service

The PASCU Ad Template

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I had a client contact me recently about running advertisements for their business. This would be their first venture into advertising, and wanted some information on the best type of ad to create.

While the word “best” is a loaded word, I suggested that since they were just starting out, the ads should be built using the PASCU template. It’s a simple formula, easily understood by both the creator and the consumer, and it tends to work well for almost all businesses.

PASCU is an acronym for:

  • Problem
  • Agitate
  • Solution
  • Call to action
  • Urgency

You state a problem a prospect might be having, and then you agitate the prospect – perhaps by carrying the problem to an extreme. The advertiser suggests a solution that they provide, and gives a call to action with a short deadline. Let me give you an example, based on my client’s business.

Did winter weather damage your driveway? Don’t let it destroy the resale value of your home! Smith Brothers fixes most driveways in under 8 hours. Call today to schedule an estimate in the next seven days.

The first sentence brings up a problem the prospect is having. The second sentence takes the consequences of that damage to an extreme. The solution is the third sentence, the remedy for the problem that my client is selling. The final sentence tells the prospect what action to take (“Call”), when to do it (“today”), and the quick reward for doing so (“estimate in the next seven days”).

There are other types of advertisements that might be better, depending on the service or product you’re selling, but PASCU is a great first step towards advertising.

If you have any questions about ad creation, please feel free to reach out to me today.

Re-engage Email Subscribers

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The point of an email list is to engage with the people on it, and to build a relationship with each person. Ultimately the point of the relationship is to make sales – either to the person on the list, or through them to people they know.

That said, if a person on your list is not engaging with you by at least opening your emails (hopefully reading the content and clicking on the links) at least some of the time, you’re wasting your effort and their time by continuing to email them. You should periodically “wash” your email list by attempting to re-engage with the individuals and, if that doesn’t work, removing them from your list. A small, dedicated and engaged audience is better than a larger audience that doesn’t give a damn about you.

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Learn & Practice The Basics

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I’ll be 50 years old in a few months.  Next week, the karate school where I train – CNY Karate – is hosting masters from our home dojo in Okinawa City, Okinawa, Japan.  Some of these people have been training in karate longer than I’ve been alive.  As I was talking with one of the classes a couple nights ago, they asked me what the Okinawan karate-ka would be going over with us.  Advanced techniques?  Spinning jump kicks?  Breaking boards while flying through the air?

No.  They’ll be drilling us on the basics.  In karate, that’s a small handful of blocks, punches and kicks.  These basic building blocks can be put together in nearly endless combinations to achieve a martial artist’s goals.  These can range from simple protection, repelling an opponent, causing limited physical damage, serious damage, or even death.  Overall, the practice of the physical aspects of karate are really about learning to control your own body, mind and spirit.

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Restaurant Rants – Part 1

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I was speaking to a friend of mine today when he asked, “Did you hear the news?”

Seems a small, well-respected Italian restaurant near him is moving down the road into a building that has housed at least three major chain restaurants in the last 30 years.  This building is literally 4 times larger than their current location.

I love this restaurant.  It’s romantic, it’s intimate.  The food is great, and because they can’t fit that many people in the place at one time, it comes out hot, fresh and hand-made just for you.  We lamented the fact that, if the move is real, it will doom this restaurant.  They’ll be out of business by February.

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