When Reza out of our California office suggested I watch the movie Art & Copy I was intrigued but not too sure what to expect.

The film, through fantastic interviews, superb narration and clever editing, shows you the importance of creativity in advertising and the love advertising agencies give their work.

The filmmakers explain first hand the pitfalls most business owners don’t see when running a campaign and how good creative is set up to avoid these problems by connecting to the target audience more effectively.

The film, although not a perfect snapshot of this mammoth industry, is a very compelling piece of art in itself. I can see why this was the 2009 Official Selection at Sundance.

The agencies interviewed are those whose clients can afford large campaigns, something that is not always the case with Agencies who don’t work with giants like Nike and Apple. However it does show you how if you invest in good creative and placement you will recoup your expenses and then some.

Tommy Hilfiger tells of how so very embarrassed he was when his ad agency used a campaign comparing him (a nobody at the time) to the likes of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Even so, he was able to go through with the pricey half page ads and expensive 7th Ave billboard in New York. And when he did, he soon became one of the most talked about designers in the U.S. sending his sales skyrocketing beyond his wildest dreams.

Despite the fact that the creators of the “GOT MILK?” campaign or the creators of the dancing silhouette iPod commercials talk about how they are pitting themselves against the giants in New York, they still aren’t necessarily feather weights either. In fact their facilities reminded me of something out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, or maybe MTV Cribs.

Wieden + Kennedy in particular houses a basketball court, and a nice little practice space for bands, among other things! All of these luxuries are to help with the creative process because they know that good creative sells products.

This film lets you see the process agencies undertake to get a campaign. Everything from ideas to approved billboards and TV ads.
Relive the impact of the first Macintosh TV commercial. Re-experience the social movement created out of the JUST DO IT campaign, and learn the startling truth about where that line came from.

The importance of clever, responsible and creative advertising campaign’s that inspire rather than numb audiences comes to the forefront of the themes presented, and while it seems one-sided, the film does not flop.

To learn more about getting creative with your advertising watch this movie, and if you decide you need more help getting good creative remember that you can call on us any time.

Get people to buy what they need

Why is it that sales are such a hard thing to develop and drive? It’s as though consumers feel that they are always being ripped off. I believe this is because most managers put an emphasis on sales and profit as opposed to why customers and clients need what they have to offer.

The art of sales is about relationships and developing trust with your client. This, in turn, builds a long term big money clients.

But how do you develop an environment that fosters this kind of behavior from your employees and sales staff?

Change the culture of your business for the better

The way you and your employees perceive your company and the way you project your feelings onto the customer plays an important roll in developing a sales relationship.

For example, pawn shops tend to do better when the products are displayed randomly all over the store under dim lighting while the help is a casually dressed cashier. This gives customers the feeling that it’s a laid back atmosphere where they also believe they could essentially find some sort of amazing deal mixed in with the junk.

On the other end of the spectrum, when you walk into Saks they give you the feeling that everything in their store is precious as if it were diamond encrusted (and sometimes it really is). Everything is in its very own specially designed display center; giving the impression that the products and people who shop in the store are upscale and therefore higher class. Furthermore, the staff is educated about the products they sell, and are expected to adhere to a strict dress code while giving customers the maximum service possible.

Develop a sales strategy based on needs and benefits

Once you have everyone in your company on the same page and you have a strong grasp of the culture of your company you can build a sales plan.

The first step is to sit down with as many people as possible (preferably within your target market) and develop a few lists.

Remember don’t limit your lists to only a few ideas that you feel are the best ones. Write them all down. A bad idea to begin with can end up being a gem with some love and imagination.

There will be four lists to make:
• The benefits of the product
• The problems of the product
• What, when and why the consumer feels they need to buy your product or service
• How does it compare it to your competitor

As far as the list of problems and competitors: think deeply on why these factors keep people from buying from you.

Then find the solution that only your product offers, the very thing that makes it a superior solution to your competitors. You can also come up with a sound reason why the “problem” shouldn’t even be a factor when the consumer is making their buying decision.

Once you have collected the information, you want to choose your product’s key benefit and the most common reason the target market is in need of the product.

Train your staff to know these factors inside and out. This way when they make a presentation or a pitch they’ll highlight the factors that will move the customer to buy while not feeling as though they were conned into it.

The best thing to do next is to write a training manual based on the facts you have accumulated and consistently educate your staff. This education will give them confidence and a more relaxed approach to the sales process and keep them from being too “salesy”.

It will also give your staff a sense of pride and accomplishment because they will know for certain they are selling something beneficial to the client.

New ways to motivate staff

Bonuses for top sales are great but I think we should praise the staff that has the most consistent record of happy clients. Make all staff responsible for getting a review from customers and offer incentives for customer satisfaction and returned reviews.

Focusing your advertising and developing an effective marketing plan

Using the information from the newly written training manual, you now have focus and specific goals in your advertising. You can now effectively move your target market to buy from you.

All you need is good creative and an intuitive marketing plan aimed at showing the consumer, who already needs your product, why they need it.

If you don’t have the experience or resources to do focus groups or marketing plans you can always hire out. Many companies including Assurance Advertising offer these services for much less than what it would cost for you to do it in house.

So go for it; take the extra few hours this week and find out what it is that really sells your product then use it. Your pocket book will thank you!

Managers have the daunting task of trying to stay on top of all day-to-day activities, training staff and servicing clients; developing a good tracking system for your staff can give you the time and the edge necessarily for success.

Keep your staff in the loop

First organize your sales process into steps, if you have not done so already. For example: Step one- meet and greet. Step two- needs assessment; and so on.

Next develop a system of organization that you can be comfortable checking. It’s always good to have instant access from anywhere at any time.

Also remember that sales never end; even when you’re not on the sales floor you are looking for prospects and handing out business cards. Logging these prospects into your system at any time of the day or night can keep you and your staff on top of these prospects.

The next step to good organization is having everyone on the same page. If you are already using a system make sure you train everyone on the specifics of the program as well as how you specifically want them to use it. This type of training is essential to avoid any employee from veering too far from what you expect from them.

In the rare case your system is still analog make sure everyone knows when and how to log their info. If your system is digital make sure pass codes are up-to-date and that all staff receives continuous training.

The best way to incorporate the continuous training is to hold weekly training and progress reporting for your staff.

First, ask everyone to explain where they are in the sales process and how they plan to find more clients.

Next ask if everyone is current on their logging of new prospects. Make sure to check and see if everyone has completed what they said they did.

By making this a weekly habit and making people responsible for their actions you’ll find that after a while your staff will police itself; putting an end to the constant nagging that is the biggest culprit of staff burnout on the sales floor.

Another benefit is that you yourself will have greater access to your staff and will be ready for problems before they come up.

In conclusion; management sales and organization can bring you more money

Give your staff the cutting-edge in sales tracking and organization and you’ll surely see an increase in sales that means bigger pay checks for all.

Remember great businesses are great because of the systems they use to making things efficient. This is one of the fundamental ideas companies like Walmart and Mcdonalds used to get to the top. It’s time to put these ideals to good use, don’t you think?

A great book that goes over this is “The E Myth” by Michael E Gerber. If you haven’t read it, I do highly recommend it. It’s easy to read, fairly short and has some of the finest management and business tips to this day, and the book was first published in 1985!

If you have any questions on types of programs or organizational tools feel free to leave a comment. We are, after all, here to help you learn and make more money!

Having a great promotion that has a strong call to action is a sure fire way to get people noticing your products. Today we’ll take a look at some fundamental promotion ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

The buy one /get one free

A great way to get people into the store, or e-store, and move products fast is to give something away. People love the word “free.” It gives them a sense that they got something for nothing. After all, who doesn’t like to get a gift? This works especially well with items sold in large quantities. Just make sure that you are still making profit regardless of what is given away.

Side note: Making simple innovative changes to the “buy one / get one” concept can give you fresh promotional ideas. Things like the two for one sale, giving a free gift when they spend over a certain amount and so on work just as good if not better. So make sure to put on your super-creative hat while reading this post.

Percentage discount

The percentage discount usually works well when you have a predetermined spending limit; for instance “get 10% off when you spend $100 or more”; “buy two and get an additional 5% off!” etc.

Promote an event

An event is always good sales tactic and there are many different ideas that can fall under this category.

Have a sale that lasts a day, week or month making sure to set a start and end date.

Get involved with the chamber of commerce and offer to have networking functions in your location.

If you have a good location for throwing cocktail parties or happy hour-style get-togethers flyer your local community and party with the locals.

You can also throw or sponsor a party at a night club. Just put your customers, prospects and fans on the guest list, maybe even give them free entry or drink tickets when they purchase something from you.

Charity as a promotional tool

Sure, Twitter microblogging and conventional blogging is aimed at showing your customers the human side of your company, but don’t forget that Charity does this too and much more!

Charity is not only good for the soul but it can better show your humble giving nature as a company and build the community’s trust in you. You can donate the proceeds from sales, hold a fundraiser or even just flat out donate cash to a good cause.

Just make sure you market it heavily and write a good editorial for your local papers.

Contests

Nothing gets people moving like a good contest. Find a product that benefits your customers or that can be used in conjunction with other products you sell and start advertising the contest everywhere!

Limited edition

When things are limited it gives people a sense of urgency that you can’t get with any other type of call to action.

If you take an already popular product and make it one-of-a-kind your customers will climb all over each other to get it.

You may only sell 50 units or less of the product, but the buzz you create for your store is priceless. Plus people will start checking back with you for the next opportunity to get a limited edition item.

Now you have some ideas to get you going. Try combining these ideas and make as many changes as you can to them. Make your promotions unique and original, people love fun ways to spend money, so offer a stimulating promotion and get a leg up on the competition.

Till next time

Happy advertising!

Reza

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUS246Dj5jk

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Getting your blog and networking sites to work together.

Implementing programs to enhance your web marketing

Having a blog in business these days is essential; so is using networking websites. If you haven’t become a part of this new social media landscape you are about to miss the express bus to Successvile.

Why Social networking sites are important to your business

Setting up a blog, which can easily be done on sites like Wordpress, writing quality information about your company and possibly some of your products is a great way to get customers. It’s also the best way to optimize your website through use of SEO, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

However if your blog is not set up with your networking sites properly you may be wasting your time altogether because you aren’t making it readily available to your customers and target markets.

Remember the article about Lazy Technology? If not, this may be a good time to read it!

How to connect your blog to your network.

At Assurance Advertising we are pros at this. To see an example of how our network is set up check out our Twitter page , our Facebook fan page, and our Myspace page.

Basically instead of just posting a series of blog posts, we maximize links and keywords on multiple sites which all ultimately lead to the blog…which itself has direct links to the main website. Keep in mind, easy connectivity is a key in directing customers where you want them to go.

Once a blog is posted, we post the link on Facebook, where all of our fans see it automatically. Our Facebook fan-page is set up to automatically take all of our posts and directly post them to twitter, no additional log in needed.

From the blog-post itself anyone in the world can repost their favorite topic onto all sorts of social media sites with the click of a button (check out the nice WORDPRESS plugin that shows up as “SHARE THE WEALTH links” below each of our posts).

We use this to repost the blog again to Linkedin, Twitter and Myspace for those who might have missed it the first time.

We can also repost all of our blog entries over and over again at different times and days so that the blogs can be seen by most of our contacts whenever it is they happen to be signing in.

This automates the blog posts so that all we have to focus on is talking with our followers about their likes, dislikes and daily lives.

Your social media accounts should always feel personal and never robotic. Remember people like doing business with humans as opposed to heartless machines.

Most companies don’t have the time or resources to manage the daunting task of keeping up with social networking. This is why Assurance Advertising offers services that handle all social media needs at a low monthly cost.

Usually this amount can prove to be less expensive than paying an employee to do this work, not to mention we employ specialists trained to write blogs that will get attention.

To find out how much it will cost to set up your company please contact us. Make sure to ask about our social media flat rate program and blog services.

Happy marketing!

Got more insight on this topic that can benefit our esteemed customers and blog fans? Make sure and leave us a comment!

Over the past couple of days I’ve been noticing that certain types of companies have not only survived the economic downturn but are actually increasing their successes. How have they done this?

Well, the main trend between the companies is that they are utilizing cutting edge technology making the lives of their customers and their employees much easier, as well as using this technology to market their products more effectively.

I like to call it the “lazy technology trend.” And I think we can all learn from it.

Lazy Technology in business

What do I mean by lazy technology?

I’m not talking about technology for people too lazy to get out of bed. What I’m talking about is technology that feeds the basic human instinct, driving us to make things faster and easier.

Man made fire so it would be easier to eat and stay warm. Man invented the wheel to transport people and goods with less effort and so on.
If you follow this “lazy instinct” through the ages to modern day life, you reach a world where technology is king and fast information is his sword. You can be either knighted or beheaded by it.

Google, one of the most successful companies of our time, has always made it priority to feed this “lazy instinct”.

Their products allow people to make simple searches of the internet, email and video chat, store information, share information, use of word processors, all available on the home page. The list of lazy products they offer is growing daily.

Another example of lazy technology would be Netflix. Originally started as a website where you pay a monthly fee to rent DVD’s by mail.

Now with the use of new technology they have made renting movies and T.V. shows instantly from your computer or TV (with the use of an inexpensive adapter, X-box, PS3 and coming this spring for the Wii) an included part of the monthly service: making Netflix so much more competitive that they’re even taking clients away from cable companies.

An interesting lazy tool for businesses using twitter is Twuffer. Twuffer allows the Twitter user to compose announcements or posts and schedule their release days, weeks, even months in advance.

Companies can use this technology to schedule tweets for upcoming campaigns, promotions, specials, contests etc.: letting twuffer do all the work for them at the appointed time.

Staying on top of technology

All modern day businesses should utilize new technologies to make their products easier to use and more accessible to customers.

Microsoft had to learn this lesson the hard way. They’re just now becoming more competitive online but for years they focused only on building software that you buy at the store. The problem is that the internet and web let people get what they need instantly.

This made it hard for Microsoft to sell their products and gave companies like Google an opening into the market.

A great way to stay on top of available technology is to watch companies similar to yours (especially direct competitors) and find out what they are using to make customers lives easier. Take those ideas and improve on them.

The funny thing is, because of our lazy instinct, technology just keeps building on itself getting infinitely faster and better. To some this is a scary thought because of the competition and uncertainty technology creates.

But I feel it gives us a chance to actually make money and reach more people.

What an exciting time to be alive and in business.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqOGhWw3Q8