEOUS has the most power, but there is a second part to it—the memorable part. Besides meaning “look here,” OUTRAGEOUS means “remember.”
And so simply understanding that the B pile—the “maybe later” pile—even exists is a start towards figuring out what to do with it.
Let’s first look at two facts:
FACT #1:
People want an alternative to “yes” or “no.” There are things that interest us but not enough to make an immediate decision.
FACT #2:
People often want information without the pressure human interaction brings. Sometimes it’s just easier to read or listen to a recording at your own convenience. The “Allergy Relief Hotline” in Larry Conn’s yellow pages ad is a great example of that; you can get more information without feeling threatened or being sold something by a live answer.
Understanding these two facts can set you on the path towards knowing how to deal with being in the B pile and getting the potential customers to take you from the B to the A pile.
So, we’ve seen two facts. Here is …
FACT #3:
If you ignore them, they will ignore you. You may be in the B pile, but you are not alone. Your potential customer is concerned with many things, and you are most likely not at the top of the list. Hey, it’s not right. But it’s life, and it’s business.
People want to be reminded that they are important. Everyone wants love. But as much as that, they want options—ways to respond and times to respond. It’s, of course, important to have deadlines (see chapter 5), but it’s just as important to let customers know that they can browse, shop, and buy AT THEIR CONVENIENCE.
Information, especially in our modern connected times, is incredibly easy to provide in an astonishing variety of formats, including:
• phone recordings
• Web pages
• Webinars
• tele-seminars
• free reports
• articles
• brochures
[Embedded image: /library/Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful/images/00017.jpeg] [OCR from embedded image; verify layout in the extracted image asset.] ATTLVING OUTRAGEOUS ADVEISING
OUTRAGEOUS exercise
Look at the list below. Check off the ones you can use in your business to provide your prospects and customers with more nonthreatening information about your products and services:
____ Phone recordings
____ Web pages
____ Webinars
____ Tele-seminars
____ Free reports
____ Articles
____ Brochures
Now list all of the other places you can provide your prospects and customers with more nonthreatening information about your products and services:
Although your goal of OUTRAGEOUS advertising is to get immediately into the A pile, you must keep in mind the overall concept of what you are doing.
You are actually brand building by default when you land in the B pile. Either you are remembered or you are not. And the best way to be remembered, of course, is to offer something so good that the customer wants to directly respond. And so like all the great arguments, mine is circular, and my circle encloses your profits.
options equal profits
Once you figure out that you actually can move people from the “maybe later” B pile to the “yes” A pile, you can then discover amazing ways to leverage your position. By simply not ignoring this customer option, you are ahead of 90 percent of all businesses that think in terms of “yes” and “no.”
Yet “maybe later” is a tricky category that requires due diligence. One of the best ways to move people into the A pile from the B pile is through sequential marketing, which we will talk a lot about in chapter 9.
And though that customer who put you into the B pile is a challenge, I look at this person as someone who actually wants to be a customer. How can you ignore someone like this?
My message is that you can’t and you shouldn’t ignore a “maybe later” customer because that customer is really a great prospect.
It’s just a matter of paying attention until you are paid profits. Customers who think “maybe later” are thinking of reasons not to buy, and your job is to give them reasons to buy.
How do you give them such reasons?
Well, you give them options on how to find you, and then you remind them, over and over in OUTRAGEOUS ways, that you are their best option for whatever it is that you sell.
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Sizzling Outrageous Summation
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Branding is too expensive for 99 percent of all businesses.
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Direct-response advertising must always have an offer and a deadline.
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Direct-response advertising can lead to brand building, but you never want to buy brand-building advertising.
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There are three possible responses to every ad: “yes,” “no,” or “maybe later.”
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When you pay attention to the “maybe later” customers, your profits will soar.