The Latest Advertising Craze

With the internet still in its infancy stage, there is always the next big thing when it comes to advertising. The first one was e-mail marketing, the people that started e-mail marketing in the very beginning have made and will continue to make loads of money. If done properly with no spam and with a highly targeted list, as long as you have a solid product, e mail advertising will make you loads of money.

Then came the “pop up” and in my opinion that was not good for anyone. Pop-ups are annoying even if you do click on them every now and then, they are still annoying. It's sort of like when you move from your home you have to handle everything in your house, whether you are moving it to take with you, or if you are going to be throwing out, it has to be handled. Pop up ads have to be handled.

Fast forward past all of the obvious ways to advertise online. Now we come to the pixel craze, and that is the next big thing.

Some of the best money making stories are the most simple, who would have ever thought that people wanted a yellow piece of paper with sticky stuff on the back? 

The guy that started The Million Dollar Home Page was a 21 year old college student that made a million dollars in less then 6 months. 

Advertising dollars are always going to be part of internet commerce. Web sites cannot be profitable on free advertising and search engine traffic only. You have to have a realistic advertising budget that will go as far as it possibly can.

Now for a variation of pixel pages. Word pages are the next big thing. 

 Word pages use words instead of pictures which is a much more targeted form of advertising. When you read a word your mind translates it into a picture, when you see a picture your mind translates it to words then back to a picture, which takes just a little longer. 

 That's why the simplest ads still work, “How to..., Act Now,,, etc etc. 

 Word pages also offer a lot of bang for your buck, the pages that have a certain theme have a loyal following, which means return visitors. 

 Add the people that purchased a word along with the site being heavily marketed by the webmaster, it is probably the best $100 that you can spend on advertising.

One simple rule on the internet is that you have to spend money to make money, word page advertising you buy once and it is there forever or until the agreement expires.

Find a word page about your niche and see ”How To Get the Most for your Advertising Dollar ”so “Act Now” and get in on the next big thing.

The Truth About Work at Home Companies

If you turn on the T.V, or open up a newspaper you are likely to find an ad for a work at home company. These schemes are on the rise and you can find them almost anywhere, from the telephone pole flyers, to television commercials. These advertisements promise anything from a few bucks made on the side, to instant wealth and quick cash. But one has to ask the obvious question: Do these companies really deliver on their promises?

Caution should be exerted when looking into one of these advertisements. Most of these get rich quick plots, and work from home companies are just con artists looking to scam you out of your money. Most of the time you notice too late what has happened, and that these ads have left out some very important facts. They may have left out the fact that you will have to work many many hours to get the job done, and with out pay sometimes too. Some even charge fees which they do not disclose beforehand in their ads. Lying by omission is how most scams get into the business to begin with.

An unperceived number of work at home companies require their applicants to spend their own money to place newspaper ads, make photocopies, or buy envelopes, paper, stamps, and other supplies or equipment which they will need in order to perform their jobs. Sometimes, these work at home companies may even demand that you pay an additional amount for the instructions or "tutorial" software for training so you will be able to do your job properly. What they fail to say however is that this "training" or "instructions" that they speak of is actually available elsewhere, free of charge. Many consumers who have been deceived by the ads ran by these work at home companies have lost thousands of dollars. What's more, all their time and effort that they invested on the schemes went down the drain.


Some classic schemes to look out for are things like:


Medical Billing: 

Companies pitch that there is a crisis in health care. The ads will say that in order to save money, doctors are looking for outside people to take care of paper work and billing over the internet. Such a job promises easy case, and lots of it, but what they will fail to mention is that you have to start the business on your own, gathering clients, advertising and generating revenues all on your own.

Envelope Stuffing: 

Work at home companies will ask you for a fee so that they will be able to send you "instructions" that tell you how to stuff envelopes and make money. But you will later realize that these instructions are actually the same ad you have received that they will tell you to send out in order to draw more people into the scam.

Be Single Minded

You’ve read about the importance of being courageous, rebellious and imaginative. These are all vital ingredients in an effective advertising campaign. However, they must be tempered with the most important ingredient of all—strategy.

As long as the advertising industry has been in existence there has been debate about whether advertising is art or commerce. Quite frankly, this kind of divisive argument is a waste of time and has only helped to diminish what little respect the industry has earned through the years. Besides, the answer is simple. Advertising is the art of commerce.

It can’t be pure art because pure art won’t engage the consumer on behalf of the brand. Art can certainly get people’s attention, but it rarely causes them to take action. If the consumer is not actively engaged, the brand won’t grow. If the brand doesn’t grow, the company won’t profit. And if the company ceases to make a profit, it dies and takes its brand with it.

On the other hand, advertising can’t be mere commerce because capitalism, in and of itself, is not pretty. It doesn’t make people sit up and take notice. Pure commerce deals with the exchange of money for goods and services. How boring is that. Besides, you don’t want to encourage simple commerce. You want to promote branded commerce. That is what makes strategy so important.

Let’s be clear. We’re talking advertising strategy. Advertising is not marketing. Marketing involves several disciplines including product, pricing, packaging, distribution, customers and promotions - which encompasses public relations, advertising, point-of-sale, direct marketing, e-marketing, etc.

If your ad agency can’t tell the difference between marketing and advertising strategy, run like hell. 

You’re liable to waste a lot of money. Now some agencies do understand the balance between the broader marketing picture and the narrow, targeted advertising scope. If they are capable and comfortable operating in both realms, they will be a very valuable partner to you.

The importance of a strong ad strategy can’t be stressed enough. Creating ads without strategy is like throwing a ping pong ball at a speeding car in a wind storm. There is little chance you will hit your target.

With a sound advertising strategy, however, even a company with a limited budget can compete against deep-pocketed competitors. Such is the power of the single idea that remains constant over time. This, my friend, is the essence of long-term branding.

You must start by knowing to whom you are speaking and to whom you should be speaking. What are their hot buttons? What kinds of things are they paying attention to (art)? What would make them want your product or service (commerce)? What kind of life do they lead? What are some of their daily hassles? Can your product or service help with any?

The key, of course, is to begin thinking about your customers and potential customers. Focus on their needs instead of your own. By offering solutions to their needs, you will fulfill your own profit needs. It doesn’t work the other way around. Trust me.

Only after you know your audience, should you start thinking about how to communicate with them. Because only then will you know how and where to reach them.

Challenge yourself, your staff and your advertising agency to revolutionize your ad program. If you missed a previous step, contact the author for a complimentary copy. And, remember, every revolution begins with just one step.