Samples Of “2-Step”
Direct-Response Display Ads
Using the "2-step" selling formula, is the safest and surest way of selling anything, especially big-ticket items..
In case you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, here's how "2-step" marketing works: Basically, you run an ad in a newspaper or magazine directly "aimed" at your prospects.
The purpose of the 2-step ad is ONLY to generate leads. Your prospect responds to your ads and you send them out a FREE report... book... CD... DVD... video tape, or whatever.
You're sending your prospects some kind of media delivering them hard-hitting information they need, that helps them get their arms around buying whatever it is your selling.
Typically, your ad's going to look something like this:
(By the way, this ad consistently pulled 5-to-1 in a very bad marketplace)
Using the 2-step selling formula, several things are going on, and each of them gets your prospect more involved with you, little-by-little.
Here's what's happening:
Your prospect reads your ad Next, they phone up your toll-free 800 line Then they listen to your free recorded message, anytime they want. They're leaving you several pieces of personal information about themselves on your recorded message. Things like their first and last names... mailing address... telephone number... e-mail address... and if you want, you can even ask for more "qualifiers" like age... how much insurance they want to buy... or how big a mortgage their looking for... whatever. - You immediately send them your FREE report (or tape or video), which is really a long-form sales letter for whatever it is your selling, peppered with all the rock-solid information they're looking for, throughout your report.
By capturing your prospect's information, you can then add these prospects to your mailing list. This way, even if your prospects aren't ready to buy right then, when they respond to your ad... they sure won't forget about you whenever they are ready.
That's why it's absolutely critical you keep following up with these prospects. In fact, you must be staying in front of them, consistently.
And the best way to do this, is by using a non-salesy... non-threatening... information-packed monthly newsletter, that's filled with useful and interesting (and non-boring) content.
The key thing you need to remember, is... the the people who've raised their hands up and said "Yes, I'm interested", by responding to your lead-generating ad, are very... solid... prospects.
Why?
Well, for starters, you've made them jump through a few hoops (the 5 steps we just talked about) before they could get your information, so this means they're seriously interested in getting your information.
There are other things you can do to qualify your prospects even more, by implementing even stricter criteria for them to meet, before they can get your FREE information.
Keep in mind, the tighter your criteria are, the less responses you'll be getting, and the fewer prospects you'll have, but... the more qualified these prospects will be, and the more likely it is they'll be buying from you.
Here's an example of "tightening" your criteria:
"How Any Commercial Realtor In Baltimore Can
Double Their Closing Ratio In Less Than 45 Days!"
In this case, you're not just asking for realtors, your asking for "commercial realtors in Baltimore looking to improve their closing ratio".
That narrows the spectrum quite a bit.
Here's another example: Let's say you're selling a business opportunity information package for bartenders. Your ad might read something like this:
"Attention Bartenders! Do You Want A Proven Way To
Get All
The Big Clubs In Omaha Lining Up At Your
Front
Door, Begging You To Work For Them?"
Again, in this ad you're only looking for Bartenders in Omaha who are looking for work in popular nightclubs.
As opposed to:
"Who Else Wants To Work In A Nightclub?"
This ad would get you a lot more responses, but a lot less qualified responses than the "Bartenders In Omaha" ad would.
You'd probably get responses from people like DJ's... dancers... waiters... busboys... bouncers... and maintenance people. And none of those people are in your target market.
So make sure your ad is focused on as tight a marketplace as possible.
Make sense?
Good.
Remember, broad qualifiers will generate larger responses, but less qualified prospects who are also less likely to buy.
When Should You Use The
"2-Step" Direct-Response Selling Formula?
Generally, you'd be smarter than the average bear, using this 2-step selling formula when you're selling services or items that are:
Expensive... Complicated to understand... - Or, have a long and involved selling process.
Remember, your FREE report (which is really a long-form sales letter in disguise) or video, or whatever... is your golden opportunity to make your "pitch", explaining every little nuance of your product in great detail, making sure you highlight every benefit of your product, as well as any disadvantages.
Here's your next 2-step ad: If you want to download and print it out, you'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader . If you don't have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, you can get it for FREE by clicking here.
Next, click here or on the ad below, and a new browser window will open up with the full ad in a PDF file format.
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