Small Businesses need to Wise Up.

When it comes to small businesses advertising, I am often amazed that they are willing to risk their business, and sometimes even family over a concept and idea without any marketing plan or any fundamental understanding of marketing / advertising.

I am not saying here I don't appreciate the risk of the entrepreneur, to the contrary, I am an entrepreneur and there isn't a demographic I can appreciate more than those risk takers. What I am saying though is they have a great product or service, but then when it comes to how they spend their advertising dollars, where to spend it, who the target market is, what should be the message, they have no clue.

Small business advertising is both art and science. Companies often miss the fundamentals of advertising. Regardless of the size of the business, a simple understanding of advertising can reap huge rewards.

According to Small Business Administration, 5% of an entrepreneur's gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. 5% isn't that much, but if done right, it can be extremely beneficial.

Here are 6 Rules for Small Business Advertising Success

1. Have One Message: A high response rate ad usually conveys a single message. Your advertising needs to quickly communicate its core message in 3 seconds or less. You're fighting for eyeballs. Consumers want the "What's in it for me?", and you have merely seconds to tell them. Why should I leave my dentist for your dental firm? Why should I eat at your restaurant? An example of "To the Point" messaging success are the series of books, "________ for Dummies". People thought, I am a "Dummy" on this topic, so although their may be a myrids of other titles dealing with that topic, the "For Dummies" series have been extremely successful, because they focus on one message.

2. Add Credibility: It has become human nature to distrust advertising. All too often, businesses make unrealistic and unfounded claims. Claims need to be credible and realistic. Roy Williams, author of the "Wizard of Ads" states, "Any claim made in your advertising which your customer does not perceive as the truth is a horrible waste of ad dollars." Resist the idea to tell the consumer how great you are. They know you think you are good, or you wouldn't be in business. Again, what's in it for them. Focus on what you CAN do.

3. Test Everything: No business should waste money by guessing if their advertisement is working. Test. Ask. Rarely do I show up at a Restaurant and they give me a survey asking me how I heard about them? Are they all soo successful that they don't need to know where my wife and I heard about their businesses? No matter how successful, you need to know where your customers are coming from. Use surveys, coupons, codes, and specials to measure the headline, timing, and placement of your ad.Testing can be as simple as asking every customer for several weeks how they heard of your business. Most people are happy to share.

4. Easy to Contact: Every advertisement, brochure, email and all company literature should have full contact information including: website and email address, phone and fax numbers, and company address along with your tagline. Simply put, be everywhere.

5. Match Ads to Target Audience: Successful advertising speaks to one target market only. Know your medium. Who is the demographic? Speak to your market. Focus your message to the target group.

6. Create Curiosity: Successful advertising does not sell a product or service. It may be strange to say, but your goal is to generate interest. You want your potential customer to say "Hey, I want to check that out, we should give them a call / stop by." This can be as simple as a coupon offer, free video, publishing a testimonial of a satisfied customer, special for new clients. Why should they contact your company?

After you have addressed these rules and you market, it will be trial and error. Having a poor reponse rate is not the medium's fault. Remember, advertising is not a guarantee. Timing, current economics, location, your product or service need, price, etc., are just a few examples of factors involved in the consumers decision. Also, have realistic expectations. Getting a 2% response rate is often a huge response. Two things that are guaranteed to work in advertising is, consistancy and longevity. Applying the above rules, over and over again, will generate the business you need.

Again, having a poor response is NOT the medias fault. All too often we see businesses blame the medium and pull their ad, but yet they told the designer how to design their ad, told the advertising agency what to write, and often had a friend or family member create their advertisement for them, and they thought it looked good. Companies don't think twice about hiring a book keeper or accountant to handle their books, hire a lawyer to handle their legal affairs, but then they handle their own advertising instead of getting council from an advertising agency. I am not saying you must hire an agency to be successful, but I am saying, advertising should be an investment, not an expense and you should listen to outside council, to your customers, employees and yes, advertising firms.

Often the problem is the message. Advertising is not just running a quick advertisement to getting more business. It takes planning, testing, inquiring and constant exposure to have an impact. Done correctly, advertising is a winning strategy.

Magazine Advertising Still Top Pick for Advertisers

It's 2008 and Magazine advertising is still ahead of Internet Advertising, despite the prophesy from the Wall Street Journal in 2004.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Internet advertising. There is no better medium to connect with ready buyers who are searching for your product than the Internet. Surely, it’s the fastest growing form of advertising. In 15 years, it has grown from $0.00 to $11.3 billion which is amazing.

According to Steve Ballmer, “…there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.” (He later said adjusted the numbers stating, “…If it’s 14 or if it’s 8, it’s immaterial to my fundamental point . . . “

Personally, I am doubtful that print will go away completely. There is just something about print media that gives a psychological effect that computers don't deliver. For example, I would rather sit by our pool and flip through a book or magazine, and spend more time doing that while having an iced tea, than I would with any electronic device. If I want something for pure speed and efficiency use, than digital media is great. But, print media provides a much more relaxing and often more focused reader.

But, yes, I do think print will definitely shrink will the Internet will continue to grow, but eventually die? Don't think so.

Yahoo gets in bed with Google

What?? Yeah, you read right, Yahoo jumped into bed with Google this afternoon and announced an advertising partnership with Google, just hours after declaring an end to Microsoft negotiations. Under the deal, ads from Google's popular and money-machine system will appear next to Yahoo search results, in both the U.S. and Canada.

Jerry Yang, Yahoo's CEO comments during a conference call today, "Clearly it is time to move on,"adding that Yahoo believes the Google deal will help it do that. Yang says the agreement will be non-exclusive and will make it a stronger competitor.

Another interesting note, buried in the agreement, Google and Yahoo will make their instant messaging systems work with one another. The Yahoo and Microsoft instant messaging systems already work together.

Yahoo said the Google ad deal represents an annual revenue opportunity of as much as $800 million a year, and $250 to $450 million in annual operating cash flow. Yang said the companies don't believe the agreement requires regulatory approval, but the companies are waiting 3 1/2 months to allow the U.S. Justice Department to review it.

The deal doesn't, close the door on a future Yahoo acquisition. The news release:

"The agreement allows either party to terminate the agreement in the event of a change in control of either party. The agreement also requires Yahoo! to pay a termination fee if the agreement is terminated as a result of a change in control that occurs within 24 months. The termination fee is $250 million, subject to reduction by 50 percent of revenues earned by Google under the agreement."

You can listen to the webcast here.

Update, : This statement was released on the Google-Yahoo deal by U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee:

"We will closely examine the joint venture between Google and Yahoo announced today. This collaboration between two technology giants and direct competitors for Internet advertising and search services raises important competition concerns. The consequences for advertisers and consumers could be far-reaching and warrant careful review, and we plan to investigate the competitive and privacy implications of this deal further in the Antitrust Subcommittee."

A Guide to Recruiting AWESOME Salespeople.

Just about every business owner I come across shares with me one of their most difficult challenge; recruiting great, talented, hard working people. I came across the following article that I thought would help.

In his article, Peter Green gave 7 suggestions to "find and develop a smart sales team." Although I agree with every aspect that Peter states, I want to reiterate an obvious. Simply put, 'People buy from people', they buy from people they trust and they like. Even though you may have a great service or product, so does your competitor and your prospect client does not need you. I always say "Sales is a people helping people business", if people are not important, the internet and information age would have proved you don't need a sales person. Prospective buyers have a lot of information at their fingertips, but it takes great people to help close those sales.

Without further ado, here's Peter's article:

The truth is that successful sales professionals, like any other craft, must develop the skills and disciplines necessary to truly become effective. With these skills they can succeed anywhere. Here are seven fundamental tips for smart digital sales professionals:

1. Turn the doorknob
Engage the market. Prospect new accounts. Keep a full pipeline.

You will not win business if you do not leave your desk. In today's world of real-time communication, instant messaging, email and Blackberries, the art of the in-person sales call is at risk. Nothing replaces meeting your clients in person. Looking across a desk face-to-face, listening to their needs and determining the best solutions you can offer is important.

Even the most seasoned digital sales professionals skip this step from time to time, and it can be costly. I was talking with an industry colleague recently who expressed his disappointment in losing out on a large digital buy. He attributed the loss to the fact that he didn't take the time to have an in-person meeting with this client because the client was a little off the beaten path of his normal sales travel schedule. His competition made the trip, and in turn, won the business. The client later conveyed that the company felt more comfortable with the other rep. This was most likely because the client had the opportunity to meet the rep in person.

2. Seek profitable revenue
Be strategic about where you focus your energy. Strive to understand how you should spend your time so that it will be most profitable.

Strategically manage your time and focus your efforts on the clients that will be most profitable for you. Ultimately, this will result in better solutions for your client and more business for you. You can't be all things to all people and it is not productive to sell that way. Determine your strengths and your product's strengths and find your target. Perhaps you want to focus your efforts on companies with the largest digital budgets, or maybe you want to hone in on companies in a specific vertical that you are well versed in. Whatever your target may be, take time to learn about your clients and what will make them successful to determine which products they will benefit from most and will therefore be most lucrative for you. By doing this, you're more focused and less distracted by the clutter of an endless list of prospective clients, and you help you and your clients become more successful.

3. Sell the line
Sell what you have. Know your product and its unique proposition.

Know your product and understand how your product drives results. Far too often digital sales people quickly look for ancillary solutions that may not be part of their current portfolio of ad products at the first sign of client skepticism. In most cases, this occurs because the sales person is uncomfortable answering objections -- not because the company is not offering the right solution. This results in elaborate, customized solutions that are difficult to execute for both the client and your business.

For example, if you sell a plan with every possible targeting option available and create a customized media set that's day-parted to run two hours per day on Mondays and Tuesdays, chances are the campaign won't perform as well as you or the client would like. Not to mention that your operations team is likely spending a considerable amount of time ensuring it is set up and executing it properly. If you know your products well and spend more time asking the right questions to find out what your client needs, you will most likely find that the solution is already available.

4. See your client's perspective
Go beyond just online media needs. Serve your client's customer.

Understand your client's relationship with his customers and determine how you can best support them. It is important to do your homework, research your client's business, understand his goals, challenges, and how marketing fits into his overall business plan. Reading your client's annual report is a great place to start, and with so many online tools available today, there's really no excuse for being unknowledgeable about a client. It's not up to your agency contact to fill you in on these details; it's up to you to find them. If you understand your client's customer you will be able to offer smarter solutions that translate into more business for you.

5. Develop professional relationships
Follow up. Stay top of mind. Bring consistent value.

Develop your professional relationships. Clearly, entertaining, dinners, cocktail parties, ball games, spa treatments and the like are an essential part of sales in our industry. However, the most successful sales people are those who can host these events while establishing themselves as a valuable industry resource.

Remember, one of the best ways to earn trust is to help your clients succeed in their careers. Don't just answer an RFP and wait for a response. Check in with the media buyer, know your status in the process and find out if there's more you can provide. Share relevant articles, research and industry developments with them and always remember that service is paramount.

6. Sell to all decision makers
There's rarely just one.

This is especially important in the digital space because there are oftentimes so many different influencers in a decision. For example, one buy can include three to five individuals in the final decision, and in some cases, even more. Consider all of the parties that can be involved in a typical buy, such as:

• Interactive agency's planning team
• Interactive agency's buying team (oftentimes from a different agency)
• Client's interactive manager
• Client's overall brand or direct response manager
• Traditional agency's buying team
• Traditional agency's planning team

Keep in mind, this also doesn't account for the number of people involved internally. There is a digital team or traditional team, and now companies are developing integrated teams to support a buy. So, it's imperative to find out who your contact's colleagues are, what their organizational chart looks like, if there are other people you should know on the team and if there are any other teams you can help. The digital space is always changing and so are the teams that work within it.

7. Work on your craft
Unleash your intellectual curiosity. Be inspired to learn from multiple places.

Advertising sales is a craft that requires continuous development and maintenance, especially in the digital space with its fast pace and ever changing landscape. Becoming a great sales person doesn't happen by just reading the trades and the newest book about sales. It comes from a myriad of experiences; some of the best strategies can be learned by looking at history.

While everyone should be reading the trades and attending industry events, there's more to do and you have to go beyond online advertising. The activities you enjoy, hobbies you develop and places you travel help expand your life and viewpoint. The more engaged in continual learning you are, the more your sales will be enhanced. If you really think about it, how much of your closed business has actually come from talking solely about impressions, behavioral targeting or preroll video? There's always more to a sales conversation than just business.

Results
By truly taking these seven tips to heart and incorporating them into your sales practice, you can expect the following:

• Your clients will become successful.
• Once your clients become more successful, you transition from a sales person to a marketing partner and they look to you for recommendations, insight and help in shaping media plans for their clients.
• After that, you're able to expand your professional relationship with your clients and increase your success in digital sales.

Of course, none of this can happen if you do not ask for the business. And, if you do not win the business, find out why. This information will enable you to better understand your client's perspective and help you determine where you need to focus so that next time you bring the right solution and secure the business.

Some may find these tips to be a good refresher about the importance of strong fundamental sales skills. For others, these tips may be new. If that's the case, keep these handy and have confidence that by mastering these principles you are well positioned for future success in digital sales.