White Hat Crew » Advertising

Why I Hate Door-to-Door Sales

Antone Roundy — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:00:55 +0000

The other day, two door-to-door salesmen, selling the same thing, knocked my door within about a minute of each other. (I don’t think the second guy was paying attention to where the first guy had been.) I hate door-to-door sales even more than telemarketing. Both are interruption marketing at their worst. At least when an ad [...]

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How Soon Should a Blogger Start Selling?

Antone Roundy — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:35:16 +0000

A few months ago, I posted an article about whether or not new blogs should display ads. (My conclusion: do it, but don’t overdo it, even after you’ve gotten big.) The other day over at ProBlogger, Brandon Yanofsky posted a great argument on the topic: If someone runs up to you and says, “Hey, I need your [...]

Should New Blogs Display Ads?

Antone Roundy — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:54:26 +0000

One piece of advice I see repeated over and over is for new blogs to forgo displaying ads until they’ve become established. To be honest, it’s never made any sense to me. On Yaro Starak’s blog today, Mark Riddix wrote: 5. Don’t Make This Mistake One of the first things that new bloggers do is try to sell [...]

“Spend Money. Live Better.”

Antone Roundy — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:08:39 +0000

Walmart’s customers don’t seem to be getting the message. And Walmart isn’t about to complain. Last month, Roger Dooley at Neuromarketing wrote about some research that suggests that Walmart’s slogan “Save money. Live better.” may inspire customers to spend more: The experiment divided subjects into two groups. Half were exposed to brand names associated with saving money, like [...]

Ad Placement: Do You Think This Would Work?

Antone Roundy — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:20:20 +0000

If you were buying advertising, where would you want it placed? Obviously, you’d want it where people in your target market would see it. And you wouldn’t want it in a place that’d reflect poorly on your company. For example, if you were promoting a bank, you wouldn’t advertise in a crack house, even if you [...]

Viral Marketing vs. Parasitic Marketing

Antone Roundy — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:17:55 +0000

Marketers are a lot like germs. They try to transfer ideas into living organisms (customers) in a way that enables them to survive, grow, and spread. But just as many bacteria are good for our bodies (like those that help us digest food), not all marketing is bad. Healthy marketing helps prospects find products that fulfill [...]

Google +1 vs. the Facebook Like Button

Antone Roundy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:45:37 +0000

Google has announced their own rival to the Facebook “Like” button: +1. Which is better? Let’s give them a look. Facebook “Like” The Facebook “Like” button appears on a webpage. When a Facebook user clicks it, their name may be listed next to the button, and a note about it will appear on their Wall. Google +1 The Google +1 [...]

Power Words Need to Be Handled With Care

Antone Roundy — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:17:38 +0000

Every once in a while, I see a list of “power words” — words you can use to add more punch to your headlines and sales copy. These lists are useful for finding better alternatives for the sorts of boring words we often use in our day-to-day writing, or even just to get you in [...]

Are Your Ethics Hurting Your Customers?

Antone Roundy — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:06:42 +0000

Do you think it’s honest to use emotional appeals to sell products? Or as an honest marketer, you should stick strictly to the facts? While lies and deception are clearly out of bounds, opinions differ on where the line is between an honest emotional appeal and manipulation. If you shy away from emotional appeals to ensure [...]

Details Have Convincing Power, But…

Antone Roundy — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:21:59 +0000

Have you ever seen a sales letter where the headline claims that you can “Make up to $10,276.84 a month by exploiting this little known loophole?” Have you ever wondered why the amount is so specific? The reason the number doesn’t get rounded down to $10,000 is that more specific numbers are trusted more than round [...]