Category Archives: Advertising

A Roundup of Ad Headlines, Good and Bad

October 6, 2010 – 4:15 am

I just finished reading a recent issue of a trade magazine for garden centers and found myself struck by the huge percentage of bad headlines.

What makes a headline a bad one? (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Copywriting | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Techniques to Lead Your Reader’s Eye

August 27, 2010 – 4:15 am

In an excellent presentation on catalog design at last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference, Lisa Hodgson Balch of Sargeant House Design Studio explained how the concept of “gaze motion” is especially important in the gardening world.

In a nutshell, gaze motion means (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Catalogs, Website design | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Burpee’s Campaign to Entice a New Generation of Gardeners

August 20, 2010 – 4:15 am

Garden industry marketers typically face the same challenge: our primary audience is downsizing or eliminating their gardens, and the generations that follow did not grow up learning how to garden. Consequently, even if gardening is of interest, they’re overwhelmed and intimidated about getting started.

Burpee has done a magnificent job of addressing new gardeners through (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Facebook, Marketing, Marketing goals, Website design | Tagged , | Leave a Comment

Overcoming Incorrect Assumptions in Cross-Promotion

August 2, 2010 – 4:15 am

Are you making the same mistakes I have been when cross-promoting your marketing channels? Here’s what I mean: We’ve been publishing a printed newsletter, Let’s Grow, three times per year for the last 7 years. It’s sent to a substantial mailing list we’ve developed over the years, and most of the articles in it are [...]

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Marketing | Comments (1)

Encouraging Customer Photo Submissions

July 26, 2010 – 4:15 am

Nothing sells like a photo of a happy customer using your product or showing the fruits (and vegetables and flowers!) of their gardening labor. I’m always amazed at how few companies make a concentrated effort to encourage customer photo submissions. Here are a few tips on how to go about it: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Using Marketing Personas

July 21, 2010 – 4:15 am

Today there’s a popular trend towards marketing with personas – fictitious customers, each representing a different market segment. When developing personas for your business, there are lots of variables to consider, such as age, geographic location, education, experience with your products, whether they’re avid Internet or social media users. The benefits you provide, offers you make, and media you use to communicate is likely to differ from one persona group to another.

For instance, a company selling a self-contained raised bed gardening system may have personas such as: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Marketing, Marketing goals | Tagged , | Comments (2)

What’s the Best Way to Present Your Message?

July 14, 2010 – 4:15 am

The rise of new media has given companies many options for presenting their sales messages: video, blogs, podcasts, and much more. Many wonder what’s the best way to get their message out. The answer: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Marketing, Social media | Leave a Comment

An Acid Test for Headlines and Subject Lines

July 12, 2010 – 4:15 am

When your prospects are flipping through a magazine, your ad only has a second to catch their eye. Your headline and image has to do all the heavy lifting. Unless that catches their interest, they’re guaranteed not to delve further.

Likewise, when looking at an overflowing email inbox, readers are most likely scanning “from” lines and subject lines, deciding which emails they can delete without opening.

That makes writing powerful headlines and subject lines a pretty important skill to master. Here’s the trick I use to see if mine measure up: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Copywriting, Email marketing | Leave a Comment

Should You Put Prospecting On Hold?

June 28, 2010 – 4:15 am

When economic times are hard, it’s tempting to call a halt to prospecting in order to conserve cash. Sounds harmless enough, but think twice before you do. Unless you replenish the buyers you lose to attrition, it’s amazing how fast you can dig yourself into a hole that’s awfully tough to climb out of. Here’s what I mean: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Also posted in Catalogs, Goals, Marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Consider This Before You Buy Your Next Magazine Ad

June 2, 2010 – 4:15 am

I’ve been contacted by more and more publications about advertising in their Special Interest Publications, commonly known as SIPs – magazines with a very specific focus, such as shade gardening or container gardening. They’re generally sold only on newsstands, and the tight editorial focus is touted as a huge benefit for advertisers.

I rarely use them. Here’s why: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Tagged , | Leave a Comment
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