Four Secrets that Cause People to Buy Advertising by Mark Smalley 1) Understand the advertiser's user We need to know the advertiser's buyer or user better than they do. If you publish an email newsletter on horse breeding the first thing you'll need to do is identify the top "A" advertising prospects. An "A" prospect would be any company that's already advertising in other similar email newsletters or publications. These "A" prospects might include prestigious breeding farms, horse brokers or auctioneers. "A" prospects may also include horse training facilities, horse tracks or even stables. These prospective advertisers need to reach buyers. A horse-breeding farm may be looking for new horse buyers or investors. A horse broker may be looking for horse buyers. A racetrack syndicate may be looking for new partners, publicity or even high-end gamblers. So when you approach these companies to purchase advertising you need to know that YOUR READERS are the people who want their stuff. That's what the structured sales approach to advertising is all about! Know the market! 2) Understand the advertiser's competition It's hard to sell advertising if we don't understand the advertiser's competition. One of the ways to locate top competitors for Fortune 2000 type companies is with Hoovers.com. When you search for a company in their database it'll display 4 or 5 of the company's top competitors. What's more, Google (www.google.com) is another great source for locating competitors. Enter the company name and the word "competitors" next to it, or the name of two companies that are competitors. You'll be amazed how well this works at locating their competition. If you've already established a relationship with a company you could ask them who their competition is. They'll usually tell you. We need to know why the competition keeps the marketing guys up at night and then use this to our advantage. 3) Assume the risk and guarantee results Most advertising is a joke. I mean this from an advertiser's point of view. How many publications are willing to assume the risk of an ad and guarantee results? But things are changing at the speed of light. Publishers may dislike CPA deals but they better guarantee response rates or they'll be out of business. After the recent dot com slaughter thousands of companies went to a CPA (cost per action or acquisition model). Most of the time these dying companies assigned young business development directors with the task of obtaining "lots of customers and affiliates" without cost. The business development guys would say, "We only do CPA deals." I could tell that most of these companies had only a few months of life left before they hit bottom because they relied too heavily on CPA type deals. An irate business development guy once told me, "We're a multi-million dollar company with no debt and enough cash for two years." The reason he said this is because that is what the CEO told everyone to say. Well, this particular company went bankrupt. Amazingly, most of the cash went into the CEO's pocket. There are numerous legal proceedings against the company. There is another side of the CPA deal though. We need to be willing to assume part of the risk for the advertiser and guarantee results. If an advertiser is willing to assume part of the risk by sending a check that clears I'll bend over backwards for him. On top of that, I'll always guarantee a minimum response from our subscribers. If we fail to meet the minimum response rate we'll continue to run their promotion until it's achieved. This approach has been wildly successful with advertisers. 4) Become an expert on your reader's needs What does a small business owner really need? What are IT Project Directors really looking for? What does an Internet marketer really want? What would a Java programmer like to have? We need to become experts on our readers. We can do that by asking our readers questions and by reading the same publications they do. Print publishers of the 20th century would ask subscribers to fill out a "bingo card." The notion was by answering these questions (usually 50 or so) the publisher would really get to know their readers. Yeah right. Years ago when I was selling advertising for a high tech print publication I got a hold of the names and telephone numbers of about 20 subscribers. I called everyone on the list. Much to my surprise (and the publisher's when I showed him my findings) I learned that only three people out of twenty ever heard of the publication! On top of that, of the three people that did recognize the name of the magazine only one liked it! The "bingo cards" are a sham! What's more, if you ask someone to tell you how much they make each year and you give them multiple choices ranging from $45,000 to $120,000. How many do you think are going to say they make $45,000? The answer is none. So the best way to get to know your readers is to send them a personal email from the publisher. If you send just 10f these personal emails (not autoresponders!) you'll begin to be an expert on your readers. ================= Mark Smalley is the author of "Formulas that Guarantee Advertising Sales." To find out to close a $51,478 advertising deal over the Internet -- without any phone calls, lunch meetings, presentations or web conferencing, just click here: YOUR AFFILIATE LINK

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The Most Powerful Secret Ever Devised for Selling Advertising On Your Web site, In Your Publication Or In Your E-mail Newsletter by Mark Smalley There's a secret that most publishers, especially the wildly successful ones would rather you didn't learn or understand. It's called "The Formula" and it's really quite simple. Publishing giant Ziff Davis capitalized on this approach to advertising sales more than 40 years ago. Although they continue to use it today, those sales executives that have never been on the "buy side" of an ad deal have lost most of its essence and inherent truth. There have been hundreds of other publishers who have learned and applied the magic of The Formula, too. And I'm going to spell it all out for you right here! Everyone who has advertising has an audience of some kind. From now on you'll need to refer to this audience as "your subscribers." After all, these subscribers are yours. They read your publication or spend time on your Web site. Now you just have to locate qualified advertising prospects. And this is easier than it sounds. Let's say that your Web site is about virtual gaming, and you have articles about the hottest, new virtual games and role-playing games (RPGs). You probably even have regular columnists that write about every aspect of virtual gamers and their lifestyles. Who would advertise on this type of a Web site? The first thing you'll need to do is come up with an A and B prospect list. Don't skip this step! Most ad sales people fail miserably because they think everyone is an A prospect. Just listen to what happened to me. Years ago my wife and I were invited to dinner by a young couple. After dinner, while sipping coffee, the husband started questioning me about my financial plans, security and whether or not I was providing enough for my family. (The answer was yes but he didn't hear that.) Then this young fella pulled out an easel and started diagramming an MLM business, which showed that I could become rich beyond my wildest dreams. Well, I was offended for several reasons. If he had taken some time to get to know me he would've realized that I had already made a small amount of money with network marketing. On top of that his products, business plan and strategy were a joke. Although I didn't wait until he finished. I got up grabbed my wife and 2-year-old son and walked out. And the guy was still yelling to me as we got into car saying, "This is an opportunity of a lifetime! You're a fool if you don't see it!" The point is I was not an A prospect. I NEVER showed any inclination toward his business and products. But he earmarked me as an A prospect because I owned successful businesses. What's more, he deceived my wife and I because he got us to come to his home under false pretenses. Sales people do this all the time and then wonder why they fail so spectacularly. The first thing you need to do is make a list of A and B advertising prospects. An A prospect is anyone that is ALREADY advertising in a publication or on a Web site like yours. A B prospect would be anyone that SHOULD advertise in your publication or Web site because their products or services are a perfect fit for YOUR READERS. Once you have a list a of qualified A prospects you'll need to approach them with an simple letter or e-mail. But what is important to remember is that you're not trying to sell them in this e-mail. You're simply trying to further qualify them. You can do this by saying: Dear Tom: I read about your new virtual games in a recent Gaming Review by so and so. Our subscribers would be very receptive to your games because they're hard-core gamers and professional reviewers. We reach more than 23,547 subscribers every week in our print and e-mail publications. Can I send you a quick overview of our subscribers? Thanks. Regards, John Doe If this prospect replies to your e-mail you'll know you have a top, qualified A Prospect! Here's the secret for selling advertising to him. The infamous Formula states 4 crucial points when trying to sell someone advertising. They are: 1) Market, 2) Buyer, 3) Competition, and 4) Solution. There's not enough space in this article to go into all of these areas right now. But you can get detailed information in my e-book "Formulas that Guarantee Advertising Sales." But know this: It's crucial for you understand your A prospect's market as well, or better than they do. For instance, in the example of, the prospect's company develops virtual software games, so you'll need to learn everything you can about this market. This includes who are his buyers, who are his competition, and a real solution to his problem. That solution may be increased sales, it may be better editorial coverage, more respect in the gaming community, or better PR so they can ramp their stock prices up. If you understand a prospect's market, buyer, competition and provide a real solution to their problems you'll close more advertising sales. I've proven this time and time again and have closed millions of dollars in advertising contracts. Most sales people just contact people without any pre-call whatsoever, and here's what happens. The prospective advertiser knows that you're an amateur. They'll sense that your credibility is next to nothing, and they'll think of you as a used car salesmen. You can't afford to appear less than credible. You need to appear as someone as knowledgeable or more so than they are. This happens when you know their market as well or better than they do! If you apply The Formula to your advertising sales, your Web site will see immediate results. ==================== Mark Smalley is the author of "Formulas that Guarantee Advertising Sales." To find out to close a $51,478 advertising deal over the Internet -- without any phone calls, lunch meetings, presentations or web conferencing, just click here: YOUR AFFILIATE LINK

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