Here's How You Commit a Sustained Marketing Assault on Your Biggest Marketing Problem

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."
Voltaire first said that. (Google him if you want to fact check)

I've said it and applied it, many times over. And not only for solving business and marketing problems.

So how would YOU solve your biggest marketing problem, using sustained thinking and then... acting on the solution... how would you do that?

First and foremost, you've got to accurately define the problem. Because without an accurate diagnosis, you'll be like a mad back alley Doctor, applying untested nonsense and quackery to a mis-diagnosed problem. The patient complains of a pain in the head. You carry out a kidney removal with no anaesthetic. It's not going to end good.

So, what's your biggest marketing problem?
Let's say it's not getting enough qualified leads who turn into paying customers and clients - let's have that be the problem.

So without any kind of new thinking on that problem, it'll be what it is. That same thinking will create whatever current half solution it provides to that same problem. And the half solution is not a full solution because the problem still remains as a big problem.   

So, what kind of sustained thinking is required, what kind of assault needs to be committed, and in what area?

Well, the first area we can dig into is the quality of new prospect. 

• Are they a fit based on your required client criteria (you DO have a qualifying prospect checklist, don't you?)
• What are the reasons those who come to the cusp of buying, whether that's in a consultation or purely through an online sequence, what are the reasons they don't buy? (You have asked, or you have done some fact finding, haven't you?)   
• Where can we go to get MORE of the SAME kind of prospects who behave like our current happy customers?
• Of those who we don't want to serve, what is it about them that makes them bad prospects for our business?
• Of those prospects who then DO become clients, what did they tell us was the reason they became clients? (You did ask them, didn't you?)
• Are we aiming our prospecting marketing arrows in the wrong field? (And if yes, you want to stop doing that immediately or you'll dry your business up in no time flat)    

Those are a few ideas for you to see how you commit a marketing assault on one area or problem.

Ah, but the detective work and the investigative work doesn't stop there. Not at all. 

Another area to close in on is to check all current advertising

So how shall we begin our work here?

• Is the advertising speaking directly to the problem our product or service, solves for our speciic type of client?
• Where in the copy are we talking only about us us us... and not about our prospects and clients and their problems?
• Where exactly are we advertising and is it in a place where our profile prospect hangs out, reads, meets?
• What different versions of our advertising have we tested recently and what did we discover?
• Are we sending a one-size marketing message that fits all our target market profile? (It's infinitely more profitable to create customised communications and advertising to each specific target market, if indeed we have more than one target market. 

I could go on and get into a deep dive thinking assault on all those micro areas that impact and affect leads, conversions from prospects into paying clients, cashflow.

This is what YOU should be doing if you really want to make sales happen and have clients rave about you and what you do and what you solve for them.

Of course, many business owners, entrepreneurs, Professionals of all kinds, stripes and levels, will poo poo all this and go straight into reactionary mode when the business is buckling and leaking money.

They do almost zero of this essential Sherlock Holmes detective work and that's why they're looking for the next shiny object or the next self appointed marketing guru who believes their own manufactured PR and who'll willingly pop another dose of that instant magic money madness into those owner's brains, and so... the delusional cycle continues.

If you have an existing business that's been going for a few years, I'd say you're probably sitting on 4, 5, even six figures of business inside your current way of doing things. And, it's most likely you just don't know about where and how to get it. Of course, I've given you a taste of what kind of detective work you need to undertake and then follow up on and yet, you might find that you're all over the place and not that committed or disciplined to work this all out yourself.

If that's you and if that's really the problem you're coming up against time and time again, then I suggest we have a conversation to see what we can do to fix things for you

Unless you commit a sustained thinking assault on your ads, your marketing, your business and all its moving parts, you are wasting and throwing away a huge amount of time, money and energy.

How big an amount is that for you?

I can't guess.

That's what this conversation will do -- to weigh up exactly how much you've wasted, and, how much you'll continue to waste and throw away if you don't do anything different to what you're currently doing.

Send your email with "MARKETING ASSAULT" in the subject line to raja.hireker@gmail.com and then let's see what we see.

It's 2019.

You may as well launch it in the way you want the whole of the year to go - with clarity, with action and with cutting edge help.

Problems?

Commit a sustained thinking assault on them and then solve that damn problem so it never shows up as a problem for you ever again because you'll then have the skills and the smarts to sort it all out... in double quick time.




Raja
http://rajahireker.com/who.html
07903 905 802

Why I'd bank on This 107 Year old Man for Killer Copywriting Advice to Grow Your Business

I've noticed a strange thing --

When asking business owners who they've learned from or how they've acquired their marketing and advertising knowledge, there's a universal shrug, or... the mention of a few names of people they've read about or come across, but haven't dug deep enough to understand the instruction and learning from top to bottom.

Shocking really, when it's the advertising and marketing that are the key drivers to sales and long term profits.

Said differently - most business owners and entrepreneurs have little to no clue how they structure their ads, why they've created a campaign the way they have, the principles they've based their marketing and copywriting, on... they've little to zero clue why they do the things they do from a marketing and copywriting and marketing front and cannot articulate to you how it's all been thought of and assembled.

It's depressingly funny because almost all of us honestly think that there's nothing much to writing an ad or putting together a marketing campaign or launching a product or service - that there's no science or necessary learning that's involved. That anyone can do it right off the bat because there's nothing to really know. You just, do it.

BIG mistake.(I've personally invested over tens of thousands of my own money over a 15 year period in my own direct response marketing, copywriting, consulting education from real world practitioners, and I can categorically say it's far far apart from the learning I got from my Chartered Institute of Marketing Post Graduate qualification... far far apart)  

I love the story Clayton Makepeace, one of the world's highest paid copywriters, tells of the time he fired the company he was working for because the new MBA wielding take-over owners of then profit making machine of a company, put marketing, copywriting and customers at the bottom of the list of the importance functions of the business. And what they did instead was they put themselves and their NEW PLANS and the role of meetings and restructuring the business from its current crackerjack profit status where marketing was king, where campaigns and offers were the drivers, where creating lifetime value customer relationships were driven through compelling messaging and irresistible ongoing offers... all of that got shunted to the sidelines as the new owners who hadn't an ounce of real world marketing knowledge between them, systematically drove the company that produced millions a year, deep into the dirt. They filed for bankruptcy within 90 days.

That's what happens to dumb companies who put preening, posturing and CEO importance at the top of the agenda at all times, and where marketing is relegated to the bottom of the importance file.And that's why I'd bank on getting all the marketing, advertising and copywriting wisdom you can from Ad Genius, David Ogilvy. If he was alive today, he'd be 107. And yet, if you want to get super hip at creating fantastic advertising that'll help you sell more of the products or services you have, you cannot go wrong getting deep into Ogilvy's timeless material. And when you get his books (Ogilvy on Advertising, Confessions of an Ad Man) you'll see (GASP!) there's zero winging it when it comes to creating advertising that sells.   

In fact, no matter what size your business, what you sell, who you sell it to, see what you can gain below from the way Ogilvy treats the advertising and copywriting function - he co-founded and ran an ad agency Ogilvy & Mather - and hired copywriters to help his clients grow their businesses - (Thanks to Craig Simpson for the below)Creative brilliance: Copywriters needed to come up with brilliant concepts. They need to not only catch their readers’ attention, but sell them on the product. He was a proponent of what was called the “big idea,” one brilliant idea that would be central to each ad campaign.

Research: Ogilvy did not believe in “blowing smoke.” His copy was meticulously based in fact. He did the necessary research to uncover the one amazing fact around which he could build an entire ad campaign; this often served as the basis for his “big idea.” (His Ad for Rolls Royce was based on this BIG IDEA "At 60 Miles An Hour, The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls Royce Comes From The Electric Clock" ... and it came after 3 weeks of digging into the research he was doing for Rolls. And you can see that ad in the post directly before this one)

Actual Results: Ogilvy was a strong believer in judging the quality of an ad by its success at selling something. Always test the outcome of an ad, and if it isn’t selling, make whatever changes are necessary to make it work.

Professional Discipline: Advertising executives were not to be dabblers in the creative realm. They needed to hone their craft and develop programs to train the next generation of advertisers.If you've the time, discipline and desire to ramp up your advertising and copywriting with the kind of compelling irresistible intelligence no others in your marketplace are most likely doing, let alone heard of, then don't waste a second more -- get onto Amazon, order your Ogilvy books and start devouring them with the intention of applying what you learn, to your own products and services. 

It may take you several weeks to a good few months to get a real grasp of everything but it'd be well worth your while from a profit based point of view to do that because once you have the copywriting fundamentals locked in, it'll be with you for life to use each time you want to create and send out a sales message.

Now if you can't wait for months and you want a faster, much quicker way to apply the principles Ogilvy espouses so you can start seeing results from your own advertising and marketing sooner, than later... then get in touch.

(And if you'd like, go back into this blog's archives and you can see how I've adopted and adapted Ogilvy's Rolls Royce Letter, to an ad for a Honda CRV)


http://simple-marketing-solutions.com/testimonial1.html / 07903 905 802 / raja.hireker@gmail.com

A Rubbish Thinking Professional = Rubbish Advertising = An Utter Waste of Money

And so the 'creative advertising merry-go-round madness', continues.  

Take a look at the above.

The headline of course, is utter rubbish. The message it's trying to convey, is nonsensical. 

Next, why pay for a full page ad, if you're only using half the page?

Next, why have the copy outlined in the format of some shimmy hoola boola dancers? 

And then, why have the copy be made hard to read with light blue writing on a paler blue background?

Ads are meant to stand out and gain attention. But not in this nincompoop way.

In fact, there's some insightful copy in the piece, though it's poorly presented in the way it appears above. 

So what would make this ad stand out? (And therefore, get greater readership and potential investors?)

How about dropping the copy into a formatted version of the David Ogilvy ad - "At 60 Miles An Hour, The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls Royce Comes From The Electric Clock"    

There's no reason to have shoddy advertising represent good quality products and services. 

Yet it seems to be happening everyday when you flip open a magazine, newspaper or search the Internet.

And what's all the more worrying is this kind of shoddy lazy application is being produced by 'professionals' who have probably attended some kind of university or place of higher learning. 

Oh dear.    

So what if you're reading this and you have to create ads to sell your products or services - why not challenge yourself or your people to create the most inviting, engaging, curiosity provoking ads they can create?  

Why not challenge them to produce a 10X  better ad than what they first come up with?

There's nothing inspiring about creating mediocre or less than mediocre output. Not only is it damaging to a business, it's a complete waste of money - CLIENT money. 

If you want a fresh pair of qualified eyes help you create the kind of advertising that creates monetary results and riveted attention from your audience, then here's the place to go: raja.hireker@gmail.com 

   

BLACK FRIDAY STUPIDITY AD for DACIA CARS

Let's talk about this ad.

And, why it's a monumental waste of space, money, intelligence, potential customer inquiries.

Let's take the shiny neon writing - A FRIDAY --

WHAT does that actually signify, mean, communicate?

I have zero idea.

A cute riddle probably - the answer to which only the souls who created it, know.  

Let's read the COPY on the right hand page - which is white, on a grey background (They're deciding that making their copy difficult to read is the best way to have their message not be read. Which isn't a bad idea when you get to get to read the heart of their message!)

67% of you see Black Friday

as a marketing gimmick:

We're switched on to it too.

Seeing through the gimmicks

is how we simply make 

the car you need, for

every-day-of-the-week value.

So that's it. 

That's the compelling copy created by marketing professionals that'll supposedly make you want to be connected with Dacia in some way.  

And there's a little line near the foot of the page to say:

2,000 UK adults surveyed by One Poll on behalf of Dacia UK between 27/10/2017 and 01/11/2017

And below that, in the bottom right hand corner you'll see the following 

You do the Maths.

Hmmm......

So the first point is if you're going to spend money on a full page ad to say that you're not falling for marketing gimmicks, then why not use the page to make an irresistible Non Black Friday Offer? 

Why not demonstrate what exactly this 'every-day-of-the-week value, is? 

Why not use all that valuable real estate on the page to communicate what Dacia cars are all about, and how the readers can get a hold of more information, get details about a test drive, get details about a small replica Dacia they can keep (or some other gift), what their surveyed people would be doing instead of buying a Black Friday deal.  

In other words...

Why not make the advertisement a valuable piece, just by itself -- something compelling and irresistible that'd have people want to tear the page out, keep it, refer to it... 

-- rather than have them look at the ad and wonder what the hell it's all about, and quickly turn over to the next page of the newspaper.    

And the facts are that EVEN if Black Friday is a gimmick according to Dacia's ad agency , there'll be more trade done online during this period than offline. (Black Friday has kicked off what is predicted to be the biggest ever weekend of shopping in the UK - with consumers set to spend almost £8 billion. Evening Standard 24.11.2017)

The poor souls representing Dacia have miscalculated in that people WILL buy on Black Friday, no matter if their small biased 2000 selection of people aren't being taken in by the 'gimmick'.

They've NOT done their maths. 

What's worse, is they've spent money advertising the fact they're not into making Black Friday deals, and yet, have done an extremely poor job in communicating even that very message!  

Think about that if you have the ultimate responsibility for profits and bottom lime results - the ad cost is the same, it's the same fixed cost no matter WHAT you put on the page. Yet, the WHAT you put on the page is the difference that can yield very differing results. 

Sometimes... up to 21 times difference!

Like I say, think about the leverage in that.  

  ------

MY COMMERCIAL TO YOU: Don't have your quality based products and services represented and communicated to the marketplace by sloppy thinking souls. Challenge your ads and communications to have that irresistible appeal and that pays its way. You can find out more - www.RajaHireker.com

http://www.rajahireker.com/whythehell.pdf      

Pure waste of Client (Natwest Bank) Money - Thanks to Nitwit, Sloth Like Thinking

What's wrong with this Ad?

What's wrong is that what's being sold here is the creative non-artistry and copywriting incompetence of those who'll obviously not put their names to the above.

And why won't they put their names to it?

Because it's not their money on the line. It's the client money on the line.

And so because of that, that little wrinkle seems to give license for the agency to release such award winning nonsense.

Let's dissect:

Why would you show the sole of a shoe as the main image when promoting Premier Banking?

And, why show a tip of another shoe?

What's the use of it?

What message is it intended to send?

Who is the main audience for the service, and does the shoe image add to the impact?

What audience does the shoe, alienate?

What's the reason for all that wasted grey space on the page?

The copy on the sole of the shoe says:

"For those who want to see their bank manager without actually visit the bank" 

Now is that not a better, attention grabbing headline than the weak and lame - Introducing Premier Banking from NatWest? 

Here's their compelling reasoning for why their Premier Banking is different - because our customers are different! 

Is that kind of advertising premier? Does that kind of reasoning distinguish their clientele?

How about we fix things?

HEADLINE:

7 Reasons NatWest's New Premier Banking Service is Just What You've Been Looking For 

IMAGES: 

Several: to reflect the specific type of customer, the amount of money needed to invest, images to reflect the reasons mentioned in the headline.

The LOOK

Editorial / advertorial style. More readership and attention is gained through a non looking ad. It adds a premier type feel.

CTA

Have readers respond to a particular website or number in order to pick up a special report, guide, set of instructions that's written in conversational, plain simple English with a specific 'intro offer' for new clients to avail themselves of.

NatWest have incorporated this slogan into their advertising - We Are What We Do

Sadly, what they've done is they've done stupid by letting creative dimwits take over the show.

When in fact...

Simple ideas executed well, saves money, saves face and helps the customer get the end results the product or service is designed to do for them.



   


     

Preponderance of Proof (AKA - tell your whole frickin story!)

A mentor of mine had his mailbox flooded with proposals when he created his personal ad. (He ran it one time in a newspaper and had hundreds of quality replies)
It wasn't your ordinary ad.

It contained some 3000+ words

Why did he get the number of (quality matched) respondents he did?

Because he gave the reader every bit of possible information they could want - both about him, and the type of woman he was looking for.

He gave an overwhelming preponderance of proof .

And by doing so, disqualified a mass number from applying.

Now let's look at a full page ad from Lloyds Banking Group

So what do we see here?

A BIG BOLD headline.

BUILD

The pre-headline copy - 'Helping Britain'

The copy below BUILD

Lending up to £10bn to help people move into their first home in 2017   

And, that's it.(All the showdowy blurry copy you see is copy from the previous page)

So what about all that wasted white space?

It's EXACTLY that... wasted!

There's prime empty land there to build a powerful presentation. A powerful case for what Lloyds are doing.

But no. 

Lazy-itis and sloppyitis has won the day.

Not forgetting the utter waste of client money being spent on the frivolous and fancy.

Or, it could just be flat out incompetence by the ad people Lloyds are paying. They just don't know how to make a powerful case.

So what would I do to change this ad into a compelling presentation that would have the right audience looking at this? 

I'd have the page split into 9-10 sections and in each section I'd show the different kinds of people who'd be taking advantage of these homes. I'd tell a story of their particular life scenario and how their lives are going to change. I'd have it so a reader could identify with one of those 9 or 10 different people and that would create some kind of affinity for them and,for Lloyds.

Telling the full story and providing a overwhelming preponderance of proof is not only the most valuable thing to do from a prospective purchaser or reader's point of view, it's what brings in the currency!        

www.rajahireker.com

What do you charge ? (timid days are over)

Money.

It's a strange 'thing'.

See, I'm having trouble even deciding what it is. 

I've used - 'thing'. 

However, the BIGGEST trouble I see it having for business owners is either -- not having enough of it...

or...

being somewhat fearful and apprehensive in charging or quoting good strong prices for what they do.

Someone charged me 15k for a 3 day intense mastermind / coaching session. Do you think they were timid?

Ferrari and Rolls charges into the multiple hundreds of thousands for one of their vehicles. Do you think they're timid?

Certain Universities and colleges charge the equivalent of a Rolls Royce for their tuition fees. Do you think they're timid? 

Certain food stores charge multiples for their version of  'ordinary consumables' you find in the local supermarkets. Do you think they're timid?

When I read about a person charging 50k a month (a MONTH) for their coaching and leadership services, I thought to myself anything is possible.

 But only if...

We're bold enough to charge what we want (and there is always a market for high value products and services) 

AND... that we raise our standards to warrant those high prices and fees.

What do you think would happen if you were to DOUBLE your prices on some of your products or services?

Would you die? Would the world collapse? Would a tiny few of your clients rant and rave?

Or would you in fact begin to enjoy a better life each day, knowing that for the same amount of time and effort you put into selling your products and services at the old rates, you're able to adjust a few things in the product or service and now attach a higher fee, and... are happy about it?

I don't know about how you think about it but you NOT raising your standards and your fees is like being in a job and not having a pay rise for over a decade.    
 
What do you charge? 

Not happy about it?

Want to now change the dynamics of what you do and charge better fees and prices?

You can. 

Now's your opportunity.

Here's the email to send your price concerns to -- raja.hireker@gmail.com 

Once you send it, we'll talk about reinventing your offerings and your prices.

Timid days are over. 

It's time for you to have a mega pay rise, don't you think?