Advertising Humor: (business coaching training) Smart Advertising Choice?
No commentsBy Andrew Seese
The big sin in advertising and marketing is being boring. A market will forgive almost anything else. But a boring sales letter, commercial, or video will generate absolutely no interest in your product. The advertisement must be interesting to the prospect. Not interesting in general, but to that prospect.
Most small business advertisers who are putting together an ad, think of trying to be funny as their first priority. This is because many think of advertising as a form of entertainment. Advertising isn’t entertainment, it is selling. Making someone laugh when they see your ad, may make you feel better, and it feels like the ad should be working, but this isn’t the case.
You do not want to hear “Wow, I saw your ad. How clever (or how funny).” You want people to see your ad and then want to buy the product it is showcasing.
Is humor ever effective in your advertising? Sure. A viral video should be either very funny or very shocking. This will cause the video to be spread to all corners of the internet. You may even make some sales off of that video. Humor also has a place in advertising because to tends to stick in the mind of the consumer. Humor in advertising makes the company seem a little more “cool” because if the humor. But the humor should never get in the way of the appeal of the ad, which is to make someone want to buy the product advertised.
Advertisers should always put Selling first in their ads. After there is a strong appeal in the ad, then you can think of ways to say it in a funnier way. But never let humor get in the way of the selling.
Here is the danger of using humor in your ads. Some people may simply not get the joke. If they don’t get the joke, the ad will actually irritate them, because they won’t understand your point.
You may actually offend a few people. The humor, if really funny will direct the consumer’s attention to how funny the ad is, not how great your product is.
A funny and dramatic demonstration of your product, that really drives home a buying benefit, is useful because now they are talking about the demonstration, which is the same as talking about your product. See? You want them taking about your product, not the commercial.
What is almost universally useful in your broadcast ads, is smiling, friendly faces. They don’t have to be funny, but just happy. The prospect assumes they are happy because they are using the product. In print, it’s harder to be funny anyway, so you are trying harder to be funny, which doesn’t translate well to print. In print, ads should always try to sell, not be funny.
You can be interesting without going for a laugh. Do you know what prospective customers find interesting? Anything that will make their life easier, or will solve a problem that is bothering them. That’s what they find interesting. And not being interesting is the major sin in advertising.
Do you see the title of this article? Originally it was going to be Advertising Humor: It’s No Joke. Do you know why I changed it? Even though it is a semi-clever play on words, it wouldn’t make you want to read the article as much as the title I used. See the difference?
Small Business Marketing and Local Advertising expert Claude Whitacre is author of the book The Unfair Advantage Small Business Advertising Manual. You can purchase the book for $19.95 at http://www.claudewhitacre.com You can also download your Free copy of the complete book at http://www.local-small-business-advertising-marketing-book.com
What Everyone Should Know About PMI
By Giuseppe Mathis
Insurance - we need it for our life, our car, our house, our health and yes, in some cases, even for our mortgage. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is the mortgage industry term used to describe insurance that protects the lender of your mortgage against any type of default. It’s primarily used when you put down less than 20% of the purchase price of your home.
Each month you will be required to submit a premium payment that is calculated based on how much your down payment is and the total size of your loan. Typically the payment amounts to around one-half of one percent of the total loan value. These payments are usually added to your mortgage payment to make it easier to keep track of and keep paid.
The good news about PMI is that for those who are required to obtain it, they won’t need to keep it through the life of the loan. Typically when you reach the point where you have paid down 20% of the loan amount most mortgage lenders will automatically discontinue the PMI insurance premiums. They are required by law to discontinue it when you your total remaining balance on the loan reach 78% of your original loan amount. For most homeowners, this will amount to roughly a $37 - $50 reduction in monthly payments.
You should be aware that if your loan is classified as a “high risk” then by law lenders can require you to maintain PMI insurance until you have 50% equity built up. Typically such loans are made to those who took out loans in which they didn’t produce adequate documentation of income, and those with spotty credit histories. It is always best to talk directly with your mortgage provider about the length of time you will be required to carry PMI. When you sign the paperwork for your mortgage they should include information about when you will no longer be required to carry PMI.
Of course, the best financial move you can make is to not have to pay PMI at all. Some ways to avoid having to pay this include taking on a higher interest rate (typically from .75 to 1 full point) or taking out two mortgages to purchase a home, with one covering 90% of the purchase price and the other covering 10%. Both of these options require you to carefully go over the numbers to see if they provide financial benefit over the life of the loan. A full percentage point increase in interest can amount to a massive amount of additional interest charges over the life of the loan that may far exceed what you would pay in PMI insurance.
Of course, if you really want to come out ahead in the whole mortgage game your best bet is to have 20% down for your down payment and make sure your credit report is as clean as you can get it. It takes time to achieve both of these, but a few years of savings and working on your credit can reap great rewards in your dream of buying a house.
Want to find out about raising bees and bee hive removal? Get tips from the Bee Problem website.
Business Coaching Information From A Professional Source
How The Ameriplan Business Opportunity Can Make You Money
By Erik Hammond
There are many options in home based businesses online for someone looking to get into internet business. One company, Ameriplan, seems to be at the top of the list for reliable and successful opportunities. The Ameriplan business opportunity is backed by a company that has been around for over a decade. This opportunity provides a person with the ability to make their dreams come true and own a business of their own that is a success.
Ameriplan was started in 1992. The original concept was to provide a dental discount program to help people get affordable dental services. As time went by, though, Ameriplan grew to include health services, too. The main goal of the Ameriplan creators, Dennis and Daniel Bloom was to provide a real value to their customers. They aimed to do so in an efficient and quick way.
Today, Ameriplan is the largest fee-for-service discounted services provider. They provide discounted services for dental, vision, chiropractic and prescriptions. Ameriplan continues to grow and add new benefits on a regular basis. With the addition of Independent Business Owners, Ameriplan has managed to grow even larger and be able to offer services to people all over the country.
Finding a legitimate and profitable home business opportunity is not an easy task, but with the Ameriplan business opportunity a person can feel secure and know they are working for a company they can trust. Some of the benefits of becoming an Ameriplan Independent Business Owner are:
- Large market with limited competition. This means more sales and more opportunity to make money.
- A product that is in high demand. People all over the country are in search of affordable health coverage, and Ameriplan provides just what they need.
- A product that is affordable. Besides having a product that people want, it is affordable which makes selling even easier.
Being an Ameriplan Independent Business Owner is a great opportunity. It has been shown that to build up an Ameriplan business to making a nice profit can take as little as 2 years. That is a very short time when it comes to the business world. Additionally, working with Ameriplan is an easy process.
Ameriplan Independent Business Owners do not have to handle paperwork, get a discounted plan of their own and get plenty of support and training to make their business a success. An Ameriplan business opportunity is a legitimate way to break into the small business world.
The Ameriplan business opportunity offers a ready to go business that is backed by a trusted company. The products are in demand and easy to sell, too. It is definitely a business opportunity worth checking into if you are looking for a home business idea.
Information on overbite braces can be found at the New Braces site.
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 10:50 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
