Super Bowl Ads - How Not to Advertise Effectively

After watching these overrated, overhyped ads during Sunday's game, I kept shaking my head and asking this question out loud: These companies paid $2.6 million per ad for this?!

Most of the ads were trying to be funny, cute or clever, but really didn't tell why their product or service was great, or give the viewer a call to action. There was one exception: King Pharmaceuticals, who gave viewers a website to view to determine what their risk of heart-related illnesses are. Obviously, King Pharmaceuticals' goal is to make people aware of an actual (or possible) heart-related problem they may have, and buy one or more of their products to solve these problems.

It was still a little too cheesy for my taste, and didn't give the website address often enough. But given the competition it was up against, it was still better direct-response advertising than most of these idiotic ads.

Fortune 500 companies like Anheuser-Busch, Ford and others have hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for advertising each year. Unless they want their budgets cut, these marketing departments have to spend every dime they're allocated. Most of the time, it doesn't matter if they're effective or not - ad agencies keep telling them they need to 'build their brand' by repeating these usually worthless ads over and over.

As a small or medium-sized business owner, you don't have that luxury of spending money on advertising that doesn't bring in qualified, targeted prospects who can buy your product or service today. That's why measurable direct-response advertising is the best way to market your business, and get the best return on your marketing dollar.

Check Out Ryan's Blog

Here's another good blogsite with excellent content, from copywriter Ryan Healy. I met Ryan at a copywriting seminar last fall, he's a great guy who knows his business very well. Go to Ryan's Blog, and you'll find solid marketing and copy advice, plus a recommended reading list of all-time copywriting classics.

I don't give my endorsement to anyone unless they know their stuff and they're good people to deal with, and Ryan is definitely in both of these categories. He believes in writing 'honest copy,' which in my opinion is the only and best kind of copy to write - especially in the super-skeptical world we live in.

Check out Ryan's Blog for good, useful marketing and copywriting information.

Keep In Touch With Your Customers

I chose this topic because I've been guilty of this mistake over the past few months. Life got busy at the start of this year and I was going to "get to it later." Unfortunately, I didn't get a 'tuit' until today.

It's important that you keep in contact with your customers and prospects, and the best way to do that is through an electronic newsletter, also known as an e-zine. Alexandria (Ali) Brown can show you how to skyrocket your sales by typing a simple e-mail and clicking the 'Send' button. Click here to learn how.

Remember, if you're not staying in touch with your customers, your competition probably is. If you're providing valuable information, products and/or services, your customers will see you as a welcome online guest. People's attention spans are very short nowadays, you have to stay in fairly constant contact to keep your business in the front of their mind.

Check out Ali's site and subscribe to her free e-zine. It has a lot of great information you can use to increase your profits by writing a simple e-mail, and hitting the 'Send' button. How simple is that?