Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there ne

Cold Calling Techniques That Really Work - Marketing Solutions for Sales Leads
Cold calling techniques that really work is what you’re looking for right? Well I’ll let you in on a little secret that your coworkers don’t know. By implementing prospecting methods while you do your cold calling, you can bring in a ton more qualified leads than you ever could by cold calling all day.Now make sure you don’t stop your regular cold calling techniques. Not yet anyway. We want to keep this a secret so you can outsell your coworkers and even dumbfound your sales manager without them catching on. This way you can reap the rewards and make everyone think you have learned to hypnotize people over the phone to buy from you.So what do you do? Well think about it. What does cold calling do? It contacts one person at a time to hopefully find someon

When it comes to Internet marketing, the person who gets the most clicks wins.

The more people you can tempt to click on your ad, sign up for your program, or subscribe to your newsletter, the more money you'll make.

Why they click

A person is only going to click on your ad, sign up for your program, or subscribe to your newsletter if there's a reason to do so. That reason is some positive outcome the clicker hopes to gain.

Your job, as the advertiser, is to make it blatantly obvious what that reason is.

A failure to make it blatantly obvious will render every tip, trick and technique that follows completely useless. As with everything else in life, you have to get the basics right first.

This article assumes you already have the basics right. It assumes your ad is already generating clicks, sign ups, or subscriptions. And that you want to know how to increase the percentage of people who respond.

The five-pronged approach

There are five things you can do to improve the number of clicks, sign ups or subscriptions you're getting. They are...

1. Get to the point
2. Eliminate oblique references
3. Ask for the action you want
4. Invoke scarcity
5. Reinforce the benefit

Get to the point

Your prospect will only act when he or she believes it's in his or her best interests to do so.

Your ad has to make it blatantly obvious why it's in your prospects best interests. And it must do so as soon as humanly possible.

There's a very good chance your ad doesn't do this as soon as humanly possible. There's a very good chance your ad waffles along for several paragraphs before, finally, mercifully, wonderfully — it gets to the point.

And by then, it's too late. Your prospect has fallen asleep on his or her keyboard, accidentally hit the enter key, and surfed off to some other site.

Get rid of all the waffle, and get to the point immediately. And by immediately, I mean in the headline at the top of the page.

Eliminate oblique references

Eliminate oblique references? Huh?

What I'm really saying here, is be direct.

Don't say “eliminate oblique references”. Say “be direct”. Say what you mean in the most economic way possible.

Some of you may well rebel at this command. You've been taught to be polite, and using blunt language goes against the grain.

Force yourself to do it. Become an expert at using short words and sentences. Forget about fancy elements of style. Be direct!

This will help you get to the point fast, reinforcing the first of the five prongs.

Ask for the action you want

Sounds simple, right? You want somebody to click on your ad, sign up, or subscribe. Naturally you're going to ask them to do so!

Some of you will specifically ask the prospect to act. Some of you will waffle around the point, trying to be as polite as possible.

If you're already asking for the action you want, what exactly are you saying? Are you telling the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do? Are you spelling it out in simple steps, and being as direct as possible?

You're not? Then you have a job to do my friend!

If you're being super-polite, then you've been brought up well. Call your parents, and thank them for a job well done.

Then realize that being polite in advertising almost never works (there are a few exceptions). What works is getting to the point, and bluntly telling the prospect what he or she has to do.

You are literally giving your prospect an order.

Do tell the prospect to “Fill out the form and click the Submit button now”.

Don't ask the prospect if he or she would like to find out more, and feels the winds of fate are blowing in an appropriate direction, perhaps he or she could see his or her way to find the time to perhaps, all being well, complete the following form”.

Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there ne

Oscommerce Customization, to Give Your Online Store Your Style
Owning and operating an online store is now easier then ever. Thanks to the development of many software programs, just about anyone with some basic computer knowledge can manage a busy online shopping site and still have time for the important things in life. This is shown with the oscommerce software setups that are now available to people all over the Internet.Oscommerce, which is short for open source commerce, is a powerful tool in the online store arena. Using PHP and Apache, this software integrates all of the tools that one needs to operate an online store. This is a vast improvement over the older methods where the stores could only be operated by a person with technical knowledge. With oscommerce you have the opportunity to manage the store without ha

respond.

The five-pronged approach

There are five things you can do to improve the number of clicks, sign ups or subscriptions you're getting. They are...

1. Get to the point
2. Eliminate oblique references
3. Ask for the action you want
4. Invoke scarcity
5. Reinforce the benefit

Get to the point

Your prospect will only act when he or she believes it's in his or her best interests to do so.

Your ad has to make it blatantly obvious why it's in your prospects best interests. And it must do so as soon as humanly possible.

There's a very good chance your ad doesn't do this as soon as humanly possible. There's a very good chance your ad waffles along for several paragraphs before, finally, mercifully, wonderfully — it gets to the point.

And by then, it's too late. Your prospect has fallen asleep on his or her keyboard, accidentally hit the enter key, and surfed off to some other site.

Get rid of all the waffle, and get to the point immediately. And by immediately, I mean in the headline at the top of the page.

Eliminate oblique references

Eliminate oblique references? Huh?

What I'm really saying here, is be direct.

Don't say “eliminate oblique references”. Say “be direct”. Say what you mean in the most economic way possible.

Some of you may well rebel at this command. You've been taught to be polite, and using blunt language goes against the grain.

Force yourself to do it. Become an expert at using short words and sentences. Forget about fancy elements of style. Be direct!

This will help you get to the point fast, reinforcing the first of the five prongs.

Ask for the action you want

Sounds simple, right? You want somebody to click on your ad, sign up, or subscribe. Naturally you're going to ask them to do so!

Some of you will specifically ask the prospect to act. Some of you will waffle around the point, trying to be as polite as possible.

If you're already asking for the action you want, what exactly are you saying? Are you telling the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do? Are you spelling it out in simple steps, and being as direct as possible?

You're not? Then you have a job to do my friend!

If you're being super-polite, then you've been brought up well. Call your parents, and thank them for a job well done.

Then realize that being polite in advertising almost never works (there are a few exceptions). What works is getting to the point, and bluntly telling the prospect what he or she has to do.

You are literally giving your prospect an order.

Do tell the prospect to “Fill out the form and click the Submit button now”.

Don't ask the prospect if he or she would like to find out more, and feels the winds of fate are blowing in an appropriate direction, perhaps he or she could see his or her way to find the time to perhaps, all being well, complete the following form”.

Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there ne

5 Keys to Make More Money with PPC Publishing
PPC publishing is becoming one of the best ways to advertise on the internet. More and more companies are realizing the advantages of advertising this way, and the ranks of users swells daily. Here are 5 key ways toward the best PPC publishing for your dollar.1. Think niche advertising. Because you will need a website that appeals to someone, make if something that will draw a lot of interest and people who will want to click on the ads placed there. Include good content and photos if you can for the best PPC publishing results2. Use a visually pleasing design. Don’t think bright colors and flashing banners are the key to success here--mostly, people just click off sites like that. Look at the most successful companies out there and how they have their w

lly hit the enter key, and surfed off to some other site.

Get rid of all the waffle, and get to the point immediately. And by immediately, I mean in the headline at the top of the page.

Eliminate oblique references

Eliminate oblique references? Huh?

What I'm really saying here, is be direct.

Don't say “eliminate oblique references”. Say “be direct”. Say what you mean in the most economic way possible.

Some of you may well rebel at this command. You've been taught to be polite, and using blunt language goes against the grain.

Force yourself to do it. Become an expert at using short words and sentences. Forget about fancy elements of style. Be direct!

This will help you get to the point fast, reinforcing the first of the five prongs.

Ask for the action you want

Sounds simple, right? You want somebody to click on your ad, sign up, or subscribe. Naturally you're going to ask them to do so!

Some of you will specifically ask the prospect to act. Some of you will waffle around the point, trying to be as polite as possible.

If you're already asking for the action you want, what exactly are you saying? Are you telling the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do? Are you spelling it out in simple steps, and being as direct as possible?

You're not? Then you have a job to do my friend!

If you're being super-polite, then you've been brought up well. Call your parents, and thank them for a job well done.

Then realize that being polite in advertising almost never works (there are a few exceptions). What works is getting to the point, and bluntly telling the prospect what he or she has to do.

You are literally giving your prospect an order.

Do tell the prospect to “Fill out the form and click the Submit button now”.

Don't ask the prospect if he or she would like to find out more, and feels the winds of fate are blowing in an appropriate direction, perhaps he or she could see his or her way to find the time to perhaps, all being well, complete the following form”.

Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there ne

Big Moves for Small Business
How to make your dojo a marketing successAs experienced instructors, you know: it’s the beginner student who teaches the teacher. I’ve had a similar experience recently while transforming Fortune 500, big-budget business ideas into easy-to-use plans for dojo owners. Helping my son launch an Aikido dojo in Portland, OR, I’ve learned how this works for a dojo… applying and implementing resources when every penny was scarce and he required immediate results.In corporate America, we began by researching and analyzing the “market” and the audience we were trying to reach – often a timely and costly endeavor. I’ve already performed some of the legwork for you. What did we discover? While teaching may be a part-time avocation for many, it’s a full-time commitme

going to ask them to do so!

Some of you will specifically ask the prospect to act. Some of you will waffle around the point, trying to be as polite as possible.

If you're already asking for the action you want, what exactly are you saying? Are you telling the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do? Are you spelling it out in simple steps, and being as direct as possible?

You're not? Then you have a job to do my friend!

If you're being super-polite, then you've been brought up well. Call your parents, and thank them for a job well done.

Then realize that being polite in advertising almost never works (there are a few exceptions). What works is getting to the point, and bluntly telling the prospect what he or she has to do.

You are literally giving your prospect an order.

Do tell the prospect to “Fill out the form and click the Submit button now”.

Don't ask the prospect if he or she would like to find out more, and feels the winds of fate are blowing in an appropriate direction, perhaps he or she could see his or her way to find the time to perhaps, all being well, complete the following form”.

Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there ne

Creating Business Plans: Why So Hard?
Artists beware! By far, the most difficult areas in creating successful and agreeable business plans have to do with working within proposed budgets and agreeing upon realistic time constraints. Typically, from my experience in providing the service of wedding photography, there are many hidden hours working on projects where clients typically underestimate processing time, skill level, and time spent in correspondence with them. I worry about my client accepting the cost of what it takes to pull together a top-notch product.For instance, if I had a set of photographs on hand for a project and showed the pictures to a client prior to writing up a business plan, in many cases, the client would want me to throw in the photographs as a bonus. But, if the client ha

ospect if he or she would like to find out more, and feels the winds of fate are blowing in an appropriate direction, perhaps he or she could see his or her way to find the time to perhaps, all being well, complete the following form”.

Invoke scarcity

Human beings have a curious tendency to find something more desirable if it's rare.

You can take advantage of this in your advertising, by artificially limiting the supply of the thing you're offering.

When you limit the supply of something, anyone who wants that thing is under increased pressure to act. This helps overcome another human tendency to put things off.

Here are some examples of how to invoke scarcity...

A person offering a special discount places a time-limit on the offer.

A person seeking subscribers to a newsletter gives away a free gift to the first 50 subscribers only, and displays a countdown right there next to the subscribe form.

Reinforce the benefit

This final prong is about giving away a free gift to increase response. Yet it's more than merely finding any old thing to give away.

Your free gift should reinforce the benefit of the thing you're selling.

By choosing a free gift that reinforces the major benefit of your offer, you can be sure you're increasing the value of the overall package.

If you choose a free gift unrelated to your main offer, you can't be sure the prospect will find it valuable. For example, a buyer of tofu is less likely to find a free donut as motivating as would a person who regularly buys donuts.

If you choose a free gift unrelated to your main offer, you lose a valuable chance to restate your main benefit. That's because the section where you hype your free gift, is going to have to focus on the unrelated benefits of the giveaway.

Your prospect gets excited about the benefit he or she hopes to get as a result of taking your offer. By selecting a free gift that reinforces this benefit, you get another bite at the cherry. This improves your chance of getting the prospect excited enough to overcome his or her natural lethergy.

And of course, if your prospect has read far enough to get to the point where you're talking about a free gift, you can be sure he or she is interested in your main benefit. Why offer some unrelated randomly chosen freebie the prospect may not even be interested in?