Advertising and Marketing Ideas to Create Phenomenal Profits In YOUR Small Business

“Positive Thinking About Your Small Business Won’t Make You Money!” PDF Print E-mail
“Positive Thinking About Your Small Business Won’t Make You Money!”

When I was a younger man, maybe in my 20’s & 30’s…...I read a ton of Self-Help books. I wanted them to help me grow my business (at the time, in-home selling).

I read about a hundred books on everything from EST, Primal Scream, Transactional Analysis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and books like “The Power Of Thinking Big”.

The books made me feel better, but nothing really translated into additional profits. Why? Because nobody that worked for me cared about these things. My customers didn’t care.

And so after a while, I looked for something else to help me in my business..  

I was recently on a Forum for vacuum cleaner dealers. There was a dealer (not a Gold Member) who simply loved vacuum cleaners. When he talked to a customer...he cared about the vacuum more than them. He cared about the way the vacuum was treated (when it came in for repair). He collects vacuums.

At Howard Anderson’s Bootcamp, Bob Negen (a featured speaker) said these words “Your passion for your product is not enough to make you successful””. He’s right. Feeling passion for your product makes the day go faster...because you’ll enjoy the work more. But it’s passion for your Business that creates success.  

I sell vacuum cleaners primarily.

I used to think I was in the “vacuum cleaner business”
Eventually, I realized that there was more to gain by being in the “Marketing of vacuum cleaners business”.
That’s almost entirely true still.

But now I’m in the “Growing of my business” business. The sales & service aren’t my jobs, anymore than getting dressed in the morning is my job. These are things that have to be done, and selling can be improved.

Even marketing (advertising & promotions), although the things that create the profit, are really just parts of what we do.

Creating more profit in my business is what I’m after, and growing it is the way.

There are several ways to grow your business;
Add new locations. You can copy a proven store plan & just multiply it. Not for me. I’m not a manager, and I lack the tolerance needed. But it’s a proven way to grow more profitable.
Add new product lines to expand reasons why people can give you money. This has limitations, but is a proven way. I certainly use it, and most of our profit jumps have been when we added (and then marketed) a new product line.
Add different businesses. I speak for money. It’s an unrelated business to my retail store. But it’s a natural evolution I’m going through. Adding more businesses is different from adding locations. You can extend businesses run from your store, or  create new ones in a different location (but serving the same area). If you just want to expand geographically, it’s always better to stick with a plan and business you know inside & out.
Expand the type of person that is your market. If most of your customers are women, aged 45-60, with pets (OK, I made that up) how can you attract the differentpeople to want what you already sell?

“Positive Thinking” makes you happier about what you do, and makes you hopeful about the future, but it doesn’t actually  make conditions better. It doesn’t do anything.

Thinking of ways to make your business more attractive to buyers, your offers more desirable, your marketing more powerful, ...these are ways to grow.

Here are a few ideas;

At Howard’s Bootcamp, Speaker Diane Conklin had some strong information.

If you use direct mail, or advertise in print...she suggested that you enroll in “Junk-Mail University”. In other words, do you read your junk mail before you throw it out?

Why? When you get a good advertising piece in the mail, you hold in your hand a proven map for ways to create proven profitable direct mail. I see the ones I like, sometimes because he headline struck me, maybe an illustration tells a powerful story, or the offer itself is presented in a “If you don’t buy this you are
brain dead” way. I keep these in clear plastic bags with hand written labels. “Great Headlines”, “Sells Seminar Effectively””, or “Great Price Justification” are a few.
Diane gave an example; If you advertise on movie theater screens (something that seems frightfully stupid for several reasons), have your ad say “Bring in your movie ticket for a free (whatever).  Brilliant idea.

I immediately wrote down this idea;
“We Give To Givers! Bring in a recent (less than 7 days) old) receipt for your donation to any of these charities, and we’ll match it with a discount up to 10% of purchase price. “ Then list the charities. All local. Now, if the customer gives money to anything…..they will read the list.  See how one idea gives birth to another. I would never come up with this idea, had Diane not triggered it with her idea.

Diane also had several other smart ideas. Here are a few;
Always give a “Call to action”” in your ads. “Bring in this ad in the next 7 days for this discount”,  “Call for an appointment right away.”,
“Call for this recorded message”” are just a few. But the customer is far more likely to act if you tell them how. Need proof? After Diane’s speech, She had a Direct Mail System for sale. It was presented well, and he speech way exceptional. But at the end of the speech, she just said “I’ll be in the back of the room”. Nobody moved. I ran back  and told her that she forgot to tell the audience to fill out the application and bring it to the back of the room. She shouted this out, and the stampede started.  Now, I’m not going to tell you that they bought because of what I did. She did everything right. But, if you don’t tell people how to respond, many just won’t know what you want them to do.   Okey Dokey?


Diane also mentioned that if you only have one way to respond to an ad, you will lose some customers. Every ad should have multiple ways to respond. Phone number, FAX number, address, E-Mail address, should all be included.

Then I thought about how this idea applied to other areas of my business;
How can your customer pay you? Checks only? Do you take credit cards? Do you have payment plans? If you don’t put it in your ad, they won’t know. Do you only have one source of financing? What if they stop accepting applications from your type of store?
We have two get cancelled. It can happen), we also accept post dated checks (I know, I know, but we’ve never been burned).

Diane also mentioned that the richest and most successful companies all use direct mail in their marketing. That’s a pretty strong statement. I believe it. She also mentioned (as did other speakers) that postcards always get read, and they are the cheapest form of direct mail. Many people use www.postcardmania.com.


Howard Anderson is a skilled ad writer himself. He gave a few speeches at his Bootcamp. One of the things that struck me was the way he asks questions when somebody brings in a product for service. Here are a few of those questions;
“What problems are you having”
“When was the machine serviced last?”
“How do you like your machine”
“ What don’t you like about it”?
“If I could show you a machine without those problems, would you like to see it?”
“If I could show you how to get your money back that you spent on this, could I show you something?” (absolutely brilliant question...think trade ins)

The third question is useful to me, because it tells me whether I should stick with taking in the repair, or switch to “Maybe it’s time for a new machine” mode.

This question sequence is the smallest part of a complete system Howard uses to increase profits in service dramatically. To learn more you can contact Howard at www.longviewretail.com.  My understanding is that the entire bootcamp will be made available to non-attendees in the near future. I bought it, and can’t wait to get it.

Speaker Mark Ingraham was also at Howard’’s Bootcamp.

He talked about having events and working in fairs & home shows. Highly enlightening. One thing that I wrote down was that “Home shows are where people go to buy, and fairs are where people go to ride rides”. I know from experience that it’s true.

He had a ton of information on “event marketing”. He said that “An event gets people that would ordinarily never come by”. You can draw people from out of your area with an event. A simple ““Sale ends Tuesday” ad won’t do it.  But an “ A FREE ___ will be given away, you must be there to register & win. Bring your ___in for immediate trade in. FRIDAY only!”. Will wake a few people up, and get them to show up.

Hearing him also triggered the idea that you can sell at home shows. You don’t just need to advertise your store. You can make sales. They can pick up the product at your store if it’s heavy.  But you can have a show promotion that is real. Offers that can only be had at the show. I once sold 17 air purifiers personally, in one day, at $699 each, at a mall show.
And I sold 6 Rainbow vacuum cleaners in one day at a home show. I know of a few dealers selling vacuum cleaners that have sold  35 or more high end machines in a day. Home shows are a money-machine.