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Dear Friend,

Welcome to another Marketing Monday.

Last week we talked about the big opportunity in small markets, and I encouraged you to think about narrowing your focus so you could wrap your mind around the concept of dominating that market.

This week we’re going to do a little advertising and marketing audit.
Now, I know that right now, you’re spending some amount of money on advertising and marketing.

I want you to think about that number.

In this week’s poll you can see how much other people are spending on advertising each month.

With that number in mind – gather together all the marketing materials you’re currently spending that money on. We’re going to do a little test on these ads to see if you’re missing out on getting the MOST money for the LEAST spending.

This checklist is a lot like going back to the basics.

The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi was known for starting each season’s training camp by holding up a football and saying…”Gentlemen, THIS is a football.”
And that’s what this checklist is about.

So grab one of your ads…and let’s go through the checklist one at a time.
We’re looking for a perfect score.

1. Have I selected a SINGLE Target Market?

When you look at your ad, can you tell very specifically who your target market is? Most of the time, when you look through real estate magazines, you see ads that say “Thinking of buying or selling? Call me first!” or other non-compelling catch phrases. What is very clear by this is that the person has not selected a very specific target market, and is just trying to appeal to everyone at the same time.

The most effective ads you can write are very specifically focused on a SINGLE TARGET MARKET. It’s not enough to say that your target market is buyers or sellers. You have to really narrow your focus even more.

A specific target market would be renters who are living in the Oakwood apartment complex and paying more than $1142 a month in rent. The more specific you can get the better. It will allow you to understand who your target market is and what they hope for and fear in their situation.

2. Do I have a Compelling offer?

The offer is the key thing in a direct response ad. The offer is the reason they will be responding. What are they going to get be responding to your ad. Offers can be a FREE recorded message, a FREE report by mail or e-mail, a seminar, an over the phone consultation, or a personal one-on-one consultation in their home or your office.
Now, not all offers are going to get the same response, many more people will call and listen to a FREE recorded message, while not many people will be as interested in a one-on-one consultation just from seeing your ad. You’ve always got to be thinking in terms of baby-steps to lead your prospects.

3. Does my headline tell the complete story?

The headline is the first thing everyone reading your ad will see when they look at your ad. The most effective thing you can do is be sure your headline tells the complete story. Think of your headline as the ad for your ad.

The headline is the only thing your prospects will use to determine whether they’ll spend the time to read your ad, and if it doesn’t catch their attention with something that is of value to them – they’ll skip right over your ad and be on to the next page.
When people look at your ad, can they tell what it’s about just by reading the headline? Have a friend look at the headline alone and if they can’t tell you exactly what the ad is about, you need to go back to the drawing board.

Here’s a couple of tips for writing winning headlines: first, pretend that you are writing a three-line classified ad for your ad. This will help you to really get your point across. Second, look on the cover and in the table of contents of Cosmo magazine to get ideas for great headlines.

4. Does it look like an ad?

One of the worst things you can do is have a great idea for an ad, a great headline and offer, and then make your ad LOOK like an ad! When you make your ad look like news you will get FIVE TIMES as many people to look at your ad! That’s because five times as many people read editorial content and screen out the ads. So if your ad has starbursts and a big glamour shot of you (from 10 years ago) and your big logo etc. People are going to see through it and tune out.

To give your message the best chance of being seen and read, take a copy of USA Today, or your local newspaper and find an article that looks to be about the same size as the ad you’re running and make your ad look EXACTLY like that newspaper article.

5. Am I using conversational language?

When you’re writing your ads, always keep in mind that you are talking to ONE prospect at a time. Even though your ad will be seen by thousands of people, when they are reading it, they’re reading it ALONE. Talk to them just like you would talk to them one-one-one. Conversationally. Explaining your offer to them as if you were sitting down with them.

Don’t worry about talking to anyone other than your prospect. Talk only to them in a way that demonstrates your understanding of their exact situation, and how your offer can help them get what they want – while avoiding what they don’t want!

6. Is it absolutely clear what I’m asking them to do?

This is an important point because when you look through most ads in the real estate magazines, you see realtors and lenders with every phone number they have. They’ve got their office number, their home number, their out-of-town number, their cellular number, and what it’s making your prospect think is “I’m going to have to track this person down!”

Your ad should not confuse your prospects, it should be very clear what they need to do. Your ad should lead them conversationally right through to the end and tell them exactly what to do to get the benefit you are offering them.

7. Have I used the words “FREE Recorded Message”?

If there were any such thing as Magic Words in marketing, the words FREE Recorded Message would be the ones. The words FREE Recorded Message will do more for your response than anything else, and you should use them in every ad you write.
Those words convey to your client that it’s absolutely safe for them to call and take the next step without having to talk to a salesperson, and it gets them on the road to meeting with you one-on-one. So even if your offer is a seminar or free consultation, you’ll always increase your response by having your prospects call a FREE recorded message first!

So there you have it. A seven-point checklist you can use every time you create direct response ads. Use this checklist on all the ads your spending money on right now, and send me some of your ads to look at for a future Marketing Monday.

Send them to Mailbag@MarketingMonday.com

Make My Life Better Day:

Here’s another idea for Make My Life Better Day.

Last week, my wife Sony listened to the Marketing Monday Podcast, and she realized how nice it would be for HER to have a reset button every week.

We already have a lady, Jolene, who comes to clean our house and do our laundry – but talking about Mandy last week helped me remember how nice it was to have the grocery shopping done.

We split our year between our house in Florida, and spending the summer at our house in Toronto.

In Florida, we found Lori – who owns an errand service called “Consider It Done!”.
Isn’t that a great name for an errand service?

Anyway…Lori does our grocery shopping there, but we never took the time to find someone in Toronto.

Until NOW.

And it’s so simple you can do it this week too!

For me, this week, Make My Life Better Day was about getting online and signing up for an online grocery delivery service called GroceryGateway.com

Here’s how it works:

You go online and set up an account, with your own Login and Password.

They have all the items categorized for you, just like they do at the store.

You can virtually wander up and down the aisles – just like you can in the store – and they’ve got pictures and descriptions of each item, with the price.

When you see something you like, you choose a quantity, and put it in your cart.
The neat thing is, you can set up a standard list – just like I had with Manday – and get the same things every week.

It’s great for things like water, eggs, apples, bananas, orange juice, cereal, bread, sandwich meat…and whatever else you might get on a weekly basis.

Now, on the day before you want your groceries, you log in to your account, pull up your custom weekly list. (Mine is cleverly called “Weekly”) And you can add anything else you need to the list…choose your delivery time in a 2 hour window the NEXT day…and pay with your credit card in advance, or at the door with your debit card.

This week’s standard list cost about $75 and there was a $9 delivery charge.
$9!

How’s that for saving the hassle of getting in the car, driving to the store, fighting the crowds, filling up your cart and waiting in line at the check out.

That’s at LEAST an hour every week.

I’d spend $9 to avoid spending an hour ANYWHERE…and I know for a fact that Sony would too.

So, this week, see if an online grocery delivery service or an errand service might work for YOUR weekly shopping.

Check out the online options first, do a google search on “grocery delivery Toronto” or your city…and see what you can come up with.

This is definitely going to make my life better, and I hope it makes YOUR life better too.

Calamity Proofing Your Life:

This whole concept of Calamity-Proofing your life is like the defense to the offense of making your life better.

It’s just about doing simple things now, that MAY pay off later…like insurance.

Last week was pretty simple – we talked about getting prepared for it you ever lose your wallet.

Now, you may have never lost your wallet before, but it happens all the time.
Odds are, more than one of the thousands of people reading and listening to this will lose their wallet some time this year.

Some people will be prepared 🙂

Here’s another simple one this week, and it has a DOUBLE benefit.

Several years ago, I was pulled over for coasting through a stop sign in a low traffic residential neighborhood.

I didn’t have the registration for my car with me…AND I didn’t have my driver’s license.
Luckily, I just lived around the corner, and the officer let me go with a warning – but the next day, I got a bright yellow envelope, and in that envelope, I put my registration, my insurance card…and a photocopy of my driver’s license.

So, now it’s a Dual-Purpose being pulled over preparedness kit – and some emergency cash if I ever need it.

It’s amazing how a little thing like knowing it’s there can give you some peace of mind.
It might take 10 minutes to get that all set up – but it’s all these little things that will help you build up to the bigger things we’ll be talking about in the coming weeks.

Are You Ready?

Right now, you have 29 days until the official start of the FALL market.

Are you confident you’re doing everything you can NOW to position yourself to make as much money as you can in the fall?

How much would it be worth to you to have a list of the people in your favorite neighborhood who are going to sell their home this fall?

Do you have that list?

Chuck Charlton does.

John Duncan does.

And so can you…if you want it.

Block off some time on Thursday at 11:30 am Eastern…and I’ll show you exactly how to get it.

Join me for “The Art Of Finding, Getting and Selling Listings” – just go to http://www.GettingListings.com and get ready for your BEST fall ever.

Dean