www.narvinta.com

Tired of pouring endless money into advertising? Do you wonder which ads are “REALLY” working for the business you manage? Would you like a bullet-proof system for capturing the results from your advertising and marketing? Below are three concepts that will enable you to track your advertising and marketing like a hawk! Really, it’s that simple!

Developing a tracking system: As a business owner/executive/manager, you need an efficient way to record and evaluate the results from your advertising and marketing programs. To get started, you will need a “prospect card” which includes a list of ALL the places you advertise and market your company. This prospect card must be current and complete, so your staff will be able to accurately track the results from each advertising/marketing source. Your business should also have a phone log, a summary of the daily and weekly advertising results and a report to summarize the month. Be certain each advertising source you are using has its own column for each report. Often, advertising sources are bunched together in the same category or column on the weekly or monthly recap, making it impossible to track the performance of your advertising/marketing.

Tip From The Coach: When asking your team to provide a summary of advertising and marketing results, have them sign and date the form. This is a reminder that they are accountable for the timely and accurate “source” information which is reflected on each report.

Identifying the source: To accurately evaluate the performance of your advertising program, begin by deleting “drive-by” as a source on your customer card and tracking systems. In most cases, your customers read or heard something about your company before they came to your office or called your company. Next, have your team design a marketing easel or a three-ring binder, which has a sample of the advertising and marketing being done. Then, ask your team to begin each appointment or meeting at this marketing easel or with their three-ring binder, so they can ask each customer if they have seen your current advertising or marketing pieces. NOW, this is the time for your team to record this timely information on the customer card, to accurately identify the advertising which brought this customer to your company. And by using this technique with every new customer served by your team, your weekly and monthly tracking reports will now reflect a more accurate picture of which advertising and marketing source is most effective.

Tip From The Coach: Of course, a tracking system can also be computerized and very powerful, but the steps/tips outlined in the paragraph above are still the same.

Creating a file for return prospects: Wow! Isn’t it great when a return-prospect becomes a sale? Such fun! Unfortunately, identifying the original advertising source which brought this prospect to your business the first time is a major problem for most companies. Often, your team will hear from a return-prospect, “I was just here a few months ago and decided to contact you again.” But each sale that is made by your company, which comes from a particular advertising or marketing source, makes it easy to justify which advertising/marketing you will continue to use. And since advertising and marketing is such a large monthly expenditure for most businesses, isn’t it important to know what’s working and what’s NOT?

Tip From The Coach: Create a master file of prospect cards for all prospects and have your team file the prospect cards from each day into a small box by last name, sorted A-Z. Now, when “Peter Smith” returns in three months after his first visit or phone call and says he wants to buy your product or use service, your team can simply go to this small box and behind “S” the original prospect card is right there! This is an instant way for your company to source its advertising and marketing. More importantly, your staff will have in their hand the background of this prospect and can create instant rapport. Instant rapport equals higher closing ratios, a double win! Of course, a follow-up system can also be computerized, but the steps/tips outlined in this paragraph are still the same. Once you have these systems in place, you can then calculate your: cost-per-phone-call, cost for bringing a prospect to your business and cost-per-sale! For a free analysis of your advertising tracking forms or the results you are receiving, fax your system/results to The Coach at 435-615-8670 and receive 20 minutes of complimentary coaching!

Author’s note: Ernest F. Oriente, The Coach, is the founder of PowerHour

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Can it be???

Is there advertising that people actually love?

You bet there is! And you are already very aware of it. The type of advertising I’m referring to is promotional items, also known as advertising specialties. It’s anything a company would put their logo and contact information on, and then give away. They are used by many businesses all over the world to help maintain, and increase the amount of business they do with their customers every day.

Why do people love it? Because we view the item more as a gift from the giver instead of an advertising tool. Have you ever been handed a logoed scratch pad, coffee mug, pen, coaster, calendar, etc. and then said THANK YOU? Of course you have. We all have.

When you accept it, an emotional (almost an obligation to do business with) type of attachment is created in you. A kind of warm & fuzzy feeling if you will. For a long time they’ll remember the gift you gave, and in order to show their appreciation to you, almost instinctively, they’ll try to do more business with you. That’s the secret behind this type of advertising!!!

And that’s why it’s The ONLY type of advertising people love.
AND it’ll work powerfully for you too!!

The next time you’re pondering ways to increase your business, consider using promotional items.

Scott Rauber, Biz Promo, LLC - In the business of helping businesses get more business. Master of finding prospects using little or no money.

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“Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass - you don’t see it, but somehow it does something,”
Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Culture affects everything we do. This applies to all areas of human life from personal relationships to conducting business abroad. When interacting within our native cultures, culture acts as a framework of understanding. However, when interacting with different cultures this framework no longer applies due to cross cultural differences.

Cross cultural communication aims to help minimise the negative impact of cross cultural differences through building common frameworks for people of different cultures to interact within. In business, cross cultural solutions are applied in areas such as HR, team building, foreign trade, negotiations and website design.

Cross cultural communication solutions are also critical to effective cross cultural advertising. Services and products are usually designed and marketed at a domestic audience. When a product is then marketed at an international audience the same domestic advertising campaign abroad will in most cases be ineffective.

The essence of advertising is convincing people that a product is meant for them. By purchasing it, they will receive some benefit, whether it be lifestyle, status, convenience or financial. However, when an advertising campaign is taken abroad different values and perceptions as to what enhances status or gives convenience exist. These differences make the original advertising campaign defunct.

It is therefore critical to any cross cultural advertising campaign that an understanding of a particular culture is acquired. By way of highlighting areas of cross cultural differences in advertising a few examples shall be examined.

Language in Cross Cultural Advertising

It may seem somewhat obvious to state that language is key to effective cross cultural advertising. However, the fact that companies persistently fail to check linguistic implications of company or product names and slogans demonstrates that such issues are not being properly addressed.

The advertising world is littered with examples of linguistic cross cultural blunders. Of the more comical was Ford’s introduction of the ‘Pinto’ in Brazil. After seeing sales fail, they soon realised that this was due to the fact that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning ‘tiny male genitals’.

Language must also be analysed for its cultural suitability. For example, the slogan employed by the computer games manufacturer, EA Sports, “Challenge Everything” raises grumbles of disapproval in religious or hierarchical societies where harmonious relationships are maintained through the values of respect and non-confrontation.

It is imperative therefore that language be examined carefully in any cross cultural advertising campaign

Communication Style in Cross Cultural Advertising

Understanding the way in which other cultures communicate allows the advertising campaign to speak to the potential customer in a way they understand and appreciate. For example, communication styles can be explicit or implicit. An explicit communicator (e.g. USA) assumes the listener is unaware of background information or related issues to the topic of discussion and therefore provides it themselves. Implicit communicators (e.g. Japan) assume the listener is well informed on the subject and minimises information relayed on the premise that the listener will understand from implication. An explicit communicator would find an implicit communication style vague, whereas an implicit communicator would find an explicit communication style exaggerated.

Colours, Numbers and Images in Cross Cultural Advertising

Even the simplest and most taken for granted aspects of advertising need to be inspected under a cross cultural microscope. Colours, numbers, symbols and images do not all translate well across cultures.

In some cultures there are lucky colours, such as red in China and unlucky colours, such as black in Japan. Some colours have certain significance; green is considered a special colour in Islam and some colours have tribal associations in parts of Africa.

Many hotels in the USA or UK do not have a room 13 or a 13th floor. Similarly, Nippon Airways in Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 or 9. If there are numbers with negative connotations abroad, presenting or packaging products in those numbers when advertising should be avoided.

Images are also culturally sensitive. Whereas it is common to see pictures of women in bikinis on advertising posters on the streets of London, such images would cause outrage in the Middle East.

Cultural Values in Cross Cultural Advertising

When advertising abroad, the cultural values underpinning the society must be analysed carefully. Is there a religion that is practised by the majority of the people? Is the society collectivist or individualist? Is it family orientated? Is it hierarchical? Is there a dominant political or economic ideology? All of these will impact an advertising campaign if left unexamined.

For example, advertising that focuses on individual success, independence and stressing the word “I” would be received negatively in countries where teamwork is considered a positive quality. Rebelliousness or lack of respect for authority should always be avoided in family orientated or hierarchical societies.

By way of conclusion, we can see that the principles of advertising run through to cross cultural advertising too. That is - know your market, what is attractive to them and what their aspirations are. Cross cultural advertising is simply about using common sense and analysing how the different elements of an advertising campaign are impacted by culture and modifying them to best speak to the target audience.

Neil Payne is Managing Director of Kwintessential.
Visit their site at:
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cross-cultural/cross-cultural-awareness.html

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