Are Your Advertising Costs An Expense Or An Investment?

Isn’t that a very good question for businesspeople to ask themselves?

In our efforts to promote our website, we use a lot of different advertising methods to get our message out there. Like classified ads (online & offline), ezine ads, banner ads, safelist ads, solo ads, website ads, feed ads, social-business networks bulletins, blogging, postings in forums and groups, press releases, pay-per-click, and more.

Whenever we post ads anywhere using one of the methods just listed, we always take the time to check out the other ads, some of which are from our competition. What we see 90% of the time just baffles us. To be blunt, most ads out there stink! Not that they’re badly written—some are jewels of literature. It’s just that their message is…blah—it’s missing a key ingredient.

It’s funny how some people will use common sense in their everyday life (most of the time) but not in their business life. For example, would you try to mow your lawn using a lawnmower that has no blade, or try to go for a bike ride on a bicycle that has no handle bar, or do some online research on a computer that has no screen? Silly, right?

Well, writing and paying for an ad that contains no benefits—the KEY ingredient—is just as silly. Yet, 90% of the ads we see are just like cars without engines, power drills without bits, swimming pools with no water. In most cases, a total waste of resources—time, money, and brain cells!

Benefits are crucial to the sales process—that is especially true online. In the brick & mortar world, we can walk into a store and we can handle the products: we can touch the wool sweater or the leather jacket, smell the cologne or the fresh bread, taste the chocolate or the watermelon, inspect up close the fine craftsmanship on a carving or a painting, hear the quality of the sound system. Because of that, we can make up our mind to buy without needing an ad in front of our face blasting the benefits—we can ‘experience’ them. And we often can take our time to make a decision.

But online, the visitors don’t have those options most of the time: no touching, no smelling, no tasting, no “feeling things up”. And there are thousands of other ads waiting in line to be seen so the visitors must decide fast. Do we buy, or not? Do we subscribe, or not? Do we fill the form to get more info, or not? Yes or no? Make up our mind quick, quick, quick!

And what does your potential lead, prospect, client, customer, distributor or associate need to make up his or her mind quickly? Benefits! Not a litany of features. One or two awesome benefits and you’ve now got their attention. And in today’s fast-paced online marketing, that is quite an achievement.

Grab the attention of enough viewers and you are on your way to BUSINESS SUCCESS!

Back to the opening question: Are Your Advertising Costs an Expense or an Investment? To answer simply, if your ads are giving prominence to features, your advertising costs are an expense. If on the other hand, they spotlight the benefits of your products, services or business opportunity, then they are an investment. Bravo!

Not sure of the difference between features and benefits? Never heard of WHY-Proclamations and HOW-Explanations? Don’t know how to apply the 80-20 rule when it comes to benefits? You’re not alone—90% of advertisers out there are like you.

I wish you ALL the business success you desire and deserve. Remember that the success you desire is function of your ambition, but the success you deserve is function of your ACTION!

Daniel G. St-Jean
BizzBooster, and The Sparkplug of Personal Development
Author of 7 Simple Keys To Spark Change In Your Life Now!
Co-author of 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life – volume 2