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CHAPTER 6
TAKING DELIBERATE AIM
This chapter is probably the most important chapter in
the book. You have had the fun of finding, selecting and
buying one or two different products. Now comes the task of
selling them. You've reached the challenge. Surmount this
obstacle and you're flying.
Market Research
Marketing is the single, most crucial point in your
growing business. It can make you very rich and it can give
you a complete sense of fulfillment. It is, however, an
area where many would-be entrepreneurs fall down. By apply-
ing several well tested systems and techniques, you can make
your business zoom ahead at a speed that will surprise you
and confound your competitors.
Unless you clearly define your market, you will be
groping in the dark trying to find a way to approach it. It
would be like shooting at a target with a bow and arrow
while wearing a blindfold.
Equally, you will benefit from knowing the products and
selling techniques of your competitors. If they are making
a mistake and not selling as well as they should, why repeat
their errors? If they are unusually successful, what is it
they are doing which enables them to promote their business?
Market Research is the tool which will give you a clear
insight to ways in which you can strengthen your business.
By approaching Market Research methodically, you can pin-
point the type of people who are out there, ready to buy
your product, as soon as you tell them about it.
At this point, I will assume you have your product or
are reaching the final decision as to what your product will
be. Market Research is the method by which you determine
how best to expose that product to the public and on which
section of the public you should concentrate.
Merely knowing the product will provide you with some
indication as to who will be the most interested. If your
product is a man's tie or a baseball glove, you will know
that your prime targets will be men, but good Market Re-
search will also tell you that at certain times of the year
- Christmas and birthdays for example, women too become the
target for these particular products. It will tell you too,
that October and November are poor months for sales of
baseball gloves.
I know this example is pretty obvious and you don't
have to pay a research team to discover those facts, but the
product you have in mind may not be quite so clearly defined
and Market Research is the way in which you begin framing
your marketing.
How do you research your market? As I just mentioned,
knowing your product gives you an idea of which direction
you should begin traveling. Now you can turn that knowledge
into positive action, and once you know the secret, it's as
easy as writing a few short sentences.
First, take a piece of paper and write a short sentence
stating precisely who will benefit from your product.
Examples:
"Men under 40 years of age who work 9-5 in an office."
"Parents of High School children."
"Blonde women under 35 years of age."
"All adults, male and female."
By writing it down in this way you know precisely the
people you are targeting. If your merchandise consists of
more than one type of product, separate them and define the
target for each item.
The second part of your research is just as easy and
just as important.
Write three very short, concise paragraphs stating
exactly why your target consumer should buy your product.
Why would YOU buy your product?
Examples:
"Anyname Vitamins contain extra iron. Iron is essen-
tial to good nutrition and growth. Anyname Vitamins are FDA
approved."
"Anyname Sweaters give full protection against the cold
and are worn by seamen all over the world, especially those
sailing in arctic waters. Anyname Sweaters are made from the
pure wool of Argentinean sheep. Anyname Sweaters is a name
you can trust."
"Anyname roofing tiles are strong, lightweight and
fireproof. These roofing tiles are used on most city govern-
ment buildings. Anyname roofing tiles cannot be beat for
durability or price."
These simple sentences are the strength of your future
business. You now know your target and you know why that
target exists. You know precisely why a certain segment of
people should buy your product. You also know how to set
about conducting your research.
Your research can be conducted in several ways or
combinations of ways.
1. Stand outside a busy supermarket with a clipboard
listing several questions you need answered. -
Have you heard of Anyname carpet cleaner?
Where did you see it advertised?
If you have not yet used Anyname carpet cleaner, which
brand do you usually buy and why?
Is there anything about the brand you usually buy that
you like/do not like?
When shopping for carpet cleaner, what is it concerns
you most, Price? Quality? Easy availability? Effectiveness?
Ease of use?
Which newspapers or magazines do you regularly read?
Which television programs do you watch regularly?
To which radio stations do you prefer to listen?
At what time of day do you listen to that station?
Just by looking at the questions, you can see how
important to you the answers can be.
If your product lends itself to a promotional give-
away, this one-on-one interview is an excellent opportunity
to place your product directly into the hands of potential
customers who may become word of mouth advertisers. It also
provides you with an excuse to ask for a name and telephone
number with which to conduct a follow-up survey.
If you are not handing out samples, don't ask for a
name or address. Most people become understandably nervous
or apprehensive, or even downright suspicious when asked to
give their name and address to a stranger.
2. Ask the same questions by telephone. Pull the
names out of a telephone directory and simply say that you
are conducting a national/local survey. Nine out of ten
people will be pleased to assist in a consumer survey.
3. Send out a questionnaire by mail enclosing a
stamped and addressed return envelope. I will be mentioning
mailing lists later when we take a look at advertising.
4. Employ the services of a research company. This can
be quite expensive, but when the right questions are asked,
the results are sometimes totally unexpected and illuminat-
ing. Research companies that specialize in asking carefully
considered questions can be found in most cities.
Having completed your Market Survey, you now have to
start applying the knowledge gained.
* Advertising
If you ask anyone in business, they'll tell you that
advertising is expensive. It isn't true. Poor advertising
is expensive.
Look at it this way. If you spend $1000 on advertising
and it increases your profits by $5000, advertising is not
expensive. I'll be the first to agree that $1000 is a lot of
money, much more than I'll be suggesting you spend at this
time, but it is worth while if it can substantially increase
your profits. That is what advertising is supposed to do.
There is a saying in the advertising business. When
soliciting new business, there are two frequently encoun-
tered responses.
"Business is bad. - I can't afford to advertise".
"Business is good. - I don't need to advertise."
A friend of mine in the advertising business once
solicited advertising from a recently constructed Mini-Mall
located in a suburb of a large city. She was told by the
manager of the complex, "We don't want to advertise, it
attracts strangers." Duuurrrr!
Accept advertising as the cost of conducting your type
of business. In Mail Order, you may not have to pay rent on
a shop property, you may not have to pay the wages of shop
assistants, you may not have to pay the electricity bills
generated by shop window lighting, - but you must advertise.
I once read that the president of Wrigley's Chewing Gum
was traveling across country by railway with his entourage
when one of them asked, "Why do we have to spend eight
million dollars a year on advertising. We are known in
almost every city of the world. Everyone knows Wrigley's.
Why continue to spend that kind of money on advertising?"
The reply was, "We are on a train and we're doing
eighty miles an hour. Why don't we dispense with the loco-
motive?"
There are some practical ways to approach advertising
so as to get the best response from the amount invested, and
it should be considered an investment.
An efficient and expert advertising agency will usually
work this way. First they will ascertain the advertising
budget. Next they will allocate that budget on a mutually
agreed program of advertising and publicity. Thirdly they
will obtain their commission from the advertising placed
and/or from the agency fee paid them by the client.
The advertising budget. This is always a difficult
hurdle the advertising agency faces when it first starts
working with a new client. The client is conservative. He
doesn't want to commit his company to a crippling advertis-
ing budget without knowing the effectiveness of the project-
ed, and as yet unspecified advertising, so he hedges. He
provides a budget figure considerably below what should be
spent. The advertising agency is thus compelled to work
within a severely restricted budget.
The results are often unsatisfactory. The client is
unhappy and considers that he has been 'taken', the adver-
tising agency is unhappy because it knew it could have done
considerably better if the client had been more forthright.
Many commercial banks advocate that a new business
should spend eight to ten percent of its projected first
year gross. Thereafter it should continue at about five
percent.
As an individual entrepreneur you have all the advan-
tages. You know to a penny how much you can afford to spend
on advertising and as your own advertising agency you can
spend that money at its most effectiveness, no matter how
small the advertising budget, - and you don't even have to
pay yourself an agency fee!
A whole library of books can, and have been, written on
the subject of advertising. Take the time to read some of
them, particularly "Advertising Procedures" by Kleppner and
"The Copywriter's Handbook" by Robert W. Bly.
In a nutshell, advertising is the technique of putting
into print a series of words describing a product in such a
way as to make the reader eager to buy that product.
It's not easy, that's why there's dozens of books
devoted to the subject, but it can be made a little easier
by using the well tested techniques of successful advertis-
ers.
You know your product, you have a good idea of the
market place and the customers in that market place. Now
you have to place your advertising copy in front of them in
a way which will demand they read it. More - not only read
it, but be convinced they should buy the product described.
The secret password is FASSY.
All effective advertising appeals to the public by the
use of certain words. One or more of these words in a head-
line will almost certainly guarantee that the casual reader
will pause to read some or all of the words below the head-
line. Those words are:
F ree
A mazing
S ecret
S ex
Y ou.
People are interested in themselves. How can I benefit?
What's in it for Me?
Take a photograph of a group of people at a party and
then at a later date show the photograph to one of the
people in the group. The first thing they do is to look for
themselves in the photograph.
Which of the following headlines grabs your attention?
"Amazing Secret. How You Can Become Irresistible To The
Opposite Sex".
or
"Little-Known Advanced Techniques of Social Conversa-
tion".
There's little doubt which one you would choose, yet
both headlines could apply to the same article.
Power words and dull words. You are the person calling
the shots, you choose the way you present your advertising.
Using one or more of the FASSY words will guarantee your
advertisement receiving attention. Appeal to people where
they are most vulnerable - themselves.
When buying a product, we are all influenced by a
remarkably short list of words. The FASSY words are at the
top of the list.
Here are a few more. They illustrate features which
most of us look for when we contemplate making a purchase.
They are what we desire. If your product will provide one
or more, we will definitely be interested.
Money (Financial Security, Freedom From Want).
Security (From Danger, From Accident, From Poverty).
Social Approval (To be liked).
Prestige (Pride of Ownership, Neighbor Envy).
Attractiveness (Especially towards the opposite sex).
Comfort (Ease of Use, Trouble Free).
Happiness (Lack of pressure, Contentment).
Rare (Exclusiveness, Prestige, Neighbor Envy).
Health
Pleasure (Relaxation, Comfort, Happiness).
Think back on the last time you bought something of
value. Into which one of those ten categories did it fall?
You are now just two steps away from placing your first
advertisement. Writing the copy and deciding where to place
it.
Many people are intimidated by the thought of writing
an advertisement. You'll find yourself writing several
before you are anywhere near satisfied, and then, even after
you have placed the advertisement, you'll think you could
have done it differently. Even the experts, people who
spend their life writing advertising copy, sometimes have
difficulty deciding which aspect of a product should be
stressed. (That's why they have audience participation pre-
screenings).
Here's a couple of tips which will make copywriting a
little easier. You know your product, you have studied the
market, you know who your first customers are likely to be.
Now you have to write the advertisement.
Take a blank piece of paper and describe your product.
Write down all the reasons anyone would want to buy it. Just
write quickly and without pausing to evaluate every feature.
When you are absolutely unable to find anything else to
say about the product, start underlining. Draw a line under
five or six words that you feel describes your product
succinctly. They should be terse and to the point.
Put one or two of those words into a headline and add
one or more of the FASSY words.
There's an uncountable number of products on the mar-
ket, and more making an appearance every second, so it's
impossible for me to even imagine the product you are about
to introduce, but to give you an example of copywriting
using the method I've just described, consider the follow-
ing.
I've looked around my office and noticed a flashlight
standing on a nearby table. (There was an electricity
failure last night). So using that as an example -
1. The Faulkner Flashlight is twelve inches long.
2. The case is made of rubber.
3. It's waterproof.
4. It holds Four D cells.
5. The case is ribbed.
6. It comes with a belt hook.
7. The reflector is large.
8. It was inexpensive.
9. I've had it nine years.
10.It's robust.
11.The batteries last a long time.
I pick out numbers 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 11.
The headline could read,
*** PEACE OF MIND FOR TWO CENTS A DAY ***
Test yourself. What is your immediate reaction to that
headline? "Peace of mind for two cents a day? I could go
for that." .... "What do they mean by peace of mind for two
cents a day?"
Here we have the implied YOU. Your peace of mind.
Safety - Comfort - Inexpensive
The copy beneath the headline could read:
Rugged, waterproof flashlight complete with four 'D'
cell batteries provides night-time security. Heavy, ribbed
rubber case provides easy handling in an emergency. Replace-
ment batteries $1.50 each last up to 12 months with occa-
sional use.
Faulkner Flashlight $19.95 inc. P & P.
You've stressed the selling points. (You could have
mentioned earthquakes if the advertisement is to appear
following a recent eruption). You've given the price, and
the advertisement should pull quite a few orders.
Just one thing is missing from the example. Your ad-
dress. In just a quick glance through this Sunday's paper I
saw two classified advertisements without addresses.
Where should you advertise?
We will deal with test-run and keyed advertising,
promotion and publicity in the next chapter.