If you own a shop in the middle of the desert, and nobody walks past… obviously you’re not going to attract many customers.

If you own a vegetarian café in the middle of a meat-eating suburb… you could get very skinny… very fast.

And if you run ads where either:
a)    The wrong people see them
Or
b)    Not enough people see them

Your phones aren’t going to ring… and nobody is going to come into your store…

No matter how good your copy is.
No matter how good your headline is.
No matter how good your offer is.

And I see people make this mistake all the time. For instance, about a year ago I was chatting with a guy I know who sells computer gear to businesses… and he was thinking about placing an ad in the Sydney Morning Herald.

What’s wrong with this? My guess is 90% of the people reading the Sydney Morning Herald are NOT business owners… and therefore 90% of his advertising dollar is wasted.

What’s the alternative? Place ads in business publications where you are reaching 100% of your target market.

Or alternatively, rent a list, and direct mail the decision makers within the specific companies you want to approach.

You may pay more to reach each individual: however every single person you communicate with is a potential client. It makes a lot more sense… doesn’t it?

And here’s a tip for those businesses who sell products to the  general public (like property, clothes, entertainment, home improvement, food or anything else).

If you want your ad to be seen then place it:
a)  On the right hand side of the newspaper. Research has proven that right hand side pages get a better result than left hand side pages.

b)  In the early general news… as far forward as you can. I always go for page 3, 5 or 7. And pay the loading (usually 30 – 50%) because my experience shows it’s well worth it!

But don’t take my word for it. Implement these strategies, measure the results and see what results you achieve in your business.

One final point: Once you start advertising directly to your target market, you’ll generate profits so easily, you’ll be
the envy of all your competitors.

That is, if you also understand the most effective ways to get new customers, both online and offline. Such as those
you’ll find at:
http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

In fact, you’ll start stealing so much of their current business, the mere mention of your name will make them shake in their boots.

There’s a famous story about a guy who was going broke once running an ad which said:

We’re going broke. We need to sell our gear because otherwise we’ll be out of business. Help!

There’s another story where a bedding retailer put the tags on the wrong way on their bed, and said “Our beds are discounted because our tags were put on the wrong way”

So here’s the thing…

If you can’t come up with an advertising concept.

If you can’t come up with a clever idea.

If you’re stuck for creativity.

Just try being honest.

The recession is hurting our sales.

We need to get rid of our stock to get new stock in.

We are going to go broke if we don’t use this stock.

Tell them your true story.

Tell them you are struggling. Or why you got into the business in the first place. Or how much you want to generate funds so you can take your kids on holiday and that’s why you are making this crazy offer.

Or whatever. And it won’t just work for retailers…

If you’re a hairdresser, tell them you need to paint the walls to freshen things up a bit… so you’re holding a special to make it happen sooner rather than later.

If you’re a martial arts teacher, tell everyone you were bullied at school and that’s what motivated you to get into the industry.

If you’re a mechanic, explain that you have to buy a new machine which can allow you to get the jobs done faster, quicker and more effectively… and you’re holding a special to bring in the new funds.

Make sense.

The weird things is that when you are honest in your advertising, you are also often very original, because nobody else is doing it.

Finally, it’s been revealed – the formula for true love.

1. Decide the oldest you want to be when you get married.

2. Decide how old you’ll be (or were) when you started considering girl / boyfriends as potential life partners (e.g. 23)

3. Subtract teh younger age from the older age and multiply the result of 0.368 (eg: 12 x 0.368 = 4.4)

4. Add that number back to the younger age to get your optimum proposal age (eg: 27)

Heck, who needs chemistry when you’ve got a mathematician to guide you, right?

Of course, when it comes to love, it’s not quite that easy.

But if I was a dating agency I would be coming up with lots of statistics like this to promote my company.
And then using these interesting angles to get publicity leading up to Valentine’s Day.

After all, the key to getting publicity is coming up with a great angle.

For example…

If you are a florist, you might find some statistics about why partners who buy each other flowers on Valentine’s Day
have better love lives.

If you are a bedding retailer, you might create an angle about why more people get backaches around Valentine’s Day and how a great bed could solve this problem

If you are a nutritionist, you might create an angle around childhood obesity.

Of course, I am not the expert.

But there’s a guy in Melbourne called Pete Williams who is, and if you want to find out how to get all the free publicity you need, then click here