www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko

This was the third question that I was asked by a participant at a recent entrepreneurship event, and I thought it was a great question!

I’ll give you a short answer, and a slightly longer answer.  First the short answer: no, you don’t need to be an expert in a field to start a business in it.

Here’s the long answer: of course, it depends a whole lot on your definition of expert, and which business you’re getting in to.  You can’t not be a surgeon and decide to open a surgery clinic.  Also, you can’t not be a lawyer and decide to practice law.  But with a few exceptions, you could really start any business you wanted to (I’m assuming you’ll have done your homework, feasibility study and business plan, which you should do even if you are an expert already)

I’ve heard that Sir Richard Branson, the genius founder of the Virgin Group studies a market for three months before entering it.  Three months!  That’s it!  So you don’t need to have years and years of experience and accumulated knowledge.  You just have to be smart, and hire the right people.

And remember, there are many entrepreneurs that have a degree in one field, and work in a completely different one.  In fact, many entrepreneurs have no university degrees at all.  So that should not be seen as an impediment.  Speaking of Sir Richard, he dropped out of school, and today he’s a billionaire.  So if you have any hang ups about that, don’t!

How to be perceived as the obvious expert in your field

As a marketer I think it’s important for your market to perceive you as an expert in your field.  And remember, to be an “expert” in something, you just need to know more than the average person.  Quick example, though I use a lot of technology, I don’t know how it works, and don’t really care how it works.  But I have to tell you, I’m so impressed with some of these IT people that know how to programme and do their computer wizardry.

They might laugh at my naiveté, and try as they might to explain how simple and unimpressive it is what they are doing, it doesn’t take away from the halo I see floating over their head.  Get my point?  It’s easy to be an expert to me in the field of technology.

Please don’t think you need to have 24 initials after your name and 20 years experience to become an expert.  Here are some of the things you can do to be the obvious expert in your field:

1. Write:

Articles, books and reports.  Remember, even if you what know is known to everyone in your industry, it might not be known to your  customer, so write about it anyway.  Write a weekly or monthly column in a trade publication or consumer newspaper/magazine.  You can write a regular blog.  Also, right reports about your industry, as well as free reports for your customers to download from your website.

Also, write a book.  Look, writing a book is not easy, but it’s certainly not as hard as most people think.  My self-defence book has garnered me two TV appearances, a newspaper cover, radio interviews, and lots of other media coverage.  It has greatly boosted my expert status in the field of self defence and martial arts in Bahrain.  The book is only about 100 pages long.

Your book can even be written by a ghost writer (a professional writer who writes books for others in their name).  You’ll find loads on e-lance.  Or your book could be a collection of all the articles you’ve published over a two or three ear period.  Don’t worry too much about how well your books sells, it’s not about the sales (the vast majority of books barely break even), it’s about having a really impressive business card (the book).  Get my point?

2. Appear on radio and TV:

Again, this is not as hard as it first sounds.  I’m not suggesting you get a whole show for yourself (although that would be great, but difficult to get at the start), what you can do is contact the radio and TV station(s), and tell then that whenever they have a story that is related to your industry, that they should contact you for quotes.  I recently heard the story of a US cab driver – yes, a cab driver – who contacted his local TV station and offered his service as a traffic expert.  So whenever there was traffic, the TV station would send a reporter to interview him – standing next to his cab of course with the phone number showing – about ways to avoid the current traffic.  He’s their expert, get it?

3.  Conduct seminars and workshops:

These can be paid or unpaid, depending on the purpose you want to achieve.  At Zen-Do, we often conduct free anti-bullying seminars at schools.  We do this for three reasons; the first and most important reason is for the cause.  I’m a staunch supporter of children’s safety, and protecting them from abuse, neglect or bullying.  The second reason is to get more students in our school.  And the third to garner publicity for our school.

I’ve conducted paid self-defence courses as well.  As well as various other seminars, events and workshops.  The more of these you do, the more likely you’ll be perceive as an expert.

4.  Publish your own newsletter:

What better way to establish yourself as an expert than to publish your own newsletter?  You can share tips on how to do what ever it is that you do, and also keep your customers and prospects updated on your latest offers.

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I highly recommend you get the book The Obvious Expert , by Elsom Eldridge and Mark L. Eldridge.  This book is a great resource to help you stand out from the crowd, and put help you to be perceived as the obvious expert.

I hope you found today useful.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and talk to you soon.

Here’s my take on this: it’s good to have a slogan, but not vital.  It is by far more important to have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  Your USP must answer this question that is on your prospect’s mind – consciously or unconsciously – “Why should I buy from you?”.  Your USP is what makes you different from everyone else.

Your USP can be based on several things; like price – not something I would necessarily recommend – (think of Walmart in the US); ingredients, colour, size, hours of operation (There is a gym chain in the US that is called 24 Hour Fitness), celebrity endorsement (The George Foreman Grill for example), location, etc.  It can be based on anything that is unique to you, and important/desirable to your prospect.

Now, once you have a good USP (and don’t take this part lightly) you can derive your slogan from it.  Your slogan has to communicate your USP in an easy and memorable way.  And very importantly, your slogan has to be honest and believable.

There is a small supermarket next to the DBC here in Hamala, where if memory serves me correctly the slogan is “Where service matters”, or some such sentence.  Let me tell you, service is the furthest thing from their mind!  It would be much better for them to have no slogan than such a BS one.  You can tell just from walking in that they have no concept of customer service, and that the staff there I treated like dirt – and they in turn treat the customers like dirt too.

So if don’t have a USP at the moment, and can’t think of a slogan, then don’t worry about it.  There are far more important things to worry about than slogans; like good marketing, great customer experiences, staff motivation, a proper pricing strategy, not to mention sales and profits, etc.

On last thought, if you don’t have a USP then develop one!  Remember, the USP has be really special and unique.  Take good care in developing a good one.  And don’t confuse a USP with a slogan.

Hope this was informative and talk to you soon.

On a blog post I wrote last week, I spoke about some of the questions I got at the Global Entrepreneurship Week. If you recall, I mentioned that I was asked lots of questions on marketing and entrepreneurship.

One of the participants, Osman Safdar, a university student, came prepared with four excellent marketing questions.  I will address each question in a different blog post.

The first question Osman asked me was this: which is more effective, publishing ads in magazines or sending out fliers?

Not a bad question.  But there is a flaw in the question, or rather, in the assumption behind the question.  Why assume that one would be better than the other?  Why not both?

The answer to the question is that you measure the results you get from both, and then decide.  If one gets good results, and the other does not, then you stop doing the one that does not get results.

When doing print advertising, you have to use newspapers and magazines that are going to be read by your target market.  To give an overly simplistic example, if you were to sell cars an obvious place would be to advertise in car magazines.  But not just car magazines.  People who buy cars might also read lifestyle magazines.  In fact, they might not even read car magazines at all.

A BMW 5 series buyer might read the financial papers, as well as some industry publications, but might not really care too much for car reviews and 0-60 statistics, and hence never pick up a car magazine.  So you have to measure.

How do you measure?  Ask your customers this simple question “how did you find out about us?”  At the end of the month, tally all the responses.  It really is that simple.

Fliers are generally better with geographic targeting.  Meaning you can’t really choose who receives the flier based on hobby, occupation, or reading interests (which you can more or less with print advertising), so you basically cover a whole area with fliers.  Generally speaking, fliers are good if you’re limited in your budget, as they are fairly low cost compared to print advertising.  And if both the print advertising and the fliers work, then do both.  Never drop something that is working for something cheaper!  You don’t want fewer sources of customers, you want to always make sure you’re adding more, make sense?

Good!  Talk to you soon.

Ministry of Industry and Commerce
Tamekeen
Bahrain Business Incubator Centre
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
Bahrain Development Bank

And a few others, nine in total, and yours truly was one of them.  I talked about the Five Fatal Marketing Mistakes Every New Entrepreneur Should Avoid.  I must say it was very well received.

When all the speakers were done we sat at different booths where the attendees could approach us and ask us questions.  I was virtually mobbed with people wanting to speak to me.

Some were just fans who wanted to say hello and thank me.  Others had detailed questions about their businesses, or businesses-to-be.  I loved some of the ideas that people had, and some I did not.  I tried to be as diplomatic as possible with the bad ones.

I was approached by a group of high school girls whose project was to create a business.  What really fascinated me was that they had to create a real business, not just a fictitious one.  They were part of InJaz.  I love their energy and enthusiasm.  They had 3 business ideas.  Two of which I did not like, but I liked the third one (I don’t want to say what it is to respect their privacy).  They asked if I would visit their school and I agreed.  So maybe sometime next year.

One lady asked to give her some ideas to market her abaya shop.  I gave her some ideas, but her reaction was “Oh but that’s so much work!”  “Well, are you an entrepreneur or not?” I responded.    “If you are then you’ve got to do what it takes.  Otherwise find yourself a job somewhere in the government and work from 8 to 2, reading newspapers and drinking tea.”  She got the point, but I don’t know if she’ll implement.  There are no short cuts, if you want to bake your cake and eat it, fine.  But you still have to bake first.  And you might have to bake hard.

One of the people that approached me was a young man who seemed very smart, started a couple of micro-businesses while still in college, and was working for the government.  Among the businesses he started was importing honey from Nepal.  He said that he lived and breathed marketing and wanted whatever advice I could give him.

I said something like “what the hell is someone like you doing working for the government??”  “I ah… well am in my final year in college, and I graduate next May.  Maybe then I’ll start my own business…” he replied.  “Look young man!” I said “If I see you next May still working for a bureaucracy I’ll lose all respect for you!  Don’t waste your life like this!”  I added with annoyance.

The reason I was so harsh with him was because I could see the entrepreneurial fire in him.  There are people who are meant to have jobs, and people who are meant to create businesses, this young man was certainly in the second category.  Maybe this chat was just the push he needed to start out on his own.

Another person I spoke to was this young man who wanted to open a coffee shop.  If I had a dinar for every coffee shop idea I heard I’d be very rich indeed.  Can we get more boring? I gently tried to dissuade him from the idea.  And after maybe a 10 minute or so conversation he reluctantly agreed with me.

I had lots more conversations and talked non-stop for about two hours.  The hall was empty by the time I finished with the last person, the cleaners were just coming to clean up.

What impressed me was the fire I saw in some of these young people.  And I’d like to congratulate and thank Young Arab Leaders for putting together such a great event.  I’d also like to thank the Kaufman Foundation for developing the concept of Global Entrepreneurship Week.  I don’t know how much this week cost to set up, but it was offered free to all the attendees.  I think a few lives were changed that night…

Talk to you soon.

Welcome to another blog post in the series of how to create effective adverts.  This is what we’ve covered so far:

1) The importance of direct response advertising (how to commit small marketing suicide)

2) How to write advertising headlines that can make you rich.

3) How to pointlessly burn your advertising money.

4) The phenomenal power of copy writing. How to write proper advertising copy.

5) Millionaire secrets to creating killer advertising photos.

You know, sometimes the most profound secrets can sound very mundane when you first hear them.  It takes a while for the grand wisdom to sink in – if it does at all.

Today’s secret might sound a bit mundane at first, but trust me it is VITAL to making your adverts successful, and increasing your bottom line.  Ready?

Remember that your advert will be competing against lots of other adverts, as well as interesting articles in the publication, and possibly a baby crying in the back ground, and all kinds of other distractions.  So if you’re lucky enough to have grabbed his attention with a good headline, and even luckier to have had him read all of the advert, you’ve now got to compel him to take action.

He’s got to waddle off the sofa/couch/kitchen table/desk and buy from you.  How do you do that?  Two ways: first, make him an offer!  Make it as generous as you can afford.  Here are a couple of ideas:

- X% discount voucher in your advert
- A “dollar amount” discount.  Eg, $10.00 or BD 5.000 discount voucher in the advert.
- FREE gift with every purchase above a certain amount.
- FREE trial period / “try before you buy”

You’re limited only to your imagination. Get my point?  You have to offer them something before you expect them to show up at your door step.  Make them an offer and the response rate will go up.

The second way to make your reader take action is to tell him what to do.  Never assume that your customer or prospect knows what they should do, tell them!  Your advert could say “call us now on XXXX”, or “visit us at _______ today”.  Yes, it sounds silly but please don’t skip this part.

There’s a saying in the field of direct selling which says something to the effect of “timid sales people have skinny children.”  Meaning that sales people who do not ask for the sale (which is the most important part of face-to-face selling) don’t earn enough commission to feed their kids.  The great sales people are the ones who ask for the sale.  And so should you, tell your advert reader to take action.  Ask for the sale.

Other important stuff
To further increase the likelihood of a response, add other pertinent information to your advert.  Thing like opening hours, location, telephone number, website, email etc.  It shocks me how many ads skip this bit.  It’s insane!

An example of what not to do

The other day I was sitting with my wife at the breakfast table when she saw an advert by French jewelry and fashion brand Folli Follie.  She’s been a Folli Follie fan for years and was very excited to see the advert.  But then she got annoyed.  Look at the ad and see if you can guess why she got annoyed:

Taken form this month's Bahrain This Month Magazine (I think)

You guessed right!  The advert had no information what so ever!  Why am I supposed to buy from you if you don’t give me a reason to.  The advert:

1. Did not explain the benefits of buying from them
2. Did not make any sort of offer.
3. Did not ask me to take any action.
4. Did not ever bother to tell me how I can find them.

I can just imagine the shop owner sitting at his or her desk, wondering why no one is responding to the adverting.  Very bad advertising indeed.

Well that’s all for today.  Remember to implement!

Talk to you soon.

Photos and illustrations can be an important part of an advert.

Welcome to another blog post on how to create effective advertising that can make you rich.  So far we’ve talked about the following subjects:

1) The importance of direct response advertising (how to commit small marketing suicide)

2) How to write advertising headlines that can make you rich.

3) How to pointlessly burn your advertising money.

4) The phenomenal power of copy writing. How to write proper advertising copy.

Today I’m going to talk about an often misunderstood, and incorrectly utilised part of an advert – the photo!

In his amazing book Marketing Lessons of a Mail Order Maverick, uber entrepreneur and super-star copy writer Joe Sugarman says:

The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is often true.  And you might think that in a print ad a good photograph is a critical element in selling your product or service.  It is true, to some extent.  But in this lesson, I want to put into perspective the relative value of a photograph in the entire scheme of your ad campaign.

You must look at whatever it takes to the tell the full story of your product.  When you need a photograph to help tell the full story, you use one; if not, you don’t.  But you still keep in mind the main purpose of any photograph – to get your prospect to read the copy, and in particular, the first sentence.

So, the purpose of the photo/illustration (if you use one at all) is to read the copy, same purpose as the headline.  The photo (or other graphic element) should be seen as subordinate to the copy, not the other way around.

In the book Mr. Sugarman goes on to explain that the product itself represents 80% of the success of an advert.  The copy maybe around 15%, and remaining 5% is divided “between the visual elements such as the layout, headline, typeface, order vehicle, logo and of course photography.”

There are many adverts that have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sales – and even millions – that have no photos at all.  Like joe said, you need to keep the purpose of the photo in mind.  It should NEVER be used for creativity’s sake.

Here’s photo-less advert I wrote back in 2004:

Here are some more important points you need to keep in mind regarding photos in adverts:

- Show the photo with your product in use, portraying the advantages of having it (or the disadvantages of not having it)

- Avoid abstract, artistic illustrations that have no purpose.  If you’re selling a vacuum cleaner, put an photo of a vacuum cleaner.  If you’re selling a car, put it a photo of the car.

- Photos of attractive people work much better than “regular” folk.  Perhaps that one was obvious, but studies do show that response improves with better looking people.  We humans really are shallow.

- Photographs of children do well and increase response.  Photos of babies are especially powerful when trying to attract women.

- Make them curious.  David Oglivy in Confessions of an Advertising Man says “What do work are photographs that arouse the reader’s curiosity … he glances at the photograph and says to himself, ‘What goes on here?’ Then he reads your copy to find out.”

- Photographs of pets generally do well (but I’m not sure if this holds true here in the Middle East).

- Before and after photographs are EXTREMELY powerful.  Remind you of anyone?

- Readers assume that an advert that has a picture of someone of the same gender is aimed at them.  When advertising to men, use photos of men, and when advertising for women, use photos of women.

- Keep your photographs and illustrations as simple as possible.  Remember you only have few precious moments to attract your reader.  Don’t confuse him with complex illustrations.

- Pictures of celebrities do very well (remember you need their endorsement first)

- An enlarged photo of some sort of product detail can do very well.  But make sure it’s relevant.

The Caption

People will almost always read the caption under the illustration before reading the copy.  I forget the exact order (and I can’t remember which one of my books I read this in) but I think a reader will read the headline first, then the caption, then the copy.  So the caption is super-dooper important.  In Confessions, David Oglivy says “…you should never use a photograph without putting a caption under it, and each caption should be a miniature advertisement, complete with brand name and promise.”

My Secret Strategy

I’m about to reveal a really big marketing secret, ready?  Here goes; put a (human) face to your business.  Assuming you’re the owner of the business, avoid trying to look like a big corporation.  Make your business personal and put your photo in the ads, while making your promise or offer.

Remember this truism: people prefer to buy from someone they know, like and trust.  So give them a face that they can relate the business to.  Why not turn yourself into a celebrity in the process?

BIG FAT WARNING! Only do this if your adverts are customer, and benefit oriented.  If your ads are showy, self-centered or come across as bragging, then adding your photo will back fire.  But if you create a good, benefit-oriented advert, go for it!

Where to get your photos from

Every few years I bring in a professional photographer for half a day and take lots of photos to be used in catalogs and different ads.  Another great source I like is iStockphoto.com.  Whatever you do, don’t take random photos off the internet and place them in your ads.  Invest in getting the right photos.

Hope this helps and talk to you soon.

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A special message to my new readers from Saudi: Since my father Ghazi Algosaibi, God rest his soul, passed I seem to have a lot more readers from Saudi.  Most of which are fans of his.  So, welcome!  And thank you for your interest.  A quick note however, this blog is not a site dedicated to his memory.  There are some fan pages out there, and we his children will at some point put up an official Ghazi Algosaibi website.  This blog is about my thoughts and the topics I’m interested and passionate about, among which are marketing and entrepreneurship (though I suspect I will write about my father from time to time).  Also, this blog is in English and has always been in English, the main reason for that is because I want to appeal to an international audience and not just a local/regional one (not to mention it takes me forever to type in Arabic).  So thanks again for dropping by, now on with today’s topic…

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Welcome to another “Radical Marketing Secrets” post.  In this series I’ve been talking about some pretty awesome advertising secrets.  Here are the links to the previous posts in the series:

1) How to write advertising headlines that can make you rich
2) How to commit small business marketing suicide (the importance of direct response advertising)

As a quick reminder, it is a lot more efficient and effective to do direct response advertisements than image advertisements.  Direct response adverts generally look like articles.  They’re often referred to as advertorials.  Here are two ads I’ve shown in previous posts:

The Radical Importance of The First Sentence

Once you’ve got a sexy, irresistible headline, you need to write your copy (words).  THE most important sentence in your ad is the first one.  It is said that 80% of the success of an ad is the headline, and 80% of the remaining 20%’s success is the first sentence. Remember, your prospect will not be reading your advert in a vacuum.  He’ll be reading it while browsing the paper or PC/iPad screen.  Possibly while watching TV or having breakfast, distracted by his kids, thinking of the presentation he has to give at work.  Think of yourself when you’re reading a newspaper or magazine, do you stop and evaluate each advert?  Of course not, right?

So, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a few split seconds of attention while your prospect is scanning the headlines, and if your headline is good, he’ll stop at your headline just long enough to read it.  If that intrigues him, he then might – just might – give you an extra second or two to read the first sentence, or look at the photo (I’ll talk more about advertising photos in another blog post).  So the first sentence has to be really good!  And it should be what you spend a considerable time on.

It’s generally a good idea to follow up with the thought you introduced in the headline.  Keep the sentence short and to the point.  Another thing you can do is to start with a question (e.g. “Do you suffer from acne?…”).  You could also start with a story (“Two years ago my doctor told me I could never have children / I only have six months to live / I’ll be bald for life”).  Just make sure the story is true.  And keep it compelling.

Benefits, Benefits, Benefits

In sales training courses, one of the first things they teach is features vs. benefits.  A feature is something a product has, and a benefit is what it does for you.  So when you write your copy, always right in terms of the benefits your reader will get when buying your product or service, because he only cares about what it will do for him.  There’s an old sales acronym that you should keep in mind when writing your ads “WIIFM”, which stands for “what’s in it for me?”

The reader does not care about how good you are, or how good your products or services are, all he cares about is what you can do for him.  So, before writing your copy, draw a line down the middle of an A4 sheet of paper.  On one side list all the features your product or service has, and on the other side write the benefit(s) each feature has.  That will give you a very good starting point.  If there are any benefits you know of that your current customers are particularly happy about, make sure to mention those too.  Makes sense?

Appeal To Emotions and Feelings

We humans think we’re logical, but we’re not really.  We make most of our decisions based on emotions, and then justify them with logic.  So in your copy, make sure you’re appealing to emotions as well.  How will the prospect feel when buying your product or service?

I think it was Freud who said that we humans have two basic desires; the desire to gain pleasure, and the desire to avoid pain.  Here’s a partial list of things people generally want:

- Better health.

- More comfort.

- More money!

- More time.

- Better relationships.

- More popularity.

- More prestige.

- Better appearance.

Now figure out how your products or service can be linked to one or more of these.

Speak To One Person Only

When writing your copy, write as if you are speaking.  I often break the rules of traditional, proper writing when writing ads, because you get better results that way.  Also, write as if you’re writing to one person only, not to a group of readers.  Use the word “you” a lot, and minimise the word “I” or “we”.

Mention Your USP

USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition.  It’s the thing that makes your business stand out from the rest.  If you don’t have one, make sure to develop one.

Copy length

This is a topic that can cause a lot of controversy – but only for beginners, or for Image Advertising advocates.  The general rule is, the longer your copy, the better.  But – and this is a big BUT – the copy must be compelling and interesting.  It must keep your reader motivated and inspired to read the whole advert.

Let me give you an example to illustrate my point: have you ever read a book?  I assume the answer is yes (and if you’re a reader of my blog I presume and hope that you read books fairly regularly).  Anyway, assuming the answer is yes, then the follow up question from me would be “why did you read this book?”  There might be all kinds of reasons, but I’ll assume the main reason is because you found the book interesting – otherwise you would not have read it.

I’ll further assume that all the books you read are about topics you’re interested in.  So if you would read a 200+ page book about a topic you’re interested in – as many people would – would it not be fair to assume that you would read a long advert, about something you’re interested in?

The key thing is that the advert must be interesting to your prospect – don’t worry about who won’t read it, worry about who will.  Therefore your ad must be targeted at the correct prospect, not at everyone.  If you try to get everyone to read your advert you’ll end up getting no one.

So, if your headline targets the right prospect, and you have a good first sentence, and your copy is benefit-oriented, compelling and interesting, then people will read your advert.

Let me give you another example to further cement this point.  Imagine you walk into a mobile phone shop because you need a new phone.  You walk around and you see a nice phone, let’s call it the XLCom.  You call the sales guy and ask him about it, and he picks up the phone, makes a waving gesture with his hand and says “The new XLCom mobile phone, because you want the best!”

This would be a very weird experience, right?.  You would probably say something like “Excuse me, I don’t know what you just said, but I’d like more information on the new XLCom phone.”  He then looks at you, smiles and just repeats the same sentence “The new XLCom mobile phone, because you want the best!”
And this goes on for a few more times until you lose your temper and shout “STOP!  I just want more information on this phone!  How should I know whether I should buy it or not!!!”

The sales person apologetically looks at you and says “We’re not allowed to tell you more about the phone.  My manager says that people won’t listen if we explain too much about the phone.  We can only give you the tag line and point at the phone.”

Of course this is just a fictional example, but you get my point.  Saying that people won’t read an advert that has many words is like saying people will not listen to a sales person.  Would you limit the number of words your salesperson can use?  I don’t think so.  Don’t limit the number of words in your adverts either.  Studies have shown that long copy outsells short copy almost every single time.  Long copy allows you to “sell” your product more. And remember advertising is salesmanship in print.

Hope you found this useful.  If you enjoyed this then make sure to sign up for my FREE marketing course at RadicalMarketing.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and talk to you soon.

Let me start by saying I’m not a rock fan at all.  Growing up I’ve heard of this band called KISS, a group wearing make up and heavy metal-style clothes, with a band member who has a massive tongue.  I can’t say that I’ve been paying much attention to them, and I don’t think I’d recognise any of their songs if I heard them.  There’s been a rumour for years (apparently false) that KISS stands for Knights In Satan’s Service.

I read about the band’s bassist, Gene Simmons, the guy with the huge tongue, once or twice in the mainstream media, but that was about it.  I had no appreciation for the man’s genius.

This all changed a couple of years ago when I went to a marketing conference where the key note speaker was Gene Simmons.  Interesting, I thought.  A rock star is going to give a business key note presentation.  I didn’t know what to expect.

The other side of Gene Simmons

When he started the speech I was so impressed with his voice, and how well-spoken and calm he was.  From his speech I found out that Mr. Simmons is quite the entrepreneur and marketer.  In fact, you could say he’s a marketing genius.  I always thought he was just some rock star with make up and a big tongue.  Boy was I wrong.  I’ve subsequently become a fan of Gene Simmons the entrepreneur.  But I’m still not a fan of rock and I can’t say I agree with most of his controversial views on life, marriage etc.

After the speech we had the chance to take a photo with him.  There was a huge cue with a couple of hundred people wanting to take their photo with him, including me.  He was very patient and made a  ppint of chit-chatting with each person.  He was really humble and down-to-earth.

When my turn came I introduced myself and told him that I was from Bahrain.  “Oh!” he said.  “That’s pronounced with a hhh [making the sound of the letter ح in Arabic].  Right?”  “Yes” I said, completely impressed.  He said one or two other things and then he grabbed me by the waist and we had our photo taken.  What really impressed me is how he made small talk like that with everyone.  He came across as friendly, wise and learned.  Not at all what I expected him to be like.  I left so impressed, and a bit star struck.

Me and the man

The organisers gave attendees autographed copies of his book Sex, Money, KISS.  I thought the book was really interesting, and brought my admiration of Gene Simmons the entrepreneur/marketer even higher.  In my opinion he spent a bit too much time in the book talking about his views on marriage, fidelity etc.  But overall, still a good read.

I’ll share with you some random factoids from his life and business career that I thought were interesting, and you might find too:

Background

Gene Simmons is the only child of Israeli immigrants, and his real name is Chaim Witz.  He doesn’t drink or smoke and never did drugs.  From the very beginning of his career he knew the dangers of alcohol and drugs and never touched these vices.  Of course we’ve heard many stories of actors and rock stars who’ve fallen from grace due to their addictions.  Not here, Gene was sober from Day One.

“Once you learn that the most important commodity is you, yourself, and on one else, you will probably make a lot more money!” -- Gene Simmons, Sex, Life, KISS

All about money

One of the things I admire about him is that he knows what he’s all about, and is not ashamed of it.  Gene Simmons is all about cash, which he reminds us about a lot in his book.  Even his logo is a moneybag!

Further, while other members of his band (and other rock stars) were splurging their money on cars, women and alcohol, he made a point of always living below his means and making sure he saved money.  He didn’t even have a car for many years.  He bought his first car at the age of 35, and that was second-hand.

“I’d better be making more than I spend, or I’ll be asking you if you want fries with that.” -- Gene Simmons, Sex, Life, KISS

So when he first started out with KISS, he was never satisfied with making money just from the music sales.  He (and KISS as a whole) got into the merchandising business from the very beginning (more on that in a bit).  And he was constantly looking for other income streams to add to the band and to himself.  You could say the band was just a means to an end, rather than an end in it’s own right.  I guess you could say that he was an entrepreneur who happened to have musical talent and be in a rock band.

I can certainly relate to that.  I’ve never viewed myself as a martial artist, but rather an entrepreneur who happens to be a martial artist, which is part of the reason my martial arts school is so successful.

According to the book, Gene first earned his own money at the age of six selling cactus fruits to workers!  Is that impressive or what!  While in college, he would sell his services typing term papers for fifty cents a page, while being in a band and working as a life guard, and doing a handful of other things.

Constant Learning

It seems Gene was always reading, from a young age.  Among the publications he would read were Fortune and The Wall Street Journal.  Can you imagine!  I imagine that most of his peers would never dream of doing such a thing.  In the book he says “If you don’t know something, ask!  Anyone!  Everyone!  Information is everything and everybody is willing to tell you want you want to know…Keep your moth shut.  Be a vampire. Suck life dry of its knowledge.  Go to libraries.  Be around successful people.  Be around the rich and devour everything they know… Hang around smart people -- like them.  Try to hang around rich people -- love them, especially people who were poor and became rich… If money can’t buy happiness, it can at least buy everything else.”

“I’ve always been blessed with this delusional notion I have of myself: I think I’m better looking than I actually am.” -- Gene Simmons, Sex, Life, KISS

Merchandising

As I mentioned, KISS started merchandising from the very beginning.  They’ve sold over $500 million worth of merchandise in the last 35 years -- more than any other band.  According to Gene, they cover “condoms to coffins.”  According to a Billboard article about the band, the KISS portfolio includes more than 5,000 products and designs!  5,000! They include such items as ketchup (no, I’m not kidding), pool cues, mugs, pens, alarm clocks, KISS Mr. Potato Heads, credit cards, M&M’s, shoes, flip-flops, video cameras, dinner tables, children’s and toddler’s clothes, and more!

Gene was the one mostly concerned with the business side of the band.  He says “Paul [Stanley, his partner] has always been much more firmly rooted in the image and credibility of the music of KISS.  I was never all that much concerned with credibility.  I believed if we stood the test of time, that was enough.  I was always much more interested in the business of KISS.”

Other ventures

As an entrepreneur, Gene was always on the lookout for opportunities, and coming up with new ventures and products.  His  -- non-KISS related -- business ventures include a marketing and advertising agency (Simmons Abramson Marketing), a TV website, a line of t-shirts and accessories called Gene Simmons Moneybag, The Simmons Comic Group, Simmons Records, Simmons Books.  He also stars in his own reality TV show.  He also owns a direct-sales business selling his branded bass guitars, and tons of other stuff.

Overall, one hell of an interesting guy, and worth studying.  If you’re an entrepreneur, certainly Gene Simmons is someone you should emulate.  And if you’ve not done so already, make sure to sign up for my FREE entrepreneurial marketing course at RadicalMarketing.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and talk to you soon.

PS here’s a video of Gene being interviewed by Mike Eisner, which shows you his relentless style of promotion:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CalhaHRl4CU

A couple of days ago I was reading the British business magazine Management Today, when I came across this Audi advert.

The advert is a two-page spread with the following copy:

Headline: The new Audi A8. No detail is too small.

Body: The sculpted gear lever feels as impressive as it looks.  Its flat paddle design supports your wrist when you’re writing on the MMI touchpad.  And because the 8 speed transmission is integrated with the sat nav, it selects the right gear for the road ahead.  In short, everything at your fingertips, from the gear you are in, to the music you’re into.  For more details visit www.audi.co.uk/A8.

Needless to say, I don’t think the advert is very good.  The advertising ROI on the ad must be really low.  A two page spread with only one paragraph of copy?  It’s crazy! If you’re going to take two pages, use the whole space for good copy, and work hard on selling your product.  Two whole pages just to show off the gear box?  Really??

To emphasise the point I made in the previous blog post, we small and medium sized business owners should not copy this type of advertising.  The big companies have the financial power, and often the reputation – but not always – to do well despite bad marketing.

A closer look at the ad

So what’s wrong with the ad?  Here’s what I think was done poorly.  First, I don’t like the headline too much, as it does not portray a benefit.  It does not grab my attention nor does it compel me to read the rest of the copy.  Second, there is way too little copy considering how much space they’ve used up.  The copy itself is not bad actually. It does a good job of translating features into benefits, which many car adverts don’t do.  Here’s a more detailed analysis:

- “The sculpted gear lever (feature) feels as impressive (benefit- and a kinesthetic one at that)…”

- “Its flat paddle design (feature) supports your wrist (benefit) when you’re writing on the MMI touchpad (feature)”

- Good use of the word “because”, a powerful hypnotic word.  For more on this see my article on persuasion secrets.

- “The 8 speed transmission is integrated with the sat nav (feature), it selects the right gear for the road ahead (benefit, but more a feature).

-  “Everything at your fingertips (benefit), from the gear you are in (feature), to the music you’re into (benefit)”

Like I said, the copy is good, but not enough of it.  Also, there is no offer.  Why should I visit the site?  Imagine your prospect sitting comfortably on his sofa, tired after a long hard day at the office, enjoying his afternoon tea.  You need to give him a compelling reason to get off his back side, walk to his laptop or desktop (assuming he doesn’t have an iPad or other wireless device next to him) and checkout your website.  A free offer of some sort maybe, or a gift voucher. Something!

Also, if I had been given this ad to write, I’d have made the photo much smaller, and used much more benefit-oriented copy.  Giving the gear so much attention is just pointless.  It exemplifies what is wrong with the advertising industry today, where the graphic designer is given more importance than the copywriter.  A problem recognised by the great advertising king himself David Ogilvey (one of my advertising heros) over 40 years ago.

Furthermore (wow, I actually used the word “furthermore”) surely an ad for a car as great as the A8 should actually show the car! It’s a beautiful car, and the ad does not do it justice at all.  I’d show the car in the main photo, and mention the gear lever in the copy, maybe with a smaller photo and a caption.

So, remember my friend you need to SELL in your ads, not show off and display photos, otherwise you’ll be pointlessly wasting your advertising money.  There is a saying among direct-response copy writers: “white space never sold anything”, meaning that every available space in the ad should be used to sell the product.  For more explanations on the basics of selling listen to my radio interview entitled How to Sell Anything to Anyone.

To get loads of FREE marketing and entrepreneurial advice, visit RadicalMarketing.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and talk to you soon.