•"Simple Messages in Advertising"
"Simple Messages in Advertising" by Kevin NunleyIt is better to advertise with simple messages and have everyoneunderstand you, than to advertise with complex messages and haveonly 20% of viewers understand you.Brilliantly clever advertising executives often come up with adcampaigns that dazzle viewers. Viewers may be dazzled, butwhether they can discern what is actually being communicated inthe ad remains to be seen.When considering how you want to phrase your advertising copy,don't tailor...
•Build Your Brand Name Online
Build Your Brand Name Online by Kevin Nunley Nothing helps you make sales like owning your ownestablished brand name. Many times, when you asksomeone why they bought from a particular company, theirreply is, "I've heard of them."Work to make your name familiar to people in yourindustry. If you have a medium to large company, makeyour company name well known. If you are working solo,you're best bet is to make YOUR name a household word.You don't need millions of advertising dollars to do...
•Cheap and Easy Marketing
Cheap and Easy Marketing by Kevin NunleyAs a small business owner, I know that finding the rightcombination of advertising techniques and marketing strategiesis key to getting the beginnings of a solid customer base.People have to have heard about your business before they canpatronize it, right?It would be nice if you could afford network TV commercials,full-page magazine ads, and an expensive ad agency to handle allthe details, but if you're a small business just getting off theground,...
•Do You Sell a Necessity or a Luxury? They Are Marketed Differently
Do You Sell a Necessity or a Luxury? They Are Marketed Differently by Kevin NunleyProducts and services are a mixed bag. Some are downrightnecessities. If my toilet explodes, I need a plumber. If yourchild wakes up with a high fever, you need a doctor. Ragingtermites, aching teeth, and lawsuits also require services thatare necessities.But most products and services are more luxury than necessity. Ioften hire a young man to mow my lawn. But if he's on vacationone week, I'll get my...
•Do's And Don'ts Of Emailing Press Releases From A Media Veteran
I'm a big believer in EMAILING press releases. Not only is email dirt cheap, email can often get you in front of editors a lot faster than regular mail or fax.
Here's why. Media outlets like radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers get a TON of press releases. During my 20 years working in radio and TV, we got bag loads of mailed press releases every day.
Probably 90 percent of them came from politicians and local college athletic programs. Their publicity people are told to send out a...
•Dr. Nunley's Biz-Tips
Dr. Nunley's Biz-Tips by Kevin NunleyMost products and services are geared to a specific group of customers. Right now I could use a chain saw, but I doubt anyone else in my neighborhood is in the market for one.There are some products and services that are used by everyone. Today I got a note from a woman who sells books of coupons good for grocery discounts. Who is her audience? Everyone. We all eat and no matter how rich you are, saving money on food probably sounds like a good idea.But...
•Easy Advertising For The Thriftwise Marketer
Easy Advertising For The Thriftwise Marketer by Kevin NunleyIn today's world of marketing, you could easily spend thousandsof dollars a month and still not get the results you want.However, by putting minimal money into some aspects of marketing,you could get more sales than you think.Here are some tips for easy, low cost marketing that might getyou where you want to go- fast.**Market with excitement**Nothing sells like excitement. When you seem excited andenthusiastic, prospects catch your...
•Five Easy Ways To Do Business Automatically With Autoresponders
Five Easy Ways To Do Business Automatically With Autoresponders by Kevin NunleyMost business-building ideas won't work unless you make the timeto do them. If your day is already jam packed with work, family,and life in general, adding one more business builder can seemout of the question.Autoresponders are an exception. These simple software gizmoscan be set up in minutes, then left to run automatically foryears. When someone requests your autoresponder messages, theyget the first one...
•Get More Business, Raise Your Prices, And Keep Customers Forever--by Making Business Personal
We are entering a time when the most effective business strategies may be the ones that are the least "sexy." It is starting to occur to me that the revolutions of today and tomorrow may have nothing to do with cutting edge technology. Your next big leap toward better profits will be using tools that are almost too simple to notice.
It is not because these simpler methods don't amount to much. They often form the very basis of the way we live and what makes us human. For example, The Internet...
•Get Your Customers to Say "YES"
Get Your Customers to Say "YES" by Kevin NunleyMany of us dread the part during the sales process wherewe have to ask for the order, especially if the customer says"no". What happened? It seemed like the customer was with youall along.They were smiling and nodding their head. What could have gonewrong? Often, the problem is that the sales person never reallyanswered all of the questions in the customer's mind. If thequestions don't get answered, you won't make the sale.Any objections the...
•Go Out And Get Referrals
Go Out And Get Referrals by Kevin NunleyRecently a survey asked major companies where most oftheir customers come from. A whopping 85 percent saidreferrals are their number one source of new business.The first place to look for referrals is from happycustomers. When someone is satisfied with your product orservice, mention how much you would love for them to tellfriends and co-workers. Most people feel a bit proud youwould ask.Get referrals from other sales people. You don't have tolook at...
•How To Advertise Your New Business in Four Easy Steps
How To Advertise Your New Business in Four Easy Steps by Kevin NunleyAre you starting a new business? Congratulations! Millions likeyou are putting up their signs and welcoming customers for thefirst time. With the economy swinging upward and even thesmallest business empowered by the Internet, there has never beena better time to get started in your own venture.However, without solid advertising and marketing, you won't getcustomers. Even worse, you can spend a fortune on advertising inthe...
•How To Build Your Money-Making Email List
How To Build Your Money-Making Email List by Kevin NunleyI'm often asked, "What's the best way to build a business whenyou don't have much money to spend." I never hesitate when Ianswer. Build your own email list!A good email list that YOU COLLECTED YOURSELF is worth its weightin gold. My list, that I started with an AOL account and pastingsubscriber addresses into Text Pad, now generates six figures insales every year. I know a consultant who pulls down even morewith her home-grown email...
•How To Correct Common Marketing Mistakes
How To Correct Common Marketing Mistakes by Kevin NunleyA well-tuned marketing campaign is a beautiful thing. Youradvertising not only connects with just the right prospects, butit seems everyone is talking about you, your product, or service.Sales come in at a nice pace. Profits mount as you quietlychuckle thinking how little you spent on marketing. Suddenly,moving your company forward doesn't seem hard at all.Unfortunately, marketing rarely works that easily, at least atfirst. Rhonda, who...
•How To Get Great Buys On Banner Ads And Make Them Produce Results
How To Get Great Buys On Banner Ads And Make Them Produce Results by Kevin NunleyBanner ads are down but not out. The billboard-likeInternet ads that appear on web sites everywhere don't pullthe response they once did. Yet, today's much lower adprices are giving many businesses an affordable andeffective way to spread the word online.Back in 1994 when the Web was new, as many as 40percent of people who saw a banner ad clicked on it. Astime passed and banners became commonplace, responserates...
•How To Market When Computers and the Internet Aren't Your Thing
How To Market When Computers and the Internet Aren't Your Thing by Kevin NunleySo you are still stricken with fear at the thought of sending anemail, posting a website or downloading...well, anything. Itdoesn't mean you can't successfully market your business.Not everybody is glued to the net, popular as that myth may be.There are still plenty of us willing to dirty our hands pickingup a non-virtual flyer or flipping through a non-virtualnewspaper. We leave our houses and drive cars or walk,...
•How to super-size every sale to double, triple, and quadruple your profits instantly
How to super-size every sale to double, triple, and quadruple your profits instantly by Kevin Nunley Ask and most businesses will tell you. The key to their successis upselling. It is one thing to get the sale. It is far betterto super-size that sale.Real profits come when you get the customer to buy a larger, moreexpensive, or more comprehensive product or service. The guygoing into a pet store to buy a fish is a classic example.When the clerk sees Sam looking at the budget-priced gold...
•How To Write The Perfect Classified Ad... and How To Use It To Make Sales
How To Write The Perfect Classified Ad... and How To Use It To Make Sales by Kevin NunleyAs a major mass media that is almost free to use, the Internet isa great place to take advantage of free promotion tools-- nomatter what business you're in. One of the most common places toadvertise are free classified sites, but how do you write an adthe works?The Perfect Classified Ad: It may not be a literary thing ofbeauty, or even an ad that is very appealing--but for some reasonit gets sales for...
•Increase Customer Return with Contests and Sweepstakes
Increase Customer Return with Contests and Sweepstakes by Kevin Nunley If customers are comparison shopping and your competitors' pricesare about the same as yours, many customers will buy at the lastplace they visit. It is simply more convenient.However, if theyregistered for a contest at your site or store, they will returnto see if they won. Sweepstakes can make your business the laststop, the place where comparing customers finally make theirpurchase.Sweepstakes or contests are a staple...
•Inexpensive and Effective Advertising for Your Web Site
Inexpensive and Effective Advertising for Your Web Site by Kevin NunleyWith so many businesses on the web and so many different ways ofpromoting your site it is easy to spend far too much onadvertising and get far too little in return. Here are sometried and true ways of promoting your business that are simpleand relatively cheap:1. Using Banners to Promote Your SiteBanner exchanges are about the oldest form of advertising on theInternet, and while they won't flood your site with...
•It's Time To Market With A New URL
It's Time To Market With A New URL by Kevin NunleyRemember the mid-90s when you could still get a great domain namefor your web site? Those days are back.There for a while it seemed like every domain name that was evenremotely good was taken. Investors and businesses snapped upevery domain they could think of, just in case they later turnedout to be valuable.Now that the dot-com crash is well behind us, thousands of firstrate domain names have been abandoned and are up for grabs. Andfar from...
•Make Your Email SELL
Make Your Email SELL by Kevin NunleyNow that just about everybody has Internet access, studiesshow people average 20 hours per week online.That is an amazing statistic considering the Web has onlybeen around for a few years.Even more amazing is how much people use email. It hasbecome the central part of the way hundreds of millions ofpeople use the Internet.It pays to make your email messages more effective. Hereare some tips to help your email SELL!1. State your offer in the first...
•Pay Attention To Your Customers!
Pay Attention To Your Customers! by Kevin NunleyA lot has been written about what makes a good salesperson.Education, experience, training, and even a certain inborn"killer instinct" have all been mentioned as necessary qualitiesto be good at sales. From my experience, however, the bestsalespeople are the ones who are the best "people watchers."In other words, to be able to sell to your customers, you have tobe able to know who they are, what they want, and what they arefeeling. All of these...
•Put Some Punch In Your Classified Ad
Put Some Punch In Your Classified Ad by Kevin NunleyClassified ads are the world's number one cheap way toadvertise. They cost just a fraction of a large print ad. Andyou get your classified ad in everything from an emailnewsletter to USA Today.Most classified ads are either hard to understand or notterribly exciting. To get sales, you need people toimmediately understand your offer. You also need to builda bit of an emotional fire under them.Start each sentence with an action word. Get...
•Smart PR Stategies To Get Your Web Site Media Coverage
Smart PR Stategies To Get Your Web Site Media Coverage by Kevin NunleyPaul opens his favorite business magazine to find a fawninginterview with Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Then he picks up themorning paper and reads a long story on a new donut chainbeing built in his town. Later he catches a feature piece onCNN about a guy who sells funny handmade shoes andlearns accounting secrets from a CPA in Ohio.Media hands out millions of dollars in free publicity everyday. As well as advertising works, a...
•Start Your Sales Letter To Make MORE Sales!
Start Your Sales Letter To Make MORE Sales! by Kevin NunleyUsing a sales letter is a great way to get the attention ofpeople that might not otherwise hear about you. Sales letters canbe used as copy for web sites, sent to other businesses thatmight have a use for your product or service, or even justdistributed to individuals.The hardest part about getting a great sales letter, though, iscoming up with fast selling words to sell yourself withoutsounding too pushy. One way to get your...
•Successful Upselling
Successful Upselling by Kevin NunleyAsk and most businesses will tell you. The key to their successis upselling. It is one thing to get the sale. It is far betterto super-size that sale.Real profits come when you get the customer to buy a larger, moreexpensive, or more comprehensive product or service. The guygoing into a pet store to buy a fish is a classic example.When the clerk sees Sam looking at the budget-priced gold fish,she leads him over to the much more impressive tropical fish."As...
•Sure Fire Ways To Get More Sales
Sure Fire Ways To Get More Sales by Kevin NunleyCould you use more sales at the moment? Yeah, pretty mucheverybody can, right? Well, one great way to go about it issimply to promote your own name. By getting your name out there,a certain familiarity amongst prospects will grow and when thetime comes that these prospects need your services, likely you'llbe the first one they call.No doubt you have heard of viral marketing. Just like a commoncold, it involves having people pass an idea or...
•Telephone Selling Tips
Telephone Selling Tips by Kevin NunleyThe telephone is still one of the top ways to sell. You canpick up a phone, reach just about anyone in the world, andget a very sincere conversation going.This ability to use the phone to go anywhere and achieve aspecial rapport with customers makes the telephone anindispensable selling tool.Jot down what points you want to cover in yourconversation before you call. This will help you stay ontrack.Asks questions. Remember, it's the person who asks...
•The Problem With Those Long Web Site Letters
I'm seeing a big return to L-O-N-G web site sales letters. Many are 3,000 to 6,000 words long (that's 10 to 20 pages on a word processor).
Site after site are featuring these long sales letters on their home pages. Most follow the same formula and some appear to be turned out by a fill-in-the-blank letter generation program.
Of course the big question is, do they work? In the days before the Internet, regular direct mail sales letters were often six pages or more. These longer letters tended...
•Three Ways To Boost Sales--NOW!
Three Ways To Boost Sales--NOW! by Kevin NunleyFor many businesses, sales are getting harder and harder to comeby. The economy is slowing, consumers are more cautious, andbusinesses are cutting back. A period of drooping sales canthrow a roadblock in front of your plans to earn a profit.Fortunately, there are some tried-and-true strategies to focusyour business and get profits flowing again. Here are threethings you can do today to almost certainly get sales jumping.Write down your USP and...
•Three Ways To Close A Sale
Three Ways To Close A Sale by Kevin NunleyOne of the hardest parts of selling anything is closing thesale. You know when you're having a problem withclosing. You spend lots of time with customers, but don'tget many sales.Here are three simple ways to close the sale:1. Show you really empathize with the customer. If theyhurt, you feel their pain. If they want, you understand theirdesire with all your being. 2. Ask questions. Ask questions. And ask MOREquestions. You lead the direction of the...
•Three Ways To Sell Anything
Three Ways To Sell Anything by Kevin NunleyAll of us sell all the time. From a child asking Mom for acookie to the CEO of a major corporation trying to ink a milliondollar order, each of us sells. We sell our ideas and beliefs toco-workers, bosses, and family. We sell products, services, andconcepts.Here are three simple ways to sell anything. You can usethem in person, on the telephone, or with email.Way 1: Start a conversation. I never realized how effectivethis super-simple method was...
•Use Your Personality To Make The Sale
Use Your Personality To Make The Sale by Kevin NunleyIn today's society, marketing is very much focused on impersonalforms of communication: the Internet, mass media promotion, andeven bulk mail. When it comes down to it, we are all busy peoplebut we could probably stand a little bit of personal interactionevery now and then. So how do you go about making sales on a oneto one basis?Let's say you decide to make personal sales visits to customers.You need a sales pitch kit. This is the...
•Want To Make Money Online? Market A Service To Businesses
Don walked across the street from his house to mine to announce he had finally retired. "But I'm not ready for the golf course," he said. "I want to make a living on the Internet. What can I sell?"
This is a question many of us struggle with as we see money, freedom, and a bright future for those who manage to find their niche online. You may have tried to sell something from the Internet only to find it is difficult to get visitors to your web site and even harder to get them to buy.
The...
•Want To Make Sales Fast?..Use The Telephone
Want To Make Sales Fast?..Use The Telephone by Kevin NunleyIf I were to ask you where the best place to make a sale was, youwould probably answer the Internet, right? You might be surprisedto hear that while the 'Net is still going strong, it's notnecessarily where you could be pulling the bulk of your salesfrom.Even though the Internet is hotter than hot, a lot of majordot-com's are reverting to the good old telephone to make sales.Their impressive web sites get lots of interested...
•What Is Your Marketing Telling You?
What Is Your Marketing Telling You? by Kevin NunleyMarketing is an essential part of building a profitable business. Even if your customers come entirely from one customer telling another, your sales go nowhere unless you have a way to get the word out.But what happens when marketing fails to do its job? You shuck out hundreds, even thousands of dollars for advertising. The ad runs, then nothing. The phone doesn't ring, Nobody comes in your store. Your web site gets no hits.Do-nothing...
•Writing Great Sales Copy
Writing Great Sales Copy by Kevin NunleyA lot of people shy away from writing their own ads and salesletters when it's really not necessary. If you have even a basicgrasp of writing skills, you can easily write your own stuff thatreally sells. You probably just need a few pointers about formatand language.When formatting an ad or a sales letter, put the most importantbenefits right up front. Put yourself in the customer's shoes andask yourself what the customer will really go for. Focus...
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