The Clean and Green Club

In advertising, you pay for every inch of space, every word, or every second of time. So how, in this very limited canvas, can you get your money’s worth? Here are two easy strategies you’ll really want to implement whenever you’re paying for an ad, and you probably want to include even on marketing pieces other than ads (such as press releases and brochures)—because they could increase your return by orders of magnitude, without significantly increasing your costs.

First you want to offer some kind of freebie: a report, white paper, quiz, music download, video, survey result…whatever it is you can give away. (The term “buzz piece” is often used to describe this item.) The trick is to structure it in such a way that it…

• Demonstrates your expertise and your ability to solve the prospect’s problem or help her achieve a goal
• Provides something genuinely useful and high quality, as a sample of what you can do for him if he chooses to work with you or buy your stuff
• Creates the opportunity to stay in touch (as an example, sign up for your free newsletter)
• Leads the reader/listener to the conclusion that she needs to work with you or buy your product

In most cases, you’ll want this to be an automatic digital download, so that once it’s set up, you have no cost either to deliver the product or to administer the delivery. You can ask for information in return for this gift: name, job title, even a question or two about their needs and timelines (but keep it simple; the more you request, the fewer people will take the trouble to get your offering). To avoid fake e-mails, you can send the download link to the e-mail address that was submitted. If this is leading into a sales funnel for a high-ticket item, you may be willing to send it postally, but just understand that you’ll be hit with costs and those costs may not be covered by typical conversion rates.

Second, give people a reason right in the ad to visit your website. Once you’ve got the prospect to the Web, you have unlimited space to convince that client to do business with you–space that would be waaaay too expensive if you had to buy an ad big enough to tell your story.

P.S. If you need help creating your buzz piece, I’d be glad to assist. My copywriting rates are very reasonable. shel (at) principledprofit.com, 413-586-2388 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              413-586-2388      end_of_the_skype_highlighting