How To Attract More Clients And Customers, Improve Your Sales And Profit Margins Without Spending A

By Martin Howey



There are only two reasons any business (including

you) advertise...



1. To either get someone to buy the products or

serves you're offering, or...

2. To generate interest in potential customers so

they will contact your business (either call or

visit you) to obtain information that will enable

them to make a buying decision.



The question you need to be asking yourself is... how

effective are the ads you're running at accomplishing at

least one of these two objectives? Are your ads

getting you all the clients and customers you hope for

when you place them?



It's no secret that clients and customers are the

lifeblood of your business, no matter if you run a

service-oriented business or you operate a

professional practice. And it takes a steady stream of

new clients and customers to keep your business alive

and prosperous, and to replace the customers you lose

through attrition.



In order to gain more new customers, your ads and

promotions have to be strong enough to convince your

prospects (your competitors' customers) that it is more

advantageous for them to do business with you than it

is for them to continue doing business with your

competitor.



Your competition isn't going to let their best customers

(your best prospects) go easily. They're going to do

everything they can to retain those buyers... to keep

the money in their pockets rather than letting it flow

into yours.



On the flip side, your competition is at this very

moment, making plans and actively taking steps to

take your clients away from you. So not only do you

have to be proactive in the protection of your clients

and customers, if you want your business to grow you

have to also be proactive in aggressively recruiting

more new clients away from your competition, and

convincing potential clients who may be shopping for a

business to buy from why yours is the best choice.



You can't afford to be complacent in this area. When

you allow your competitors to hang on to their current

clients and you let potential clients slip into the hands

of your competition, you lose in two ways. First, your

competition picks up the money that those customers

could have spent with you. And second, your

competition will use those dollars to strengthen their

relationships with their current clients, and in their

marketing efforts to attract your clients away from you.



For most businesses, advertising plays a big role in

helping bring new customers in to your business. But

advertising isn't free; it costs money. Sometimes a LOT

of money; especially if you run a decent size ad, you

run more than one ad, or if you send a lot of direct mail

with multiple contacts.



It stands to reason then, that to be an effective

marketer and get the greatest return on your

advertising dollar, that you should know the best

techniques possible to make your ads and sales letters

stronger, make them stand out, and produce the

greatest number of responses.



Your Ads MUST Bring You New

Clients And Customers



The entire reason you run ads is to bring you new

customers. Your ads have to produce results that are

measurable, quantifiable, predictable, trackable, and

more importantly, profitable.



As a smart business owner, you must realize that if

you are investing your money in advertising, it's critical

that you know how many leads or responses your ads

are pulling and decide whether it makes sense to run

the same ad again.



Or if you need to make appropriate changes before

you repeat the ad in order to make it perform better.

You may even decide to stop running the ad altogether

if it didn't get the result you hoped for or that you

expected.



Ideally, as your potential clients read your ad they

should learn how their problems can problems can be

solved, minimized, or eliminated by doing business with

you; be enticed by an offer they can't refuse to take

advantage of; and then be presented with a

compelling reason to contact you to either buy or to

learn more about the benefits and advantages of what

you have to offer.



A "Catchy Ad" Isn't Enough. You've Got To Give Your

Readers A Compelling Reason To Contact You



Here's a quick checklist to help make your ads more

effective:

? Do you have an attention-arresting headline

that tells the reader specifically who you're

targeting, and why they should read the rest of

your ad?

? Can you take your name, address and phone

number out of your ad and insert the same

information from one of your competitors and

have the ad work just as well for them as it

does for you?

? Does your ad take full advantage of the

available space, and make it easy for your

readers to focus their attention on your offer?

? Do you make it very clear what you can do for

your readers (potential clients)?

? Is what you can do for your readers different in

a beneficial way from what your competitors

say they can do?

? Do you give clear and persuading reasons for

them to do business with you as opposed to

your competitors?

? Do you make a compelling offer that they can't

refuse?

? Do you tell them exactly what you want them

to do and what steps to take next?

? Do you make it easy for them to respond or to

contact you?

? Does your call to action include a sense of

urgency to get them to respond now?



In other words, does your ad not only stand out from

the others, but does it give your readers the

information they need, and sufficient reason to rush to

the phone or jump in their car and come to your place

of business? That's what an effective ad does.



Look at your competitor ads. How do they compare?

Do ANY of their ads answer the above ten questions

positively?



Gaining The Upper Hand In Advertising Doesn't Have

To Be Complicated Or Difficult



It really doesn't take much to create an ad that out

pulls your competition. And if you want to capture a

larger share of your market, that's exactly what you're

going to have to do. But before you jump into creating

an ad, here are some questions you should consider

concerning the products you're selling or the service

you're providing:



? What problems or challenges does your

product/service solve for your prospects?

? What specific benefits does it provide them?

? What distinguishes the products you sell from

those your competition sells?

? Why should your prospects choose what you

sell or provide over those your competitors

provide?



These questions are designed to get you thinking

about what your products, your services and your

business has to offer that will be of benefit to your

prospects and customers, and more importantly, why

they should buy from you as opposed to any other

options they have.