Who said a good product endorsed by a well know celebrity will always sell like hot cake?

If the market doesn’t buy, the good product will not fly off the shelves.

If the market thinks the celebrity isn’t the hot topic of the day, there’s no WOW factor to go gaga over.

Before Michael Jackson, most big companies wouldn’t dream of engaging him to endorse their products. The King of Pop just didn’t have a positive image to drive sales.

What is happening to Tony Robbin now?

After two episodes, NBC yanked Tony Robbins’ reality show from its summer schedule. Effective next week, NBC will air repeats of game show “Minute to Win It” in the Tuesday-night slot instead of “Breakthrough with Tony Robbins.”

Tony Robbins is known to help real people solve tough challenges yet audiences didn’t show up; the most recent episode generating only 2.8 million viewers.

NBC wants big advertising dollars from the big boys and they are not showing up with 2.8 million viewers.

So what’s happening?

Should Tony Robbin waves his magic only in seminar room,  CDs and DVDs only?

Did NBC and Tony Robbin not do enough to attract audience?

I’m scratching my head and will be happy to know some insider information on this. Any one?

The 6 Benefits of Direct Mail

Mass advertising like TVCs, print ads, radio commercials, etc, are expensive. Many start-up as well as small businesses may not be able to afford the high media cost. By analyzing your own product profile and decide what problems you are solving and who you are helping, you might want to focus on a niche group of individuals who are more prone to respond to your offer. Mass advertising talks to everyone. Direct mail talks only to the people you are targeting. In short, direct mail is targeted and you have a personalized message specifically for your niche only.

Direct mail also benefits from a flexible format. From sales letters to flyers to brochures to postcards, there are numerous ways to create a direct mail. Such versatility empowers you to customize your marketing literature in a low cost manner. You can sizzle your message further by offering a special incentive (in the form of a physical coupon or coupon code) or free sample . These special offers are only available for the recipients’ of direct mail.

You can track the success (or failure) of your direct marketing effort by counting the number of inquiries or coupons you have received.

Another benefit of direct mail is that it is tangible.  Announcement and special offer in the direct mail encourage interaction because they have the coupons, stickers or coupon codes in hand, literally. With the particulars of your customers in hand will enable you to start a customer database. This will help you tremendously in starting a customer-care program or even a loyalty program for repeat customers.

Direct mail advertising can be very cost-effective. If you are good with DTP, you can create your own marketing material in a jiffy. Plus, postal rate for bulk mail usually cost a faction of the normal rate. If you don’t have the time or the expertise to create your own marketing materials, hire the professionals – ad agency or design film (like us) to assist you.

If you have a small marketing budget, you can always count on direct mail as one of the effective but relatively low cost advertising tool. Just make sure your message solves the problems of others. You do not want to be seen as thrusting your products in people’s face.

1. Overall Impression

The overall look and feel is important. A strong and positive first impression counts a lot. Words, pictures, Colors, fonts, tones, etc will determine how well, and how long, your brochure will captivate the target audience’s attention. This doesn’t mean inviting (loud, bright, trend-of-the-month) colors and showy picture, in fact, they can back lashed if used wrongly. A simple black and white job might do the trick too. You don’t have to resort to using words that scare or threaten people to take action.  The scarcity approach may actually alienate you to your niche. Ask yourself: Who are you? What does your company represent? What benefits did your product/service offers? It’s all about giving a face to the body. It’s about building a brand that is uniquely you and no one else.

If you have an elevator speech to sell yourself, just imagine what you can do on your brochure will be a good start.

2. Headline and Copy

You need attention-grabbing headline to grab attention. 80% of the people read the headline and only decide thereafter if to read the fine print. So provide a promise or a solution in a headline is paramount important. Keep your body copy easy to read and understand. Reveal just enough to whet their appetite to want to know more. Give your target audience a reason to contact you for more information.

Also, write the way your target audience can appreciate. If you sell kids’ products and your target audience are the mamas. Well, remember to tug the heart strings of the mamas. If you use man talk, the mummies will stare at you with blank looks. This is something that many marketers (and even copywriters) missed.

Of course, stay with the facts and the truth. If you cry wolves, you will be in deep trouble. Once your credibility is shattered, it will takes lots of effort to re-establish … if at all.

3. Demonstrate trust and credibility

You don’t know your buyers and your buyers don’t know you personally. Yet you want them to buy from you. People don’t buy from stranger. So begin by introducing yourself and how you can better their life with your product/service. In short, establish a relationship using words and pictures. Never sell features, always convince with benefits. Be careful with your tone of voice as you don’t want your sales copy to be seen as too good to be true. Where appropriate, put one or a few testimonials from satisfied clients. Alls these would makes more credibility. People often want what other people want, people would also trust whom other people trust.

Sell yourself in a positive manner but don’t lie. Your customers are often smarter than you give them credit for.

4. Omnipresence

You are always available. Whether your clients prefer to contact you via phone, email, fax or even snail mail, the salient informations are all there. You must be seen with an open door, ready to welcome all prospects and clients. Give them all the options needed to contact you. I have been surprise too often when I picked up a direct mailer with web and email contacts but not a phone number. Sometimes, I prefer to talk to humans and not machines.

That’s all for now, folks. Let me know if you got other tips to share.

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Just how do you make your business card special, unique and memorable? How do you create a high-impact business card?

1. Contact Information
First and foremost, your card must clearly show your contact details. Even if your card is poorly designed, it must allow people to contact you. This seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many cards placed such information in small 6pt or 7 pt font size or a conspicuous location. Small font size can make the card look spaciously hip but you will also alienate clients who have problems reading (long-sighted). And mind you, these are usually the decision makers.

2. Size
Size deserves a mention. The usual card stays within the 90×60 mm dimensions. I once received a card that could not fit into my card holder. I had to trim off at least 3mm to have it fit. I’m sure you wouldn’t want your card (company) to be trimmed off. It’s very a very “un-auspicious” beginning to your business relationship, don’t you think? I would imagine feng shui practitioners will likely faint.

3. Product Details
Should your business card double up as an advertisement to promote your products and services? It all depends on your preference, but why not? The front of the card will list your organisation as a translation service company. So, you can list down the language proficiencies you have such as Chinese, Spanish, Malay, Indonesian, Latin, etc, on the reverse side. You can also list your by-product or services. For example, you can state you also provide copy writing, copy editing and proof reading services if you offer them.

4. Look and Feel
Unless you have a creative flare, hiring professionals to work on the design will minimize design and printing errors. Choice of fonts, graphics, colors will have an impact on the overall impression. More importantly, you’ll need a concept and design that is in harmony with your business and industry type. For example, if you provide financial consultative service, you can forget about using flamboyant designs and colors that are more usually associated with lifestyle products/services.

If you don’t know what you like. Go through your card holder and separate the cards into 2 categories – Like it and Dislike it. Scrutinize them and try to figure out what you like and dislike. When you have some idea, you are ready to talk to people like us to help you expand your idea further.

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Tung Desem Waringin, author and motivational speaker whose first book, “Financial Revolution”, was a bestseller, is known for his unorthodox marketing methods. In 2005, he rode a horse along Jakarta’s main street dressed as a celebrated war hero to launch that book.

A spokesman for the organisers, Diki Sidik, said Jakarta police had refused to issue a permit for the event but Tung chose to go ahead with the plan outside the capital, Jakarta.

“Rather than spend a lot of money for unsuccessful marketing, better give the money to the people,” Sidik said.

Tens of millions of Indonesians live on less than US$1 a day and food and aid giveaways always draw large numbers. So his ploy is definitely a success as many rushed to a soccer stadium in Serang City, some 60km away from Jakarta, to catch the money rain. Well, A scramble started as he dropped 100 million rupiah in banknotes from the aircraft which fly over the stadium 4 times. There was even a report that a 13-year old was rushed to hospital after she lost consciousness chasing after the money. Still, I believe many people is a little happier now with a little more money in hand.

This ploy certainly is out of the box and crazy but it is still marketing – whether you like it or not.