If your reading this article, chances are your surfing the net. You and millions of other people, from your same town,from your same country, from your same continent and all over the globe. Now with all these readers how did you come to read my article. I own a printing and promotional product business in Montreal, Canada. Chances are you’ve never been to Canada and if so chances are you’ve never been to Montreal. So how did you get here.

Did I invest thousand of dollars for an SEO (search engine optimization) company to use tricks to push my company to the first page of Google, Did I use pay per click to drive traffic to my site or did I use some trick to send thousand of emails to unsollicted email addreses to get you to come to read my article? The answer is no, no and no. These techniques while sometimes effective for the short term, are not the answer to your problem. If you want traffic to your site you need to brand your site. If someone is driven to your site unwillingly, chances are they will have a negative opinion of your company.

Maybe it’s me, but I believe in making a good first impression. The first thing with your website, store front or business proposal, is you must decide on what image you want to project. If your able to attract the right client, your window to sell them is limited. Your pitch must be concise, direct to their needs and worth their while. Today nobody has lots of discretionary time. Be direct, tell them what you or your product is about. Next you must explain how your wonderful product can benefit them. Again be concise and precise. Vagueness or generalities tend to lose prospects. Finally, why should they buy this product or service from you and not your competitor and why Now!

Remember plan your campaign thoroughly. Make sure everything looks nice, works and is ready to impress. If it’s not, there’s a 95% chance you’ll never get a second chance. Ask someone who has had many blind dates what they feel about giving someone a second chance.

Now how do I go about branding my company or site without blowing my budget. The cheapest and most effective referals come from word of mouth. Get out there. Mingle and schmooze it up. Go to local meetings, PTA meetings, charity events, sports leagues and talk up your site or business. Next advertise. Investigate who your potential market is and see where they get their information from. Local newspapers, daily papers, t.v., radio, internet, or billboards. Reinforce your company with free give aways. They don’t have to be big, they don’t have to be expensive. What they need to be is clever, effective and useful for the end user. Today almost every item can be branded with your name. Be careful though when you brand your item not to "overbrand". Your name should be visible but not to visible that the person will never use the product. There’s something to be said for being discreet. Once you’ve invested in advertising look at the administartion side of your business. Be consistent with your logo from your business cards, to your invoices, to your envelopes, to your sales literature. All these items are a reflection of your company. people tend to forget to brand their company to their existing clients. This is one of the most important groups who you need to brand to. You want to keep these customers, and have them thinking only about your comapny, when they think of your product.

I have over 20 years experience helping Fortune 500 companies, medium and large size comapnies with their marketing and branding. Between our printing division and our promotional product division, we should have you covered. If you need more help, give me a call at 514-337-2238 or visit us on the web at www.solutionsink4u.com

Steven Schneidman

Steven Schneidman owns a successful printing and promotional product company. He started off teaching finance at a Canadian University and working at the head office of the secong largest bank in Canada. Solutions Ink works to help all size comapnies grow and prosper.

If you’ve listened to some radio ads lately you may have picked up on something, right as you punched the button to change the station. And that is that most radio spots, and by that I mean about 97%, are boring or just plain annoying… and boring.

One problem is that many advertisers rely on the station to write and produce their spots. And who can blame them? The stations usually offer those services for free. And the word “free” is the operative word here as in, “you get what you pay for” free.

Most stations make their account executives take on the added job of writing the copy. Still sound good to you? Think about it. These are the same persuasive A type personalities who persuaded you to purchase air time on their stations in the first place. Which do you think they would rather be doing? Being strapped to their desk writing your ad copy, or out selling more time and making commissions off another sale? Plus, most have as much experience writing convincing ad copy as you do. So they either have to write it themselves or pawn it off to the production guy who really, really doesn’t want to write it. After all, he’s not even making any commission! All he knows is that he’s got ten commercials to pound out including yours, (which is another reason many radio spots sound the same) before he can move on.

Now based on that info, do you think the account executive or the production guy really gives a rats behind whether or not your spot is entertaining and convincing? “No” is the correct box to check here.

If you take away anything from this article let it be this: the content of your radio spots are as important as the time you’ve purchased for them. And as proof to your ears, many advertisers miss this most important point. They end up paying a small ransom for their schedule, getting the times sent to them daily while keeping a close eye on when their spots run, all while forgetting that the most important part is the message itself.

Let’ review: you’re not a copywriter, the account executive would rather lose a limb than write it, and the production guy will give you about 10 minutes of his or her time knocking it out. What’s the solution? Hire an expert. After all, would you perform your own appendectomy? Let’s hope not. Some things just aren’t worth cutting corners for. Or body parts.

So where do you find someone who will write and produce your radio commercials? There are several avenues to explore here. First, I would be remiss not to mention my agency, The Eisenberg Agency, because we specialize in radio creative. But aside from that shameless plug, you can ask your radio account executives to suggest someone or you can search the web. Another idea would be to to call the company whose spots you’ve heard and liked and ask them who did their radio. Of course it would be a plus if the company or writer you chose has had prior experience writing for your particular business, but if they’re good it won’t really matter.

And just like the example above, when it comes to hiring a creative agency, you still get what you pay for. Be prepared for quotes that are all over the map. You may find a copywriter who will write the ad and then farm it out to a production house. You may find both in one shop. Just be sure and ask to hear and read samples of their work. Clever copy should perform two tasks. It should make the listener want to hear the spot and it should inform the listener about the product while doing so. There are many do’s and don’ts when writing copy that your copywriter should be very aware of. For example, you may hear some local ads that feel the need to repeat their phone number at the end of their spot four or five times but the truth is, radio is primarily a branding tool. By that I mean it works over time. Don’t expect the listener to remember everything that is said in your spots. Especially while she is driving down the road, headed to a client meeting and answering her cell phone while deciding what to have for dinner. Just keep your message simple, wrap it up in a clever way, and run the heck out of it.

Finally, and I feel the need to say this on behalf of all fellow copywriters out there - let the professional copywriter write the copy. You should supply them with bullet points, the most important points you wish to get across, but let them work their magic and trust them to know what will and won’t work on the radio. And if you are a closet comedian and feel the need to express yourself, try amateur night at the local comedy club first before spending your hard earned money on a spot that you and your fellow employees think is just “freakin hilarious”. Also, when giving your copywriter bullet points, keep in mind that trying to fit in more than three of them may overwhelm the listener’s ears and make them tune your spot out. Sure you’ve been in business for over 12 years, but listeners don’t have to hear about every item or feature you have. I can’t tell you how many spots I hear daily where the poor copywriter was forced to try to change the laws of physics by cramming 3 minutes of copy into a sixty second ad.

Your radio ads could be the driving force behind your brand while at the same time driving your cash register into make those little ringing sounds if you do it right. Good luck and I look forward to hearing your spots. Really, I do!

Like what you’ve read? Want to read more? Visit The Eisenberg Agency web site at: http://www.eisenbergagency.com

E-mail: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

Remember That Brand? Well It’s Back! One would have to travel to the back woods of the Appalachians or perhaps to the cave dwellings in the Southwestern canyons to find anyone who has not heard of Viagra. Viagra, the market-leader of male erectile dysfunction prescription drugs, continues to occupy valuable space in the mind of the male consumer. What is so enchanting about an erectile dysfunction pill? How does Viagra have such appeal when it is the focus of late night comedy and radio morning shows? As consumers we seldom question a successful product. (Or maybe we just would rather not have to address or explain male erectile disorder more than we have to).

The consumer is exposed to a pill with a split personality. Viagra lives a double life: one of in-your-face comedy and one of universal solution. Despite the advertising that continually tests our comfort elasticity, Viagra’s brand works harder than any other “miracle drug” to be accepted by the tempestuously self-conscious male population. Viagra’s branding adheres and accommodates to the male population as a whole, not only to males with sexual difficulties. Viagra evaluates precepts regarding acceptance and community before considering the shock thresholds of consumers in general.

No one was prepared for the introduction of male erectile dysfunction pills into the mass market. No one anticipated the chain-reaction commercials of multiple brands, all of which utilizing paradoxical humor to attract attention. Even consumers desensitized to long lists of side-effects had to turn their heads at the possibility of a “four hour erection.” That kind of threat stops the music and eye contact among the group of people in the room is avoided like the plague until the “funny guy” severs the tension by making a crass comment about a baseball bat. The Viagra brand applauds him.

Viagra, the pioneer pill for erectile dysfunction, assumed an initially subtle brandface of advice, information, and medical concern. This initial brand messaging tossed Viagra into the big black cauldron with Claritin, Lipitor, and other drugs. The brand was not reaching out to the male population effectively and subsequently had to consider how men think, feel, and most importantly, what they believe to be true.

What do advertising agencies and mass media companies do best? Raise the stakes and provide entertainment, which are characteristically male standards. Viagra had to exude coolness. Viagra had to force the brand into the public eye, and the best solution was laughter. Consequently, Viagra’s logo was slapped onto the hood of Mark Martin’s number six car, spokesman Bob Dole’s stiff posture took on a whole new meaning, and professional baseball star Rapheal Palmero of the Baltimore Orioles assured men that it was okay to be batting a little below average. With slogans like “Remember that guy? Well, he’s back!” Viagra took the market by storm and made erectile dysfunction look as “hip” as possible. In turn, Viagra became the laughing stock of the drug market. Afflicted males enthusiastically bought into the brand, embarrassed as ever.

Cialis, Levitra, and a few others surfaced, invading the market with imitations. Cialis and Levitra soon became the Miller and Coors of male erectile dysfunction, producing the same, if not more over-the-top messages in order to compete. Levitra featured Mike Ditka coaching affected men to “stay in the game to come out champions.” Levitra also launched an attack from the female perspective. During halftime the consumer would see a highly attractive woman on the screen reveal how her man can last longer than the Energizer Bunny. Levitra pulled out all the stops to compete with Viagra, and they were not alone. Cialis, the brand that suggests, “He will never know when a moment will become the right moment,” took up arms. After all a man never knows when his soldier will be called to duty.

Viagra is consistently in the consumers considered set for prescription drugs, and more importantly, Viagra has secured a positive space as “the solution” in the minds of all men. The male ego does not allow men to admit disability to anyone, including himself. Viagra’s brand targets precepts of acceptance and community in a seemingly unorthodox manner, making jokes, providing endless comedic material. Viagra breaks consumers with its initial shock value and quickly proves to be a catalyst, lowering the anxiety of men wanting help.

A man is more likely to go into a physician’s office and request a prescription for Viagra than he is to ask for a solution for his erectile dysfunction. He is also more likely to ask for Viagra than to seek information for himself on the Internet or in a magazine. Perhaps Viagra provides security in the way that it labels the solution as opposed to describing the problem. Men with erectile dysfunction want to feel as though they are suffering from something ordinary like arthritis. Everyone has it. Everyone accepts it. Everyone gets help for it. The importance of “everyone,” even if everyone is laughing at Viagra, is significant enough to raise the consumer temperature.

Viagra’s commercials drops jaws, and erectile dysfunction is still taboo in our sex- crazed society, but Viagra will go down in history as one of the most influential drugs of all time because the brand succeeded in dropping anchor in the mind of the male consumer. The acceptance of Viagra confirms that the precepts prevail as miracle drugs for products of even the most self-conscious nature. The consumer may gaze at the screen contemplating how much money Viagra pays its spokesmen, but at least he knows that everyone is watching.

Molly Sunderdick
Brand Strategist
Stealing Share, Inc

Free online advertising offers many benefits for online and offline businesses.

Obvious benefits of free online advertising include increased exposure, sales leads, and additional sales.

Some of the less obvious benefits that can be obtained through the use of free online advertising are increased search engine ranking, greater product awareness, and credibility acceptance.

When you use free online advertising you will be receiving in most cases links from other sites.

This links will point back to your site and will count towards your link count.

Most search engines, including Google, use your link count to determine your search engine rankings. The more links pointing to your site, the higher your rankings will be.

Another benefit is that the more ads you receive, the more people will see your site, and in turn they will be aware of your products and services.

Credibility acceptance is another important benefit of using free online advertising.

The more times prospective customers see your ads, the less skeptical they will feel towards your products and services. This assumes that your ads are well written and that your products and services are in fact legitimate.

While many entrepreneurs discount free online advertising, I can assure you that it works.

Free online ads work because your prospective customer does not care of you received the ads for free. As long as he or she is interested in what you are offering, they will respond to your ads.

The question is whether people will actually see all those free ads.

While a majority of those ads might not be seen by prospective customers you will still benefit.

Even if only one sale a day is produced from free online advertising, wouldn’t you agree that it’s worthwhile?

Donny Lowy is the CEO of a free educational advertising resource.

http://www.advertisingcellar.com

For years there have been individuals branded as embodiments of “The American Dream,” and now Lance Armstrong has once again raised the stakes. The Tour de France has always been a monumental sporting event, but even when Greg Lemond was in the yellow jersey we were not as inspired to identify with and stand behind him as we do for Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is what Americans want to believe they could be. Even a commercial for Fitness USA (not to be mistaken for Nike) shown during the tour represents this concept. Lance runs down a busy street and everyone he passes starts doing something active. Business people start running like track stars, delivery men start doing curls with water jugs…etc. Look around your own neighborhood or on the streets as you drive in your car. Notice how many bikes you see on the roads, and think about why all the sudden people are motivated to shift gears and pump up hills.

Ironically from the same state as the President of the United States, Armstrong has motivated people around the world to “LiveStrong.” The yellow bracelets are as abundant as ever (and caused a universal bracelet craze similar to the ribbon bumper stickers craze). Americans value professional athletes (the proof is in the paychecks), and if they find an athlete who triumphs not only as an athlete but also as a person, they cling to him in a childlike manner, wanting desperately to be identified with him.

In addition to winning an unprecedented seven Tour de France races, wearing the yellow jersey 81 times, beating testicular cancer, constructing a world-renown cancer foundation, and retiring at the top of his career, Lance Armstrong can add “America” to his list. If Lance Armstrong ran for President (which there was talk of “Lance’s career in politics,”) it would be difficult to find a soul in America who felt confident in saying “he can’t do it.”

Molly Sunderdick
Brand Strategist
Stealing Share Inc

Generally speaking, a vinyl banner is easy to design. Anybody with a little bit of graphic design experience can design a vinyl banner. And even if you have no experience, your supplier can point you in the right direction, or even design your banner for a small charge.

Here are some things to watch for when designing a vinyl banner…

1. Use software that handles CMYK full color output. There are at least three kinds of software you can use:

- Image editors like Photoshop, PhotoPaint, or PhotoImpact

- Page Layout programs like Quarkxpress, Pagemaker, or InDesign

- Illustration programs like Illustrator or CorelDraw

Generally speaking, programs that are designed for consumers or general office applications are not recommended: e.g., Word, Wordperfect, Publisher, Excel, etc. If you have a specific inquiry, don’t hesitate to ask your vinyl banners supplier. A good source of information is your contact person at America-Banners.com. You can ask a design or production related question by using the contact form on any page on the site.

2. Keep your design simple and striking. The best designs contain two or three basic elements. Usually these will be a photograph, a large headline, and an "identifier" such as your company name, logo, or phone number.

3. Use bright colors. The most striking vinyl banners have lots of bright colors.

4. Design your vinyl banner so it is readable for your target audience. If it is going on a building or beside a road on a fence, or on an outfield fence at a baseball or soccer field, MAKE SURE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE IS LARGE ENOUGH TO BE READ.

5. Make sure your images have sufficient resolution. For some advice on image resolution, see the Vinyl Banners FAQ.

6. Make sure your vinyl banner fits the area where you’re going to mount it. Don’t guess at the size. Most people who are not familiar with signage will UNDERESTIMATE the required size.

7. Consider alternative methods of mounting your vinyl banner. Grommets are the "default" method of mounting a banner on a wall or fence. But often "pole pockets" are simpler and more efficient.

For more information go to America-Banners.com or TradeShow-Display-Experts.com.

Rick Hendershot is a writer and founder of The Linknet Publishing Network. To learn how you can benefit from original articles, and posted around the web, see our various promotional programs at Linknet Promotions.

Imagine for a moment that a prospective client of yours is frantically thumbing through the yellow pages (or surfing the Internet) searching for the exact service you provide—and she finds herself faced with literally dozens of options—what is it about the way you convey and deliver your particular service that is going to convince her to hire you over another professional offering the same thing?

If you want to attract more clients and quickly double your current client base, you’ll need to identify that "special something" you provide for your clients and be able to clearly communicate it in all of your marketing materials.

Determine what separates you from the rest of the pack. It’s easier than you think!

Begin by answering the following questions:

1. What is the ONE THING that you do that others in your profession are NOT doing?

2. What is it about your actual business that makes you different or unique in some way?

3. What results can you promise your clients that others do not?

4. When a prospect asks the question, “Why should I hire you, instead of so and so” - how do you respond?

If you’re really stuck trying to define what makes you different, ask a couple of your best clients why they chose to work with you—and continue to work with you—instead of your competitors. Use this information to create a unique marketing message that appears in all of your marketing efforts.

Remember, if you’re not differentiating yourself from your competitors –you ARE invisible to your prospects!

Cheers to more clients!

© 2005 Connie Scholl

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: “Small Business Marketing Advisor Connie Scholl, provides Independent Professionals with simple, effective and low-cost market strategies guaranteed to DOUBLE their current client base." To learn more about her popular small biz marketing programs, and to sign up for her FREE Marketing Solutions ezine, visit http://www.conniecoach.com

A special yearly issue of Success Magazine called "The Selling Issue" quoted Scott DeGarmo,

"The big money goes to those companies with superior marketing operations. Entrepreneurial companies of today must evolve from being sales oriented to being marketing oriented in order to now win the consumer."

Let me explain why it’s important to focus on marketing instead of selling. There was a time known as "the days of simple selling." The days of simple selling are generally considered the days before 1980 or, in some industries, before 1990. In this period of selling, it was a lot easier for a salesperson to go in and sell to a buyer. The reason was simply because the marketplace was a lot less crowded.

For example, in 1980, if you wanted to buy a Ford pick-up truck, where did you go? You went to the dealership. This was the only way to see your choices and ask your questions. You couldn’t go online or to Barnes & Noble and read fifteen magazines that compared and contrasted new trucks and cars because these sources of information didn’t exist. The dealership was the only source of up-to-date information. In the days of simple selling, there was less competition, fewer choices, and it was easier to make a buying decision. Let’s wrap this up by saying, "in the days of simple selling, the seller had the power because the buyer had very few options."

The Days Of Simple Selling Are Over!

Now we have a new situation; buyers no longer have to rely on limited sources of information about a product or service. The landscape of business now involves increased competition, information, choices, and more resistance. It has made buying cycles longer. There is price competition now that didn’t exist before. Products are becoming commodities and a lot of the marketing messages are identical. Now a wedge has been created between the seller and the buyer. This wedge is called "The Confidence Gap."

"The Confidence Gap" is the consumer’s inability to determine whether any of the products or any of the services are any better or worse or any different than any of the others. This creates a big problem. What you need to understand is that people, who will be buying from you, have all these different choices. It’s very difficult for them to determine whether you are any better or any different from anyone else. So your marketing goal should be to narrow the Confidence Gap and restore the consumer’s trust and confidence.

How Do I Fix This Problem?

The questions you may be asking yourself are: "How do I figure this out? How do I fix this problem?" Go to the business section of any bookstore and you’ll find all kinds of books on this topic. You’ll find things like "Better Customer Service." The theory is if you have better customer service, you’ll have more customers. The problem with this philosophy is you must have a customer in order to give them service. You can’t just say, "I’ve got great customer service." It doesn’t work that way; you must have a system that will drive the customer to you! One of the things you might hear business gurus say is, "If you have more sales training and if you are better at sales, then you’ll be able to get more customers." The problem with that is, again, you’ve got to have prospects in order to use your sales skills. If you look at all the sales training books and all the sales training seminars, they are all short on advice in this particular area, namely: "How do I find someone to sell to in the first place?"

There is another way that business books and business gurus tell you how to overcome this thing we call the Confidence Gap. "Use advertising tricks and techniques." Through misleading advertisements you can trick people to call you or come in. For example, I saw a car ad that said, "Pay no tax on all new vehicles." Do you think that sounds like a pretty good deal? Would you be thinking: “If I weren’t paying any tax, then I’d probably save a couple grand.” The problem is that in the fine print it said, "Customers responsible for all sales taxes, state, and local. The dealer will pay for the inventory tax." This is a sales trick. It does nothing to build trust and confidence. Instead it builds contempt, hatred, and suspicion. The result is a widening of the Confidence Gap when the goal of the advertisement should have been to narrow it.

These examples reveal a problem. We used to have the days of simple selling; now we have The Confidence Gap. You, as a business owner, need to overcome this in order to be successful. You need to find a solution to the problem. For more information please visit www.gregwriter.com.

Greg Writer is a dynamic speaker, author, teacher and coach with over 23 years experience in corporate finance, capital formation, executive level management, mergers, acquisitions, IPO’s, sales/marketing and has facilitated the formation and financing of hundreds of start up & early stage companies. A number of FREE resources are available at http://www.gregwriter.com

A consumer will give you about three seconds, maybe 4 if you’re lucky, to get to your message across. To make it obvious that your brand is different, that your brand is better, and why they should take time to care. That’s it. You’ve got three seconds.

It’s imperative that you make it clear that you differ and deserve a languid look. Three seconds isn’t much time.

Which means you better be different if you want to survive whatever with any degree of relevance. We’re not talking 20% or even 50% different. We’re talking a complete 180. In a market where products try to be everything to everybody, where everything gets pushed to the lowest common denominator, you’ve got to set yourself apart, find a point of difference that can be turned into a point of genuine differentiation. Then, you’ve got to put your branding efforts toward communicating exactly how interacting with your brand will be a different experience, and why it will actually be a better choice. You’ve got to make sure your brand is seen as a clearly distinctive choice.

The fact is, the number one job of branding today is to get people to stop and look and recognize — in an instant — that they’re seeing something they’ve never seen before and that it meets a justifiable and relevant need, whether it be related to corp. logo, service, to value, to functionality or fun. It also has to generate recall.

You have 3 - 4 seconds!

Find your point of differentiation. Do not focus on the lowest common denominator, but rather spend your time and effort concentrating on what you don’t want your brand to be. Then establish a point of differentiation between the two.

Consumers need all the help they can realizing that what they’re looking at is actually new, you need to make it a crystal clear. My belief is that the only way to make it clearly obvious what your brand is, is to make it clearly obvious what your brand isn’t. To be different you have to start by looking at who you want to be different from — and why.

You’ve got to find yourself a unique opposing foundation with a strong rationale for market acceptance. I’m not talking half-baked attempt here. We’re not talking Tim Hortons with a larger cups. A Costco or Wallmart with a longer name or brighter lights. In dealing with Branding is Everything and Everything is Branding, a little bit different doesn’t cut through.

Evaluate your competition. Identify where the key emotional and rational associations linked to this logo/brand is in the consumer’s mind. Who do they appeal to and why. What sets them appart? Who are the customers and why. How does the competition’s competition differ? What is their point of differentiation? It does take real focus to evaluate all of this.

Travel off down that road not yet traveled. To determine which market needs are not being met and how you can meet them.

We all know that brands help consumers make choices. In a world of branding, it’s critical that you make unquestionably clear the different and relevantly better choice you have to offer. This can begin with a strong Corp. Identity that functions on different levels. (eg., http://www.bullseyelogo.com) That logo may be what opens the door for you. Three split seconds goes by in an instant.

Umberto Micheli - Creative director - http://www.bullseyelogo.com

Did I get your attention? That’s exactly what I intended to do. I wrote a compelling headline that concentrated on a problem, created interest and desire, and offered a solution…all in a few short words!

It’s a fact, most antique advertisements in the yellow pages are really lame! Oh, the "yellow page man" that sells you this crud will tell you that your ad "looks good", but does it generate business for you?

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line when you spend any amount of money on marketing your antique shop, mall or "offer to buy" must always be the same; did you get a good R.O.I. (return on investment) for the money that you laid out? If the answer to that question is "no", or "I don’t know", you need to pay attention!

Are you a "me-me, we-we" yellow page advertiser?

Take a look at your yellow page advertisment. (Look at someone else’s if you don’t currently have one running). What do you see? Does the headline have the name of the business in it? Does the headline say something like "Business Name Antiques?"

If it does, you are looking at a "me-me", "we-we" headline. A majority of antique dealers, shops and malls that advertise in the yellow pages have a mundane, "run-of-the-mill" yellow page ad that lists their business name, what they sell, how many dealers thay have, blah, blah, blah.

Ask this one question and you will be well on your way to making your ad more profitable!

You can change the way your ad looks and the way it pulls, by asking a simple question about each element in the space. That question? Who Cares!

Look at your headline and then ask, "who cares?". Look at the elegant, sweeping fonts and ask, "who cares?". Look at the list of items that the ad says that you sell and ask, "who cares?". If you can’t come up with a good answer to those questions, maybe it’s time to look at other ways to build a yellow page ad!

Here are more questions that will help you design a winner.

1. What am I trying to accomplish with this ad?

Your ad should only attempt to accomplish one thing. Sound ridiculous? It’s not!

Are you trying to get people to sell you their unwanted items? Then build your ad to make that happen. Don’t try to sell, buy, and build your image all in one ad. Customers will get confused when you try to "pack" too much into an ad.

2. What do you want people to do after reading your ad?

Should they call for a free "no obligation" offer? Should they ask for your "wanted" list? Land on ONE action you want the reader to take, and tell them what to do in the ad.

3. How will the reader benefit if they take action?

Your ad should follow the A.I.D.A. formula. (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). Go back and read my headline. It contains all of the above elements. If you do not have a definite benefit in mind that the reader will reap by doing business with you, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and get one! Present the benefit in easy to understand terms.

4. Is it simple enough?

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Sweetie). No one likes to look at "antique-speak" if they are not an antique enthusiast. Use simple, "plain english" words and statements that the common, ordinary individual can understand.

Being honest with your ads.

If you are truly honest with your yellow page ads, you won’t worry about what the other antique people think about how the ad looks. It’s more lucrative to design an ad that performs a task, than it is to allow the yellow page salesman to write a "lame" ad that fuels your ego.

Hey, if your ad sucks, admit it and move on. Learn from it this time, and never go back to writing another lame one, no matter what the "yellow page man" says!

I’ll write more in the future about how to get the best "bang for the buck" with yellow page marketing, but for now, go through the above exercise and start building a better ad. It will pay big dividends!

Michael Temple is a retired auctioneer, and operates the Antique Power Dealer web site at http://www.antiquepowerdealer.com. You can receive his FREE report "Six Costly Mistakes That Antique Buyers and Sellers Make…and How to Avoid Them" by sending him an e-mail at: michael@antiquepowerdealer.com