<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta name=Title content="ACTON, Ltd"> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <title>ACTON, Ltd</title> <style> <!-- h1 { page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; color:windowtext; font-weight:bold; } p.MsoCommentText, li.MsoCommentText, div.MsoCommentText { font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:windowtext; } span.MsoCommentReference { font-size:8.0pt; } a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; } a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single } p { font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:black; } p.BalloonText, li.BalloonText, div.BalloonText { font-size:8.0pt; font-family:Tahoma; color:windowtext; } p.style4, li.style4, div.style4 { font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; color:windowtext; } p.style5, li.style5, div.style5 { font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:windowtext; font-weight:bold; } span.style71 { font-size:10.5pt; } p.unnamed1style4style7, li.unnamed1style4style7, div.unnamed1style4style7 { font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:windowtext; } span.heading1 { font-size:8.5pt; color:red; text-decoration:none; text-underline:none; text-decoration:none; text-line-through:none; font-weight:bold; } span.boldheading1 { font-size:8.5pt; color:black; text-decoration:none; text-underline:none; text-decoration:none; text-line-through:none; font-weight:bold; } p.CommentSubject, li.CommentSubject, div.CommentSubject { font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:windowtext; font-weight:bold; } --> </style> </head> <body bgcolor=#FFFFFF lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><b>The Leading Online Newsletter for Marketing Education</b></span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;color:blue'><b><i>ACTON Marketing, LLC Update</i></b></span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;color:blue'><a href="http://www.actonfs.com/">www.actonfs.com</a></span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>Volume 5, No. 1, Monday, January 7, 2008</p> <div style='border:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt'> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'>This is a serious educational newsletter devoted to the subject of marketing.&nbsp; You can quickly and easily expand your marketing knowledge by devoting less than 30 minutes a week to reading the four articles included in each issue.&nbsp; By printing an issue, you can read it at your leisure.&nbsp; For those who wish to read only certain articles of interest, use the table of contents as a guide.&nbsp; So you can explore topics in greater depth, we include references that will lead you to additional resources.&nbsp; Our goal is to make each of us a better marketer.</p> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'>&#8220;Employ your time in improving yourself by other men&#8217;s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.&#8221;&nbsp; &#8212; Socrates</p> </div> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>&#8220;What&#8217;s money?&nbsp; A man is successful if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.&#8221;<br> &#8212; &nbsp;&nbsp;Bob Dylan, folksinger</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p>Inside this issue &#8212;</p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>Marketing to Women &#8211;</b><span style='font-weight:normal'> Management guru Tom Peters explains why he became an evangelist for Marti Barletta&#8217;s marketing to women opportunity.</span></p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>The Creative Process &#8211; </b><span style='font-weight:normal'>Learn the &#8220;Why,&#8221; &#8220;How,&#8221; and &#8220;When&#8221; for creating copy subheads that engage your customers and prospects and get more of them to buy what you&#8217;re selling.&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>Marketing Insights &#8211;</b><span style='font-weight:normal'> Another marketing expert weighs in on the debate over whether advertising or PR is the preferred route to building a brand.</span></p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>Ask ACTON &#8211;</b><span style='font-weight:normal'> Four well-written subheads made this checking self-mailer much easier and quicker to read . . . especially for consumers with short attention spans.</span></p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>Banking Memorabilia &#8211;</b><span style='font-weight:normal'> Forgoing the traditional coin banks available in a variety of shapes and sizes, discover why one bank selected a customized dome-shaped bank for its customers. &nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style='font-family:Symbol'>&middot;<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><b>Why Read the Newsletter &#8211; </b><span style='font-weight:normal'>Advice from David Ogilvy, one of the most famous names in advertising.</span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>Marketing to Women</i></b></span></p> <p>If you&#8217;re still not sure about a marketing to women strategy or are still sitting on the fence trying to decide which way to go, perhaps words of wisdom from management guru Tom Peters will sway you.</p> <p>Marketing to women expert Marti Barletta asked Tom Peters if he would write the forward to the second edition of her groundbreaking book.</p> <p>Tom Peters&#8217; forward appeared in the 2006 second edition of Marti Barletta&#8217;s book, <b><u>Marketing to Women - How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the World&#8217;s Largest Market Segment</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'>.</span></p> <p>Peters wrote, &#8220;When I saw Marti&#8217;s book, <i>Marketing to Women</i><span style='font-style:normal'>, I was immediately transported back in time.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&#8220;December 1996.&nbsp; Boston.</p> <p>&#8220;I attended a meeting with 30 women business owners, women authors, women entrepreneurs.&nbsp; And I was abruptly introduced to the Women&#8217;s Opportunity.&nbsp; </p> <p>&#8220;Looking back, I&#8217;m not just amazed by how much I didn&#8217;t know.&nbsp; I&#8217;m stunned by how <i>I didn&#8217;t know what I didn&#8217;t know.</i><span style='font-style:normal'>&nbsp; Stunned by the enormous opportunity.&nbsp; Bottom line:&nbsp; This &#8216;Women&#8217;s Thing&#8217; is . . . unmistakably, in my opinion . . . ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY NO. 1.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&#8220;(And there&#8217;s no close second.)</p> <p>&#8220;Statistics overwhelm:&nbsp; Women are responsible for 83 percent of all consumer purchases.&nbsp; Home furnishings . . . 94 percent.&nbsp; Vacations . . . 92 percent.&nbsp; Houses . . . 91 percent.&nbsp; Consumer electronics . . . 55 percent.&nbsp; Cars . . . make 60 percent of purchases, significantly influence 90 percent. </p> <p>&#8220;Services are the same story:&nbsp; Choice of a new bank account by women . . . 89% percent of the time.&nbsp; Health care . . . 80 percent of decisions, over two-thirds of all health care spending.</p> <p>&#8220;Add in women&#8217;s role as &#8216;purchasing officer&#8217; for consumer goods for their families and their significant role as professional purchasing officer for corporations and agencies, and, in effect, you have an American Women&#8217;s Economy that accounts for over half of the U.S. GDP . . . about $7 trillion.&nbsp; Translation:&nbsp; Earth&#8217;s largest economy . . . American Women.</p> <p>&#8220;American women by themselves are, in effect, the largest &#8216;national&#8217; economy on earth, larger than the entire (!) Japanese economy.&nbsp; The opportunity I&#8217;ve just described amounts to trillions of $$$$$$ in the United States, trillions and trillions more around the world.</p> <p>&#8220;&#8216;This&#8217; is even bigger than the Internet.&nbsp; <i>I have never before tripped over an opportunity this size.</i></p> <p>&#8220;And what makes this an opportunity?&nbsp; (1) The plain fact that men and women are different.&nbsp; <i>Dramatically</i><span style='font-style:normal'> different.&nbsp; (2) At the moment, almost no one &#8216;gets it.&#8217;</span></p> <p>&#8220;Men and women <i>are</i><span style='font-style:normal'> equal, to be sure.&nbsp; (Or at least should be!)&nbsp; But I am an unabashed &#8216;difference feminist,&#8217; as it&#8217;s labeled.&nbsp; There is no doubt &#8211; I think, beyond a shadow of a doubt &#8211; that men and women are different.&nbsp; And different in a way that is oh, so relevant to business &#8211; from product development to marketing to distribution strategies. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&#8220;Try the following and see if you in any way disagree:&nbsp; &#8216;Men always move faster through a store&#8217;s aisles.&nbsp; Men spend less time looking.&nbsp; They usually don&#8217;t like asking where things are.&nbsp; You&#8217;ll see a man move impatiently through a store to the section he wants, pick something up, and then, almost abruptly, he&#8217;s ready to buy . . . For a man, ignoring the price tag is almost a sign of virility.&#8217;&nbsp; It&#8217;s amusing.&nbsp; Its implications: enormous.&nbsp; Source:&nbsp; the meticulous research Paco Underhill has performed for the most prestigious clients over the last few decades. &nbsp;</p> <p>&#8220;Or take women and financial advisors:&nbsp; Women want a carefully considered plan, want to be listened to, want to be taken seriously.&nbsp; Want to read the material, want to think about it.&nbsp; Women do not want . . . an in-your-face sales pitch. </p> <p>&#8220;Every time I launch a discussion about all this, I still hear the echoes of that December 1996 meeting.&nbsp; I still hear those Very Powerful Women . . . without exception . . . telling me the degree to which they have been ignored, dismissed, treated as brainless by bankers and doctors and car salesmen and computer salesmen.</p> <p>&#8220;A smartly turned-out, six-figure-income financial services executive approached me after one of my riffs on women&#8217;s treatment in the marketplace.&nbsp; Over lunch a few days before, she&#8217;d gone to a Mercedes dealership with every indication of buying a car.&nbsp; All three salesmen were in their cubicles, eating their sandwiches.&nbsp; As she wandered the showroom floor, none bothered to wander in her direction.&nbsp; Finally, some guy finished off his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or whatever, and came over to her.&nbsp; First words out of his mouth:&nbsp; &#8216;Honey, are you sure you have the kind of money to be looking at a car like this?&#8217;</p> <p>&#8220;Some of the men who read this remark will say, &#8216;Bull.&nbsp; She&#8217;s making it up, or at least she&#8217;s exaggerating.&#8217;&nbsp; <i>None</i><span style='font-style:normal'> of the women who read this will have that reaction.&nbsp; (None!)&nbsp; This is something that, after years of listening and studying, I . . . </span><i>know</i><span style='font-style:normal'>.&nbsp; I&#8217;ve got literally dozens upon dozens upon dozens of stories like this . . . from financial services companies and hospitals and hotels and computer companies, as well as those forever-dim car companies . . . to back me up. </span></p> <p>&#8220;Bottom line:&nbsp; <i>Financial services</i><span style='font-style:normal'> companies don&#8217;t get it.&nbsp; </span><i>Hospitality</i><span style='font-style:normal'> companies don&#8217;t get it.&nbsp; </span><i>Health services</i><span style='font-style:normal'> companies don&#8217;t get it, even though two-thirds of health care employees are women.&nbsp; God alone knows, </span><i>automobile</i><span style='font-style:normal'> companies, with a half-trillion dollars a year in retail sales in the United States alone, don&#8217;t get it.</span></p> <p>&#8220;This idea is enormous.&nbsp; It is simple.&nbsp; It is subtle.&nbsp; It is obvious.&nbsp; It is the (economic) world&#8217;s . . . <b>BEST KEPT SECRET</b><span style='font-weight:normal'>.&nbsp; <i>Until now</i></span>.</p> <p>&#8220;Finally . . . we have a book that tells how to do it.</p> <p>&#8220;Marti Barletta <i>gets</i><span style='font-style: normal'> the Women&#8217;s Opportunity.&nbsp; She </span><i>gets</i><span style='font-style:normal'> women and knows how to bring them to your brand &#8211; and keep them there.&nbsp; She brings to us readers years of practical experience across all marketing disciplines: advertising, direct marketing, promotion, event marketing, and more.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&#8220;This is why I named her MVP/BizGuru for 2004:&nbsp; &#8216;Marti is the most vociferous and accomplished spokesperson/presenter in the mega-opportunity world of Marketing to Women.&#8217;&nbsp; </p> <p>&#8220;She backs up all the talk about gender differences with careful research.&nbsp; And, most important, she shows how to leverage these differences to create a real &#8216;women&#8217;s strategy&#8217; &#8211; cost-effective and practical &#8211; that will drive your sales skyward and pull your profits right along with them.</p> <p>&#8220;The numbers are unequivocal.&nbsp; The gender differences are undeniable.&nbsp; The opportunity is inarguable.&nbsp; The market is enormous.&nbsp; The competitive advantage is inevitable.&nbsp; The opportunity &#8211; trillions of dollars in the United States alone &#8211; is waiting.</p> <p>&#8220;Near the end of the book, Marti provides some summary advice to CEOs [presented in last week&#8217;s issue of the newsletter].&nbsp; At the top of the list:&nbsp; &#8216;All this&#8217; is not about a &#8216;speciality marketing group&#8217; for women&#8217;s stuff or some sort of &#8216;women&#8217;s initiative.&#8217;&nbsp; &#8216;<i>All this is&#8217; is about a struggle for the very soul of the company and the essence of the brand itself</i><span style='font-style:normal'> &#8211; for computer and financial services firms at least as much as for consumer goods marketers.</span></p> <p>&#8220;In short, boldness and wholesale commitment alone will lasso this matchless opportunity.</p> <p>&#8220;Good luck.&nbsp; Remember, you have a rare opportunity to lead the parade!&#8221;</p> <p><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><b>More on Tom Peters </b></span></p> <p>Tom Peters is one of today&#8217;s leading experts on business management.&nbsp; Many of you will remember him as the co-author of the 1982 classic <b><u>In Search of Excellence</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'>.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>I don&#8217;t know about you but I found his book to be a very tedious read.&nbsp; In fact, if my memory serves me right, I was never able to finish that book.</p> <p>Peters&#8217; rich educational and experience background includes working as a management consultant at the prestigious consulting firm of McKinsey &amp; Company from 1974 to 1981.&nbsp; Leaving McKinsey, Peters went out on his own, starting a management consulting company and writing several more books.</p> <p>You can learn more about Tom Peters on his website at <a href="http://www.tompeters.com/">http://www.tompeters.com</a>.&nbsp; Click on the link at the top of the home page to sign up for his free online newsletter.</p> <p>Another website at <a href="http://www.tompeterscompany.com/">http://www.tompeterscompany.com</a> is the home of his management consulting and training company.</p> <p>A good biography on Peters is available on the Wikipedia website.</p> <p>When it comes to the world of business, Peters is very passionate, as you&#8217;ll discover if you read his monthly newsletter.</p> <p><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><b>Marketing to Women </b></span></p> <p>If you&#8217;re still not comfortable with developing a marketing to women strategy for your company, everything you need to know can be found in three, easy-to-read books.</p> <p>Marti Barletta&#8217;s third book, <b><u>PrimeTime Women:&nbsp; How to Win the Hearts, Minds, and Business of Boomer Big Spenders</u></b><span style='font-weight: normal'>, was published on January 2, 2007 and is currently available in hardcover for $16.50 at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/">http://www.amazon.com</a>.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>By reading both the first and second editions of Barletta&#8217;s book, <b><u>Marketing to Women - How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the World&#8217;s Largest Market Segment</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'>, you will be equipped to develop a marketing strategy that will resonate with women &#8211; including PrimeTime Women.</span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>__________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>The Creative Process</i></b></span></p> <p>Don&#8217;t forget your subheads!</p> <p>While the headline is undoubtedly the <i>most</i><span style='font-style:normal'> important copy in your letter, brochure, self-mailer, magalog, newspaper ad, or postcard, the </span><i>subheads</i><span style='font-style:normal'> you write make a major contribution to the readability of your copy, as you&#8217;ll discover below.</span></p> <p>This week we take a closer look at why you need subheads and how to write them.</p> <p>As a point of reference, the sales letter below contains three subheads &#8211; circled in red. </p> <p><img border=0 width=576 height=756 src="Emailnewsletter5010708_files/image002.jpg" alt=" &#13;f&#13;&iquest;$&#13;X$&#13;&iquest;k&#13;(l&#13;l&#13;@&ordm;([0[&#8706;@&yuml;([0[&#8721;@&Ugrave;([0[&ordf;@)[0[&ordm;&#711;&#711;@,)[0[&#8486;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1030"></p> <p>Writing subheads was the subject of the article by copywriter Will Newman, &#8220;Let Subheads Lead Your Prospect to the Sale,&#8221; which appeared in the July 17, 2007 issue of the free online e-zine from AWAI, <i>The Golden Thread</i><span style='font-style:normal'>.</span></p> <p>Newman writes, &#8220;&#8216;Oh yeah, I gotta put in some subheads.&#8217;</p> <p>&#8220;When I started copywriting, subheads were an afterthought.&nbsp; An imposition.&nbsp; Something I put in because my mentor told me I had to.</p> <p>&#8220;The subheads I wrote &#8211; and my copy in general &#8211; suffered because of my attitude.&nbsp; But that won&#8217;t happen to you if you understand the &#8216;Why, How, and When&#8217; of writing subheads.</p> <p><b>&#8220;The &#8216;Why&#8217; of Writing Subheads</b></p> <p>&#8220;Subheads are mini-headlines that you sprinkle throughout your copy &#8211; and they have several specific purposes.</p> <p>&#8220;Their first purpose is to attract your prospect&#8217;s attention and bring him into the sales letter.&nbsp; Even if he&#8217;s a very linear reader . . . one who reads a sales letter from start to finish . . . a good subhead arouses curiosity and makes him want to read the next section.</p> <p>&#8220;But not everybody reads a sales letter from start to finish.&nbsp; Many people &#8211; like me &#8211; scan it first.&nbsp; For these people, subheads provide steppingstones for them to get through it.</p> <p>&#8220;They provide enough interesting ideas and compelling copy by themselves to keep the prospect engaged until he feels ready to read the letter or . . . if you&#8217;re really lucky . . . to make him decide to buy without even reading it.</p> <p>&#8220;To achieve this goal, your subheads MUST be able to build the case for your sale by themselves.</p> <p>&#8220;There&#8217;s one more reason for using subheads &#8211; and it&#8217;s every bit as important as the others:&nbsp; They break up long copy, making it look easy to read.&nbsp; As a result, your prospect will be willing to read more copy, giving you the opportunity to develop your sales pitch more naturally and effectively.</p> <p>&#8220;How many subheads should you use?&nbsp; A good rule of thumb is to have a minimum of three subheads for every two pages of copy that&#8217;s set in 12-point type.&nbsp; </p> <p><b>&#8220;The &#8216;How&#8217; of Writing Subheads</b></p> <p>&#8220;Writing subheads is not terribly difficult.</p> <p>&#8220;First, make sure that every subhead you write relates to the copy that follows it.&nbsp; If, for example, your subhead says something like &#8216;How to Accomplish More in 3 Hours of Work Than Your Coworkers Do in 8,&#8217; you&#8217;d better have something that at least hints of an answer very soon afterward.&nbsp; If you don&#8217;t, you&#8217;ll lose credibility, and your prospect will think you&#8217;re trying to film-flam him.</p> <p>&#8220;Once you have written a draft subhead, improve it by using <b>the 4 U&#8217;s.</b></p> <p><b>&#8220;Is it Unique?</b><span style='font-weight:normal'>&nbsp; Is the subhead different from other subheads in your promotion and in other promotions?&nbsp; Or is it similar to subheads your prospect has seen in many other ads?</span></p> <p><b>&#8220;Is it Useful?</b><span style='font-weight:normal'>&nbsp; &#8216;How to Accomplish More in 3 Hours . . .&#8217; might be good for a letter selling a supplement that boosts energy &#8211; but it&#8217;s not very useful if you&#8217;re selling an investment newsletter.</span></p> <p><b>&#8220;Is it Urgent?</b><span style='font-weight:normal'>&nbsp; Does the subhead push your prospect to act quickly?&nbsp; Does it express urgency or timeliness?&nbsp; Or does it just sit on the page?&nbsp; &#8216;How to Accomplish More . . .&#8217; is certainly more urgent than something like &#8216;8 Vitamins You Need Daily.&#8217;</span></p> <p><b>&#8220;Is it Ultra-specific?</b><span style='font-weight: normal'>&nbsp; Don&#8217;t settle for generalities in your subheads (or headlines).&nbsp; Tell the prospect &#8216;17 Weeks to Lose 4 Inches&#8217; instead of &#8216;Lose More Weight Than You Thought Possible.&#8217;</span></p> <p>&#8220;One important note:&nbsp; It&#8217;s tempting to put the name of your product in a subhead.&nbsp; But that&#8217;s like putting it in neon lights.&nbsp; When you do that, you prospect&#8217;s sales resistance rises before you get a chance to convince him you have a way to make his life easier, more prosperous, healthier, or whatever.</p> <p>&#8220;So avoid using the product&#8217;s name in subheads, even at the close.&nbsp; Instead, substitute a core benefit.</p> <p><b>&#8220;The &#8216;When&#8217; of Writing Subheads</b></p> <p>&#8220;Once you get used to working with subheads, you&#8217;ll develop a sense for when one is needed in the copy.&nbsp; </p> <p>&#8220;If you feel that one is needed while you&#8217;re writing your first draft, go ahead and add it then . . . IF, that is, it flows naturally from what you&#8217;re writing.</p> <p>&#8220;But if that feeling hits you and you don&#8217;t know what the subhead should say, don&#8217;t stop and try to figure it out.&nbsp; Put &#8216;Subhead Goes Here&#8217; (in the same formatting you&#8217;re using for the other subheads in the letter), and go back to it later.</p> <p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t expect to write good subheads with your first pass.&nbsp; Revise them as you revise the rest of the copy.&nbsp; And try moving them around, bringing them up or down by one or two paragraphs.&nbsp; </p> <p>&#8220;Once you embrace subheads as the powerful copy elements they can be, you will start to enjoy writing them . . . because you&#8217;ll quickly see how they strengthen your copy.&#8221;</p> <p><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b>American Writers &amp; Artists Institute (AWAI)</b></span></p> <p>To learn more about the products and services offered by the American Writers &amp; Artists Institute, visit them online at <a href="http://www.awaionline.com/">http://www.awaionline.com</a>.&nbsp; Among their offerings are courses on copywriting, travel writing, resume writing, and graphic design.</p> <p>For more information on <i>The Golden Thread</i><span style='font-style:normal'> and to subscribe to your free copy, visit the website at <a href="http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread/">http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread/</a>.</span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>Marketing Insights</i></b></span></p> <p>How can you launch a new product, service, or business if you have a small marketing budget?</p> <p>Or worse yet, no marketing budget?</p> <p>Turn to public relations &#8211; better known as PR.</p> <p>The information on using PR was discovered in the article by marketing agency owner Debi Hammond, &#8220;PR can help get the word out for less:&nbsp; Bolster skimpy advertising budget by nabbing promo opportunities,&#8221; which appeared in the October 19, 2007 issue of the <i>Sacramento Business Journal</i><span style='font-style: normal'>.</span></p> <p>Hammond writes, &#8220;Quick!&nbsp; Name one of your favorite advertising campaigns of all time.</p> <p>&#8220;Now name one of your favorite public relations campaigns.</p> <p>&#8220;Somehow, I bet the first question was easily answered, and for those of you who could actually answer the second question, I bet you had to think pretty hard to come up with an answer.</p> <p>&#8220;That&#8217;s because advertising gets all the attention, but not always for the right reasons.</p> <p>&#8220;I&#8217;m constantly asking people what their favorite ads are, and they can easily come up with two or three.&nbsp; Yet when I ask them who the advertiser is in those campaigns, I rarely receive an answer.&nbsp; Which means, yes, the advertising got their attention, but advertising is only effective if the brand stays with you &#8211; or better yet, you take action because of it.</p> <p>&#8220;So just how powerful is PR?&nbsp; Have you ever heard of The Body Shop, Palm or Google?&nbsp; These brands were built with public relations.&nbsp; It&#8217;s been only in the past few years that they have implemented aggressive advertising campaigns to maintain the strong brands they built with PR.</p> <p>&#8220;The most common laments I hear among small-business owners are, &#8216;If only I had a bigger advertising budget,&#8217; and, &#8216;We need a clever tagline to get attention.&#8217;</p> <p>&#8220;Advertising is expensive, so you&#8217;re going to need a really big budget.&nbsp; And that clever tagline you&#8217;re after?&nbsp; It can be the most clever and creative in the world, but unless you can reach the world with it, the investment you&#8217;ve made is wasted.</p> <p>&#8220;So for those of you with a &#8216;challenged&#8217; marketing budget, how do you reach the world with your story?&nbsp; My recommendation: with the power of PR.</p> <p>&#8220;I often tell my clients that public relations is the most underused tool in marketing today.&nbsp; A 1999 &nbsp;research study by Edros &amp; Morgan for the American Advertising Federation found that among 1,800 corporate executives surveyed, PR was ranked third in order of importance behind product development and strategic planning &#8211; and advertising came in sixth.&nbsp; This is not to say that advertising isn&#8217;t important; it&#8217;s simply to illustrate the power of PR.</p> <p><b>&#8220;Media Matters</b></p> <p>&#8220;How can you tap into the power of PR?&nbsp; </p> <p>&#8220;First, get to know your local media.&nbsp; Nothing annoys an editor or reporter more than someone who pitches her a story that has nothing to do with her beat.&nbsp; You need to not only have a good understanding of who and what you&#8217;re pitching, but clear objectives as to why that editor&#8217;s or reporter&#8217;s audience would (and should) be interested in you or your story.&nbsp; If you can&#8217;t answer that question with a confident and compelling response, it&#8217;s time to go back to the drawing board before making the pitch.</p> <p>&#8220;The easiest way to get to know the local media is to partake.&nbsp; Read the local paper, community papers, magazines and newsletters.&nbsp; Watch the local news and listen to your local radio stations.&nbsp; Find out who is writing or covering stories in your industry and then read them.&nbsp; Get to know what that editor or reporter enjoys writing about and then send a story idea to her.</p> <p>&#8220;When you&#8217;re reading an article and you say to yourself, &#8216;That should be me,&#8217; stop wishing and get to pitching.&nbsp; E-mail the editor explaining why your story is perfect for her column and readers.</p> <p>&#8220;Second, just because you think your story is &#8216;news&#8217; doesn&#8217;t mean it is &#8216;newsworthy.&#8217;</p> <p>&#8220;To make your story newsworthy, tap into the news.</p> <p>&#8220;Holidays:&nbsp; If your company makes a great gadget, pitch it as this year&#8217;s hottest holiday gift.&nbsp; If your retail store happens to carry the latest holiday gift or gadget, offer yourself and your store to the media as a resource.&nbsp; If you run a restaurant, why not share a few holiday-themed drink recipes and a quick and easy entertaining guide online?&nbsp; There are literally dozens of ways to tap into the holidays, so get creative.</p> <p>&#8220;Articles:&nbsp; If you&#8217;re an expert in your field, offer to write an article pertaining to your profession.&nbsp; Whether your articles get published weekly, monthly or barely once a year, the return on investment is invaluable.&nbsp; People want to buy from and do business with the best in the field, and this is one way to position yourself as just that.</p> <p>&#8220;Pop culture:&nbsp; Celebrity news, cell phones, reality shows, Crocs, anything &#8216;i&#8217;: iPods, iPhones, iTunes, iVillage and even &#8216;IMs.&#8217;&nbsp; If you have a product or service that taps into anything related to pop culture, it can be newsworthy.</p> <p>&#8220;World&#8217;s first:&nbsp; Whether you have a product, service, book or technology that is the world&#8217;s first (or simply the first locally), tout what others can&#8217;t.&nbsp; Consumers and the media love &#8216;firsts,&#8217; new, exclusive, patented, etc., so tap into it.</p> <p>&#8220;Surveys:&nbsp; There are always surveys and &#8216;top 10&#8217; lists available to the media, but they&#8217;re usually not conducted locally.&nbsp; Local is what matters, so do a survey that is of interest to your community.&nbsp; Make it general enough for broad appeal, but specific enough to &#8216;hint&#8217; at your subject matter.&nbsp; This is a great way to not only gain publicity, but also become a resource for the local media.</p> <p>&#8220;Associations:&nbsp; How do some people always seem to get invited to the best events, be featured in local news stories and be chosen to write articles?&nbsp; They join associations, which enables them to broaden their network of friends and professionals.&nbsp; In doing so, it allows them to tell their story to more people, which often has a compounding effect.&nbsp; If you want to get your story out there, you need to start by getting out.</p> <p>&#8220;Human interest:&nbsp; Make it about people.&nbsp; If you make a heart monitor and want it covered in the news, don&#8217;t tell the media what it&#8217;s made of, how accurate it is and how long it took to get it patented (yawn).&nbsp; Instead, talk about the little girl who without it might not be with us today, about the grandmother who has enjoyed that past three years with her grandchildren because of this incredible technology or the father who is enjoying playing baseball with his son for the first time in two years.&nbsp; It&#8217;s about the people.&nbsp; Whether you&#8217;re selling a product or service, remember, it is emotion that compels consumers to buy and it is emotion that the media like to cover.</p> <p>&#8220;Blogs, online forums, seasons, how-to&#8217;s, public speaking, newsletters . . . there are literally hundreds of ways to generate press coverage for your company.</p> <p>&#8220;The greatest challenge is taking a step back and asking yourself, &#8216;Is it newsworthy?&#8217;</p> <p>&#8220;If not, make it so.</p> <p>&#8220;If you want attention, run a clever ad campaign.&nbsp; If you want sales and long-term success, start with PR.&#8221;</p> <p>Is Debi Hammond channeling the thoughts of Al and Laura Ries?</p> <p>Could it be that she read the Ries&#8217; 2002 book and has become a convert?&nbsp; </p> <p>Regardless, the subject of PR versus advertising was the subject of a very controversial book by Al and Laura Ries which hit the bookstores in 2002.&nbsp; Needless to say, it didn&#8217;t set well with the creative folks working at the big media agencies.</p> <p><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b>The Fall of Advertising &amp; The Rise of PR by Al and Laura Ries</b></span></p> <p>Perhaps the best book, at least the easiest one to read and comprehend, on advertising and public relations as they relate to brand building, is the 2002 book, <b><u>The Fall of Advertising &amp; The Rise of PR</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'>, written by Al and Laura Ries. </span></p> <p>In their book, the Rieses comment, &#8220;You can&#8217;t launch a new brand with advertising because advertising has no credibility.&nbsp; It&#8217;s the self-serving voice of a company anxious to make a sale.&nbsp; PR has credibility.&nbsp; Advertising does not.&#8221; </p> <p>The book&#8217;s message is that you <i>build</i><span style='font-style:normal'> your brand with publicity.&nbsp; You use advertising </span><i>later</i><span style='font-style:normal'> to maintain your brand.</span></p> <p>Any marketers involved in spending marketing dollars on advertising should definitely read <b><u>The Fall of Advertising &amp; The Rise of PR</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'> by Al and Laura Ries.&nbsp; It is available new in paperback for a mere $10.17 at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/">http://www.amazon.com</a>.&nbsp; It will definitely change the way you look at using advertising to build your brand.</span></p> <div style='border:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt'> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'><b>ROI Insight </b><span style='font-weight:normal'>&#8212; It&#8217;s often difficult to determine the return on investment for a particular marketing program or campaign.&nbsp; It was first said by soap marketer Lord Leverhulme and later by John Wanamaker, the famous Philadelphia department store owner.&nbsp; Expanding on the observation, Wanamaker was once heard lamenting, &#8220;I know that half of my advertising is wasted, but I don&#8217;t know which half.&nbsp; I spent $2 million for advertising, and I don&#8217;t know if that is half enough or twice too much.&#8221;</span></p> </div> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span lang=ES-MX>___________________________________</span></p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span lang=ES-MX style='font-size:16.0pt;'><b><i>Ask ACTON!</i></b></span></p> <p>Peek into the ACTON Marketing creative team&#8217;s massive tool box and you&#8217;ll see an ample supply of subheads.</p> <p>If you read this week&#8217;s article on the creative process, you will have a greater appreciation for the role subheads play in <i>effectively</i><span style='font-style:normal'> communicating your sales messages to your customers and prospects.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>Below is an excellent example of how an ACTON Marketing copywriter used headlines in a recent six-panel checking self-mailer, promoting client Home Federal Bank&#8217;s new All-In-One Checking account that pays interest.</p> <p><img border=0 width=576 height=428 src="Emailnewsletter5010708_files/image004.jpg" alt=" &#13;f&#13;&iquest;$&#13;X$&#13;&iquest;k&#13;(l&#13;l&#13;@&ordm;([0[&#8706;@&yuml;([0[&#8721;@&Ugrave;([0[&ordf;@)[0[&ordm;&#711;&#711;@,)[0[&#8486;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026"></p> <p>Shown above is the bottom of two inside panels where the creative team is presenting some of the <i>additional</i><span style='font-style:normal'> benefits of the bank&#8217;s new All-In-One Checking account. </span></p> <p>By reading only the four subheads circled in red, busy readers pressed for time can quickly learn of the other benefits <i>without</i><span style='font-style:normal'> having to read the body copy under each subhead. </span></p> <p>Providing a <i>shortcut</i><span style='font-style:normal'> for copy scanners is just one of the reasons why subheads are so important to copywriters.&nbsp; Let&#8217;s review the other reasons by repeating the &#8220;why subheads&#8221; copy from this week&#8217;s creative process article above.</span></p> <p><b>&#8220;The &#8216;Why&#8217; of Writing Subheads</b></p> <p>&#8220;Subheads are mini-headlines that you sprinkle throughout your copy &#8211; and they have several specific purposes.</p> <p>&#8220;Their first purpose is to attract your prospect&#8217;s attention and bring him into the sales letter.&nbsp; Even if he&#8217;s a very linear reader . . . one who reads a sales letter from start to finish . . . a good subhead arouses curiosity and makes him want to read the next section.</p> <p>&#8220;But not everybody reads a sales letter from start to finish.&nbsp; Many people &#8211; like me &#8211; scan it first.&nbsp; For these people, subheads provide steppingstones for them to get through it.</p> <p>&#8220;They provide enough interesting ideas and compelling copy by themselves to keep the prospect engaged until he feels ready to read the letter or . . . if you&#8217;re really lucky . . . to make him decide to buy without even reading it.</p> <p>&#8220;To achieve this goal, your subheads MUST be able to build the case for your sale by themselves.</p> <p>&#8220;There&#8217;s one more reason for using subheads &#8211; and it&#8217;s every bit as important as the others:&nbsp; They break up long copy, making it look easy to read.&nbsp; As a result, your prospect will be willing to read more copy, giving you the opportunity to develop your sales pitch more naturally and effectively.&#8221;</p> <p>Armed with this week&#8217;s information on subheads, you may want to start paying closer attention to the subheads which appear in newspaper and magazine ads and in the direct mail letters you receive on a daily basis.&nbsp; With just a little bit of effort you&#8217;ll quickly develop a beneficial working knowledge of what works and doesn&#8217;t work when it comes to subheads.</p> <p>And you&#8217;ll have a new appreciation for their importance when communicating with your customers and prospects via the written word.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <div style='border:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt'> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'><b><i>Ask ACTON</i></b><span style='font-weight:normal;font-style:normal'> is a weekly feature of our Marketing Update E-Letter.&nbsp; If you have a marketing question you would like answered, please submit it to Shirley Sluka at <a href="mailto:sluka@actonfs.com">sluka@actonfs.com</a>.&nbsp; We make every effort to answer all questions in the weekly E-Letter so all of our client subscribers can share in the vast knowledge of the ACTON Marketing team.</span></p> </div> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><img border=0 width=300 height=115 src="Emailnewsletter5010708_files/image006.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027"></p> <p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Arial'><b>Is Your 2008 Marketing Calendar Ready to Go?</b></span></p> <p>You were planning on creating one . . . weren&#8217;t you?</p> <p>Throughout the year, your 2008 Marketing Calendar will help make your internal sales job much easier. </p> <p>Sharing your annual marketing calendar, including monthly updates, will make you a <i>hero</i><span style='font-style:normal'> with the rest of your company&#8217;s employees . . . especially the front line employees working in your branches.&nbsp; No longer will they be &#8220;in-the-dark&#8221; as to what marketing is doing next.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>It&#8217;s a great way to get company-wide &#8220;buy-in&#8221; for your plans.</p> <p>A detailed marketing calendar serves as your marketing roadmap for the year.&nbsp; It will help ensure that you stay on track and get maximum value from your marketing budget.</p> <p><span style='font-family:Arial'><b>Plan annually, update monthly</b></span></p> <p>Having an annual calendar does not mean sacrificing flexibility.&nbsp; Nor does it lock you into specific marketing programs and direct mail drops.&nbsp; Your annual calendar is a &#8220;living&#8221; document which gets updated at least monthly.</p> <p>What it does is force you to look at the year as a whole and not simply focus on two to three months out.&nbsp; It&#8217;s the difference between being proactive and reactive.</p> <p>If you haven&#8217;t already done so, it&#8217;s not too late to contact the marketing experts at ACTON Marketing and ask for their help developing your 2008 marketing and direct mail calendar. </p> <p>All it takes is a day or two to build your 2008 calendar. </p> <p>For more details about putting the ACTON Marketing team to work for you, give George Monnier a call today at <span style='font-size:14.0pt'><b>402-470-2909</b></span>.</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>__________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>Banking Memorabilia</i></b></span></p> <p>The bright yellow, plastic beehive coin bank shown below was distributed to customers of The Provident Bank, New Jersey.&nbsp; The precise date of use is unknown but most likely in the 1970-1980 time period.</p> <p>Measuring 4&#8221; tall by 4 &frac12;&#8221; in diameter at the base, the coin slot is located in the top of the bank.&nbsp; Once full, coins can be emptied from the bottom via a removable plastic cap. </p> <p>The bank was manufactured by Plastique Unique, Santa Monica, California, which began business in 1968.</p> <p><img border=0 width=575 height=430 src="Emailnewsletter5010708_files/image008.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1028"></p> <p>Founded as The Provident Savings Institution of Jersey City in 1839, the bank is the oldest New Jersey chartered savings bank.</p> <p>According to a history of the bank, during the Civil War period the bank began referring to itself first as &#8220;The Beehive Bank&#8221; and later as &#8220;The Old Beehive.&#8221; </p> <p>Why the reference to a beehive?&nbsp; According to historian Barbara Petrick, &#8220;A beehive symbolized the thrift and industry of many humble workers.&#8221;&nbsp; A history of the bank is available at <a href="http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/P_Pages/Provident_Bank.htm">http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/P_Pages/Provident_Bank.htm</a>.</p> <p>Banking memorabilia presented in this newsletter are from your editor&#8217;s growing collection. </p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>__________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>Why Read The Newsletter?</i></b></span></p> <div style='border:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt'> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'>The answer to this question was best provided by advertising great David Ogilvy.&nbsp; According to Ogilvy, &#8220;I once asked Sir Hugh Rigby, Surgeon to King George V, &#8216;What makes a great surgeon?&#8217;&nbsp; Sir Hugh replied, &#8216;There isn&#8217;t much to choose between surgeons in manual dexterity.&nbsp; What distinguishes the great surgeon is that he <i>knows</i><span style='font-style:normal'> more than other surgeons.&#8217;&nbsp; It is the same with advertising agents.&nbsp; The good ones </span><i>know</i><span style='font-style:normal'> more.</span></p> <p style='border:none;padding:0in;'>&#8220;I asked an indifferent copywriter what books he had read about advertising.&nbsp; He told me that he had not read any; he preferred to rely on his own intuition.&nbsp; &#8216;Suppose,&#8217; I asked, &#8216;your gall-bladder has to be removed this evening.&nbsp; Will you choose a surgeon who has read some books on anatomy and knows where to find your gall-bladder, or a surgeon who relies on his intuition?&nbsp; Why would our clients be expected to bet millions of dollars on your intuition?&#8217;&#8221;&nbsp; From the book, <b><u>Ogilvy on Advertising</u></b><span style='font-weight:normal'>, by David Ogilvy.</span></p> </div> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><b><i>Past Issues of the Newsletter</i></b></span></p> <p>All past issues of the ACTON Marketing, LLC newsletter are available online at <a href="http://www.actonfs.com/newsletter_archive.php">http://www.actonfs.com/newsletter_archive.php</a>.</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p>ALL CONTENTS OF THIS E-LETTER ARE COPYRIGHT 2008 BY ACTON MARKETING, LLC.&nbsp; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:&nbsp; REPRODUCING ANY PART OF THIS DOCUMENT IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF ACTON MARKETING, LLC.</p> <p>Protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq., Title 18 U.S.C. Section 2319):&nbsp; Infringements can be punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p>Please note:&nbsp; We sent this e-mail to you because you are a valued ACTON client.&nbsp; If you wish to unsubscribe to future email newsletters, click the link at the end of the email.</p> <p align=center style='text-align:center'>___________________________________</p> <p>You may contact ACTON Marketing, LLC by calling 402-470-2909, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (CT).&nbsp; Or write to us at:</p> <p>ACTON Marketing, LLC</p> <p>3401 N.W. 39<sup>th</sup> Street</p> <p>Lincoln, NE&nbsp; 68524</p> <p>If you wish to <u>unsubscribe</u> from ACTON Marketing&#8217;s newsletter, please send an email to:&nbsp; <a href="mailto:newsletter_unsubscribe@actonfs.com">newsletter_unsubscribe@actonfs.com</a>, placing the word &#8220;remove&#8221; in the subject line.</p> </div> </body> </html>