7 Basic Steps in Pay Per Click Advertising and Face-to-Face Sales

7 Basic Steps in Pay Per Click Advertising and Face-to-Face Sales

Some of the same basics of face-to-face sales also work in Pay Per Click advertising. I have worked most of my career in writing, producing and buying ads for TV, newspapers, direct mail, and online advertising. I have also sold cars, computers, TV advertising and my own consulting services in Public Relations and Advertising. The more I think about sales compared to online advertising, the more similarities I uncover. If you are a small or medium business owner you may control your online business advertising and also sell to customers. You can use the things you learn in selling your products to create better online advertising for the same customers.

There are several basic elements that are true in both sales and Pay Per Click Advertising:

1) Build rapport by finding common interests. Never lie to your client. People will forgive you for telling them bad news or exposing a problem, especially if you can solve the problem. But they will not forgive you or trust you if you deceive them. This is the key to the first step in successful sales or online advertising, establish rapport and credibility.

2) Ask questions and listen carefully. In sales, ask the right questions when face to face with the customer and your customer will usually tell you what to sell them and how to sell it to them. It's hard to listen in online advertising, but it can be done. In Pay Per Click advertising, you must listen to the potential customer to find out who buys the product and why they buy the product. Customer feedback often comes from product research, copy briefs, and previous campaigns that worked or failed. If customers respond with questions or problems via e-mail or phone, you'd better listen. What customers tell you about your current products and response to your Pay Per Click ads can lead to more sales. Especially in Pay Per Click ads your click through rates and other report factors can guide you in learning which keywords and which Landing Pages are the most effective.

3) Ask more questions and listen attentively. Listening helps you to refine your questions to find the customer's Hot-Button. In both online advertising and sales if you determine the customer's topmost desire or problem, you are halfway to a sale. The Hot-Button issue is the most important need or problem that triggers a sale in both advertisiing or sales. People usually don't like to spend money. But if your online ad kindles a burning desire for the hottest new tech product or if your sales presentation promises to solve the most pressing problem burdening your customer, people cannot hand over the cash quickly enough. Just make sure your product delivers what the ad or the sales presentation promised.

4) Understanding your customer's basic needs is crucial to selling face to face or in Pay Per Click advertising. Once you know the hot-button issue, tell the customer why and how buying the product will solve the problem or meet the need. I find the most effective online copywriting depicts the product in action and depicts the product solving a very specific client need. Describe the product, from the client's viewpoint, using action words and you will help the potential buyer to picture this happy outcome in their mind.

5) Make an offer: Nothing happens until you offer the client a service or product at a specific price. Don't be shy. This is a crucial step in helping the customer to consider if the product offered is equal to the price. In sales this step may lead to a negotiation. As a salesperson or in your Landing Page copy your task is to depict the great value of the product to meet the needs of the buyer.

6) Many books have been written about the subtle art of closing the sale. Basically, you make the offer and ask them to accept. You MUST attempt to close the sale and risk hearing "No". No is an essential step to getting to the eventual yes. The Yes of a closed sale may come with a different offer or a different customer. But you will only find out by asking for the sale and risking refusal.

In online advertising, your Landing Page MUST make a call to action whether it is a CALL NOW statement, a customer sign-up form or a shopping cart. In both sales and advertising you can not be everything to every customer. You must make a specific offer to a specific type of customer. Take a risk.

7) The customer responds to your product and price by buying the product, or not. In sales, when the customer says "no", you don't give up. Instead, you ask more questions and find out why the customer did not buy. In sales you may answer the client objection and still get the sale. It's a continuous learning process.

The same applies in Pay Per Click advertising. If the customers respond in small numbers to your Landing Page, then it's time to apply the learning process. Are your Pay Per Click keywords too vague or too narrow? Are you vividly depicting the wrong benefits to the customer on your Landing Page? Are you trying to meet a Hot-Button need that only appeals to a tiny fraction of your customers? Don't give up. Ask more questions and re-build your ad. It's a continuous learning process of refining your keywords and your Landing Page.

Your customer's are telling you what they want and what they don't want. Are you listening?