by Travis Miller 

 

Last night, with my eyes closed, almost asleep, I heard the most absurd story blurted out on the local news. It was as ridiculous as it could get...I thought, at least until they blurted out the next story, which was even more absurd.

Story 1: 4th of July fireworks displays are being canceled all over Central Florida because attendance is expected to be too low. "Thanks to high gas prices, people are choosing to stay home this 4th of July and have their own fireworks displays."

But that's good news for this little ratty fireworks stand. "This is our best year ever...people don't want  to spend money on gas to go see fireworks at the river or downtown, so instead they're just buying fireworks to set off themselves.

Reality Check: Get real, people! Let's say that you would have to drive 30 miles to get to the fireworks display. Then 30 miles back. That's 60 miles. You drive a truck, that only gets 15 miles per gallon. That's 4 gallons of gas. $16. And that's the high end. If you drive 10 miles, and own a car, you're looking at under a gallon.

What kind of fireworks display are you going to have at your house for $4 - $16? A box of sparklers and a bottle rocket or 2? Maybe some of those snap pops or a smoke bomb...

I have a hard time believing this story. Hopefully it's just the media being idiotic and making vague assumptions that paint a picture of the "terrible" times we're living in.

But if that story is true, people need to wake the hell up, buy a calculator, and apply some accurate thinking to their lives.

Story 2: "Local businesses are hurting in this economy. Some owners are taking drastic measures to stay competitive."

Pizza parlor decides it's no longer accepting credit cards. Or, more specifically, they begin charging an additional fee to people who use a credit card. Guy comes on and says he's been able to lower his prices to $1.50 per slice for customers who pay cash.

This is his way to stay competitive. Unbelievable.

What was he charging per slice before? $1.75? If your customers are that concerned with a quarter, you're doing business with the wrong people.

He then goes on to explain that the bank takes 7% on credit card transactions. Well, he needs to find a different merchant account. There are plenty at the 2%-3% range. Which, by the way, would be 3 to 4 cents on that $1.50 slice of pizza.

The reporter says, "This new policy has customers thinking twice before swiping their cards, and many more using the atm machine." The atm machine is in this guy's shop (I'm sure he makes a vig on the usage). You would pay $1.50 to $2 fee to the machine, plus $1 or $2 to your bank. People would do this to avoid the $.50 charge for using their card?

This is mind numbing, honestly. The only thing people should be thinking twice about is whether or not to continue doing business with this imbecile.

If you want to find a way to "stay competitive" in this economy, I can assure you, not accepting credit cards, or charging to accept them is the wrong strategy.

Instead, this guy should have found a way to bundle additional value in with his pizza (like a drink, a break stick, toppings). Raise the transaction value by $.50 by adding additional value, which would probably have cost of around $.10. That adds $.40 net to each sale, which would more than cover the bank charges.

Please don't be an idiot like this guy. If the cost of credit card transactions is threatening your business, you may as well close up shop.

Now, some really good news.

We've chosen the winners of our "Spend a Wednesday at Disney with Jim & Travis" contest. 

Congratulations to the following people, who have been chosen to join us for a day at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando on August 20, 2008.

Russell LaFave, Pinconning, MI
Joe Bartolotta, Orlando, FL
Andrew Wiley, Staunton, VA
Scott Elder, Austin, TX
Jessica Brace, Micco, FL

We'll spend the day having fun, talking business, and studying the magical marketing principles employed by Disney that could and should be adapted and applied to your business. This small group mastermind session will be invaluable! We're excited to meet you all in person and help you make magical transformations in your business.

For those wondering...these winners were chosen from submissions to our video contest (featured on our blog) and best of the best contest (featured in last month's newsletter).

 

By Jimmy Vee 

 

I’m sure you know by now that standup comedian George Carlin died on Sunday. It’s a sad day when intelligence and creativity leaves this world.

Being a professional entertainer in my past life (improv comic, magician and ventriloquist), I’ve always admired and studied great standup comedians. And Carlin was one of the greats.

In honor of Carlin I’ve create the "7 Things You Can Never Say In An Advertisement." That is if you want it to be effective. Here it is. It’s not funny…but it’s real.

1. One Stop Shop: People don’t buy everything all at once. At any given time they are interested or can be persuaded to want one thing for a very specific reason.  You may be a one-stop shop but that’s not really a selling benefit in most cases. It’s actually a deterrent. Too many choices lead to fewer sales. Once someone becomes a customer, it’s fine to let them know you do and sell other things they may need. But in an advertisement you should be focusing on one thing, to one very specific group of people.
   
   
2. [My Company] Can: Who cares! People do business with people, not companies. If given the choice they would choose to do business with family or friend first. Why? Because they are looking for confidence and value and only a human being can deliver that on a personal level. Speaking in corporate speak doesn’t help you create a personal connection. So write your ad like you’d write to your wife or husband when you’re on an extended trip.
   
   
3. We’re The Best: Unsubstantiated clichés don’t Gravitate, Captivate, Invigorate or Motivate (4 steps to Gravitational Marketing) anyone. This is just ego-nonsense and lazy writing.  Generics like this phrase don’t really deliver anything concrete that can be used as a buying preference. It’s just hyperbole. Make statements that are detailed, factual and have a reason why. Back up your claims with proof and your selling argument will have substantially more power.
   
   
4. Good Quality and Good Service: People aren’t looking for good service and good quality. They are looking for much more than that. And they expect good quality and excellent service from you. Do you think someone is making a choice and thinking "I hope they have good quality products and good service?" No, they expect it and if it isn’t delivered they get upset. Saying you deliver something someone expects isn’t very alluring or motivating. If the quality of your product or service is better than normal then you better be able to describe why it’s better, how it’s better and how you will guarantee your customer will experience the high degree of quality or service.
   
   
5. Got…?: This is a over used headline from a big brand advertiser that so many small businesses and entrepreneurs like to steal and use for their own.  We once had a pest control client that used it. “Got Termites?” That was it. This is a lazy marketers way out of having to create a powerful marketing message that works. Avoid copying what you see the big, wasteful companies doing on their scented, glossy prints ads and TV spots. Most of it isn’t test or designed for direct response purposes. It’s meant to build a brand. Us guys don’t have time or resources to build a brand. We need to attract leads and customers today with every dollar we spend. If you want to do that, keep things like “Got Waste?” out of your ads. 
   
   
6. Your Company Name: This is a bit of an exaggeration. In many cases your company name should be in your ad but I’ve included this here because so frequently the company name is used incorrectly in the ad. Often placed at the top of an ad as a headline. No one cares about the name of your company especially until after you’ve given them a reason to care. First you must demonstrate how you can help them solve their problems, then they “might” care what your company name is. A person’s name is always more important than a company name because  people do business with other people. They relate to one another and they create bonds and have feelings for other people. That doesn’t happen with companies.
   
   
7. Timidity:  People with a pain and people looking for a solution to their problems are in desperate need of someone to help them rid them of the pain or show them a solution. They are looking for a leader. Someone who is confident and will provide value for the money they ask in return. They are looking for a sheppard who can lead them to safety and to a better place with green grass and shelter. In order to help your prospects you need to caapture their attention and respect. You do this by exuding confidence and telling prospects exactly what to do next. Being timid in your advertising doesn't accomplish this goal. Being wishy-washy about what to do next or how to take the next step doesn't help anyone. You must be straight forward, clear and deliberate in telling the prospect what actions you want them to take now.

P.S. If you haven't already taken the free trial of the Newton Network you need to do it now. Creating a bad ad that includes some of the mistakes I've listed in the above blog post are deadly and can cost you thousands of dollars on a regular basis. Don't continue to be a victim. Take the Newton Network Trail and get $539.00 in f're'e marketing and customer attraction information.

Do it now. It's $9 for two months and a bunch of free stuff.

Get it at http://www.TryNewton.com

 

Recently, I saw two headlines that caught my attention on my wife’s Yahoo home page. Actually she saw one of them and read it out loud to me.  That’s powerful.

Both headlines had to do with political candidates and both were interesting enough to get both my wife’s attention and mine before we read the story.

Well, isn’t that what a headline is supposed to do? Yes... But most business owners and entrepreneurs don’t understand the power or importance of a powerful, attention-commanding headline.

Think of a headline as an ad for your ad. It’s supposed to grab a prospect's attention and get committed interest from them. Not just fleeting interest. But get them interested enough to read the story or the advertisment. The copy should then be crafted to keep the right audience committed to reading it.

That’s why if your ads are only for a specific group of people and not for everyone your headline should call them out or be written to resonate specifically with them.

In this case these were news stories for people interested in the political race. News headlines are a great place to get inspiration for advertising headlines.  First I’ll give you both headlines and then I’ll tell you a secret strategy they both used that you can use to make your headlines more attractive.

"Barack Obama's wife Michelle a 'baby mama,'" says Fox News

Obama campaign says wife never said 'whitey'

Whichever side of the fence you are on is irrelevant here. This is not a political discussion. What I want you to notice is the words used in both these headlines. Words you don’t normally see in headlines…”whitey” and “baby mama.”

Using these cultural, slang, street talk words and phrases in headlines and marketing copy grab people’s attention because they are not commonly used in marketing.

Most companies, when they use a headline, use corporate language. This language is from the street. It’s real and people can relate to it.

If your target market uses an insider language or lingo, using words and phrases that only they are familiar with will help create affinity with the group and make your headlines and body copy more intriguing and captivating.

How would you like to get free publicity for your business? Maybe promote your business on national television like I did recently on First Business?

Publicity is a powerful tool that can help any business get an enormous boost in exposure and credibility. You can leverage the incredible power that comes from a single, solid media placement forever. It's a major marketing asset for your business.

Not to mention, publicity is normally free. That's a very cool thing. Of course there are associated costs with getting the publicity (like sending press releases, mailing media kits, etc)...but those can be minimized with the proper strategy and the right relationships.

Since I did that First Business segment, we've been getting asked by many entrepreneurs how they can copy our results, leverage publicity for their businesses and get national media attention.

Here's what we did:
=====================================

First I wrote a press release that I thought was "Da Bomb" (I've been doing a lot of studying, researching and practicing PR writing recently.) Then I took a look at some resources about writing a good release and the structure of a good release, as well as some examples of good releases that had been provided to me by PR Newswire (the leading press releases distribution service).

Despite all the previous research I had done into press releases, I found the information from PR Newswire to be the most "real world" and practical I'd seen.

After studying their material, something just clicked in my head and I took the release I already thought was good and tore it to shreds. I rewrote the whole thing and the new press release was better than any I had ever written. Travis and I tweaked the release one more time together and then we were ready to roll.

The headline of the release was "Stimulus Checks Could Mean Fewer Choices, Higher Prices and Poorer Service For Shoppers" See the timing?

Right when stimulus checks are going out, hitting the mail box, being spent and all over the news, we honed in on the topic with a fresh, controversial angle.

We used that very release to land this First Business show as well as several radio segments.

That's not all. I am about to use PR Newswire's service to blast this press release out online and see what kind of traction I can get with it there.

Some Press Releases Shortcuts:
=====================================

- Make it relevant
- Create a broad appeal (unless you are targeting industry specific trade press)
- Make it timely (tap into what's going on and what's on the minds' of people)
- Make it newsworthy (your company's new product doesn't count unless you're Mac)
- Make it controversial or benefit oriented

Here's Some Good News (and free Stuff) For You
=====================================

I've got some really good news for you. The folks over at PR Newswire recently reached out to us and asked us to partner up with them. They've agreed to give you their PR resources for free.

These are the same resources I used to rework the press release I told you about. This is some really good stuff and it won't cost you a dime. Just another benefit of being tied into the coolest and most fun marketing guys on planet earth.

Check out the free resources from PR Newswire at our new PR Tookit site. Do it now, get some press and be seen as an expert.

Visit:

http://www.gravitationalmarketing.com/prtoolkit

Lately we’ve been taking a break from speaking publicly. The last time we appeared in front of an audience was September 07. We’ve actually been enjoying the break (and so have our wives!) and we’ve had a chance to make up for a lot of missed time with our little girls, Autumn and Ella.

But...when our new friends, Bob Burg (co-author of the national bestseller, The Go-Giver) and his business partner, Thom Scott asked us to speak at their annual Extreme Business Makeovers event in Orlando (our hometown) on June 19-21, we accepted the invitation.

We’ve been getting antsy lately...wanting to get back on the platform. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak – without having to travel anywhere.

Including us, t hey've lined up 14 dynamic speakers including Billionaire (with a B) entrepreneur Bill Bartmann...

Each expert will be training in specific disciplines of entrepreneurship where even slight changes can leverage massive new profits.

Then, we’ll team up for “hot seats”, where several of the speakers will, together, tackle a challenge as presented by members of the audience.

Our buddy Thom is a bit obsessive about making sure everyone walks out with a clear action plan, so he's developed a pretty cool Event Action Planner that he'll be leading the audience through in between every speaker, so you can get right to applying the information that was right for you - the very next day you're in the office.

This is gonna be great!

As part of our compensation for speaking, we insisted on a special price break for Gravitational Marketing “folks.”

Here’s the deal we got Thom to agree on:

$100 OFF the Early Bird investment of $197 -- so you'll only be paying $97 to attend all three days.

That’s actually an excellent value, and you should feel confident about the quality of this event, because we’re personally recommending it – and we don’t do that often. We make no money from this recommendation either.

Best part – it’s in Orlando, our home town, and you’ll get to meet us personally when you attend.

The fee to attend to supposed to be increasing very soon (like, maybe today?), so jump on this right away to lock in the early bird deal.

Get all the details about the event at:

http:// www.ExtremeBusinessMakeovers.com

In order to take advantage of the reduction we’ve negotiated for you, just follow these steps:

-Click on RESERVE YOUR SEAT or any of the action links

-Click BUY on whichever option you choose to select

- Go to Checkout

-On the right-hand side, fill in Coupon Code SUCCESS (all caps) and click "Apply"

-Fill in all information, click submit and you'll be all set (you'll notice the price is automatically reduced to $97)

Go do this now. It will be worth it.