- Feature Article: "Advertising that Sizzles: 7 Absolute Musts for Getting your Message Across "

- Special Guest Article: "The Public Speaking List Machine"
 
- SOS Update: "The Results are in!"

- Steve Sez: "Watch for these Great Opportunities!"

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The Results are in!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey on The LifeLine. Your voice has been heard, and here are the results. The majority of responses indicated that you want your ezine delivered on Friday, once a month with more articles on Marketing, Mindset, and Time Management.

Cool! These are some of my favorite topics to cover, so expect to see more of them in your inbox in the coming months. Also, if you didn't have a chance to let you opinion be known, you can still take the 3 minute survey at www.survey.sosimpact.com

Thanks again!

Make it a Healthy and Productive Week,

"Advertising that Sizzles: 7 Absolute Musts for Getting your Message Across."

by Steve O'Sullivan

The fact is that print advertising has lost it's luster over the past decade or so. Most Americans are inundated with junk mail, Spam in their e-mail, TV commercials, billboards, and unwanted flyers left on their doorstep, and they've tuned most of it out.

We stand over the garbage can when sorting out the snail mail, use TiVo to skip over commercials or hit the mute button and grab a snack, and with the advent of Spam blockers we often don't even get the e-mail we do want.

What's a poor business owner to do? Make your advertising Sizzle!

First, know that print ads can be expensive, so be sure to plan your budget well in advance. Second, know that advertising is just one of the 7 musts of marketing, so take that into consideration when preparing your marketing plan. WHAT? You don't have a marketing plan? Well, most entrepreneurs don't, but that's a different article altogether.

We better get to the meat of the matter before I get completely distracted with all the other segments of marketing, so here we go.

7 Advertising Musts

1. Make your ad distinctive: you better attract some attention to get readers to stop and look at your ad. Would a red zebra   stand out in a heard of regular black and whites? It does for me.

2. The Headline Rules: you have about 3.2 seconds to capture their attention with your headline. You have to get your entire message across in that short amount of time to keep them reading. Make sure to include a benefit to your customer in your headline and if at all possible, use the word 'you' or 'yours'. After all, it's all about them! A common mistake is to not mention what product type you are advertising. The won't read on if they don't know what it's about.

3. Booty in you Body copy: the main copy of the ad should appeal to the prospects curiosity. The purpose of the first sentence of the copy is to get them to read the second sentence. The  second sentence it to get them to read the third sentence, and so on. Unfold the story as you write. Now be sure to make the story about 'why' your product or service is valuable, not 'what'   it is. The reader is thinking 'What's in it for me?"

4. Throw a Bull's-eye: your advertising should target your 'best buyers', that is, if you're selling dog toys you can skip placing  your ad in Cat Fancier Magazine. Proper client targeting of your material is critical.

5. Reel them in: the purpose of your ad is to get clients and prospects into your store, restaurant, office, showroom, or on your website. That's when you have a tremendous opportunity   to sell to them. Did you know that 50% of all purchases are motivated by advertising? And did you know that 50% of all purchases are made on impulse? Get them in and sell, sell, sell!

6. Color is critical: color accounts for 60% of the initial impression to accept or reject a product. You must use the right color to convey the proper message. Here's a few color tips. RED is the color that most draws the human eye to it. But take care here,   it signifies danger as well as passion and excitement. BLUE  suggests trust and reliability, and is the most popular of all the colors. ORANGE gives the impression of affordability. Not cheap, not expensive, just good honest pricing. It works well for Home Depot.

7. The Eyes have it: the physical form is the most recognized form to human beings. So use people, hands, and eyes in your ad. Just think if you were flipping through a set of vacation photos of the beach, you tend to stop on the pics that have people in them. Right?

So there it is in a nutshell. Do these 7 things and make the most of  your advertising dollars. Now keep a few other things in mind. Your ad needs to be seen about 9 times to attract a new client, so consistent repetition is needed. Also, your ad is not for you. It's for them. Make sure someone else besides you checks it out and gives the thumbs up before you publish and waste your hard earned dollars.

© 2007 Steve O'Sullivan

The Public Speaking List Machine
By Alexandria K. Brown

Do you do public speaking? Then you've got an automatic list machine!

Remember that in business, your fortune is in your follow-up. And publishing an ezine is the easiest, most automatic, and least expensive way to do this for you. The key is getting as many prospects on your list as possible -- ethically.

Whenever I'm the featured speaker at an event, I make sure to give   the audience members an easy way to sign up for my ezine. There are generally three ways to do this:

1. The Signup Sheet

Mention your fabulous ezine and all the good stuff it will do for them. Then pass around a signup sheet to collect their names and e-mail addresses. At the top of the sheet, give an attention-getting headline,  a 25-word ezine description, and your privacy policy.

It's amazing what peer pressure will do --- it's rare you'll see someone pass on your sheet without adding their name and e-mail! I even had someone who was already on my list sign up on the sheet at an event. She told me later she didn't want to look like she was the only one holding out. :)

2. The Presentation Notes

I've seen many speakers who use PowerPoint announce to the audience that they can get a free copy of the entire presentation if they simply hand in their business card. Then as an aside, they mention that you'll also get a free subscription to their ezine.

Sounds like a slam dunk, right?

However, when I've seen this in action, I notice that not everyone  hands their card in, so this will ONLY work well if you give a dynamite presentation and the audience really wants a copy of it.

3. The Prize Drawing!

This one's my favorite.

It's amazing how grown adults go nuts when the speaker announces she/he is going to give away something for FREE. I swear you could raffle off toenail clippings, and people will climb all over each other to  get their business card in the bowl.

When I speak, I'm usually selling my Boost Business With Your Own  EZINE System, so what I do is first explain what that includes.

After I review all the benefits these programs bring, I pause, smile, and say, "Who here would like to get this all right now... for FREE?"

This is when people jump up and go "Ooo, ooo, me! Me me me!"

I say, "Great, because I'm going to give away one now! Please get out your business cards, and my assistant Liz will come around and collect them. Make sure you have a chance to win! You'll also get a free subscription to my award-winning Straight Shooter Marketing ezine, which will give you tips on marketing your business online and offline."

(NOTE: I want you to actually rehearse saying this so it's extremely smooth and confident. Remember, they'll see your offer as YOU see   your offer. You want them clamoring to get on your list!)

If it makes you more comfortable, you can tell the audience that if they do NOT want to be subscribed to your ezine, they can put a "NO" on their card. I did this for over a year, but I found that during that entire time of speaking to thousands of people, only ONE person had ever written "no"! So I don't even bother anymore.

My rule now is if you want the chance to win, you get signed up. Hey, it's tough love, but it's good for them. My ezine could change their life! :)

Remember, people you meet in person will be your MOST valuable subscribers, because they've already met you. And we're all more likely to buy from others whom we know, like, and trust.

 © 2003-2007 Alexandria Brown International Inc.


Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.EzineQueen.com

 "Watch for these Great Opportunities!"

As you may have guessed, I am a huge fan of Ali Brown, The Ezine Queen. And I'm putting together an offer that will give you the opportunity to learn her secrets for business marketing at a fraction of the cost to work with her personally. So keep your eyes peeled for an email early next week with all the details.

Secrets of Business Mastery 2.0 is launching next week as well. 
Woo Hoo! I'm so excited! We've been working really hard on this project and you are going to be the beneficiaries of all this work.

We will be teaching advanced business techniques to take you to a whole new level.

 The first class called "Change Your Thinking, Change Your Business" is October 10th and will be taught by another client and friend of mine Tief Gibbs. My first class will be "The 7 Musts of Money Making Marketing" presented on October 17th. Followed by "Making More and Working Less" with Robin Chatham on the 24th.

I'll have all the details to you by Tuesday. Space is limited, so you'll want to sign up quickly.

101 Great Ways to
Improve Your Health

My friend and client Shayn Cutino of Anja Health Center here in Brentwood has been selected to co-author this fabulous book compiled by David Riklan of SelfGrowth.com,  one of the leading authorities on personal development in the world.

This book is filled with wonderful information on how to improve and your life and health, and I personally recommend it. I already have my copy and I suggest you get yours today. Simply go to Shayn's Online Store at http://www.anjahealthcenter.com/Store.html to order. Plus, if you order right away, David is giving away some great bonuses.

It's a Limited Time Offer to Get $1,228 in Bonus Gifts for Free!

The Chi of Love Meditation CD

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A multi level composition created to help you easily enter a meditative state and to simultaneously vibrate at the frequency of love.

It has been said that love is the highest state  that we can attain, and that The Law of Attraction is also known as The Law of Love.

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Steve O'Sullivan - SOS Impact Coaching and Training

The LifeLine Vol. I, Issue 11

The LifeLine is a monthly newsletter for Small Business Owners and Solo-preneurs. Steve O'Sullivan is a productivity coach and President of SOS Impact Coaching and Training. www.SOSimpact.com

Contact Steve at Coaching@SOSimpact.com

© Copyright 2007 SOS Impact Coaching and Training. All rights reserved.