When it comes to advertising, it truly is a simple process that most marketing companies make extremely and unnecessarily complicated. In fact, I can easily make the concept too complicated if I overthink it too much. There is a Steve Jobs quote that I love. He says, “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Because I’m not a genius like Steve Jobs, I truly do have to work hard to simplify my thinking and without the proper guidance from Clay Clark’s business coaching program, I would probably still be in the doom loop overthinking complicated simplification (WHOA).
Simplifying your thinking and your process of advertising is a MAJOR task. There are two types of entrepreneurs. You have the pirates and you have the pioneers. After the mentorship from Clay Clark and Jonathan Kelly, I realize pirating takes much less time, emotional energy and there is usually MUCH more money to be made faster than the pioneer method. Unless you’re the Steve Jobs of your time, you should probably earn money the way Clay teaches business coaching clients. So, if you want to simplify advertising, here are a few Jonathan Kelly / Clay Clark approved tips for the over-thinkers like myself!
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs
DOMINATE the No Brainer!
This one actually is fairly simple. The no brainer is the offer you are willing to do that no one else in your industry is willing to do. The offer is so good, it literally is a no brainer. Examples could be a $1 first time car wash if you’re a mobile detail company. Maybe the no brainer is half off your first eye exam, or one free room of carpet cleaning for first time buyers. We teach this at our Thrivetime Show Business Conference and almost every business coaching client and the paths I see have a no brainer. The fact is, your ads are only as good as your no brainer. You could have all of the greatest graphic designers in the world, but if your ad is not compelling, no one wants to buy.
Scope the Competition and DEFEAT!
What is the competition offering? Make your offer better. How good, modern, tasteful, or crisp are your competitors’ ads? How great is the quality? Make your ads better both on the offer and the quality of photos, design and layout.
Determine Your Audience!
The audience is KEY. Select the wrong demographic, you’re not maximizing your advertising dollars. Very few industries should advertise to both male and female. Very few industries even need to advertise to males (sorry guys). According to Inc. Magazine, women drive the majority of consumer purchases. Unless you’re positive you MUST advertise to both, women are probably your target audience at least 70% of the time. Age, demographic and location is simply picturing your ideal and likely buyer and selecting them!
Keyword Focus Ads if Platform Requires!
This is a new concept I’m trying to perfect and learn more on and it is something we discuss in great detail at our business conference. This one comes straight from the Google mastermind himself, Jonathan Kelly. If you are advertising on a platform that is keyword focused, make sure the keywords are appropriate for each platform. One thing to note, typically they will be different.
Both for search engines and Google Ads, your keywords should be different. Search Engine keyword selection is determining what the buyer is typing when searching for your product. Examples of this would be hair loss Beverly Hills, mobile detail Beaumont, or handyman O’Fallon.
Google Ads (formerly known as Adwords) is a little different. For this part, you should do different variations of EVERYTHING. There is a section for the keyword and the location. So you can simply develop a list of 25 keywords without the location and determine the zip codes you want to advertise to. Using the example above, the adwords keyword could be hair loss, mobile detail or handyman. However, the location doesn’t have to be named in the keyword because you are telling Google where to show the ad.
Youtube (A Google Company)
Center this around interests. What is the ideal and likely buyer interested in? Using the handyman example, the keywords could be something along the lines of home decor, home remodeling, home upgrade, etc. For the mobile detail company, base the ads around fast cars, auto detail, or car wash. For the hair loss company, center this around fitness, wellness or simply haircare.
Advertising doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, I think the less you know and the less marketing blogs and podcasts you absorb, the more effective your ads will be because you are not overcomplicating the process. Another pro tip from the Thrivetime Show business conference, TRACK YOUR ADS. Do not, for the LOVE OF GOD, launch ads without intending to track them for the rest of…. only forever. Happy advertising Thrive Nation!
