Computer firm - about advertising
On Habré, there have already been articles about advertising, its correctness, incorrectness, efficiency, and loss-making. Having in this matter some experience in small business, I decided to share it. For whom this topic is painful - you are welcome under the cat.
Just want to indicate the initial data of the acquired experience:
1. A small town of about 300 thousand people.
2. own comp. firm. At one time already wrote about the vicissitudes of her fate ( Computer company: from absolute zero , Computer company: behind the scenes ).
3. A bunch of different (successful and not very) experiments in advertising.
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Everything rendered by me is a purely individual experience, which in many respects concerns only the sale of equipment by a small private firm. Perhaps he will help someone, and perhaps some moments, for some miraculous chance, have played into my hands only. Consider that the emphasis in advertising was placed on people who encounter computers for the first time.
Everything described was tested by me personally - all successful and especially unsuccessful moments. Much (even all) has long been described in books on advertising, which I will mention at the end of the topic. All this will most likely be interesting only to those who recently went into business and is engaged in its promotion.
The first and most important thing to understand is that advertising is an investment in future mandatory profits , but it’s not a waste of money, as many people say.
Think for a minute how most owners, entrepreneurs, directors think about advertising. The course of thought is approximately as follows:
1. Yeah, at the end of the month we have about zero balance, or even a small “plus”, so you can afford to spend money on some newspaper or even a few newspapers.
2. Damn, we have a "minus" we can not afford to give advertising.
We see that advertising is considered as something irrevocable, on which you can spend money to make it, but that almost never turns a profit. And the feeling that many are advertised just so that he supposedly knew them - they are promoting the "brand". Branding is a separate topic, about which a little later.
That is, people create such advertising in which they are trying to say, “But here I am what I am!”, But they do not try to sell or convey anything. And so any attempt to advertise, in the presence of competing firms, turn into a loss.
But advertising is exactly what should cost $ 300 a month to bring at least $ 350. $ 50 is at least minimal profit, but still - profit, plus its post-effect in the long run: each new client acquired is your potential customers exponentially in the future.
That is, you need to think like this:
If my business is not very good (or even not at all good), then it is imperative and urgent to give advertising, but there’s no way to save money on it.
Sometimes it is difficult and sometimes it seems wild. Again, only because advertising is viewed as an item of expenditure. And in fact, it should bring money and at least pay off.
Tip # 1: Change your attitude to advertising!
But not to advertising managers, who are basically cheaters. This is about those who go around the offices and tell them what an impressive circulation they have and amazing advertising spaces.
Many advertising managers will break into a cake to convince you that advertising is the engine of commerce and without it you will die. But soon you may find that with her you will die of hunger even faster.
It is desirable to understand that waking up in the morning and realizing that advertising is good, does not guarantee you a profit. And the realization that it should bring money, not loss, still does not change anything; and the power of thought, visualization (from the film “The Secret”) or a mediocre advertising layout will in no way force the client to spend his hard-earned money.
We are talking about the ideal, and the ideal is one: advertising = approx . That is how it should be. But only the very understanding of money will not bring, although it will allow you to feel confident when you "invest" in advertising. Thereby saving your nerves - and this is already a lot.
After awareness - start creating your advertisement.
It so happened that I always did advertising layouts myself, never trusting “newspaper designers” from newspapers. A newspaper layout maker is certainly not a designer, much less a person who can make you a profit. I think that mastering Corel will not be a problem. Although of course you should evaluate yourself objectively, and sometimes it is better to create a layout better to entrust to someone.
In any case, it is worth sticking to some points:
What usually starts creating a layout? In 90% of cases, with the fact that in the upper left corner we make a huge logo and a large company name. Let everyone know who we are and what we are!
Forget it! Our egocentrism will kill our nerves, money and raise competitors. Clients are just as selfish as we are - they are not interested in who you are or where! All they need is to specifically say how much you “hang”, they need a “clue”, they need to know where to call and what to ask, and not what is the name of your excellent company that he still hears about for the first time.
The minimum task of advertising is to make a potential client call you and not feel like a jerk. The client must call you, he must want it himself. But to sell - this is the task of the one who picks up the phone. Advertising is only a link, a guide, Moses, who leads all the suffering to you.
And what do you need for a voluntary call to you? Fasten your seat belts and think ...
People do not like and do not want to look like idiots. Therefore, no one deliberately puts himself in a deliberately disadvantaged position - only complete idiots. But God save you from such customers.
Therefore, if your huge layout has the same huge logo, a huge “Compotrade” inscription and the favorite heading “computers and office equipment” + minimal slogan “quickly and efficiently”, then you are unlikely to call someone if you don’t the only seller in the city.
And just for a second, imagine that quite a small layout is 5 times smaller, in which almost the whole area says “Cheap computers” + phone, and somewhere in small print the name “PE Bogdan”. Self employed?! O_O - pff, who is so advertised!?
I can confidently say that the absolute majority of people will call Bogdan. Think about what reason a person has to call you !?
Consider a few non-obvious points:
Mostly advertisements are viewed by computer-illiterate people, teapots are in our language. This is because all the “scamming” people have long known points, places and are “assigned” to their favorite companies. A man far from the comp. technicians prefer to call Bogdan, because there is a promise of cheapness, and you have nothing but a large logo and a strange name.
And therefore, the fact that you are a serious company, and he is not a serious entrepreneur, means nothing to a person who wants to pay for a purchase. Buy cheap is the main desire of most customers. On this need to play.
Tip number 2: Offer. Your ad should have a specific offer.
Means war! You need to skip this PE Bogdan. We are starting to change advertising and entice customers. What do we need? The promise of a cheap purchase.
But the word “cheap” somehow smells like a dirty trick: cheap and poor quality. More than overpaying, our customers are afraid of only one thing - that it will be a shame in front of the neighbors that they will get into trouble. Therefore, putting the word "cheap" - you just start playing the lottery "50/50" with Bogdan - to whom the buyer dials first, he essentially sold the goods. Suppose, conditionally, that each of you has an ideal salesman who never misses a chance, if the client has called him.
And we want to dominate, and not hope for a chance. How can I replace the word “cheap” so as not to cause paranoia in the client? Numbers.
Our move will be:
In the advertisement we write: “Computers from $ 250” and exclude the word “cheap”. Further, since it allows the area, we put a good picture of any computer, so as not to look caricatured. In addition, we reduce the logo and the text of the company name to the minimum size and increase the phone.
What do we have?
Now you have become more attractive. You promise cheap happiness with a specific price. From now on, it will be more convenient to call you and ask, and what is it for you there for computers from $ 250. The fact that this is only the price of the system unit with integrated video, the client will figure out later. And there is no deception. Nobody bothers the client to pay $ 500 and get a normal gaming sistemnik. But "roll" caller - the task manager. But the call is the merit of advertising. The client feels more comfortable calling just for you: he has a specific topic for conversation - “$ 250”, but Bogdan has nothing but cheapness.
It will be all over the place. Immediately Bogdan will copy the advertisement and write “Computers from $ 200”. Understanding computers, you understand that there is a catch somewhere. But customers do not know this at all and will call there. But do not forget to enter into a price war.
We do not have the task to win a local advertising war - we just have to attract more customers. Set priorities correctly. Although it is impossible to earn a lot at the same time without offending competitors - this is natural selection.
There is one moment. Based on the above fear of lohanutsya, our people rarely buy the cheapest computers. But for some reason, very often they call for the cheapest offers. Therefore, writing $ 150 you will bypass the beloved Bogdan on calls; and still you will not buy computers for $ 150 because there are no such in nature and you will get out in every possible way and say that there are no such in the warehouse already. But ... this is already a bad form and a dead-end road leading to anti-advertising, about which later. You should not get involved in dumping wars.
Instead, stop doing verbiage and concretize our proposal. We get rid of the dull “computers from $ 250” and specifically indicate that we want to sell to a person. To do this, select the cheapest konfu and write:
Celeron 430 / 1Gb / 160Gb / DVDRRW / Case / k / m / s - $ 240.
It already looks more serious + there is a whole bunch of "clues" for communication. Most often, the client will call you in any case: the first, second or third call. You have the promise of happiness and the name of happiness. They can call and ask what you are offering and whether it is well suited for work, toys, etc.
Expanding the range.
We go further. Since the advertising space allows, then you decide not to be limited to one offer. Moreover, not everyone is looking for cheap. Therefore, we also cram the following sentence:
Dual-core Intel Pentium / Core i3 / 4DDR3 / 500Gb / DVDRW / Case - $ 500.
Pentium / Core - no errors. In the advertising sense. The fact is that very few people know about Core, and even less can say it. This means people who are not oriented in computers in general. But the words Pentium and dual - core have already been memorized by the teeth, and they have become sacred symbols of power on the lips of many ignorant people. For him, we even made it bold.
And we specify Core for the well-versed.
Such manipulations dramatically increase your call flow. You do not just from $ 200, you specifically said what and for what.
Moreover, with such a statement, people who can be sorted out can call you, who will be able to compare the price of your novelty with "their" seller - you never know what happens.
Further, for “tight” ones that may decide that you have only two computer models to choose from, you can add: “Configuration examples:” so that it is clear that these are only options, and under them “Any configuration change is possible according to your request” .
You will be surprised how many people will call you and say that we are interested in such and such a model from advertising, but I would like to make more hard drives or reduce memory.
As a result, we are trying to achieve with all of this that a person wants to call us only because he knows why he is calling, he knows what to ask, what price it is and what option he chooses. He will not need to ask: “Hello, what are your computers and what are they like?” - for many, even this is hard. He will simply say: “I'm talking about a $ 250 model. And how does it differ from the one that is more expensive, is it good? ”.
Go ahead !!! Sell!
Let's go even further. Add a third configuration for $ 350 from AMD for example. You show that you have everything :) In addition, we add the cheapest laptop, so that you do not think that you have only computers. I think the meaning of this is clear.
Well, again we meet with the fact that we are beginning to "copy" competitors. Drive on them. You are too busy developing, not imitating. Let them better watch you, not you behind them.
During my work, in 5 years I almost never analyzed competitors. Know your place! After all, all the time. Such offices as Dell, AMD need to constantly monitor competitors, and we, with our staff of 6 people, are nothing more than posturing and display of unhealthy vanity. Everyone tries to emulate Jobs, Google, Toyota, etc. in their work. - not worth it. What this company needs is not suitable for you at all! The only thing worth taking from them is the quality of the work you do.
We go further.
Advertising works. People call, but we want to sell more. We spend $ 400 on advertising - the budget, by the way, is extremely large for a small company, despite its apparent minimality. And we get from this two times more. Again, advertising works.
Suppose we decided to slightly reduce advertising costs, but I do not want to reduce the layout. Let's conditionally imagine that we are advertising in the local free newspaper on the last color page. Advertising people know that it’s not cheap.
What to do? There is a pleasant moment that many people begin to understand after many years - the post effect. Advertising usually works some time after the release, as free newspapers are always scattered around the house. And having given an advertisement at the beginning of the month, they may contact us at the end.
Therefore, we contact our newspaper and say that we are cutting advertising by exactly 2 times: we will “go out” once in the first and third week of the month. After 2 months, we note that there are no changes in the results. But there is savings.
Tip number 3: In the weekly newspapers, let's advertise through the exit.
According to the "legend" at the moment we have spent $ 200 to print through time (week number 1 and number 3) on the last page of the newspaper. But now it's time to spread the net wider.
While competitors are trying to crush a bunch of ads, you can make a "cunning move." But for each newspaper, such a move is evaluated separately - for there are moments. What is the move?
We take our rather big layout on the last page, and transfer it to the penultimate black-and-white + slightly increase it. The result will be more layout for a cheaper price. This is due to the fact that the page is the penultimate and not colored. For example, the price will be $ 150 - savings ?? Of course! For what? For the sake of conquering the world :) Here’s how we proceed further ...
We turn to the free newspaper No. 2 and for $ 150 we give the same advertisement on the penultimate black-and-white page, just choose weeks No. 2 and No. 4.
The bottom line: we cover the whole month with various newspapers that have an effect. But while spending not so much money.
Well, you can connect the newspaper number 3, in which we will advertise, too, through time, in any convenient week.
We get $ 450 of budget for advertising + excellent audience coverage. Compared to the initial 400 and exits every week, the last page is a better investment.
As a result, compared to competitors, you are in the black and you know what you are doing. But in general - forget the competition. At such low altitudes, “flying” - they are not your headache if you are piloting correctly. Better consider your earnings.
On the account of the last but one page: if there are a lot of sheets in a newspaper, then it’s better not to do this - you probably won't be noticed. In addition, you need to pay attention to the coverage of certain parts of the city.
But what about the task of being on everyone's mind, brand development, etc. Also forget! You are a start-up firm. Nobody needs you! And do not imitate anyone and spend big money on the huge advertising on the front pages. You can only be branded in the event that even if you hear the name of your company, anyone can remember something about you. And so many of the largest manufacturers, businesses and brands can boast. But think how comical would be the huge advertisement “PE BOGDAN”. And that Bogdan ?? And what are you, and why are you, and who needs your computers, and how are they better? But it looks no less ridiculous than your Compotrade. Don't waste your money. They will be useful for you to pay taxes.
Therefore, spit on every advertising manager who offers you to promote your "brand". This is generally a topic for a separate article.
There is an original advertisement, and there is an advertisement on which people apply. Originality and efficiency are completely different things. Many advertisers (real) say that most often advertisements that win in different contests are completely ineffective and do not bring any result.
Once I saw an advertisement on which a huge strawberry was depicted, and below there was a small signature: “This is a strawberry! And we sell computers! Call somewhere. ”Fun, funny and original, but no more. They entertain people - and we sell. Apparently our firms were created for different purposes.
Another example that is often used now. Large white space in which something is written in small print. Well, stupidity! The calculation that the person will be interesting and he read. Well, he reads figs, if advertising for competitors is already nearby, he will call them. In addition, our people do not shine with eyesight and appreciate your ingenious creations to everyone. In addition, not so brilliant. This trend has gone from advertising from 1959.
I think it is needless to say that here diminutiveness is quite justified. And this is a typical representative of "their" advertising. With a good text below, which compensates for the lack of information at the top. In general, I think it is clear that if you imitate something, then with the mind.
This is also a very serious factor. Never, never, ever ... Never write in advertising false information or what you can not fulfill. Or things that can be understood in two ways. Like "Delivery around the city", but then it turns out that this is delivery, but at the expense of the client. There is nothing worse than anti-advertising and, accordingly, an unhappy customer.
It will be very bad when you indicate reduced prices in advertising, and then you will get out with all sorts of research and try to explain that you don’t already have it and the client needs to buy another product. Our customers are sensitive, they react very badly to deception.
If you lose one, you at least lose another 10, which would later come to you through this client.
There is one more thing. Now there are a lot of promotions with the promise of golden mountains, which are marked with an asterisk (*). And at the bottom there is an explanation for the star in the lower part of the star: that the mountains are accessible for an hour and only for viewing under the supervision of the guard.
All this has led to the fact that people are already restlessly reacting to any inscription near which the star meets. There is a star - it means they want to deceive, it means there is a catch. Of course, not everyone thinks so, but many.
Therefore, I always avoided “starring” the text in advertisements and always made footnotes next to it in small print.
Although it is still the same can be attributed to anti-advertising.
For example, “Computers for $ 100 *”
* The price of the down payment when buying on credit.
Or "Computers for $ 20 *"
* Payment for the system unit for 36 months. Monitor purchased separately.
It will be even worse if a person hears about this from you, because he couldn’t read it at the bottom of the layout because of his vision.
Well catching a sucker is the same. And such you catch quite a few. But after all, the conversation is about a normal, honest, present business and a business where we don’t want to fall apart in a year, and where we want to work long and fruitfully. And all of you deceived - this is a one-time purchase, and in the end, and ditched firm.
In general, be adequate - no nonsense and dodges. Do your job honestly and efficiently - this is the best confirmation of your advertising. And in the future, and your best advertising. People who are doing their job well, often begin to walk around there, pleasant tales. About our company said that we won there in some competitions for the best build and the best staff. We have never supported this, but have not refuted it either. All the same, nice to hear that.
The main advice of people opposing advertising says that you just need to do your job very efficiently and honestly. And then people will find you themselves. This is VERY correct!
But this is also an extremely long way to success. Incredibly long. If you are 20 years old and you are not in a hurry, and you have to give a penny for rent, while you live with your parents and do not pay loans, and nobody works for you, because you do it yourself - then this option is for you. After 5 years you will have a whole pack of ideal-grateful clients who will dream of making a profit. Believe me, 2 years or 3 years is not enough for promotion in this way.
Advertising - just the engine, accelerator, which will send to you and strangers, and not just "an acquaintance."
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Uff ... I want to take this off. Infa and so much, although there are still many thoughts and considerations. The article came out unexpectedly bulky and without your favorite pictures. Sorry too. The next time I'll fix it. Thanks to everyone who mastered.
I hope someone will help. I wish you success!
At the expense of books - a lot of them on advertising. But the only thing I would like to highlight: D. Ogilvy “On Advertising”, “Secrets of the Advertising Court”. This man is a genius! Much that you read here, is written in more detail and interesting in his books.
I specifically bought myself a paper version, because I did not find the PDF. Who is engaged in the business - I strongly advise.
Everything described makes sense only if the seller is on your phone - either you or another adequate person! Communication with customers is a very cumbersome topic of a completely separate article, or even two. But the “telephonist” is the one from whom your profit will depend.
Advertising does its job - people call. You just need to handle them correctly.
Imholization
Just want to indicate the initial data of the acquired experience:
1. A small town of about 300 thousand people.
2. own comp. firm. At one time already wrote about the vicissitudes of her fate ( Computer company: from absolute zero , Computer company: behind the scenes ).
3. A bunch of different (successful and not very) experiments in advertising.
')
Everything rendered by me is a purely individual experience, which in many respects concerns only the sale of equipment by a small private firm. Perhaps he will help someone, and perhaps some moments, for some miraculous chance, have played into my hands only. Consider that the emphasis in advertising was placed on people who encounter computers for the first time.
Everything described was tested by me personally - all successful and especially unsuccessful moments. Much (even all) has long been described in books on advertising, which I will mention at the end of the topic. All this will most likely be interesting only to those who recently went into business and is engaged in its promotion.
Subconscious.
The first and most important thing to understand is that advertising is an investment in future mandatory profits , but it’s not a waste of money, as many people say.
Think for a minute how most owners, entrepreneurs, directors think about advertising. The course of thought is approximately as follows:
1. Yeah, at the end of the month we have about zero balance, or even a small “plus”, so you can afford to spend money on some newspaper or even a few newspapers.
2. Damn, we have a "minus" we can not afford to give advertising.
We see that advertising is considered as something irrevocable, on which you can spend money to make it, but that almost never turns a profit. And the feeling that many are advertised just so that he supposedly knew them - they are promoting the "brand". Branding is a separate topic, about which a little later.
That is, people create such advertising in which they are trying to say, “But here I am what I am!”, But they do not try to sell or convey anything. And so any attempt to advertise, in the presence of competing firms, turn into a loss.
But advertising is exactly what should cost $ 300 a month to bring at least $ 350. $ 50 is at least minimal profit, but still - profit, plus its post-effect in the long run: each new client acquired is your potential customers exponentially in the future.
That is, you need to think like this:
If my business is not very good (or even not at all good), then it is imperative and urgent to give advertising, but there’s no way to save money on it.
Sometimes it is difficult and sometimes it seems wild. Again, only because advertising is viewed as an item of expenditure. And in fact, it should bring money and at least pay off.
Tip # 1: Change your attitude to advertising!
But not to advertising managers, who are basically cheaters. This is about those who go around the offices and tell them what an impressive circulation they have and amazing advertising spaces.
Positivism.
Many advertising managers will break into a cake to convince you that advertising is the engine of commerce and without it you will die. But soon you may find that with her you will die of hunger even faster.
It is desirable to understand that waking up in the morning and realizing that advertising is good, does not guarantee you a profit. And the realization that it should bring money, not loss, still does not change anything; and the power of thought, visualization (from the film “The Secret”) or a mediocre advertising layout will in no way force the client to spend his hard-earned money.
We are talking about the ideal, and the ideal is one: advertising = approx . That is how it should be. But only the very understanding of money will not bring, although it will allow you to feel confident when you "invest" in advertising. Thereby saving your nerves - and this is already a lot.
After awareness - start creating your advertisement.
Creativity and cretinism
It so happened that I always did advertising layouts myself, never trusting “newspaper designers” from newspapers. A newspaper layout maker is certainly not a designer, much less a person who can make you a profit. I think that mastering Corel will not be a problem. Although of course you should evaluate yourself objectively, and sometimes it is better to create a layout better to entrust to someone.
In any case, it is worth sticking to some points:
What usually starts creating a layout? In 90% of cases, with the fact that in the upper left corner we make a huge logo and a large company name. Let everyone know who we are and what we are!
Forget it! Our egocentrism will kill our nerves, money and raise competitors. Clients are just as selfish as we are - they are not interested in who you are or where! All they need is to specifically say how much you “hang”, they need a “clue”, they need to know where to call and what to ask, and not what is the name of your excellent company that he still hears about for the first time.
The minimum task of advertising is to make a potential client call you and not feel like a jerk. The client must call you, he must want it himself. But to sell - this is the task of the one who picks up the phone. Advertising is only a link, a guide, Moses, who leads all the suffering to you.
And what do you need for a voluntary call to you? Fasten your seat belts and think ...
People do not like and do not want to look like idiots. Therefore, no one deliberately puts himself in a deliberately disadvantaged position - only complete idiots. But God save you from such customers.
Therefore, if your huge layout has the same huge logo, a huge “Compotrade” inscription and the favorite heading “computers and office equipment” + minimal slogan “quickly and efficiently”, then you are unlikely to call someone if you don’t the only seller in the city.
And just for a second, imagine that quite a small layout is 5 times smaller, in which almost the whole area says “Cheap computers” + phone, and somewhere in small print the name “PE Bogdan”. Self employed?! O_O - pff, who is so advertised!?
I can confidently say that the absolute majority of people will call Bogdan. Think about what reason a person has to call you !?
Consider a few non-obvious points:
Mostly advertisements are viewed by computer-illiterate people, teapots are in our language. This is because all the “scamming” people have long known points, places and are “assigned” to their favorite companies. A man far from the comp. technicians prefer to call Bogdan, because there is a promise of cheapness, and you have nothing but a large logo and a strange name.
And therefore, the fact that you are a serious company, and he is not a serious entrepreneur, means nothing to a person who wants to pay for a purchase. Buy cheap is the main desire of most customers. On this need to play.
Tip number 2: Offer. Your ad should have a specific offer.
War of ideas
Means war! You need to skip this PE Bogdan. We are starting to change advertising and entice customers. What do we need? The promise of a cheap purchase.
But the word “cheap” somehow smells like a dirty trick: cheap and poor quality. More than overpaying, our customers are afraid of only one thing - that it will be a shame in front of the neighbors that they will get into trouble. Therefore, putting the word "cheap" - you just start playing the lottery "50/50" with Bogdan - to whom the buyer dials first, he essentially sold the goods. Suppose, conditionally, that each of you has an ideal salesman who never misses a chance, if the client has called him.
And we want to dominate, and not hope for a chance. How can I replace the word “cheap” so as not to cause paranoia in the client? Numbers.
Our move will be:
In the advertisement we write: “Computers from $ 250” and exclude the word “cheap”. Further, since it allows the area, we put a good picture of any computer, so as not to look caricatured. In addition, we reduce the logo and the text of the company name to the minimum size and increase the phone.
What do we have?
Now you have become more attractive. You promise cheap happiness with a specific price. From now on, it will be more convenient to call you and ask, and what is it for you there for computers from $ 250. The fact that this is only the price of the system unit with integrated video, the client will figure out later. And there is no deception. Nobody bothers the client to pay $ 500 and get a normal gaming sistemnik. But "roll" caller - the task manager. But the call is the merit of advertising. The client feels more comfortable calling just for you: he has a specific topic for conversation - “$ 250”, but Bogdan has nothing but cheapness.
Plagiarism
It will be all over the place. Immediately Bogdan will copy the advertisement and write “Computers from $ 200”. Understanding computers, you understand that there is a catch somewhere. But customers do not know this at all and will call there. But do not forget to enter into a price war.
We do not have the task to win a local advertising war - we just have to attract more customers. Set priorities correctly. Although it is impossible to earn a lot at the same time without offending competitors - this is natural selection.
There is one moment. Based on the above fear of lohanutsya, our people rarely buy the cheapest computers. But for some reason, very often they call for the cheapest offers. Therefore, writing $ 150 you will bypass the beloved Bogdan on calls; and still you will not buy computers for $ 150 because there are no such in nature and you will get out in every possible way and say that there are no such in the warehouse already. But ... this is already a bad form and a dead-end road leading to anti-advertising, about which later. You should not get involved in dumping wars.
Concrete
Instead, stop doing verbiage and concretize our proposal. We get rid of the dull “computers from $ 250” and specifically indicate that we want to sell to a person. To do this, select the cheapest konfu and write:
Celeron 430 / 1Gb / 160Gb / DVDRRW / Case / k / m / s - $ 240.
It already looks more serious + there is a whole bunch of "clues" for communication. Most often, the client will call you in any case: the first, second or third call. You have the promise of happiness and the name of happiness. They can call and ask what you are offering and whether it is well suited for work, toys, etc.
Expanding the range.
We go further. Since the advertising space allows, then you decide not to be limited to one offer. Moreover, not everyone is looking for cheap. Therefore, we also cram the following sentence:
Dual-core Intel Pentium / Core i3 / 4DDR3 / 500Gb / DVDRW / Case - $ 500.
Pentium / Core - no errors. In the advertising sense. The fact is that very few people know about Core, and even less can say it. This means people who are not oriented in computers in general. But the words Pentium and dual - core have already been memorized by the teeth, and they have become sacred symbols of power on the lips of many ignorant people. For him, we even made it bold.
And we specify Core for the well-versed.
Such manipulations dramatically increase your call flow. You do not just from $ 200, you specifically said what and for what.
Moreover, with such a statement, people who can be sorted out can call you, who will be able to compare the price of your novelty with "their" seller - you never know what happens.
Further, for “tight” ones that may decide that you have only two computer models to choose from, you can add: “Configuration examples:” so that it is clear that these are only options, and under them “Any configuration change is possible according to your request” .
You will be surprised how many people will call you and say that we are interested in such and such a model from advertising, but I would like to make more hard drives or reduce memory.
As a result, we are trying to achieve with all of this that a person wants to call us only because he knows why he is calling, he knows what to ask, what price it is and what option he chooses. He will not need to ask: “Hello, what are your computers and what are they like?” - for many, even this is hard. He will simply say: “I'm talking about a $ 250 model. And how does it differ from the one that is more expensive, is it good? ”.
Go ahead !!! Sell!
A little seasoning.
Let's go even further. Add a third configuration for $ 350 from AMD for example. You show that you have everything :) In addition, we add the cheapest laptop, so that you do not think that you have only computers. I think the meaning of this is clear.
We accelerate.
Well, again we meet with the fact that we are beginning to "copy" competitors. Drive on them. You are too busy developing, not imitating. Let them better watch you, not you behind them.
During my work, in 5 years I almost never analyzed competitors. Know your place! After all, all the time. Such offices as Dell, AMD need to constantly monitor competitors, and we, with our staff of 6 people, are nothing more than posturing and display of unhealthy vanity. Everyone tries to emulate Jobs, Google, Toyota, etc. in their work. - not worth it. What this company needs is not suitable for you at all! The only thing worth taking from them is the quality of the work you do.
We go further.
Advertising works. People call, but we want to sell more. We spend $ 400 on advertising - the budget, by the way, is extremely large for a small company, despite its apparent minimality. And we get from this two times more. Again, advertising works.
Post effects
Suppose we decided to slightly reduce advertising costs, but I do not want to reduce the layout. Let's conditionally imagine that we are advertising in the local free newspaper on the last color page. Advertising people know that it’s not cheap.
What to do? There is a pleasant moment that many people begin to understand after many years - the post effect. Advertising usually works some time after the release, as free newspapers are always scattered around the house. And having given an advertisement at the beginning of the month, they may contact us at the end.
Therefore, we contact our newspaper and say that we are cutting advertising by exactly 2 times: we will “go out” once in the first and third week of the month. After 2 months, we note that there are no changes in the results. But there is savings.
Tip number 3: In the weekly newspapers, let's advertise through the exit.
Dominated by
According to the "legend" at the moment we have spent $ 200 to print through time (week number 1 and number 3) on the last page of the newspaper. But now it's time to spread the net wider.
While competitors are trying to crush a bunch of ads, you can make a "cunning move." But for each newspaper, such a move is evaluated separately - for there are moments. What is the move?
We take our rather big layout on the last page, and transfer it to the penultimate black-and-white + slightly increase it. The result will be more layout for a cheaper price. This is due to the fact that the page is the penultimate and not colored. For example, the price will be $ 150 - savings ?? Of course! For what? For the sake of conquering the world :) Here’s how we proceed further ...
We turn to the free newspaper No. 2 and for $ 150 we give the same advertisement on the penultimate black-and-white page, just choose weeks No. 2 and No. 4.
The bottom line: we cover the whole month with various newspapers that have an effect. But while spending not so much money.
Well, you can connect the newspaper number 3, in which we will advertise, too, through time, in any convenient week.
We get $ 450 of budget for advertising + excellent audience coverage. Compared to the initial 400 and exits every week, the last page is a better investment.
As a result, compared to competitors, you are in the black and you know what you are doing. But in general - forget the competition. At such low altitudes, “flying” - they are not your headache if you are piloting correctly. Better consider your earnings.
On the account of the last but one page: if there are a lot of sheets in a newspaper, then it’s better not to do this - you probably won't be noticed. In addition, you need to pay attention to the coverage of certain parts of the city.
"Branding"
But what about the task of being on everyone's mind, brand development, etc. Also forget! You are a start-up firm. Nobody needs you! And do not imitate anyone and spend big money on the huge advertising on the front pages. You can only be branded in the event that even if you hear the name of your company, anyone can remember something about you. And so many of the largest manufacturers, businesses and brands can boast. But think how comical would be the huge advertisement “PE BOGDAN”. And that Bogdan ?? And what are you, and why are you, and who needs your computers, and how are they better? But it looks no less ridiculous than your Compotrade. Don't waste your money. They will be useful for you to pay taxes.
Therefore, spit on every advertising manager who offers you to promote your "brand". This is generally a topic for a separate article.
Originality.
There is an original advertisement, and there is an advertisement on which people apply. Originality and efficiency are completely different things. Many advertisers (real) say that most often advertisements that win in different contests are completely ineffective and do not bring any result.
Once I saw an advertisement on which a huge strawberry was depicted, and below there was a small signature: “This is a strawberry! And we sell computers! Call somewhere. ”Fun, funny and original, but no more. They entertain people - and we sell. Apparently our firms were created for different purposes.
Another example that is often used now. Large white space in which something is written in small print. Well, stupidity! The calculation that the person will be interesting and he read. Well, he reads figs, if advertising for competitors is already nearby, he will call them. In addition, our people do not shine with eyesight and appreciate your ingenious creations to everyone. In addition, not so brilliant. This trend has gone from advertising from 1959.
I think it is needless to say that here diminutiveness is quite justified. And this is a typical representative of "their" advertising. With a good text below, which compensates for the lack of information at the top. In general, I think it is clear that if you imitate something, then with the mind.
Anti-advertising
This is also a very serious factor. Never, never, ever ... Never write in advertising false information or what you can not fulfill. Or things that can be understood in two ways. Like "Delivery around the city", but then it turns out that this is delivery, but at the expense of the client. There is nothing worse than anti-advertising and, accordingly, an unhappy customer.
It will be very bad when you indicate reduced prices in advertising, and then you will get out with all sorts of research and try to explain that you don’t already have it and the client needs to buy another product. Our customers are sensitive, they react very badly to deception.
If you lose one, you at least lose another 10, which would later come to you through this client.
Curse Stars (*)
There is one more thing. Now there are a lot of promotions with the promise of golden mountains, which are marked with an asterisk (*). And at the bottom there is an explanation for the star in the lower part of the star: that the mountains are accessible for an hour and only for viewing under the supervision of the guard.
All this has led to the fact that people are already restlessly reacting to any inscription near which the star meets. There is a star - it means they want to deceive, it means there is a catch. Of course, not everyone thinks so, but many.
Therefore, I always avoided “starring” the text in advertisements and always made footnotes next to it in small print.
Although it is still the same can be attributed to anti-advertising.
For example, “Computers for $ 100 *”
* The price of the down payment when buying on credit.
Or "Computers for $ 20 *"
* Payment for the system unit for 36 months. Monitor purchased separately.
It will be even worse if a person hears about this from you, because he couldn’t read it at the bottom of the layout because of his vision.
Well catching a sucker is the same. And such you catch quite a few. But after all, the conversation is about a normal, honest, present business and a business where we don’t want to fall apart in a year, and where we want to work long and fruitfully. And all of you deceived - this is a one-time purchase, and in the end, and ditched firm.
In general, be adequate - no nonsense and dodges. Do your job honestly and efficiently - this is the best confirmation of your advertising. And in the future, and your best advertising. People who are doing their job well, often begin to walk around there, pleasant tales. About our company said that we won there in some competitions for the best build and the best staff. We have never supported this, but have not refuted it either. All the same, nice to hear that.
Without advertising
The main advice of people opposing advertising says that you just need to do your job very efficiently and honestly. And then people will find you themselves. This is VERY correct!
But this is also an extremely long way to success. Incredibly long. If you are 20 years old and you are not in a hurry, and you have to give a penny for rent, while you live with your parents and do not pay loans, and nobody works for you, because you do it yourself - then this option is for you. After 5 years you will have a whole pack of ideal-grateful clients who will dream of making a profit. Believe me, 2 years or 3 years is not enough for promotion in this way.
Advertising - just the engine, accelerator, which will send to you and strangers, and not just "an acquaintance."
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Uff ... I want to take this off. Infa and so much, although there are still many thoughts and considerations. The article came out unexpectedly bulky and without your favorite pictures. Sorry too. The next time I'll fix it. Thanks to everyone who mastered.
I hope someone will help. I wish you success!
PS
At the expense of books - a lot of them on advertising. But the only thing I would like to highlight: D. Ogilvy “On Advertising”, “Secrets of the Advertising Court”. This man is a genius! Much that you read here, is written in more detail and interesting in his books.
I specifically bought myself a paper version, because I did not find the PDF. Who is engaged in the business - I strongly advise.
Pps
Everything described makes sense only if the seller is on your phone - either you or another adequate person! Communication with customers is a very cumbersome topic of a completely separate article, or even two. But the “telephonist” is the one from whom your profit will depend.
Advertising does its job - people call. You just need to handle them correctly.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/86906/
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