-Our guest blogger- Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the best-selling marketing series in history, “Guerrilla Marketing,” plus 30 other books. His books have sold 14 million copies worldwide. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that today his books appear in 41 languages and are required reading in many MBA programs worldwide. He was a teacher and sounding board for The Shift Doctors (Tracy Latz, M.D. and Marion Ross, Ph.D.) ; and after many discussions strongly encouraged us to publish a book (soon to be released) designed to assist people who struggle with implementing tools learned in business or entrepreneurial coaching programs due to self-sabotage. For more on Jay Conrad Levinson visit www.gmarketing.com
Advertising No Longer Has to Make the Sale
Not very long ago, advertising’s main goal was to make the sale, though there are many other goals. But that has changed dramatically with the growth of dotcom companies all over the internet. Today, the goal of much advertising is not to make the sale but to direct people to websites.
That does not diminish the power of advertising. Instead, it increases it. With many, if not most, guerrilla-run companies establishing webturf, advertising’s newest function is to motivate people to visit a website where they can get far more information than can be delivered by standard media advertising.
Advertising has become the first step in a permission marketing campaign. It invites dialogue and interactivity with prospects and customers by directing people to websites, by offering free brochures, by generating the kind of action that leads to permission to receive marketing messages. Once people grant that permission, which they do at a website or by simply calling to request a brochure – printed or electronic — that’s when serious guerrilla marketing attempts to close the sale.
That means the prime obligation of advertising is to motivate an easy-to-take-action. This should come as good news because it places less of an onus on advertising than ever before. Motivating the action of getting person to click to your website is a whole lot simpler than motivating a person to part with his or her hard-earned money and risk spending it the wrong way.
– For more on Jay Conrad Levinson visit www.gmarketing.com
*Check out The Shift Doctors’ books at the Amazon link by clicking here and the Meditation CDs at the digstation link by clicking here