In my last email I covered image building ads and traffic building type ads. Today I am going to cover competitive edge ads and reduce inventory type ads.
Competitive Edge ads – When you see (or hear) a competitor’s ad, you say to yourself “I am better at this than they are!” How are your customers and, more to the point, your competitor’s customers going to know that you are better or your products are less expensive or that you have what they don’t? The type of ad you want is competitive edge.
A competitive edge ad is designed to let people know about the advantages of using you rather than the competition. You should always use at least the same size or bigger than your competitor’s ads. The key is to tell how you are better. Not better than your competitor but better for their customers to say “Wow! I should use you instead of them!”
Use a testimonial to tell how great you are. “I got a bid from all of your competitors and found that they are more expensive. Your service was also superb!” This really goes a long way. Or how about “My bid from XYZ was exactly what I paid. No up charges. No surprises. Just great service done right, on time and for what they said it would be. Quite a change from the others that I have used in the past!” Not everything needs to be about price though. “The pick-up and drop off service that they offer is great for someone that doesn’t have the time to drop off a car to be fixed.” The selection of Roast Beef sandwiches is amazing. Who would have thought there are more than ten ways to serve them up!”
Some do’s and don’ts – Do use real life examples. Do make sure what you commit to is something you are capable of. Do be TRUTHFUL in your advertising! Don’t bash someone else, even if they deserve it.
Reduce Inventory type ads – These are product and price driven ads. If you are overstocked, this is what you want to use. I helped a formal dress company once to drop 50% of their inventory in a month. They had a great offer and some wonderful photos of women wearing the dresses. The ad was big enough to make an impact. They sold nearly $180,000 of dresses in a month.
This is very price driven and the larger the ad you use, the bigger the sale appears to be. Use a limited number of items, and don’t be stingy. If you want to move a slow moving item, use price and limited availability (if applicable). Photos are important.
Many merchants use holiday or “End of Season” type ads to help promote these sales. Everybody loves a sale but a holiday sale or end of season sale brings in consumers because they believe they get a better price. These are actually Traffic Building ads.
When I was looking for a TV, my wife thought that President’s Day or January clearance sales would be priced better. We watched the prices and they were the same at most companies. Occasionally we saw a $50 discount but until the new models were about to come out, we didn’t see any significant discount. As soon as the new models were about to arrive, we saw inventory reduction ads. They were as much as $200 off. Some true “End of Season” ads are inventory reduction ads.
The use of inventory reduction sales and ads should be used less often than the traffic building ads.
Best wishes,
Boyd Petersen