Ok. If you’re like me, you get a ton of “junk” in the mail, or placed on your door in an attempt to get your business. I get get tons of of pizza ads, furniture ads, satellite TV ads, political ads, pool cleaning ads, plumber ads…etc. Again, if you’re like me you pretty much recognize these ads for what they are immediately and toss them right into the garbage (unless you study the ad for your own marketing purposes like I do sometimes- especially the one that actually grabbed your attention).
The point is, we are bombarded with advertising everyday, and in order for something to stick-out, it needs to be either unique, or just great timing because you just happen to be looking for a “plumber” the day that ad showed up in your mail box.
So what can you do? I make no claims of being a marketing guru, but I do know one thing: if you’re marketing piece doesn’t grab someone’s attention right away, it probably never will. It is destined for the trash bin.
At my local post office, there are trash cans that are always full of marketing pieces that are never read! That’s very discouraging from a marketing point of view- to think of all the money those businesses spent, only to have their ads tossed unceremoniously into the trash!
So how do you jump this first hurdle, and grab your target’s attention before they toss all your hard work into the trash without a second thought?
The first thing you need to do is GRAB their attention. It’s like fishing–if you use the wrong kind of bait you wont be bringing home anything- you probably won’t even get a nibble.
Now I have learned that marketing is definitely a numbers games- the more you do it, the better your chances are. Think about it: if you went fishing with 20 poles, you would have a better chance of catching fish than if you used only one fishing pole.
However, you still need to use the right bait, and my experience and research say that a good bait is something that your prospective customer has never seen before. Something that will stop and make them think, “what the Hell is this?”…and then they will hopefully be compelled (if for no other reason than their own curiosity) to turn your ad over and see what is on the back.
If this happens- congratulations, you just did what countless others failed to do- you got noticed!
My piece is designed to “grab” a persons attention from all the other ads they are sifting through, and compel them to “at least” turn it over and read your offer on the back- thereby jumping the first crucial hurdle.
I have decided to offer this piece for sale on WCR in the community submissions area of the site. You can see it here “Ghost Card”: Community Submissions | Buy Window Cleaning Supplies, Tools, Equipment, Products
It is available as a 4X6 post card or an 8.5X11 card. The postcards are set up for mailing, but since they are also fully and easily editable, you can use the space (normally reserved for the postage and address) and put in more offers or change whatever you like if you want to hand them out yourself or use them as regular flyers without mailing.
You can change anything you want, like the fonts, dates, prices, or whatever else you need in order to suite your business. If you don’t want to edit much, all you have to do is replace my logo and company info with your own, and you’re ready to go. I made them super simple to edit without a lot of complicated layers.
As for the the picture on the front…well here’s the story… and I’ll try to make it “family friendly”…ehh-em;)
My wife and I have been ghost hunting in our spare time since I first took her out to a lonely cemetery late at night when we were first dating. As I stated in an earlier post, for all you single guys out there, if you think that taking your girlfriend to a scary movie will make her cling to you, try taking her to a creepy cemetery late at night out in the middle of nowhere- she will be on you like “white on rice”-- trust me, we are married now and have three kids;) She will think your the bravest man around and will swear she hears a distinctive “clanking” sound when you walk…hahah
Anyways, I have done a lot of ghost hunting and one of the hardest things to get is a good picture. I have great EVP’s from some of our hunts, but as far as interesting pics- they are far and few between.
One night however, we were out hunting a local cemetery and I had come across a gravestone that had previously been broken at one time and then been repaired. After the repair, the gravestone took on a “different” look. As I approached this headstone, I snapped a picture and as I looked into the view finder on my camera, i noticed that the gravestone looked similar to a…eh-emm, a “phallus” to put it mildly.
I immediately called out to my wife, "hey check this out, this headstone looks like a “phallus” (not the exact word I originally used;) ), anyways, she then asked me “what- let me see?” So instead of pulling the picture back up from the camera’s memory, I just snapped another picture to show her. When I did this, I was pretty shocked to see a big orange/red glowing ball of light hovering over and to the right of the headstone. Our immediate reaction was an “oh crap” we just just ****ed someone/something off, but i immediately decided to snap another picture to continue documenting this thing. The very next picture I took- it was gone. So I have a “before, during and after photo” of this event.
I’ve taken thousands of pictures and seen a lot of weird things, but this one defies all my experience. The fact that I made a “crude” comment right before this thing appeared is…well, weird.
We have since been back and never captured anything visually from this area again, although, we have caught very high quality EVP’s, we have yet to capture this kind of thing again. I have to admit that I am somewhat embarrassed by my original comment, and and cannot bring myself to “talk some smack again” in order to get something to show up again.
So basically, this is a never before seen picture that is sure to be different as I have never posted it online anywhere before.
If you want to grab some attention- I think this template can do it for you!
Get it here on WCR.
It will work before Halloween and even after Halloween. In-fact, it’s different enough that it might work in the middle of Summer too. I plan to try it out next Summer. Since it’s fully editable, it can made to be used all year.
I’m always on the lookout for weird things when I’m working, especially in an old house. Anyone have any “ghostly” stories while working?