If you have been in business for awhile, it has already
happened to you - probably more than once. In fact,
probably often. And if you are new to the retail world,
you can bet the mortgage that it will eventually happen
to you.

What is it? It's when you get that big black checkbook
out of the center desk drawer, and you sit down across
from some media salesperson, and you write out some
kind of a check for some amount, for some kind of
promotion advertising expense, and you have no earthly
idea whether you made a good decision, bad decision,
when you'll know, how you'll know, if you'll know.

I detest that kind of uncertainty. I don't like to play
guesswork games with my money and I bet you
don't either. I'm going to tell you how to eliminate it,
how to make every dollar you spend on advertising
and marketing measurable and accountable.

The Best Place To Spend Your Hard Earned Money
On Advertising Is Direct Response!!

All advertising can be one of only two types – either
"Institutional Advertising" or "Direct Response
Advertising." It is monumentally important to
understand the difference.

Most advertising in magazines, newspapers, on radio,
TV, and billboards is institutional advertising. It is
Institutional advertising because in most cases, there
is no way of accurately tracking response. Most
advertising agencies like institutional advertising since,
without tracking, they canNOT be held responsible
for zero results. If an ad campaign does not produce
the results they want, they blame it on:

1. The economy
2. The weather
3. You didn't run the ad often enough
4. YOU (your merchandise, your service, your image, etc.)

You Can't Deposit “Creativity" In The Bank

Unfortunately, most advertising agencies are interested
In being creative and cutesy.

That's what wins advertising awards. I think this is
absolutely ridiculous. The advertising field gives
awards based on creativity, not results. Many
ads that have won top awards didn't produce
any substantial increases in sales.

Direct response advertising, on the other hand:

1. Contains a headline that flags your prospect and
creates curiosity
2. Creates interest in the merchandise
3. Creates desire in the prospect
4. Has a specific offer
5. Has a deadline
6. Has measurable results

Why is this so important? Two reasons:

1. Most businesses have limited capital to spend
on their marketing and advertising (unless you
are Coca Cola or Microsoft). Since you have a
limited budget, why waste it on advertising that
you are not sure is working?

2. The only reason a business would advertise is
to get more customers and sell more merchandise.
A direct response ad concentrates only on this
purpose. First, it contains a headline that attracts
the attention of the specific customer you want
to in your store(s).

Then, it makes a complete and compelling case
for the reason for your offer. Next, it proves to
the customer that the reason for the offer will
solve some problem in the customer's life or
provide some valuable benefit to him.

It states specific reasons, facts, and statistics,
as well as testimonials from other customers to
validate the claims. Then it tells the reason why
you are able to make such an attractive offer. It
tells the customer what to do in order to gain the
benefits of the offer.

It creates "urgency" by telling the customer that
he must act now in order to gain these important
benefits, and why this offer is so limited, either
by time, or by the quantity available.

Finally, it must contain a way for you to track
exactly what sales or customers were generated
by that particular ad.

Now that I have defined for you the difference
between institutional and direct response
advertising, here's the big question that you
have to ask yourself before you make every
future marketing and advertising decision.
Does the advertising that you are considering
meet all six of the criteria that I outlined above?
If is doesn't, then pass on it as quickly as you
can say:

"I'm Mad as Hell and I Refuse to Be an Advertising
Victim Again!"