I was talking with a friend the other day.
Who was telling me about a few problems he was having in his small business.
Namely the fact that he needs more new customers, and that he can’t seem to find the “right” kind of advertising to keep his business busy.
So anyways he asked me what he could do.
And since he couldn’t afford to pay my fee (and because I’m not taking any new clients) I gave him the next best piece of advice which I knew would get him off to a good start.
And that was this:
To turn to old-school advertising books and campaigns.
Yes, in fact if you too are looking for the best small business marketing advice around, then I strongly urge you to STOP reading current stuff and start reading the classic advertising books.
And here’s why:
Modern direct response advertising got started at the turn of the 20th century with guys like Claude Hopkins, Albert Lasker… and later on, John Caples.
And one thing all of the old-school marketing minds did was extensive testing.
These guys (and gals too) didn’t run a single advertisement unless what they were 100% certain what they wanted to do would work. And how did they know that? They had already tested all kinds of appeals… offers… guarantees… sales angles… and a host of other important advertising tidbits which added up to helping them sell whatever they wanted to sell.
Simply put, they were not guessing.
They didn’t use (or believe in) opinions.
All they looked at was facts.
So if they knew that a particular appeal was more than likely to work on women, then guess what? They led with that appeal.
Or, if they knew that putting the offer front-and-center in an ad would pull a higher response, then that’s what they did.
Compare this with advertising today… which is mainly based on opinions and beliefs… and you’ll find a big difference in results.
I know why too.
Because many advertisers are plain lazy.
They want to do what is cheapest and fastest, instead of what works best.
Why?
Because that’s the society we live in.
Everything is “push button” easy and fast.
Which means society thinks less and less… and… works less and less.
It’s enough to make the “big boys” of advertising like John Caples, David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins, John Kennedy and Albert Lasker… roll over in their graves.
And one last thing:
If you are serious about growing your business, then more than likely all you need is a few more good ideas like the one in this article.
So ask yourself this:
Where can you turn for more good ideas like what you just read in this article?
In my humble opinion, you have to be careful where you look for good ideas because just about everybody and their brother claims to be a so-called ‘business expert’.
Remember:
Saying is one thing.
Doing is another.
And most of these “talking heads” have never run their own successful small business.
So anyways, if you like my style then read my author’s box below.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wesley_B_Murph