Spray and Pray Marketing... The Deadliest Marketing Trap

I see this mistake daily. We've all seen the major players, McDonald's, Coca-Cola. They all do the same thing. Publish an over the top, downright confusing ad. Then, like clockwork, they all finish their ads the same way. With their logo emerging out of the ether. Naturally, you may assume that this way of advertising is the best, but in reality it's far from it. There's one major factor that tricks small businesses into this marketing trap. McDonald's and others have the marketing budgets in the BILLIONS. Yes... with a B. For reference, last year McDonald's spent 6.55 Billion dollars on marketing. That's more than the GDP of Barbados!

This means that they can put practically anything in their ads, follow it up with their logo and they'll get sales. Unfortunately, if your marketing budget is in the hundreds or thousands, instead of hundreds of thousands, this way of marketing won't work.

Ok Ryan... What should we do instead?

If you've got a small budget, you have to focus much more on convincing people to buy from you in your ad. By the end of the ad, the viewer should be begging to buy from you. There's many ways to influence an audience, companies like Coca-Cola are able to get around this by blasting their logo everywhere so you have to think of them constantly.

It's a technique called "Top of the Mind Awareness". I wrote a whole article on the idea you can check out here.

Anyways, one of the best ways to influence someone to buy from you is called an RSO.

An RSO is a Rock Solid Offer. Your ad should always solve a problem for the person who sees it. So, instead of running an ad with your company name plastered at the top of it, you should instead use the problem your service solves as your headline. For example, if you're running a construction company, a good headline would be,

"New homes built quickly and affordably".

An RSO is good on it's own, but coupled with this next technique it's almost unstoppable.

CTAs the Ultimate Finishing Blow.

So, you've hooked the reader with killer offer, what's next?

How do you get viewers to convert?

The answer is with a Call To Action.

The best way to explain what a CTA is, is with a story.

Back in my school days, I competed in a debate competition.

As you can imagine, it was very difficult to stand out.

In a line of 16-year-olds giving out mediocre speeches, it's difficult to shine with a slightly less mediocre speech.

So obviously I had to get innovative.

I came up with a CTA and absolutely demolished the competition. A CTA is a call-to-action.

What this looked like was me giving the audience of somewhat bored teachers something to think about.

"Vote for me if you agree that the government spends too much"

Give people a reason to respond. The same concept applies in marketing.

How To Boost Sales With A Killer CTA

A CTA works wonders in marketing because you're able to actually give people value. For instance,

"sign up here and receive a free guide".

"Buy now and get 10% off!"

Now that I've explained what they are, you've probably realised that you see CTAs everywhere and you may have already used one by accident.

Understanding a CTA allows you to stand out and become the brand everyone thinks of.

It's the secret to creating an unforgettable offer.

For now, try implement CTAs and RSOs into your ads. If you'd like any help with that fill out the form here and I'll personally look over your marketing.

Otherwise,

Talk soon,

Ryan