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Hello

Right here goes. First things first, I don't need to hear from anyone saying "we won't do it", sorry if that is a bit blunt, but I understand what I am asking for is not the norm. Nor do I need to hear from anyone regarding "design". Bottom line I have a limited budget, but prepard to pay for success. So only respond if you wish to take this suggestion further.

Now over the years I have put out a lot of money for advertising that basically did nothing for me. As a self employed person it is effectively coming out of my wages.

So here is my request. Many publications and such like may have spaces available for advertising that they cannot shift, or are looking to try a new approach.

Let us say that an advert costs 500. Now I am looking to run group hypnosis events for smoking and also for weight loss, two of the most popular requested areas I work with in one to one sessions.

Now for each event I need a minimum number to attend to justify the costs, otherwise it is not feasible. This minimum number can be anything from 10-100 depending on location, and cost of event.

What the advertising person needs to decide is whether or not THEY believe that their advertising spot will attract the minimum number.

Let us say that it is small local magazine which is distributed to the local community of 15,000. I may need 30 people IN TOTAL to attend. Could be 10 for smoking and 20 for weight loss for example. The question is does the advertiser believe that their advertising WILL, not might, attract the 30 I need. If not, then fair enough, we have saved a lot of time and I am not out of pocket.

However, if the advertiser thinks, YES I do think it will attract the minimum numbers, then they will benefit even more so.

In other words I am willing to pay more for success, even double if need be. Put simply let us say the ad costs 500, and you say, well with the guarantee, or more to the point, if the event goes ahead, you will be asked to pay 1000 or 1500 , I will pay the extra for peace of mind.

The advertiser is assured, because all they need to do is do a cold call to ask if the event is going ahead, and if I confirm this, then there is the assurance they need.

Of course the other advantage is that if it is successful, of course I am going to advertise with them in the future.

So if you are involved in a publication, maybe have a spare slot and thinking, well let's give this a go or perhaps looking to negotiate, then do let me know.

Best wishes,

Scott Burke

Okay Scott, I work in publishing. First off, what kind of ad are you talking about? Full/half/quarter page? And if you're talking Dirhams, you are way off the mark on cost, the average is around 10,000 Dhs.

No publisher will guarantee anything to you! They can't. It's upto you to carefully select a relevant publication that your target audience reads.

People I know that are in a similar industry to you, use Face Book and online sites quite heavily, because they can talk directly to their potential audience, get accurate attendance numbers, and hey it's free!

Scott - what you're asking about is measurabilty and ROI. Using any form of mass marketing or Above the Line is hard to measure and is mostly a hit and miss scenario depends on the quality of your copy and the target audience that is reached by that mass medium.

There are methods of adverting as chocs noted like facebook that are measurable and you can find systems where you reach people that are interested. for example banner advertising or google adwords works on 2 methods one is pay-per click - so you only pay when someone clicks on your ad or the other is paying per 1000 impressions i.e. your ad is shown 1000 times. pay per click is better for you though.

Other than that you can try direct marketing to your previous customers offering them an incentive to refer friends.

or ambient marketing also works i.e. that would be like putting one of those carnivale skinny mirrors next to the donut stand with a slogan like " I can make you stop eating these and look like this call 1800 scott.

You just need to think outside of the box and don't try and change the mass media system.

I understand you're posting from frustration but what you are suggesting is practically impossible. For a start a publication would have to sell all their ad space in this way, they cannot only sell what they have left over on the next run as this devalues their own product to those who have took out campaigns over a number of runs or across various publications.

Furthermore if a publisher were to take a risk, and follow the model you are suggesting for all their advertising, it would be a logistical nightmare to get the payments due to them, even without taking into account the potential for abuse.

As suggested previously you may be better looking beyond print based publications. A simple yet nicely designed website, that is Search Engine Optimised (SEO) and a 100 AED a month on Google adwords could get you 5-10 leads per week. Perhaps more, I don't really know much about your field of work but I know there is a lot of smokers out there, especially in the UAE.

OK, I've just had a quick look at your website and it does you no favours at all.

The design is fairly woeful by todays standards, a lot of people think design is irrelevent but it instils convidence in a prospective customer. Considering your field, you don't need to go over the odds with a redesign, and certainly don't be talked into flash based websites etc, but you are needing something a bit more cleaner and professional looking.

On top of which, the distribution of information is all over the shop, people don't read websites they scan, from left to right, top to bottom, and get bored when they have to read too far down. Columns work in newspapers but totally go against how people read the web.

Also putting content in textarea boxes is bad because search engine spiders cannot pick this content up. And you are using web tools from Bravenet, Tripod, Get Gear etc. These all hinder more than they help and a competent web designer/coder should be able to build you the same functionality into any redesign easily enough.

Finally, and this is the biggie, you are using far too many meta tags but also at the bottom of each page you have put huge amounts of irrelevant text in the same colour as the background. I don't know how long you've had your site but this is the most basic and futile "black hat" SEO trick going. Just about every search engine will ban your site outright for doing this.

In fact I've just typed "scott burke hypnotherapist" into Google and your domain is nowhere, this should easily be at the top, even without an paid for adwords campaign, not all the portals you are part of.

OK, so now the good news. Your actual content and copy is fine. The sections of your site are relevant and you get across the areas your services may be useful, contact information and you're professional credentials. The fact that you are also using Youtube as a form of publicity and driving traffic is also on the right tracks, if a poorly executed.

Sorry if all this sounds a little harsh, it's not my intention to be, but in this day and age, when everybody is fighting tooth and nail for a sale, you're hugely squandering one of the most cost effective ways of bringing in business.

Hi

Thanks for taking the time to reply. For me it is a case of nothing ventured nothing gained. I do like you mirror idea, sometimes a non-serious tongue in cheek approach does work, it obviously depends on the personality of the environment...if that makes sense.

There is one publisher who, after a lengthy discussion, agreed in principle that they would consider offering me an ad space on the basis that I pay a lot more if it is successful. Of course they asked lots of questions as to how it could be measured, but the bottom line is that if my event goes ahead....I pay.

And yes, most wont even entertain the idea, but that's OK. Like I said, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Right many more responses to get back too! Again thanks for taking the time to write your ideas, it is greatly appreciated.

All the best,

Scott Burke

scarlet wrote:Scott - what you're asking about is measurabilty and ROI. Using any form of mass marketing or Above the Line is hard to measure and is mostly a hit and miss scenario depends on the quality of your copy and the target audience that is reached by that mass medium.

There are methods of adverting as chocs noted like facebook that are measurable and you can find systems where you reach people that are interested. for example banner advertising or google adwords works on 2 methods one is pay-per click - so you only pay when someone clicks on your ad or the other is paying per 1000 impressions i.e. your ad is shown 1000 times. pay per click is better for you though.

Other than that you can try direct marketing to your previous customers offering them an incentive to refer friends.

or ambient marketing also works i.e. that would be like putting one of those carnivale skinny mirrors next to the donut stand with a slogan like " I can make you stop eating these and look like this call 1800 scott.

You just need to think outside of the box and don't try and change the mass media system.

Hi "FTD"

Sorry couldn't find your name, so please excuse me.

As with Scarlet, and indeed everyone, I like to thank you for taking the time to respond to my query. I messaged Scarlet with regards to publishing and having some level of guarantee for events. Long story short, there is one publisher who would consider it, but obviously it took a while to explain everything so that they were clear in terms of how it would work.

As for the website, well it is the old adage, I'm a hypnotherapist and not a web designer.

And yes, it probably shows.

I have taken on board your comments, and have removed the umpteen hundreds meta tags, and text boxes. I have also gone to a white background so it looks cleaner and fresher.

As for everything else...well that might take some time.

Ahhh, I remember in the old days it was a case of stick your number in the phone book and that was it...now it's adwords, scoot, yellow pages, this directory that directory and so forth.

Yes much frustration has come from this, as indeed I am sure it has for many.

Anyways I again would like to thank for taking the time to give me your sound advice, and it is truly appreciated.

Just had a thought, good job you didn't see my previous websites, because when I have look at them via the archive pages, they truly where awful. You would have thought I had photocopied the entire encyclopedia Brittanica "just to be on the safe side". And the cartoons didn't help either.

ah well.

Thanks again, and all the best,

Scott Burke

FTD wrote:OK, I've just had a quick look at your website and it does you no favours at all.

The design is fairly woeful by todays standards, a lot of people think design is irrelevent but it instils convidence in a prospective customer. Considering your field, you don't need to go over the odds with a redesign, and certainly don't be talked into flash based websites etc, but you are needing something a bit more cleaner and professional looking.

On top of which, the distribution of information is all over the shop, people don't read websites they scan, from left to right, top to bottom, and get bored when they have to read too far down. Columns work in newspapers but totally go against how people read the web.

Also putting content in textarea boxes is bad because search engine spiders cannot pick this content up. And you are using web tools from Bravenet, Tripod, Get Gear etc. These all hinder more than they help and a competent web designer/coder should be able to build you the same functionality into any redesign easily enough.

Finally, and this is the biggie, you are using far too many meta tags but also at the bottom of each page you have put huge amounts of irrelevant text in the same colour as the background. I don't know how long you've had your site but this is the most basic and futile "black hat" SEO trick going. Just about every search engine will ban your site outright for doing this.

In fact I've just typed "scott burke hypnotherapist" into Google and your domain is nowhere, this should easily be at the top, even without an paid for adwords campaign, not all the portals you are part of.

OK, so now the good news. Your actual content and copy is fine. The sections of your site are relevant and you get across the areas your services may be useful, contact information and you're professional credentials. The fact that you are also using Youtube as a form of publicity and driving traffic is also on the right tracks, if a poorly executed.

Sorry if all this sounds a little harsh, it's not my intention to be, but in this day and age, when everybody is fighting tooth and nail for a sale, you're hugely squandering one of the most cost effective ways of bringing in business.

InternationalHypnotist wrote:As for the website, well it is the old adage, I'm a hypnotherapist and not a web designer.

And yes, it probably shows.

Fair enough, and essentially you are a sole trader so nothing wrong with giving it a go yourself. However the old adage "you get what you pay for" rings true slightly. When trying to convince people to pay for web services I used to say well you wouldn't attempt to fix your own car or teeth without any knowledge on the subject.

Trouble is it's a minefield as at the other end a lot of companies have been sold expensives websites that are really no good for their business. Guess it's like finding a good mechanic or dentist, you need to find one you trust who provides value for their abilities.

InternationalHypnotist wrote:I have taken on board your comments, and have removed the umpteen hundreds meta tags, and text boxes. I have also gone to a white background so it looks cleaner and fresher.

About 12-15 metatags for each page but vary them slightly across your pages. Also change your file names from "page3.html" to hypnotherapy-business.html "page4.html" sports-hypnotherapy.html. Finally change the page titles accordingly too eg "Zoneology for professional atheletes" "Hypnotherapy for the business community" etc

Finally you might want to get hosting space that corresponds with your domain throughout, domain aliases are ok but concetrate on developing the "brand" of one.

InternationalHypnotist wrote:now it's adwords, scoot, yellow pages, this directory that directory and so forth.

IMHO, print based directories have had their day and web based ones have never been able to emulate them as its different mediums. Some people use yell a little but if you think how your target audience uses the internet then chances are they will just open a browser in their lunch our at work and type "stop smoking" into Google.

InternationalHypnotist wrote:Anyways I again would like to thank for taking the time to give me your sound advice, and it is truly appreciated.

No problem, your welcome.