By Scott Wilson

Out of 100 products, 90 never get past the initial development and testing stages, of the 10 that do 7 will fail in the market within 3 years.

To make matters worse 80% of new businesses are gone within 3-5 years!

WHY?

Because a higher number of the Business Owners have no idea how to sell, promote, advertising or market their products. Most Business Owners are brilliant in their fields of expertise or they have a great product, but they couldn't market or advertising their way out of a wet paper bag!

If you are serious about YOUR business then read every single word on this page. You see today I'm covering a subject that sent a lot of those 80% of businesses to an early grave!

"Image and Brand Advertising"

Sometimes when people go into business, they feel they have to throw heaps of money at advertising because that's what the "Top Guns" do isn't it?

We are surrounded by image advertising everywhere we look. It's in our face 24/7. Half the time, we are a compete loss as to what the business is actually trying to sell?

And let's face it, most of us who are in business just don't have money to burn. As an entrepreneur every dollar must be watched, after all the reason we go into business in the first place is to make a profit right?

"Image Advertising" is the type of ad campaign that use music, sexy women and men, dancing, singing and then end with the company's logo. They give absolutely no reason for the buyer to take immediate action in most cases.

Unless you are a huge company like Coca Cola or Nike, and have very deep pockets, this type of advertising will do nothing to attract "top of mind awareness". Using "Image" advertising is one of the major traps that traditional and online businesses fall into today. People get wound up trying to be clever, cutesy or creative that they forget WHY they're advertising the first place.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, buy wouldn't you agree the whole reason for spending big bucks on advertising and marketing is to make money? So don't go getting trapped in all that glitz and glamour. Think about the number one reason for being in business. (Yes, apart from the money!)

It's to serve your customer. Because let's not forget, it's them who has the money you want in their pockets! If you really want to make all that money you've been dreaming of for years - I'll tell you how to get it.

DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISNG! Yep and you will get a response with Direct Response Advertising, You will get results, you will get orders, you will build a very profitable database, you will build customer loyalty and you will make money. It's a fact.

What you have to keep in mind is that your prospects don't give a hoot about your company image. All they want is to know your product or service can take away his pain and give him pleasure. The more benefits you through their way, they more likely they will move towards a buying decision!

By the way, even though your prospect doesn't care to deeply about your credentials, what they will want to know is what PROOF you can show them about how great your product or service is.

Tell them about this, give them testimonials, tell they you've been to seminars on you topic all over the world, tell they you're up with the 'latest and greatest' tell them you conduct seminars on this topic. Sooth their anxieties.

In everything you do, give people reasons why they should believe in you, so they'll buy.

Now just to clarify this once more, the difference between an "image ad" and a "direct response ad" is this.

An image ad is all about the company image. It has no call to action and is totally focused on the business and not the prospect. It's purpose is merely to put a company name or message in front of the general public. This type of advertising is not trackable I any specific way.

A Direct Response Ad is trackable. It's asks of the prospect to take action in some way. Usually by phone, email, mail, coupons download etc. This means you can measure the effectiveness of the direct response ad and know if you are getting a return on investment.

Here's Something You Must Never Forget...

The only reason you ever advertise to get a response. You want your prospect to be compelled to take immediate action. You want them to call or visit your business. You want them to download your information now. You want them to become loyal customers. Nothing else is worthy of your hard-earned money!

Once you're using direct response ads, you can keep track of the results, measure what the bottom line comes to and know whether to keep running the ad or to drop it. It's that simple! If you were running and image ad, there wouldn't be any way to track the results...it just wouldn't happen.

And whatever you do, don't forget to track your results and keep records. This way you can improve your ads and work out which ones bring in the most money!