What would you recommend to martial arts school owners to improve their advertising?Jay Abraham answers…
First, set very specific goals for your advertising. Make sure the ads are designed to be direct response and focused strictly on the reader, stating what is in it for him or her.
Include a call-to-action message. Offer information, an experience or an observation that provides a benefit to the student or his or her family. For example, do you want to build your child’s confidence? Do you want a healthy activity that also reduces your stress, sharpens your mental acuity and is great fun?
I think the Yellow Pages can be useful; however, most business owners run terrible Yellow Pages ads that are static. They don’t really understand how to create the right kind of message for that environment. A prospect will only look in the Yellow Pages when he or she is ready to take action. The headline is 80% to 90% of the impact of any ad, including a Yellow Pages ad. You could say the headline is the ad for the ad. Half of the Yellow Pages ads don’t have headlines. Where you do find headlines, they are terribly weak, tepid, anemic, self-serving headlines or not benefit-oriented.
“You are selling benefits, not features. The ad’s message should not be about you.”
The right benefit-oriented headline could be 21 times more or less effective than the wrong headline. That’s 2,100% greater yield for the same expense. Yet, when I’m perusing ads, I find that most advertisers don’t have any messages in their headlines, stating what’s in it for me. A headline should read, “We will turn you into (blank and blank) or it’s free!” or “We will let you experience it before you ever have to pay!”
The benefits should appear in the headline.
You are selling benefits, not features. The ad’s message should not be about you.
Many business owners don’t people don’t understand a constant rub, called the “you attitude.” When I’m working for a client, I don’t care about the client’s needs or desires. I care about those my client is trying to serve. It is all about them; it is not about the client. The client is enriched only after he fulfills, satisfies, enriches, enhances, protects, expands, entertains, etc. to render the service.
Jay Abraham is a world-renown marketing expert who has taught millions of people how to use marketing more effectively and efficiently, and is a senior advisor to many major global companies.
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