One of the areas that you can dramatically improve the number of leads to your small business is through effective advertising.

Right now I'll take you through 3 HOT tips on how you can bring in more money and customers.

Here are three things you can do to improve your prospecting letters.

1. Use a benefit orientated headline, not your business name.

The biggest mistake most small businesses make is using their business name as the headline for their advertisements.

Your prospective customer isn't interested in your business name, they want to know what you will do for them. So tell them in the headline.

A case in point is the weight loss market.

If you'd like to lose weight which headline would appeal to you more...?

"Naughton Services" (business name headline) or... "Lose 5kgs in 7 weeks" (benefit headline)

Obviously the second headline would appeal more.

Make sure you use benefit headlines for all of your marketing pieces.

2. Take a 'Point of YOU' approach.

Print out each of your letters/ad/flyers and take a red pen and circle the words I, We, or Our in your letter/ad/flyer.

Now rewrite your letter using the words YOU or YOUR.

Why?

Your prospective customer doesn't care about you. They are interested in themselves and they want you to tell them how buying from you will benefit them.

So don't tell them about you in your ads/flyers and letters. They don't care! Appeal to their self-interest by telling them how they will get value for money, and how they will benefit.

For example...

"I will talk about the 5 key areas that I feel are important in health" "You will learn the 5 key important areas that will dramatically improve your health"

A general rule of thumb for any marketing piece is that for every 'I' or 'We' there should be 5 'You' or 'Your's.

3. Ask the reader to ACT NOW!

At the end of all of your marketing pieces make sure you ask the reader to take action.

Specifically tell them to 'pick up the phone' or 'visit our website' or 'visit our shop'.

It seems really strange to point this fact out. Yet so many businesses simply forget to tell the reader what they need to do to buy from them. And if you aren't telling them, you're losing sales.

Your customers are 'silently begging to be led' so tell them how to contact you or what they need to do to buy from you. It makes a HUGE difference. Try it and see for yourself.

These three guidelines you have just read, can immediately improve the results you're getting from your marketing.

Try them, and see if they improve your business growth.

Copyright © 2005 by Casey Gollan. All Rights Reserved





About the author:

Casey Gollan, The Business Growth Specialist, the specialist who grows $1 Million p.a. small businesses into $2 to $5 Million p.a. businesses over a 2 to 3 year period. To learn more about Casey's Business Growth Program, visit his site and sign up for 'The 23 Secrets of Business Growth' 2 hour audio program for FREE.