The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 70 Degrees
Today, I’d like to give you a tour through a part of my brain. I’d like to show you an ad makeover I did a while ago for a paintless dent repair business so you can see the thought process. You can use this for your business no matter what service you provide.
First, let me show you the before/after versions. Then I’ll give you my commentary… (I’ve blurred out some of the details for privacy etc.)
OK, so here’s my commentary…
The most effective part of the “original” version of the ad is how well it calls out to its intended audience. If you have a dent in your car, it will catch your attention. While that’s great, we have to assume that a small percentage of the viewers of this ad have a dent at the exact moment they see the ad. This is why we add a basic lead generation magnet and offer the car care guide to EVERYONE who sees the ad.
This way, the owner can generate a list of people who have raised their hands and said, “I care enough about my car that I’d like to get your advice for taking care of it…”
This audience, the people who care about their cars, are excellent prospects following the next hail storm that rolls around. And with a collection of thousands of email addresses, the day after the storm, you can fill your schedule with people who have gotten value from you before.
In addition to the lead magnet, I added some PROOF from satisfied customers right at the top of the ad. We have no idea exactly where the viewer will be, so we don’t want to make them run home and check their computer to get the PROOF that this company is reputable.
Let’s take care of that right up front. Almost everyone has a cell phone these days, so there’s little barrier to calling the phone number right away if the viewer has interest. To that effect, if you are advertising to an audience that is not tech savvy, then I’d replace the web address with a phone only option.
Simply instruct them to call the number and leave their name, address and email and you will send the guide to them. This is where the testing begins really… to figure things like that out for your particular market. For now, I put in mention of the 10% OFF coupon to give them extra incentive to get online and request the guide.
To take that one step further, I’d consider putting the offer for the Definitive Car Care Guide ON your voicemail. That way, every customer and or prospect who calls can request a copy of the guide and get added to your mailing list.
Finally, I took out all mention of the OWNER of the business (no one cares about him YET) as well as the name of the business. All they care about at this point is that they have a dent to fix and they want help doing it.
And what goes in the lead magnet? In the Definitive Guide to Car Care? It is basically a sales letter for your services and the services of recommended providers in your area (those you trust and can stand behind) I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to get them to include a COUPON for their own businesses and maybe even pay referral fees in exchange for the free publicity. At the very least, they’ll probably treat your referrals very well in exchange for all of the business.
A simple structure for the guide could be to outline all of the potential problems a car owner might face (heat, humidity, hurricanes, hail, etc.) and how to prepare and/or deal with them in an economic way.
By the end of the guide, who do you think they’ll trust when it comes to car care?
At the end of the guide, you make your offer. Perhaps a “car audit” with their first paintless dent repair or autobody repair service? The “car audit” is where you take your checklist and give their car a good “once over” and point out things they might not be aware of.