Two Steps to Improving Your Marketing Success

Since the human brain seems to be able to focus on only one thought at a time, it's difficult to evaluate an advertisingidea from the perspective of both a marketer and a customer. That's why it's necessary to use a two-step process when developing highly effective ads, sales letters, web pages, and e-mails. nnThe first step involves creating a rough draft of yourmarketing message, while emphasizing the strong points and best attributes of your product or service. Your message, especially your headline, should strive to capture your prospects' attention, focus on the many benefits they'll experience, and outline the important features and sellingpoints. The first draft should include a call to action, as well as whatever contact information is necessary to get the prospect to follow through. nnNavigate Through Expected Sales ObjectionsnnPossibly the most daunting obstacle to generating inquiries and making sales is human inertia, which is basically the tendancy to postpone, deliberate, and procrastinate. The bestway to overcome that is to create a sense of urgency by imposing a deadline for taking action. Whether your supplies are limited -- or prices are about to go up -- or the prospect must act now "before it's too late", there needs to be a feeling of urgency conveyed if you are to be successful in overcoming the powerful forces of inaction and indecisiveness.nnOther obstacles in the sales process that you need toovercome early on include skepticism, mistrust, andpessimism. The ideal marketing message would remove any doubt in the customer's mind about quality,competitive prices, ongoing customer support, andthe customer's ability to get a refund if they're dissatisfied. One common mindset that many prospectshave is, "It sounds like a good product/service, butit probably won't work for me." A strategy you canuse for overcoming that negative attitude is to include testimonials of satisfied customers -- justlike them -- in your marketing materials.nnBypass Your Ego to Connect With BuyersnnPart two of this marketing process is often ignored by small business owners and even some advertising agencies, but it can spell the difference between success and failure. It involves stepping back and looking at your message from the standpoint of yourtarget audience. Here are two important questionsto ask yourself: "Are they going to notice the ador the sales message at all?" and "If they do notice it, why should they care?" If you're notsure, then that's a clear sign you need to strengthenyour sales message and gear it more to the needs ofyour intended audience. nnIn order to create a winning ad or marketingcampaign, it's necessary to ask yourself theseblunt questions, and have the flexibility tomake changes in your headlines, ad layout,graphics, ad copy, or marketing strategy. Getting a second or third opinion from people who will give you the unvarnished truth (as they see it) can help you develop a winning, original marketing message that will generate a profitable response. nnIf your marketing efforts fail to rise above the clutter of all the hundreds of nondescript ads, emails, and competing offers that the public is bombarded with every day, then your marketing message will be about as effective as a whisper on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Challenge yourself to produce compelling,high-impact marketing messages that will command attentionand trigger a response from your target group.