Success with Classifieds

4mostClassifieds - User Survey

2007-06-26T03:04:00.000+02:00

4mostClassifieds - User Survey

Over recent weeks we have run a user survey on our free classified adsite 4mostClassifieds.com

There was no inducement to complete the survey other than anonymity and our assurance that the info was destined solely to improve service.

Below we summarize some key findings and the conclusions drawn - and some action steps we propose to fulfil our promise of service improvement.

1 GEOGRAPHY

70% of respondents are from USA/Canada with UK and India contributing most of the balance in equal shares. Indonesia was the other Asian contribution of note. Notably, there were no respondents from the rest of the English speaking world. 91% of respondents speak English as their first language, the balance being from the Indian subcontinent with English as their second language.

Lessons drawn -
a) Our own marketing has gaping holes in its appeal to the Commonwealth and other other English speaking communitites.

b) Although USA/Canada may still lead the world in internet adoption, this is rapidly changing as the massive Anglophone populations in Asia come online. India leads the way but China and Indonesia are also major new markets opening up. Significant differences of approach may be required to cater for differences in - culture, banking and disposable income, but there are major opportunities to be found in the massive emerging internet populations of Asia.

c) However, foreign markets are best left to experienced marketers, as the differences are non-trivial - cultural, legal, banking, timezone, communications etc etc. Concentrate on local markets for starters while you build expertise.

2 USER MARKETING FOCUS

We found a roughly equal spread between multi-level network marketing (MLM) and Affiliate marketing accounting for the great majority of our advertisers. There were also significant minorities of Resale Rights Info Product sales; and for Services to Marketers. There were also a couple of Made for Adsense Niche Content Sites.

The strong representation of MLM was a surprise to us and is not well served by publicly available generic training and advice. Unfortunately, the training provided by many of the product promotion outfits is rubbish to non-existent, which explains in part the massive drop out rate in the industry. Accordingly, we will introduce training and advice contributions and recommendations as possible.

For a start most MLM representatives could profit from the following free mini-course which I recommend strongly MagneticSponsoring

It may not surprise you to learn that the mini-course is a "come-on" to sell a (very good) book of the same name, but the free mini-lessons are of very high quality and usefulness and are well worth study in their own right if you cannot afford the book.

3 USER EXPERIENCE

A great surprise was to discover that 65% of all users had 3 months or less experience in online marketing. A total of 80% had up to 12 months only. This is a major finding which indicates a significant requirement for introductory marketing training and advice of which we were previously unaware.

To address this need I have created a blog Success with Classifieds to which we will contribute advice and tips on classified advertising. You are encouraged to visit the blog and leave your comments and any suggestions or requests for further articles and resource information.

We will also create an article directory at 4mostClassifieds.com where you can search and refer to relevant third party resources.

Unfortunately, the market for "How To" educational products for inexperienced Affiliate and MLM marketers is hugely exploitative and unreliable.
Hype is the order of the day and there is a serious problem of unrealistic expectations and outdated information. The internet is a fast evolving environment - older products often contain advice and information that was once valid but no longer works well or at all.

Obviously, there is little we can do unaided to put the world to rights on such a major issue, except to warn you about it and to provide a review and recommendation service for the various training and information resources we have knowledge of.

Your queries are invited for our comments on products you are considering or may have already purchased.

4 CUSTOMER VALUE

Our final finding was negative but important nevertheless.

Only 25% of respondents answered the nutty question "What is a new customer worth to your business?"

Of those responding, most offered confused answers demonstrating imperfect understanding of the question.

This was disappointing because "Customer Value" is a statistic constantly in the mind of every successful marketer. It affects virtually every strategic and tactical decision we make concerning advertising and promotion.

Put it round the other way - you are unlikely to succeed until you understand the question and know the answer.

The topic is important enough to warrant a dedicated blog article.

Take care,

Steven Henderson
4mostClassifieds.com

Success with Classifieds - Pt 2

2007-06-25T18:33:00.000+02:00

Today we conclude our introductory review of the factors determining Success with Classifieds. Previously we reviewed the topics of
1 -Target Market
2 - Offer and
3 - Ad Copy (Headline & Message)

The remaining factors to consider now are
4 - Market Reach
5 - Consistency

4) Market Reach

The more people that see a message, the more favourable decisions will be secured. Obvious, but important. How many folks place an ad in just one or two places, when there are literally millions of alternative channels on offer - many of them free?

The simplest counter to low response rates is to post the ad on more adsites. As many as you can find.

Admittedly this takes more effort, but the good news is that:

a) initial research to find sites is mostly a one-off effort.
It can even be outsourced inexpensively.

b) ad placement can be affordably automated.

5) Consistency of Campaign and Message

Somewhat of an anticlimax after the other topics perhaps.

Nevertheless, consistency of execution will primarily determine whether you succeed or fail. Will you learn from experience and drive home the nail?

Firstly, free ads expire in anything from a day to a month.
They need prompt and organized renewal to be maximally effective.
True efficiency will probably require some automated assistance - more about that later.

Secondly, many of the effects of advertising are cumulative - we seldom buy on first exposure (I've been told that the average online is to buy on the 7th time of asking!). Hence the populariy of list building and autoresponders.

Thirdly, brands are important in marketing. On the internet you are the brand. So you need some consistent presentation of a distinctive style and market positioning (what you stand for, what niche you operate in, your unique selling proposition).

You cannot be all things to all people - don't even try it online. It is more effective to specialize and become master of a niche. Ironically, a small niche is the strongest market position because it is not worth the competitive attention of the big boys.

Well that's it for today.

Next time I'll be talking about the lessons drawn from our user survey. This blog was actually a direct response to one of our survey findings.

More next time........

Take care,
Steven Henderson
4mostClassifieds.com

Success in Classified Advertising

2007-06-19T02:34:00.000+02:00

Our aim is to help advertisers become more proficient in using online classifieds to meet their communication objectives.

Whatever the topic of advertising, we usually seek favourable decisions from a certain target group. The principles of persuasive communication, or "selling", apply generally to all advertising.

You are encouraged to post your questions and comments; also to pass on the fruits of your experiences. As ever, the more we put in, the more we get out.

Let's address one issue right up front. Some people say that online classifieds don't work and that response rates are too low to be interesting. In fact, millions of people regularly browse the classifieds.

It is true that response rates to a single ad can be modest. Happily, there are many remedies to overcome low response. With a skilled approach, regular targeted traffic will result.

Rewards from classified advertising are the product of serveral factors as follows:
1) Targeting
2) The Offer
3) Copy - headline and message
4) Market Reach
5) Consistency

1) Target Profiling

Addressed to the wrong people, any message will fall on deaf ears.
So obvious with hindsight, yet so often overlooked as the problem, inappropriate targeting is the greatest single cause of failure in marketing. Age, gender, location, disposable income, family circumstances, experience, interests, objectives, and many other such variables will define the target market.

The first and most vital of all advertising tasks is to profile the target population very precisely in relation to the desired outcome. Who are they? How can they be identified in the crowd - what distinguishes them? What do you want them to do? What are their sensitivities or "hot buttons"? What shared problem, need or interest might become the focus to hook and retain attention?

Do not be afraid to run multiple campaigns, each tailored to a target market segment, in preference to a "one size fits all" compromise which typically fits nobody.

2) The Offer

If an offer is unappealing then few willl accept it.
More mastery of the obvious you may say - but how often do we see bad offers?

The vendor's desire to sell something, does not automatically make it compellingly attractive to a prospective customer. The trick is to visaulize the offer through the eyes of the buyer. It's a challenge of empathy.

Mark Joyner (the inventor of viral marketing) put it brilliantly when he advised marketers to: "find a thirsty crowd and make them an offer they can't refuse - then sell them another one".

Remember also that there is a lot of fear and suspicion on the internet, so trust cannot be taken for granted and must be earned. Any offer must take this insecurity into account.

3) Advertising Copy

Has anyone noticed that I haven't said a word about copy until now? That's because the prior points are killers if omitted or got wrong. Superb copy will be wholly ineffective for a weak offer, put to the wrong people, with little exposure.

a) Headline

The first challenge of copy is to get the message read - and that is the job of the headline.
If the headline does not instantly snag attention, the superb sales message following will never be read. Invest as much time on the headline as in the rest of the copy.

There is a least one software gizmo on the market for generating headlines which is worth consideration by regular advertisers. Inexperienced copywriters fall down on headlines more than any other aspect of copywriting.

b) Sales Message

Copywriting is a science and an art - very highly paid because it is so difficult to do well.

However, most people can achieve reasonable competence with some study and thought.

Copy is a big topic for return to in later posts. For the moment, let me just plant three seeds:

Firstly, understand that people buy for emotional reasons and later rationalize their decision objectively to justify the expense. To write good copy you have to understand the emotional triggers driving human responses and then write copy that appeals as much or more to the emotions as it does to reason and economics.

Secondly, understand that most folks are not much interested in what you want, or in your opinion. They want to know WIIFM - "what's in it for me?" They are interested in benefits, not nifty features. Sorry if that sounds cynical, but to write good copy requires a realistic appreciation of human nature.

Thirdly, evolution has programmed our responses to ensure the survival and progress of the species. In consequence, we are more responsive to pain and fear than we are to pleasure and benefits. Yes, we want the good, but pain and fear of loss paints up larger on our radar.

It has been experimentally proven that the possibility of losing $X causes more pain than the pleasure drawn from an equal possibility of winning $X.

So, you'll gain more attention if you identify a problem causing discomfort and distress and then offer a solution, rather than leading off with benefits to unmotivated audiences.

Well, that's plenty to reflect on for today.

In our next post we will conclude this introductory article with discussion of the topics "Market Reach" and "Consistency of Campaign and Message".

Take Care,

Steven Henderson
4mostClassifieds.com