Small Business Committee Meeting

Minutes from the Small Business Committee of the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce, May 26, 2005.
St. Charles Community College, Executive Dining Room.
Presentation by Floyd Bell, Data Access Solutions & Y2Marketing.

Introductions including name, company, and unique selling proposition (USP). The USP should be 10 words or less.

Million Dollar Marketing Equation:
Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer + Format = Powerhouse Ad = Results

• Interrupt = headline
• Engage = promise to educate & facilitate decision making
• Educate = building your case
• Offer = lowering the risk
• Format = interrupt & engage

You can evaluate every ad with this equation. Your ads should score 3 or better in all categories.

Buying Spectrum: Judge where every prospect is on the spectrum. Ranges from “Prospect first gets the idea to buy what you sell” to “Money changes hand.” Location on spectrum dictates how you market to them. Only 3-5% of prospects are buyers.

The ad is a cash investment. E.g., full page ad in USA Today for local coverage only is $35,000.

We receive lots of information all of the time. A person’s mind can be in either the alpha or mode. Alpha mode = "auto pilot", not really paying attention. Beta mode = paying attention. Studies show that we have 1.35 seconds to switch a person from alpha mode to beta mode.

The headline in an ad should contain activators which snap the reader from alpha to beta mode.

If you put a picture in an ad, it must make the person "get" what you are trying to do. It must have a headline and subheadline. No ambiguity about what you are saying.

Key question in evaluating a headline: Would you be willing to mortgage your home to pay for the ad with this headline?

One key purpose of an offer is to track response to an ad. All staff needs to be educated in the ads, scripted in what to ask people who call. The most important thing that staff needs to do is capture the caller’s contact information. Next time you want to advertise, you can then market directly to people who have already called.

Test all ads before running them. Write the ad then show it to people and ask for their reactions.

Rounded "radius" corners on ads or on the clip-out coupon within the ad are inviting. Much nicer than square corners.

Looking through the Community News, we found no ads which we could all agree had good headlines.

Sample ad for a jewelry store:

Are You Desperate for a Father’s Day Present?
Come for your free tie with each tie-tack purchase.

Complete selection of tie-tacks.
Additional 25% off for the first 20 people to respond to this ad.

Jim Edwards & Floyd will do a free 45 minute marketing evaluation for each meeting attendee.