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Casual Articles - Why Is Your Advertising is Costing You More Than It’s Making You? What Business Owners Don't Know
Is a strong vision for your business more important than an MBA? Should you go to school or go to the school of hard knocks?When the cost for an MBA ranges from $15,000 to $50,000, you need to consider whether the traditional MBA program will meet your needs as a business owner.First, please keep in mind that most business school programs are not designed to teach you how to start a business, but how to contribute to running and managing an existing large company. Starting a business from scratch requires a completely different skill set.So, why even bother going to business school?Bus
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over
Bend over backwards to stand behind the name and make it known for service and customer focus. Although this seems like common sense, it does not always happen that way. We as humans tend to look in other pastures to see what is greener and sometimes actually move there. I was recently in a training class for a large corporation. This class was teaching their channel partners how to use and install their world class software.The instructor was well versed with the ins and outs and overall had great experience with these classes. No one from the company had actually attended any of these sessions in the past,
Here Is What’s Been Happening:
The advertising publication (AP), which could be a newspaper, magazine, trade journal or other publication), attempts to get as many businesses to advertise with them. That’s THEIR objective. The more they bring in, the more they make. Now if you were placing an ad, you’d want low competition (so you’re ad stands out), but the AP wants MORE competition so they make more money – this is a huge conflict of interest. The AP does not have your best interests at heart.
In response to all of this competition, the sales reps at the AP advise you that if you want to get the most out of your ad you need to make it bigger and you need to ad colors.
This isn’t always true; in fact if you keep reading you’ll find out it’s often not true.
Of course, the more colors you have and the bigger the ad, the more they charge you. If you hear, “You see, the bigger the ad, the more business you’ll bring in”, your B.S. monitor should go off. Remember, the more the sales rep charges you the more she/he makes, and the more the AP makes. At this point it’s probably sinking in that the sales reps don’t necessarily have your best interests at heart, does it?
This is like a price war, and the casualties are the small business owners: every year businesses are told they need to spend more on their bigger, more colorful ads in order to generate the same number of calls and sales as they did last year. The business owners, who are confused and frustrated, end up paying more and raising the bar, so every year the price goes up. This is the vicious cycle my client Rick has been trapped in, again, you might feel this way too.
What About the “Free” Graphic Design That AP’s Offer – This Is a Great Benefit, Right?
Goodness no. In fact, Rick told me that the process was a nightmare, and he’s just one of thousands. Remember that one of the main objectives of marketing and advertising is to help you stand out from the crowd. Keep in mind the AP doesn’t care if you stand out or if you get a great return on your investment – only that you buy a bigger and more colorful ad.
To offset the bigger ad they are charging you for, AP’s offer you a token “gift” in return so the cost doesn’t seem so unreasonable. What they do is pay inexpensive production graphic artists to turn out your ad as fast as possible – like an assembly line. In the end the AP will pay about $25-$125 to have your ad designed, compare that to the hike he/she charged you for the ad. Doesn’t sound like such a good deal does it?
Over the years, several business owners who initially thought this was a first-rate deal claimed, “I had to spend several frustrating hours telling their artist every little thing…it was almost like I was designing the ad myself and he was just pushing buttons”. In the end the business owners didn’t get the ad that they wanted, they didn’t get the results they wanted, and many of them are still steamed at the whole situation.
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over b
Preparing tax returns is a tough job and just anybody cannot do the work. For tax return preparation work you need to have the assistance of a certified professional CPA. So be it the tax return preparation of an individual or a business it is important to get professional help for this. In United Sates the tax season witnesses a heavy rush of customers to the office of CPAs who work towards helping out in the tax return preparation calculations. It is understood that one may find it difficult to hire the services of a CPA during this time due to the heavy workload, so the smart thing for you to do will be to hire
In response to all of this competition, the sales reps at the AP advise you that if you want to get the most out of your ad you need to make it bigger and you need to ad colors.
This isn’t always true; in fact if you keep reading you’ll find out it’s often not true.
Of course, the more colors you have and the bigger the ad, the more they charge you. If you hear, “You see, the bigger the ad, the more business you’ll bring in”, your B.S. monitor should go off. Remember, the more the sales rep charges you the more she/he makes, and the more the AP makes. At this point it’s probably sinking in that the sales reps don’t necessarily have your best interests at heart, does it?
This is like a price war, and the casualties are the small business owners: every year businesses are told they need to spend more on their bigger, more colorful ads in order to generate the same number of calls and sales as they did last year. The business owners, who are confused and frustrated, end up paying more and raising the bar, so every year the price goes up. This is the vicious cycle my client Rick has been trapped in, again, you might feel this way too.
What About the “Free” Graphic Design That AP’s Offer – This Is a Great Benefit, Right?
Goodness no. In fact, Rick told me that the process was a nightmare, and he’s just one of thousands. Remember that one of the main objectives of marketing and advertising is to help you stand out from the crowd. Keep in mind the AP doesn’t care if you stand out or if you get a great return on your investment – only that you buy a bigger and more colorful ad.
To offset the bigger ad they are charging you for, AP’s offer you a token “gift” in return so the cost doesn’t seem so unreasonable. What they do is pay inexpensive production graphic artists to turn out your ad as fast as possible – like an assembly line. In the end the AP will pay about $25-$125 to have your ad designed, compare that to the hike he/she charged you for the ad. Doesn’t sound like such a good deal does it?
Over the years, several business owners who initially thought this was a first-rate deal claimed, “I had to spend several frustrating hours telling their artist every little thing…it was almost like I was designing the ad myself and he was just pushing buttons”. In the end the business owners didn’t get the ad that they wanted, they didn’t get the results they wanted, and many of them are still steamed at the whole situation.
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over
A big part of an honest online stock broker’s job is keeping customers away from investment pitfalls, a task not even the smartest machine can manage. Investors may like $5 commissions on stock trades, but behind these low prices often lurk excessive costs associated with getting the trade done. Poor trade execution and poor advice often make trading online far more expensive than the low commissions suggest.Online brokerage firms often obscure the charges of frequent trading just to keep their customers buying and selling and paying commissions. A trustworthy stock broker at a well-established, full-service
This is like a price war, and the casualties are the small business owners: every year businesses are told they need to spend more on their bigger, more colorful ads in order to generate the same number of calls and sales as they did last year. The business owners, who are confused and frustrated, end up paying more and raising the bar, so every year the price goes up. This is the vicious cycle my client Rick has been trapped in, again, you might feel this way too.
What About the “Free” Graphic Design That AP’s Offer – This Is a Great Benefit, Right?
Goodness no. In fact, Rick told me that the process was a nightmare, and he’s just one of thousands. Remember that one of the main objectives of marketing and advertising is to help you stand out from the crowd. Keep in mind the AP doesn’t care if you stand out or if you get a great return on your investment – only that you buy a bigger and more colorful ad.
To offset the bigger ad they are charging you for, AP’s offer you a token “gift” in return so the cost doesn’t seem so unreasonable. What they do is pay inexpensive production graphic artists to turn out your ad as fast as possible – like an assembly line. In the end the AP will pay about $25-$125 to have your ad designed, compare that to the hike he/she charged you for the ad. Doesn’t sound like such a good deal does it?
Over the years, several business owners who initially thought this was a first-rate deal claimed, “I had to spend several frustrating hours telling their artist every little thing…it was almost like I was designing the ad myself and he was just pushing buttons”. In the end the business owners didn’t get the ad that they wanted, they didn’t get the results they wanted, and many of them are still steamed at the whole situation.
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over
Collaboration and business are difficult, if not impossible, to separate. What makes effective collaboration possible without overloading hard drives and confusing your document versions? The answer is groupware.Groupware is software that is available to assist businesses in tracking document versions that are created, edited, reedited, and finalized by various participants in various committees. These committees include upper management and even clients, and losing or confusing their input could prove catastrophic for your business.I think the importance of good groupware is well-known, but if you se
To offset the bigger ad they are charging you for, AP’s offer you a token “gift” in return so the cost doesn’t seem so unreasonable. What they do is pay inexpensive production graphic artists to turn out your ad as fast as possible – like an assembly line. In the end the AP will pay about $25-$125 to have your ad designed, compare that to the hike he/she charged you for the ad. Doesn’t sound like such a good deal does it?
Over the years, several business owners who initially thought this was a first-rate deal claimed, “I had to spend several frustrating hours telling their artist every little thing…it was almost like I was designing the ad myself and he was just pushing buttons”. In the end the business owners didn’t get the ad that they wanted, they didn’t get the results they wanted, and many of them are still steamed at the whole situation.
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over
It’s a special breed of human being that can speak effectively to large groups of teenagers and young adults. Speaking at schools, sporting events, teen churches, or wherever else young people congregate, youth motivational speakers employ an arsenal of well rehearsed, practiced techniques that capture the attention of young people and hopefully change lives for the better. They inspire, motivate and teach students, taking them from laughter to tears in rapt attention as they speak about personal experiences, weaving into their stories life lessons and warnings about the common pitfalls of being young in the twenty
What’s the Solution? Well, our business owner, Rick has been around the block before and he’s a smart guy. He got tired of dumping money into a bigger ad he got clever and started to focus on quality and not quantity.
Instead of looking like every other advertisement in the phonebook, Rick decides to invest his money in having a better, more effective ad designed – smart move
Hmm, better over bigger, can that work? Absolutely.
Make sure you understand this, it’s important: what you say in your ad and how you say it is significantly more important than the size of the ad. Don’t be fooled into thinking that your ad can only bring in more calls and customers if you make it bigger and more colorful.
In developing any sort of advertising for your business, start by working with someone who has YOUR best interests at heart. As we’ve already discovered, this probably isn’t the AP or the sales rep that’s working for them. Instead, hire a designer who has a track record of designing effective ads that always make her/his clients money.
Make sure you only work with designers that have a proven track record of success, have written and audio testimonials as well as a guarantee on all of the work they do. Now you’ll have someone working for you that’s not only an established expert, but they should have the same goals you do – to get the most value out of your advertisement.
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