One of the most important things I have learned over the past 40 years is that "Business is Business" and "Advertising is Advertising".
WOW, Steve…That’s it? That’s the secret to success in business?
Yup. Let me explain. A business is nothing more than a vehicle to generate profit. Unless you are a non-profit charity, you open your doors every day in the hopes of turning a profit. Your job…your ONLY job…as business owner is to get customers, sell them your merchandise or services at a profit, to keep them coming back, and to constantly be building that customer base.
Almost any system or technique that works in one business can be used in other businesses. You can use real estate techniques in the contracting business. You can use retail promotions in the wholesale business.
You can tweak Avon and Mary Kay programs for massive success in the car sales business. If you can run a beauty shop you can run a contracting business…or a jewelry store…. Even a yacht brokerage.
And as far as advertising, if you can write ads that will get people in to your shop to buy tires, you can write ads to get people to hire you to paint their homes, or get them to visit your furniture store.
Effective advertising has only one goal…That’s to catch the reader’s interest and make him act on it right now. Get that down and you can successfully advertise anything.
We will be exploring many off-the-wall advertising and promotional techniques in the coming weeks. Don’t miss them!