They were salesman selling some of the most obscure advertising I’d heard of.

I received these calls because my financial planning business (which doesn’t take on new clients) is still a powerhouse agency in the city of Long Beach.

The first guy called and wanted me to buy advertising on a bench at the golf course that my office is adjacent to. In his pitch, he went on to describe to me how they had surveyed the members and asked them what type of business they would use if they could get them to advertise on the bench, and the answer was “insurance.”

And to think I spent all those years advertising my insurance services the hard way. All I needed was to buy a plaque on a bench so people could plant their behinds on my logo… If only I had known… (that’s extreme sarcasm for those that don’t know me well enough)

He was quite convincing. Funny thing is, his office is located 2 states away. All his company does is sell advertising space for golf courses. So how did he know what type of services the members of the golf course would like to use? He didn’t. He said what an insurance agent wants to hear, “I’ve got people that want what you do!”

I told him I wasn’t remotely interested in buying ad space where people plant their asses during a round of golf.

The thing of it is, people who play golf on this particular course would be ideal candidates for my insurance services. But advertising on a bench on a golf course is the wrong marketing channel to be using. Advertising is about entering the conversation that is already going on in the mind of the customer. When people are playing a round of golf, they aren’t interested in picking up a phone and calling an insurance agent. That’s not the conversation going on in their head.

The next call I got was from a gal at Vons. She was selling advertising space, again to insurance agents, on the little rubber spacer that you use to separate your order from the people in front and behind you in the checkout line.

Apparently, they just redesigned the rubber spacer to make it bigger. I asked her what it cost and her reply was “$250 a month.” Then she went into her close. Her close was to set me up on an appointment with the local VP of Marketing who was only in the area for a couple of days. My reply was, “No thanks. I can’t think of a bigger waste of money.”

The response back was worth everything! “Well this isn’t Direct Response!”

“It obvious isn’t direct response which is why it’s a waste of money.”

She then went on to explain that having my advertising alongside a web campaign, where people would be surfing the internet, come across me and say to themselves, “That’s the guy on the checkout counter at Vons. I should use him.”

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that that is absurd!

I assured her that, for the most part, insurance agents are as dumb as rocks and she should have no problem finding one agent with money he wants to throw away. I’m just not that guy.

She thanked me and that was that.

I then headed to the local grocery store to pick up a movie rental from the RedBox machine. There in front of me was an advertisement on the shopping cart from an insurance agent. His slogan, “Working Hard… Working Smart… For You!”

Like I said, dumb as rocks.

It’s not enough to hear me tell people the value of being in a vibrant group of entrepreneurs, sometimes it takes the voice of others to get that point across.

Here’s a quick video from a fellow traveler that you should check out:

If you are in the Southern California area you should check out the Marketing DNA Summit happening next week.

Sign up by Saturday the 25th or miss out on this awesome session!

Attention Orange County Entrepreneurs and Business Owners…

“You Too Can Dominate Your Competition In Just 3 Hours Using These Amazing Marketing Secrets”

Our next meeting is being held at:

Tuesday February 28, 2012 From 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Register early before all the seats are taken.

Only 32 seats left!

Dear Fellow Entrepreneur,

. California has been called “The Land of the Small Business” – there are over 3,320,977 small businesses in California before you even count those that are self employed. Yet the average small business produces less than $39,000 a year for the owner. And unfortunately, that isn’t enough to live on in our neck of the woods.

. By contrast, the really successful earn well over $100,000 per year. And earnings of $250,000 per year and even more are not uncommon.

. In case you haven’t guessed it, it’s the marketing skills that set apart the successful.

. You undoubtedly have the expertise in your field but unless you are able to effectively market yourself, you will never achieve the income you deserve.

Your competition Does NOT Want You To Know About This!

. Finally there is a resource for the Entrepreneur like you to discover the marketing and advertising secrets used by the most successful small business and sales professionals from inside and outside your profession.

. As a leader in your industry, you are invited to be at the Orange County Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle Marketing Summit.

. At this summit you will discover:

• Easy to implement ways to generate leads with no hard selling, no tricks, no fluff – absolutely guaranteed…
• How to magnetically attract clients with your website…
• Where your customers are and how to get them…
• What everybody ought to know about advertising effectively so you don’t throw money down the drain…
• How to take all of your competitors clients away from them…
• How to prepare both ongoing advertisements in magazines, newspapers and direct mail, as well as online advertisements that will bring “hungry” clients direct to you…
• How to create your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that will open the floodgates of sales…
• How to DOUBLE the effectiveness of your ads and sales letters with the proper use of the telephone…
• How to run ads without any risk on your part whatsoever…

. My name is Pete Mitchell and I’ll be hosting this event. If you are not familiar with me directly (though you’ve probably seen my work in print or radio and didn’t even know it), I’m known as America’s most recognized authority on Immediate Response Advertising™. In my seminars, private clients and books, I have helped over 10,237 small business owners and sales professionals improve their practice.

. This marketing summit brings you the best strategies you need to gain new clients and reactivate old clients. And you will discover how to generate a never ending stream of cash into your business.

This summit shows how to:

• Position yourself to take advantage of the most lucrative markets…
• How to navigate all the new technology to find out what really works to bring in money…
• Implement an Emergency Cash Infusion Plan™…
• Write sharp advertisements that will get you the client…
• And much, much more!

. The Orange County Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle Marketing Summit is being held February 28th (Tuesday) at the Ayres Hotel in Costa Mesa (325 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626). It starts promptly at 6:30pm and will end at 9:30pm.

. The seating is limited to 40 people and there are only 27 of the spots left. Here is what you need to do next to reserve your seat – go register right here:

or by calling 800-551-4376

. The investment for the night is regularly $47, but because we are moving to this new location, it is only $25 when your reservation is made online or via the phone. If our lines are busy when you call, keep calling back. You don’t want to miss out. If your competition goes and you don’t, don’t act surprised when they start taking all your business.

This Event Is Guaranteed

. How can an event be guaranteed you ask? Let me tell you. By the end of the night you will have your hair blown back, toes curled up and mind completely awed with these easy, fast, simple, secret and lucrative ways to increase profits. If not, at the end of the night come to me or one of my staff and I insist that you let me give you all your money back on the spot – no questions asked!

. Hurry up and register right here:

Warmly,

Pete “Big Guns” Mitchell

PS. Tickets will not be sold at the door and once the remaining spots are filled, no one else will be admitted.

.

Right now, I’m sitting in my movie theater room enjoying a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat – or as I like to call it, a little drink of heaven…

December was a great month for me. Not in terms of new clients, but because of the continuing education courses that I choose to invest in and go through. I had several conversations with one of the guys in my Mastermind Group that lead to a couple of powerful “ah ha” moments – for both of us.

The crowning moment was when I was watching an interview with Sylvester Stallone on the making of Rocky (interview is posted on the end of this blog post).

Often times we see celebrities and people of note and we forget that they were once just everyday people. At one time, Sylvester was a no name, less than B level actor. There was a time when no one knew who the guy was…

He moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at this acting thing.  At the time he wrote Rocky, he was so broke that he had just over $100 to his name.

He had to sell his dog because he couldn’t afford to feed the poor little pooch.

His apartment was so small that he could sit on his bed and open the window and close his door – at the same time!

He was in an audition, and as he was leaving, he stopped and mentioned to the producers that he was also a writer. He told them about the idea he had for Rocky and they told him to bring it by when he had it finished.

So Sly went home and wrote the script in 3 and a half days.

After they read it, they loved it. They offered him $30,000 for the script, but there was a caveat – he couldn’t be the lead role of Rocky.

With no money, a real crappy place to live, about ready to sell his dog – he turned them down.

Keep in mind, this is 1975 when 30k meant something…

They upped the figure… Again he said no…

They upped it more… Again – NO…

It finally reached $330,000 that they would give him if he wouldn’t be the lead role and that really caused him to stop and ponder the offer.

What would you have done in that situation?

Sly, thought to himself, “If this movie becomes a hit and I’m not the star, I’m gonna jump off a building or walk in front of a bus. I have to be the lead role!”

And so the producers gave in, paid peanuts for the script and took Sly as the lead role.

The rest, as they say, is history…

There are many lessons that can be taken from this story – none of which is based on the law of attraction. Sly didn’t think his way into the role of the century, he took massive action to make it possible! He even wrote the script just for him!

That is what massive, directed action can get you.

I hope you are like me and have decided to take massive action and make 2012 your bitch!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The first thing you have to remember is that a News Release is a “news” item. It needs to “inform” people, NOT sell them something. For example, you are reading this article because you want to learn something that will BENEFIT YOU. You aren’t reading it just so you can buy something else. Your main goals should be in developing customers and clients that see you as the logical expert in your field. Of course, you want to do this while still making money.

People don’t care what mountains you had to climb, what seas you had to cross or what tribe of people you had to learn the ways of just to find a secret formula. Instead — they want to know WHAT the secret formula is.

Get the idea?

The sales circulars you print and mail sell your product. A News Release informs others about your product. Instead of your main objective being to sell the product and have the customer send in an order immediately, a News Release informs the customer exactly how your product will benefit their lives. This must be conveyed in the form of a “newsworthy” News Release. If you have a sales circular to sell a product, you can easily turn it into a News Release without much difficulty. It’s just a new marketing angle of presenting your product to the public.

The following is an example of a typical News Release for publishing services:

So many people are entering the mail order market these days, but so many of them are getting ripped-off by a bunch of hype. People are promised untold riches in a short period of time. The hype ads play with their emotions by making them believe it’s so easy to make money through the mail. It’s sad.

However, a new book has just been released to help solve these problems for the average person. For the first time in history — a REAL directory has been compiled listing the ACTUAL name and addresses of 179 honest and trustworthy mail order folks. People can write DIRECTLY to these people and receive FREE information to get them started in their own business now!

It’s unbelievable. Without trying to sell you anything else, you can get this book for only $4.95 — a price anyone can afford. Meet the real mail order dealers who care about their products and wants to help you get started doing what they are doing.

Only available from Graphico Publishing, PO Box 488, Bluff City TN 37618.

As you can see, this is a short but sweet News Release — however, you should be able to see the “newsworthiness” in it. It’s main focus is on the fact that most people get ripped-off when they start their first mail order business. The solution to this problem is a new directory that is available for the first time in history. The sell is slowly led into because the reader will naturally want to get their hands on this one. It doesn’t ask for money — it only tells the reader how to get a copy if they want one.

Here’s a great test for a real news release. Since your final sales pitch is included in the last paragraph — read the News Release aloud. Would it still be worth reading WITHOUT your sales pitch? If so, it’s probably a News Release.

News Releases come in many forms due to the product you are writing about. However, the basic rule of thumb still applies. If you’ve never wrote one before — it may be a little difficult. Don’t despair. Grab the latest daily newspaper and read some of their informational articles. Notice how each article is written and pattern yours after the same format. After you do a few of them — you’ll be able to “get the picture.”

When your News Release is written to your satisfaction, the proper way to submit it to a publisher is:

• Be sure and type it on a typewriter or computer.
• Standard format is double-spaced and not longer than two 8 1/2×11 pages.
• Be sure and put your name, address and page number at the top of each   page.
• Write the words: “For Immediate Release.”  at the top.

If you are only sending the news release to one publication — tell them   it’s a “first run.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with a client and they’ve told me that their product or service is for everyone and therefore they want to know how to reach the “everyone” market.

Rarely is it true that someone’s product or service is for everyone, but even if it is, pray that it isn’t. It is nearly impossible to finance the marketing to everyone.

I saw this postcard and immediately loved it. This storage company, which anyone with more stuff than space can use, has decided to niche their marketing. On this postcard, they are targeting contractors.

I really love the “Get a FREE 6-pack” with tour offer.  I kinda want to check out their facility just for that reason!

Love the offer. I just wish they had a sense of urgency tied to the offer such as “Move In Special for Contractors Available Through 12/15/2011″ or some such.

The real take away from this postcard is that they took a product that is for “everyone” niched down the offer to a segment of the population and targeted them. The next move for them is to take out the word “Contractors” and change it to another niche group and target that group. Dentists, Doctors, Mortgage Companies, etc.

How can you use this idea in your business? Tell us below.

John Brantuk from Glen-L Marine Design sent this email with article to me. It is a perfect example of a bank using “personality” to bring in the kind of clients they want and keep out those that would seek to rob them.

Chappell Hill is a small town between Houston and Brenham on Hwy 290.

Any would-be robbers planning to walk into the bank here had best think twice. There is a new sign in town. About a month ago, Chappell Hill Bank president Edward Smith looked at a sign on the front door prohibiting concealed weapons from his business and decided to make a policy change. Licensed to carry a handgun? Come on in, and bring your weapon.

The sign, now prominently displayed on the bank’s front door, says: “Lawful concealed carry permitted on these premises. Management recognizes the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as an inalienable right of all citizens. We therefore support and encourage the carrying of licensed concealed weapons.”

Smith said he made the policy change to send a warning to potential robbers, and also to express support for Americans right to bear arms. “We had the sign on the window, the red circle with the pistol inside and a line through. I started thinking. We’ve got this no gun sign up and a robber can come in and do what he wants. But if you’ve got a policy allowing handguns, he won’t know how many people are going to be in here carrying a concealed weapon. There may be some little old lady who’s mad at the government, and she’d love to use it” he said.

The bank has been robbed twice in the last three years, including last March when a Western-attired man walked in, ordered bank employees to fill a canvas bag with money and then fled in a pickup truck. The man, who did not brandish a weapon, has not been caught.

The sign has made Chappell Hill Bank and Smith somewhat of an Internet sensation. A photo of the sign has made its way around the world, and Smith has even been interviewed for the National Rifle Association’s radio network www.nranews.com/#/nranews. He’s also been contacted by other media outlets wanting to do stories. “It’s kind of gotten a life of its own” he said. Expressions of support have far outnumbered criticism. Smith has been contacted by officials from larger banks considering taking similar action, and has received e-mails in support from across the United States and even from England, Canada, and Germany.

“I haven’t gotten any from Chicago or California, which doesn’t surprise me”, Smith said with a laugh. “We did get a real nice email from an 88-year-old World War II veteran who said it’s about time somebody stood up in this country.” The NRA has even invited him to speak at an upcoming convention, but Smith said, “I’m still deciding on that.” Smith said he’s only received one negative e-mail, from an anonymous sender.

The policy change has also brought Chappell Hill Bank a handful of new customers and comments from people outside Washington County that they’d bank there if they lived here, said Smith. “I tell them that we’re a full-service bank and we’re on the Internet. They can bank online,” he said.

My wife asked me to drive over to Ikea to look for some knick-knack type of thing. After entering the top of their maze there was this quote on the wall. I don’t get it. Do you?

Professionalism sucks the life out of sales.

So many people try to sound all prim and proper and they alienate their idea customers. I’ll let you in on a little secret:

“People don’t trust companies. People only trust people.”

With Enron, Worldcom, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, GM, etc., all going bankrupt, people do not trust companies. The more corporate you try to sound, in a poor effort to “sound” more legit, you slowly but surely kill your sales.

This can of Monster soda, oh I’m sorry – I mean energy drink, does a better job of communication with their customers that most businesses.  Here is what it says on the can:

People have been blowin’ up our inbox for years asking for a zero calorie Monster. We got it, but this ain’t soda pop, dude!

Making a zero calorie, zero sugar drink that’s good enough to earn the Monster M ain’t that easy.

Finally with a re-tooled energy blend, new sweetener system and hundreds of failed flavors, we absolutely got it right!

Monster Absolutely Zero helps fight fatigue, improves mental performance and focus, motivates you to work (I mean play) harder, so generally you feel pretty damn good.

Zero calories, zero sugar, killer buzz… Absolutely Guaranteed!

This is a great message on the can. It connects with the market. It reinforces the brand (see my October print newsletter for how branding doesn’t work. Not getting the print version? Sign up here).

This is “personality in copy.”

Does your copy sound like you? Or like a big stuffy corporation?

If you are looking to spend your advertising money, you will never find a shortage of places to spend it.

I picked up a couple of steaks to fire up on the new BBQ I received as a birthday gift. As I was putting my goodies in the car I saw this ad in the shopping cart:

Advertising on the inside of a shopping cart. Not the worst idea I’ve ever heard… I think…

Advertising always comes down to getting the right message in front of the right market. Years ago I had a real estate agent come to me for counsel. It turns out he was contacted by the salesman that sells the advertising space on shopping carts. The agent was told that the store was very particular about who they sell the advertising space to. This agent had been referred to them as a good, honest agent with solid integrity.

I refer to this as priming the mark…

It was several hundred dollars a month with a 6 month commitment. It seemed to me that he was looking for my blessing, not actually interested in what I had to say.

Immediate Response Advertising requires that the message you are putting out will impact someone to the point to where they can’t help but pick up the phone and call right then. It also requires that you get that message in front of the right prospects. Most people are not thinking about buying or selling a house when they go to the store. There are also a ton of people that shop there that are not idea prospects for a real estate agent. This is not a good use of your money if you are selling Real Estate services.

Now, there is an ad on the shopping cart that is in front of the right market (though message needs improving). It’s not the Ford ad (that again is a waste of money). It’s the Ralph’s ad for their club card. It is an excellent time to get people to registered for your club program when they are walking into your establishment. The audience is there to spend money and many would be receptive to “a good deal.”

He has left a footprint on the world that cannot be ignored or passed off as a fleeting thought. He was a driving force in the world. Here are some words from Financial guru Brian Westbury:

It took me awhile to warm up to the iPod, partly because I was not a fan of Apple Computer. My computer experience was driven by Windows software and Intel chips. The Apple Mac was from a different world. No matter how many times people would tell me that the Apple operating system was easy to use, I could never get used to it. I didn’t hate Apple. I hardly thought about Apple. But, when I tried to use an Apple product, I couldn’t. It was not user friendly to me. I was a Microsoft Windows guy.

But then I got an iPod as a gift and it was so user friendly that it was impossible to ignore. My wife and I gave an iPad to my 75 year-old mother and as she said “it changed her life.” I bought an iPad, and it is truly amazing technology. Every salesman in our company now has an iPad.

Steve Jobs and Apple were relentless in making their technology useful to everyone. And even a person who did not initially find their products helpful, has been brought into the fold. Steve Jobs did this. We all know his story – founder of Apple, drummed out of the company, but brought back in to save it. He was the consummate “entrepreneur.”

Many people use the term entrepreneur, but few truly understand it. Ludwig von Mises, in his book Human Action, carves out a special place for entrepreneurs in the world of economics. At econlib.org there is a searchable copy of Human Action – here are a few quotes from that book.

The entrepreneur is the agency that prevents the persistence of a state of production unsuitable to fill the most urgent wants of the consumers in the cheapest way. All people are anxious for the best possible satisfaction of their wants and are in this sense striving after the highest profit they can reap. The mentality of the promoters, speculators, and entrepreneurs is not different from that of their fellow men. They are merely superior to the masses in mental power and energy. They are the leaders on the way toward material progress. They are the first to understand that there is a discrepancy between what is done and what could be done. They guess what the consumers would like to have and are intent upon providing them with these things.

Like every acting man, the entrepreneur is always a speculator. He deals with the uncertain conditions of the future. His success or failure depends on the correctness of his anticipation of uncertain events. If he fails in his understanding of things to come, he is doomed. The only source from which an entrepreneur’s profits stem is his ability to anticipate better than other people the future demand of the consumers.

If all entrepreneurs were to anticipate correctly the future state of the market, there would be neither profits nor losses. The prices of all the factors of production would already today be fully adjusted to tomorrow’s prices of the products.

Profits indicate success for an entrepreneur and in this measure Steve Jobs was a massive success. Taxing away these profits, making profits evil, or regulating entrepreneurs with political motivation subtracts from the benefits that entrepreneurs bring to society.

The world needs more Steve Jobs, not fewer. The world is celebrating his life today and mourning his passing. I will always remember him as an entrepreneur– the one who didn’t give up until he found a way to get his products in my hand and convince me that they could help make me more productive. He did that. Steve Jobs, RIP.