What's Wrong With My Ad?
Phillip Sawyer, Advertising Effectiveness Consultant, Conversion Associates

In a recent article by Philip W. Sawyer in Ad Age/Mediaworks, he bemoans the fact that many of the print ads he sees today aren’t well designed in terms of their stopping power, branding ability and level of engagement – the three key elements that drive purchase consideration and, ultimately sales. Here’s what he thinks is wrong with print ads today:

1. They lack stopping power and, therefore, an emotional connection with the reader. The ads that consistently attract initial attention tend to be those with a single photograph comprising one powerful focal point.

2. They inhibit involvement. Clean copy is read copy. Just as the journey to the heart and emotions generally begins with the image, the path to the rational, decision-making sphere is through the verbiage on the page. Making a good, coherent argument for the product or service is what transforms the interested bystander into a committed shopper and advocate.

3. They ‘flow’ badly. Every ad takes the reader on a kind of visual journey, which typically begins with the photograph and then moves on to the headline, body copy and logo. The tendency of the American reader is to move downward and to the right in keeping with the way that we read full texts.

4. They display little interest in generating meaningful action. Print advertising has increasingly become more response-driven—which is entirely fitting and proper. And yet, in many ads you’ll have to work very hard to find the number to call or the website to checkout. In a substantial number of ads, the 800-number and website addresses are indistinguishable from the rest of the copy, and perhaps most important, that information is placed at the end of the block of copy. And then print advertisers wonder why their ads aren’t getting a response and blame the medium for its presumed failures.

5. They do not emphasize benefits and, therefore, provide little ‘reason to believe.’ Ad designers and copywriters have become self-portrait painters, content to describe the product and service, and relying on obtuse value statements or rhetorical questions. They avoid any attempt to answer the consumer’s most pressing question, “What’s in it for me?”

The point is that print advertising does work. And the first question that any advertiser should ask when an ad fails to fulfill expectations is not, “What’s wrong with print advertising?” but “What’s wrong with my ad?”

Consumers Start Holiday Shopping Early The weather outside is frightfully hot for most of the country, but retailers are hoping the shopping inside is delightful. An increasing number of national retailers have already jump-started this year’s holiday shopping with Christmas in July promotions based on 2009 shopping patterns. According to Gifting Report 2010: The Ultimate Guide to the Consumer Gift-Giving Market, a new in-depth report on gifting patterns and behavior authored by Pam Danziger, two-thirds of all shoppers who gave Christmas gifts started their shopping for Christmas 2009 before Thanksgiving. Only one-third started shopping on Black Friday or after. "Encouraging shoppers to start holiday gift shopping early is going to be especially important this year," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new report. "The retail environment is really dicey this year with shoppers continuing to express uncertainty about spending." "A large majority of shoppers start their Christmas shopping long before the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season. We advise marketers to start their promotion of Christmas gifts early – some 22 percent of shoppers work on their Christmas shopping throughout the year," Danziger says. Fun promotions like 'Buy One, Stash One' events will get consumers thinking about Christmas early and shopping all year long," Danziger concludes.

Sales Tips:

Understanding Today's Sales Environment
Ken Dooley

Closing a sale today is a lot different than it was even a few years ago. Here are seven significant changes in the marketplace that have had a dramatic influence on closing rates:

1. The marketplace has become more crowded, competitive and mature.
2. Trust is more essential than ever to close the sale.
3. Purchasing has become consensus-oriented and fewer   decisions are being made by just one person.
4.The ability to sell value rather than price is more critical today.
5. Customers are looking for advisers and business experts who deliver results that exceed their expectations. They are not interested in salespeople who are only interested in selling a product or service.
6. Buying decisions are being made at higher and higher levels.
7. Good closers develop strong relationships with prospects.

Characteristics of Top Salespeople
Ken Dooley

The difference between top and average salespeople is not based on closing secrets or special techniques. Attitude, confidence and enthusiasm are the three keys exhibited by outstanding closers.

• Believe in what you sell. Top closers start every presentation by assuming that prospects will buy from them. A passion for their products or services is their most effective selling tool.
• Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative when closing. Prospects respond far better to positive messages than negative ones. Top closers work hard to keep out negative influences. They remain upbeat, even when dealing with pessimistic prospects.
• Don’t allow yourself to get depressed, even when a sale falls through. Top closers maintain enthusiasm by repeating positive affirmations to themselves, such as, “I will close the sale because I have the best product.”
• Focus on prospect needs. The difference between convincing a prospect to buy and convincing him or her to buy now can come down to a strong understanding of buyer needs. They use benefit statements to create belief in their products or services.
• Speak in terms of value for the prospect. Top closers help prospects see not only the ROI they’re likely to receive, but how much the absence of the product or service being sold is costing the prospect today.
• Listen first, sell second. Instead of making assumptions, top closers ask questions to uncover why prospects buy and how their buying process works. They take notes during their presentation to make sure nothing is lost.
• Show patience. High-performing closers consider the longer buying cycle as an opportunity to educate the prospect. They recognize that prospects who turn into the best customers may be under cultivation for two or three years.

2011 Expected Postal Rate Increase

The Postal Service (PRC) recently outlined the content of the price increase it filed in July with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The PRC must respond by Oct. 4, 2010 with implementation expected January 2, 2011.

Overall, the increase will average 5.6%.

First-Class Mail (FCM) will rise 5.4% on average.  The price for retail letters and cards will increase two cents each; presorted letter prices will increase an average of 2.1 cents, with no change in the additional ounce rate.  FCM presorted flats will jump about 12%, on average, while a new rate band for FCM parcels will apply the same price through three ounces.

Standard Mail prices will increase an average of 5.6%.  The increase for letters and flats will be about 5.0% and 5.1%, respectively, while Carrier Route (CR) will go up 4.9%, and HD/Saturation letters and flats/parcels will increase by 4.8% and 4.4%, respectively.  Standard Parcels will jump 23.3%, however, because they currently do not cover their costs.  Other classification changes will be proposed as well.

Periodicals will increase by 8%, less than enough to move them to profitability. Package Services will increase 7%, except for Bound Printed Matter flats that will rise only 5%. Special Services will go up an average of 5.2%.

The Postal Service acknowledges the price increase will impact customers, but expects the total net benefit of the higher prices to be about $2.3 billion, an
amount that will reduce the agency's anticipated FY2011 loss to about $4.7
billion.

Book Review: The Language of TRUST: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics Michael Maslansky with Scott West, Gary DeMoss, and David Saylor Research strategist, Maslansky is CEO of his own communications consulting firm. He works with many companies on successfully communicating with their customers - far more challenging in the shaky aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse. Trust has never been more important considering there's so little of it these days. Maslansky offers a step-by-step strategy for 'credible communication' based on quantitative and qualitative research. Key to his approach are four messaging principles: being personal, plainspoken, positive and plausible and the idea of listening to and prioritizing customers' interests. The book clearly and convincingly demonstrates that words do matter, almost as much as how they're said.

TVNewsCheck, Aug 12 2010

More American TV households are receiving video programming via an alternate delivery system (ADS - which includes DISH or Direct TV) than ever before while wired cable penetration has declined, according to a July 2010 TVB analysis by Nielsen Media Research.

Advertisers who buy cable locally need to know that local wired cable systems' ability to deliver commercials continues to erode. "Local cable commercials are not seen in ADS homes, and so local advertisers need to deduct the ADS percentage of the audience if they are included in the cable systems' submissions. Only ads on broadcast television stations have the potential to reach 100% of the viewers" according to Susan Cuccinello, SVP, industry research.

According to Nielsen NTI data, national ADS penetration is now at an all time high of 30.5% of television households up from 28.6% in July 2009, and now represents 33.6% of subscription television customers (those paying for video delivery), another all-time high. Wired-cable penetration, on the other hand, declined to 61.1% of television households in July 2010 from 62.2% in July 2009.

For ADS and Cable penetration in your DMA go to www.tvb.org.

According to BIGresearch, 95.5% of TV watchers don’t regularly give their full attention to commercials. Here’s what they are doing instead:

93.8%    Leave the room
92.5%    Talk with others
88.4%    Mentally tune out
75.0%    Read a magazine or
                book
65.7%    Go Online

Consumers Think They’re Trimming Budgets...But Are They?

Michael Carmichael, August 2010 Ad Age

In a new study, Pew Research asked participants about household spending since the recession began in 2007. No surprise here, but nearly two thirds said they had cut back on spending while only 6% said they had increased spending.

Although the 2009 data on consumer expenditures isn’t out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics yet, the 2008 study found that consumers did increase their spending over 2007 by 1.7%. Spending by younger age groups (those under 25 and 35-44 year olds) stayed nearly flat with only a .02% and .04% increase respectively. But one of the age groups that really drives the economy, 45 to 54-year olds, increased their spending by a healthy 4.9%.

So, will we really see a spending decrease in 2009? Or with health care and other costs going up, will it turn out that consumers trimmed spending in one area only to spend more somewhere else with the net result being an increase in consumer expenditures?

Six Tips for Better Opening and Response Rates

E-marketing giant MailerMailer’s bi-annual E-Mail Marketing Metrics Report just revealed the six key factors that determine whether or not prospects open (and respond to) e-mail, based on a study of over 300 million business e-mails sent over two years):

1. E-mails with subject lines that are less than 35 characters are opened 3-4% more often than those with longer subject lines.

2. While personalizing the e-mail message itself actually increases open rates, personalizing the subject line significantly decreases open and response rates (because recipients tend to feel any message with their name in the subject line is spam).

3. Open rates are highest on Monday and decrease steadily as the week goes on (e.g., 4-6% fewer e-mails sent on Friday are opened than those sent on Monday).

4. The smaller and more targeted a list, the greater the response rate (lists that have 250-500 recipients and segment by title, industry or past buying history have the highest response rate). As recipient lists increase in size, response rates decrease.

5. A recent Marketing Sherpa survey that was quoted in the study found that 64% of decision makers now view most of their e-mail via a BlackBerry (or other mobile device), which means companies may need to adjust and send more “mobile-friendly” e-mails.

6. Prospects prefer HTML to regular text.

Social Media:

Best Time To Post on Social Media Sites:

By now most of us know e-mail that’s sent on a Monday or Tuesday gets through to more prospects. But when’s the best time to reach people via social media?

The earlier the better.

Business prospects are more active on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn early in the week, according to several recent studies.

In fact, click-through rates on Facebook-based brand pages were found to be far better on Tuesdays (9.89%) than any other day of the week, according to social media services vendor Vitrue. The days with the lowest click-through rates? Saturday (2.67%) and Sunday (2.70%).