by Chuck McKay | Dec 28, 2021 | Minimizing Risk, Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Zebra losing its stripes. You’re a lion. It’s dawn on the Serengeti. The hunger pangs of three days without food are becoming impossible to ignore. Off in the distance is a herd of zebra. You’re down wind. You can smell the herd but they can’t smell you. You crouch...
by Chuck McKay | Dec 10, 2021 | Buying Stages / Sales Conversion, Minimizing Risk, Persuasion / Power of Words, Two-Step Marketing / Back End Sales
There’s a gas station at one of the Interstate 20 off ramps in Columbia, South Carolina that is rumored to have the lowest prices in town. If they don’t have the lowest prices, they certainly have convinced a large group of drivers that they do. Most hours of the day...
by Chuck McKay | Nov 30, 2021 | Buying Stages / Sales Conversion, Customer Education, Expectations, and Motivation
“Everyone needs our product,” said Bob. “All we need to do is to tell them about it.” Bob’s enthusiasm is contagious. He’s convinced that America’s tap water isn’t safe to drink because of the presence of pollutants. The water filter he sells...
by Chuck McKay | Nov 24, 2021 | Buying Stages / Sales Conversion, Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Is this a good ad? Does it make you want to buy a can of John’s Tomato Juice? A good ad would. A good ad would catch the attention of someone who wanted tomato juice, and offer compelling reasons to choose John’s brand. But this ad? People expect tomato...
by Chuck McKay | Nov 23, 2021 | Ad Testing, Budgeting, Pricing, and Return on Advertising Investment (ROAI), Fishing 101 - the "How To" Class, Market Segmentation, Targeted Marketing, Database Marketing, Systemic Marketing (TM)
Pretend with me you’ve been conducting a direct mail campaign. In testing your headline you’ve discovered that changing its focus from greed to fear increases the response rate from 1.5% to 1.85%. Not bad. Three-tenths of a percent. That’s enough to get marketers...
