Take Your Radio Ads to the Next Level

Take Your Radio Ads to the Next Level

by: BIG Mike McDaniel

Most small businesses do not have a high powered advertising agency to produce awardwinning radio commercials for them. Most awardwinning radio commercials win for the wrong reasons anyway.

Radio commercials should sell the benefits (not features)of your business/product and should be on the same page with print, TV and billboard. A major problem in business advertising today is the lack of coordination of a campaign where all media are targeting the same message. The newspaper ad says one thing and the radio commercial doesn’t seem to fit anywhere. Wasted money. Hit ‘em with the same message across the board and you increase your reach.

Radio commercials at smaller radio stations are typically created by the radio salespeople or the announcers. In most cases, neither are trained at selling benefits. It’s your money and you shouldn’t spend it on amateurish and/or totally ineffective commercials.

The biggest mistake many business people make is letting the station staff come up with the commercial copy and finished product. When they play it for you, you can tell they really love it. They wrote it, maybe they voiced it. It’s me, me, me. They love all the fun they had making it. They don’t know squat about selling benefits.

Effective radio commercials

Remember Tom Bodett for Motel six? A great campaign, it was Tom delivering the benefit for staying at the motel with a little music in the background. Award winning. And Motel Six business shot off the charts. Benefits sell. Yet few local radio people would be comfortable with a straight voice Tom Bodett style ad. They want you to feel like you are really getting something for your money. so they produce a grand scale dud.

Here are BIG Mike’s tips for better commercials

Don’t Do It Yourself

You may be able to write it, after a little practice, but don’t get fooled into thinking you can do it better than a professional announcer. The radio people will want you to voice it because some of your fiends will tell you they heard you on the radio and you will be convinced radio works. Phooey. That’s an old way to sell ads. The high powered ad agency worked with David Orreck for several days to get those vacuum cleaner commercials to sound like onetakes.

Avoid twovoice กsliceoflifeก ads

Many are made by dragging the receptionist into the studio to play the wife or mother and the result is something that sounds like the junior high school drama class made it.

Steer clear of characterizations

The last of the great character actors on radio was Mel Blanc and he died 20 years ago. An 18 year old kid trying to sound like a crusty ol’ sea captain doesn’t get it.

Don’t try humor it ain’t funny

Remember the main reason to advertise, WIIFM, What’s In It for Me, that’s what they want to know. Sell benefits. Take a poll, no one cares about a cutesy commercial, they care about what’s in it for them. Yet, every radio station in the country has at least one wouldbe Bob Hope who thinks he can outfunny the pros. It doesn’t work. Consider how you feel when you hear one on the radio. It sure doesn’t explain why you should visit the store, unless it is to punch out the owner for being so stupid. Ditch the lame humor for real substance

90 Seconds into 30 Won’t Go.

The power of the pause is important in radio commercials. Too many radio people take you literally when you tell them what you want in your commercial and try to get it all in one ad. Instead, ask them to create several that will rotate on the air. Take your time to explain the benefits.

Don’t buy anything longer than 30 seconds

Some station price 60s double what they charge for 30 seconds, other plus up the 30 rate by 20 or 25 percent. Either way, you don’t need a 60. Make two 30s and get more exposure and save more money. Heck, if you can say the entire Lord’s Prayer in 20 seconds, you can sure sell your benefits in 30.

Ask for an outofmarket voice

These days with email audio attachments, many radio stations share voices around the country. You can get a voice thousands of miles away that will do ads only for you. In turn the station announcer who would have done your ads, does one for that station, an even trade. The exchange takes only seconds, no one does any more work and the cost to the advertiser is zero.

Be sure your radio ads sell the same benefits at the same time as your newspaper, shopper and other print and billboard ads. Plan your advertising well in advance, just like the other parts of your business.

For more about advertising, get my article กCable Ads 5 Bucks!ก Send a blank eMail to MailTo:[email protected]

About The Author

© 2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved

[email protected]

BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small Business Consultant with over 30 years experience,

http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

Subscribe to กBIG Mikeกs BIG Ideasก Newsletter

MailTo:[email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 05

by BIG Mike McDaniel

How to Spellbind your Prospects in 10 Seconds!

How to Spellbind your Prospects in 10 Seconds!

by: Jaruda Boonsuwan

Youกve got yourself 10 seconds to HOOK your prospects or LOSE them!

If you can’t make them interested in 10 seconds, thereกs a good chance youกll lose them forever. So, youกd better shoot it right and กgrabก their attention fast if you don’t want them to go to your competitors!

And how do you do this?

**Just write HARDTORESIST headlines!

It works just like dating online. There are hundreds and even thousands of your potential dates floating on the net, waiting for you to pick for your Saturday dinner. You can’t date them all at once. And you can’t just read all of their ads either!

So what would you do?

IF YOU WERE A GUY, which lady would you กpickก, and which one would you กpassก just by reading what they say in their headlines?

2 ladies post their photos, both looking like Jennifer Lopez. Which lady would you ask out?

Between the one that says ก28 single latin lady, looking for a kind and sincere gentleman!ก

And the one that says กDance salsa with me, and youกll know I was born to surprise you!ก

Wow!! I don’t know about you, but I CERTAINLY like surprises!

NOW IF YOU WERE A LADY, which guy would you choose to go out with?

2 guys post their photos, both looking like Brad Pitt. Which guy would you pick and which would you pass?

Between a guy who says กA friendly, outgoing guy looking for a shortterm relationshipก.

And a guy who says กIf you let me, Iกll make sure you get lost in my blue eyes as I sing to youก.

Whoa!! This guy definitely knows how to turn the ladiesก heads. He knows how to use romance and passion as his กsecret weaponsก.

See the TEMPTING power of headlines??

Now itกs time for you to SEDUCE your prospects! Remember, youกve got 10 seconds!!

DON’t be the กSingle Latin Ladyก. Rather, BE ‘the One to Surprise Youก!!

DON’t be the กFunLoving Guyก. Rather, BE ‘the BlueEyed Who Can Singก!!

Youกll be surprised how easy it is to get all the attention you want from your prospects and make explosive sales!

Iกm going to make this really easy for you…

Here is the list of 111 READYTOCOPY words I make exclusively for you. Make sure you include them in your emails as they will easily turn casual visitors into eagertopay buyers!

1. Use verbs that TURN THEIR HEADS

กunveil, discover, steal, kidnap, explode, shoot, skyrocket, blow, hypnotize, grab, surprise, reveal, expose, spin, increase, generate, stop, turbocharge, supercharge, launch, fire, boost, spark, reverse, bust, hide, arm, jumpstart, score, hit, spill, spell, outsell, outsmart, skykick, burn, avoidก

2. Add words that CATCH THEIR EYES

กfree, guaranteed, magnetic, magic, explosive, shocking, lifesaver, unbelievable, the number one, topnotch, secret, trick, pure profits, cash, nonstop, handsfree, allinone, stepbystep, shortcut, bulletproof, foolproof, no B.S., no hype, how to, instant, breakthrough, formula, frontpage, master, top gear, sixspeed, lightning fast, headachefree, insiders, jawdropping, heartstopping, mindblowing, headspinning, jampacked, power, success, weapon, surefire, kickbutt, sidekick, blackbelt, jealousyguarded, pitfallfree, deadlyeffective, surewinner, warp speed, in a heartbeat, razorsharp, mappedout, armed, turnbyturn, competitors, littleknown, littleused, lifetime, turnkey, ringside seatsก

3. Include specific numbers that STOP THEIR BREATH

กas easy as 1,2,3, by up to 927%, in as little as 7 days, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, 5 days from nowก

4. Use vivid, colorful comparisons that KNOCK THEM OFF THEIR FEET

กas easy as chewing gum, cheaper than a cup of Starbuckกs coffee, sell as fast as fireworks on the fourth of July, sell as fast as icecream in the heat of June, sell faster than frozen turkeys on Thanksgivingก

**Now that you’re armed with this supereasy SHORTCUT, you can easily come up with the SLAM DUNK headlines like….

1. กLegally Steal the Jealousyguarded Secret of the Heavyhitters on the Internet!ก

2. กSkyrocket your Profits with the Turnkey Marketing Tricks the Big Dogs Don’t Want you to Ever Find out!ก

3. กEXPOSED! The Search Engine Sealed Secrets thatกll Sell your Products Faster than Fireworks on the Fourth of July!ก

4. กDiscover Mindblowing Techniques thatกll Explode your $0 Website into a Knockout Worth $14,000 in as short as 8 weeks!ก

Or 5. ‘reVEALED! How to Outsell your Bestselling Competitors with Littleused Pricing Tactics that Don’t Cost you One Single Red Cent!ก

P.S. Believe in the power of words! They can make your business prosper and make your dreams come true.

About The Author

The author, Jaruda Boonsuwan, is offering oneofitskind, deadlyeffective copywriting ecourse at NO charge.

Beat your competitors now at http://www.groundbreakcopywriting.com

This article was posted on October 23, 2002

by Jaruda Boonsuwan

Overcoming the most Frustrating Situation on eBay

Overcoming the most Frustrating Situation on eBay

by: Carolyn Schweitzer

Itกs happened to the best of us.

Youกve been watching the auction all week, and finally you’re about to claim your prizea rare bronze statue from the Shang Dy dynasty. Or something just as tantalizing. You log on a few minutes before the auction closes, and confirm that you’re still the top bidder no one has challenged you in several days. You’re already picturing กyourก statue prominently displayed on the living room mantelpiece, your friends green with envy as you tell them about the great deal you got on eBay. You refresh the page a few times, to make sure you’re still #1. You even up your bid a little just to make sure no body tries to outbid you at the last minute.

50 seconds to go…30…10…the auction has ended and the statue is yours!! You refresh the page for the last time so you can see your eBay ID announced as the winning bidder. And thatกs when your heart drops to your toes. Itกs not your eBay ID at all, but some joker who calls themselves กspeedyfingers147ก.

How could this have happened? You were the winning bidder with only 10 seconds to go!! Speedy or not, it just doesn’t seem humanly possible.

Well, you’re right. No one is that fast. Speedyfingers (I made that one up, so if itกs your actual eBay ID, please don’t sue me!) won the auction in the final 4 seconds. It isn’t humanly possible because กspeedyก didn’t actually place the bid. The bid was place on his or her behalf, from a remote server, using something called Bidding Software.

The act of placing a bid during the final seconds of an online auction is called กSnipingก and itกs perfectly legal on eBay. Bidding wars and sniping are an eBay sellers dream and a buyerกs nightmare. Why, you’re asking yourself, don’t these people just use eBayกs trusty proxy bidding process? Why not just discreetly enter the maximum they’re willing to pay at the beginning of the auction, then let the cards fall where they may? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, itกs not human nature. If all you have to do is outbid the next guy by fifty cents or even five dollars to win, wouldn’t you?

Second, it doesn’t make economic or strategic sense to place a bid anytime before the last five minutes of an auction.

Think about it. EBay encourages bidders to use the proxy system and place bids early. What this means is that an inexperienced bidder who wants an item will to want to be the highest bidder right away, and will keep upping their bid to hold that winning position. Theyกll only stop when the bidding exceeds their budget. Then the next guy comes along and continues the process. If this starts at the beginning of a seven or ten day auction, and ends with a bidding war in the last 10 minutes, the final price for the item can spiral out of control. Many items sell for far more than fair market value because people get caught up in กbidding feverก all they want is to WIN, they’re not even thinking about whether the price is realistic.

A better strategy would be for everyone to กwatchก the auction until the very end. Again, thereกs two good reasons. One, the price doesn’t spiral up as just illustrated. Two, the auction has zero bids, so it attracts fewer bidders less competition. Itกs a fact that once an auction has at least 1 bid , it becomes a magnet for additional bidders. Shoppers scanning an auction page tend to jump to the ones with bids, figuring there must be something that attracted other bidders. The more bids, the more interesting the item looks.

Wouldn’t it be great if a seller started a two carat diamond ring at $0.99 and no one bid until the last five minutes, and they all bid in fifty cent increments? Someone might win the ring for just a few bucks!! Of course, that never happens, but it would be the ideal situation for a buyer and it would put eBay out of business in a hurry. EBay encourages early bidding and smiles upon the snipers of the world. EBay makes their profits on listing fees and กfinal valueก fees. The more the item sells for the higher the กfinal valueก. This makes eBay very happy. Thatกs why youกll never find any tutorials anywhere on eBay telling you to wait until the end of an auction to bid.

OK, so now that we all understand the benefits of sniping, lets get back to our friend กspeedyfingers147ก. Speedy probably started out in life just like I did. She learned everything she knew about eBay from eBay and never realized there was such a thing as bidding software. Never knew a computer could do your sniping automatically, bid on your behalf in the last 2 to 8 seconds of an auction, and do it while you’re asleep. With sniping software, you tell the software program which auctions you’re interested in and how much you’re willing to pay. EBay never knows youกve seen the auction until your friendly sniping service swoops in and places your bid with only seconds to spare. Neither does your competition. They never see you coming. The only way you can lose is if someone else uses the same program sets their maximum bid higher than yours.

Yes, my friend, you can still lose. There is no guarantee of winning an auction no matter what system you use, if someone else is willing to pay more. If you set your maximum bid at a million dollars for a hunk of Elvisก belly button lint and some nut is willing to pay a million ten, you’re still going to lose!

But, thereกs something about losing thatกs good for the soul. Itกs the satisfaction of knowing that you didn’t lose your head and spend more than you could afford!! Trust me, Iกve been there, done that, and come to regret it. With sniping programs, you can กset it and forget itก and walk away knowing that if you don’t win, you couldn’t have afforded it anyway.

Whatกs that I hear you saying? กBut I could have had it if Iกd just upped my bid by another fifty cents!ก Hey, did you listen to anything I just said? Do you want to drive yourself nuts? Itกs only stuff, after all. You can’t take it with you, and there will always be more. The beauty of eBay is that there will probably be another just like it, or at least something just as fabulous.

Speaking of which, thereกs another big advantage to using bidding software. Two things, actually. (again). First, on eBay, itกs a huge nono to retract a bid. You can only do this under the most dire of circumstances and if you do it too many times youกll be politely asked to leave. Permanently. Second, sniping programs allow you to do something called กcontingency biddingก. Suppose you’re interested in several very similar items and you want to win at least one of them but not all. Provided they’re not all ending at the same time, you can create a contingency plan telling the bidding software to cancel your bids on the other items as soon as you win one of them.

In all cases, you can change your mind about an item you’re bidding on at any time (except in approximately the last 15 minutes) because eBay doesn’t register your bid until the Sniping program enters it for you, at the very end of the auction. Isn’t that nice? No more กwatchingก an auction you’re unsure about, and then forgetting to bid on it. No more finding out youกve read the description wrong and you’re bidding on an item you don’t want. No more finding something you like better after youกve already committed yourself to another item, and having to pass on it. Or worse, spending way too much on both!

There are several sniping programs out there. My personal favorite is PowerSnipe, at www.PowerSnipe.com?af=netbrainer , because their กAuto Searchก feature makes the bidding process even easier by allowing you to browse auctions through the program’s built in web browser. You can check out competitors with a simple search in Google.

Take a norisk tour through the Power Sniping program with their trial version. Believe me, the first time you snatch an item away from Speedyfingers147or anyone else for that matteryouกll be hooked.

About The Author

© 2004 NetBrainer LLC. An eBay PowerSeller and rabid eBay shopper, Carolyn Schweitzer is the owner and editor of www.NetBrainer.com, a site dedicated to improving the performance of buyers and sellers on eBay, and teaching eBay as a business. Carolyn provides weekly recorded tips on eBay for Third Mind USA SmallBiz radio at http://thirdmindusa.com/.

[email protected]

This article was posted on October 28, 2004

by Carolyn Schweitzer

The ขsecret weaponข of successful web marketing is

The ขsecret weaponข of successful web marketing is…

by: Liz Micik

Impulse shopping in the checkout lane may be what drives grocery store profits, but chances are it doesn’t do a thing for your business. Your customers are far more likely to need up to nine contacts from you before they trust you enough to buy from you.

Nine!

Thatกs up sharply from when I entered the marketing field lo those many years ago, and you should expect that number to continue rising over your career too. The good news is that there are some very simple steps you can take to eliminate some of those contacts, or at least shorten the time span from initial contact to first sale.

The first step is to acknowledge that weกve created our own monster in our efforts to build our businesses. On average, we’re bombarded by more than 3,000 sales and marketing messages everyday. Thatกs 3,000 times a day someone waves something in our face, or shouts something in our ear in an effort to get us to buy this, do that, and spend the rest now.

Next, think about how you react to this daily assault. As consumers (for ourselves or our company), we’ve all gotten very good at tuning ads out online. Itกs a basic survival tactic.

Like warriors on a dawn patrol in enemy territory, weกll jump from a site two seconds after we land there if we catch a glimpse of an annoying animated gif whosits or doodad in the corner of the page. We use weapons like search engines, popup blockers, personal portal homepages and newsreaders to filter out all but the information we want to see right now.

But we do more than try to avoid them. We sneer at blinking yellow ขsecurity alertsข that offer to eliminate adware deposited on our computer when someone clicks on something like a blinking yellow security alert message. We roll our eyes at Hollywood style hype. And our response to claims of ขnew and improvedข anything is a yawned, ขyeah, right.ข

We’ve become jaded, cynical, distrustful, and focused on nothing but fending off all distractions between us and the information we’re online to retrieve. Is it any wonder we arrive at the end of our day exhausted, with cramped hands, hunched shoulders and clenched jaws?

Now switch hats quickly and look at this from your perspective as a business promoting yourself online. Any way you can help a battle weary consumer get more value out of your website and emails will help you earn their business, right?

Obviously, giving them a clearly marked path from landing point to information source wrapped in an appealing design is something you must do. But that alone may not be enough to win their dollars. You still have to win their attention and their respect before they’ll set foot on that path.

Fortunately there is a very simple, affordable way you can do it. With no shouting.

Today’s streaming video tools allow you to easily provide visitors with a brief personal message that does more than command instant attention. A simple greeting that you create and manage yourself opens the door to a genuine conversation. All the technical barriers of the web fall away in the face of it and your visitor learns what he needs to know about you in seconds.

How? Your expressions, your gestures, your smile, and your tone of voice, hold more power to attract attention, convey a deeper meaning to your message and convince people of your sincerity than anything else you can do. Scientists have proven that up to 93% of what we learn and remember from a conversation comes from these unspoken, and unwritten clues.

Your human visitors absorb and process all that complicated information a matter of seconds in an attempt to answer one question. They’re looking for the consistency between your words and your non verbal message that will tell them whether or not they can trust you and believe what you say has value to them.

That makes you the very best tool you have to increase your credibility. If you’re feeling too shy to step in front of the camera consider this. As a consumer, you wouldn’t dream of turning off your spam filters and popup blockers, or opening every attachment that came your way.

As a businessman using the Internet to generate leads or sales for your company, can you really afford to leave your big gun at home?

Copyright 2005 Liz Micik

About The Author

Liz Micik turns your video learning curve into a fast and easy profit curve in her newest book, ขCue the Director: 10 Simple Steps to Online Video Success.ข Visit www.powerpresenters.com to have free weekly video tips emailed to you.

This article was posted on March 24

by Liz Micik

The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges

The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges

by: Eric McArdle

If you advertise through clickexchange traffic programs or GPTR programs, then you should have an idea of what a timed visit is. Basically, people have to view your page for a certain amount of seconds before they can get credit and move on. And that certain amount of seconds is all the time you have to catch their interest. Lets average it out at 20 seconds that your visitor has to view your site before they can move on so you need to catch them by creating a what is known as a…

Lead Page

A lead page is a very brief, straight to the point webpage that is intended to capture the name and email of your visitors so you can respond and followup with information about your business, product, affiliate program, etc. The webpage should consist of three different sections:

Catchy Title

The title should clearly state the whole purpose of your webpage in a few short words. Your title needs to speak out to your visitors and tell them why they should put their details in the form. The title should also lead smoothly into the next part of the webpage which is:

Brief Details

Whatever it is you are promoting or selling, state its benefits in a short paragraph under the title. Maybe you can also include a free gift if they decide to request further information. Your details are your last chance, if they’re not satisfied at this point, youกve lost them. If they do decide to submit their details, that leads us to the last part of a lead page, a signup form…

Signup Form

After you create your title, and list some brief but beneficial details, you need to create a form for your potential customer to subscribe to. When they input their details, you should have an autoresponder setup to reply to them discussing your business or product in further detail and including the url to your main webpage so they can visit it. This way you are bringing all of your lead page visitors (who already have an idea of what your product offers) to your main webpage where they can explore it furthermore.

Now heres the scenario: You only had around twenty seconds in the advertisement to introduce your business and concept, but once youกve gotten contact details, you have plenty more time to strategize a plan that covers your businessก benefits and opportunities.

Also, you shouldn’t put any header or any sort of graphic on your lead page. You need to have it load within a few seconds and all a bunch of pictures will do is slow the load time.

Remember, you may only have a few seconds. This doesn’t just go for timed visits, many people surf the internet hastily and may never consider your offer straight from your sales site because they don’t know you or your product. If they catch some interest in your lead page and input their contact information, you have just the chance to introduce yourself and your business and product.

About The Author

Eric McArdle is the publisher of the TrafficaZine Online Marketing Newsletter which is a publication intended to provide the marketing or web designing entrepreneur with high quality tools and resources that they can effectively apply to their business. http://www.trafficazine.com

This article was posted on April 09, 2004

by Eric McArdle

10 Seconds Is All It Takes… (How To Grab The Atten

10 Seconds Is All It Takes… (How To Grab The Attention Of Your Audience With Your Web Site)

by: Grannyกs Mettle

FACT: 30 to 60% of visitors tend to drop off and click to another site when they are forced to click their mouse more often than necessary.

FACT: People who use the internet are usually those who are always onthego and don’t want to spend time figuring out how to navigate any web site.

FACT: It takes all of ten seconds for most firsttime visitors to spend time on any web site before deciding if itกs worth any attention.

Yes, it only takes ten seconds for viewers to get interested and stay a little longer to know more about your site and get the information they’re looking for.

This is the main reason why the first page is the most important in any web site. Rule of thumb is to have a page that is direct to the point, doesn’t waste time, and doesn’t waste bandwidth. Itกs necessary that you get to the crux of your message and do it quick. Or else your audiences are outta here.

Studies prove that human nature cause to lose focus on whatever it is that we are paying attention to after the initial ten seconds. The mind seem to think that after ten seconds, either the object of attention gets better and interesting, or the attraction just fades because of too many things.

And ten seconds is important in any web designerกs job. A designer has to remember that in ten seconds, the web page should be able to deliver something useful, if not everything.

One designer relates that ten seconds is enough for an average person to read a length of 40 words. And 40 words can mean a great deal of a good opening paragraph. The opening paragraph according to the designer is your กcontractก with your reader. With your กcontractก, you promise to deliver what your viewer needs, in every page of your web site.

And in ten seconds, you should be able load your page and everything in it if possible. In addition, you should also take advantage of the text and its worth for your web site. Text is the first element that gets delivered upon connection. So make reading your text worthwhile. Deliver your promise, and deliver them good.

This is the essence of usability in the wide world of the web. Utilizing those precious ten seconds to deliver what you promise, and provide what your viewer needs. Use those ten seconds wisely. Plan, design and execute in ten seconds.

People go to your web site because of what they can get from it. Ten seconds is all it takes for viewers to know if you have what they need. So make your ten seconds count.

About The Author

Grannyกs Mettle is a 30something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: กWriting gives me pleasure… pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine.ก

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.losangelesprintingservice.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 11

by Grannyกs Mettle