It doesn't have to cost you a fortune to generate a return on your investment. Top Marketing Expert Fuzz Ishaq provides an example of his favourite donar kebab shop "Ali Baba".
Adam Mustafa may have had little capital to spend on advertising, however his donar kebabs were top notch. Fuzz created a unique selling proposition for the shop - "Hot, Big, Juicy, Healthy Kebabs Or Your Money Back". Fuzz knew no other donar kebab shop in the vicinity does this sort of thing. Within 8 weeks, for an investment of just $50, Adam added $22,147 to his business.
This is how it was done:
1. Firstly, write down all the reasons why anyone should do business with you. You need to find out why your regular customers buy from you. For Adam they were: bigger; juicy fresh salad and oil-drained kebabs.
Points like these become Adam's Unique Selling Proposition or Unique Buying Advantage. If done correctly your customers through word-of-mouth uses these points to tell their friends why they shop with you. There's a saying that when people have a good buying experience they tell, on average, 3.6 people about it. However they each tell 8.3 people when it's a bad one.
2. Take your "Unique Buying Advantage" and write beside them "SO WHAT?"
Then answer the SO WHAT? question for each point, e.g. "This is important because...."
In Adam's case he wrote:
The benefit of our kebabs is that they were bigger than average, protein enriched meat(plenty of healthy quality meat to eat), juicy fresh salad (the salad is freshly cut into equal decent slices) and oil-drained (the oil is drained out of the meat). This was the reason why his customers preferred his shop.
3. Explain the differences between you and your competitors. Be truthful. There is no need to criticize your competition just point out the difference.
In Adam's case they were: "You tell me how much meat you want in your bread and how much salad you want me to fill. I'll pack your meal to the point that you won't be able to finish it!!! "
You don't need to be creative. Just simple fact. Now your ad is nearly ready to sizzle. If you have answered the first 3 questions you are 90% ahead of your competitors.
4. Back up your product/service with a guarantee. If your customer has read this far then you have captured his attention. Now it's time to persuade him.
In Adam's case: "Hot, Big, Juicy, Healthy Kebabs Or Your Money Back". Adam's ad worked well and he hasn't yet been asked for a refund. He's now got customer loyalty by the hundreds.
5. If you want to expand this to SPECTACULAR results, include a "going beyond value offer".
Adam provided extra sweets and snacks absolutely FREE, so that people could try his donar kebabs at his expense. Without the offer, the ad worked great. With the offer, response went through the roof.
Action steps:
Take what you've written down and write a letter to your customers just like as if you are writing to a personal friend;
Point out the reasons why he/she should buy from you (Step 1);
Tell then how it's going to benefit them (Step 2);
Explain how you are different from your competitors (Step 3);
Create a guarantee that takes the risk off your customers and put the onus on you (Step 4); Include an offer they will never refuse (Step 5).
Every week for 8 weeks he had 40 new customers walk through his door, with 2 or 3 of those becoming regulars spending $30-$50 a week. He's added $22,147 to his turnover. So where did he spend the $50? On the local paperboy who charged $10 to letterbox drop a couple hundred letters every week (1hr per day for five days).
