To serve as the voice of the pest control industry, protecting the livelihood of pest management professionals while fostering education, promoting professionalism, raising ethical standards, enhancing environmental stewardship, improving public health and quality of life.
WPCA, its Board of Directors and member companies wish you peace and happiness during this holiday season and in the New Year.
Pest Control 2010 is just around the corner. Mark your calendar for February 16-17 at the Kalahari Water Park and Resort in Wisconsin Dells. We have a great program in store for you.
Topics include:
Watch your mail for the conference brochure, and full details are in the current issue of The Pest Dispatch. You can also download the conference brochure at www.wisconsinpest.com.
Mark L. Hendrickson, Wingra Group
The words you use in your promotional messages can have a direct impact on how much money you make. This applies whether we’re talking about a yellow pages ad, a display ad in a newspaper, or how you communicate in a company brochure or flyer.
Much too often, I see a typical mistake being made and that is placing the name of your business and maybe your logo at the top of your ad or brochure, as in a headline. Sure, the name of your firm is important to you, but what does it mean to your potential customer? Always keep in mind that your customer has the built-in question of “what’s in it for me?” when reading your materials.
The headline should grab the attention of your target customer, and include a benefit. Let’s say you just invested thousands of dollars in a thermal remediation system for bed bug removal and now you want to promote this new service to hotels and motels in your area. How foolish it would be to begin your promotional announcement with the name and logo of your company. What benefit does that carry for your customer? Perhaps they want bed bugs gone, right away with a chemical-free treatment. So, you need to craft a headline that carries such a benefit, as in this example: We Can Eradicate Bed Bugs Safely, Without Chemicals – Guaranteed.
You get the idea: focus on benefits of your service rather than the features. One other factor to keep in mind is the basic marketing concept of AIDA which stands for the following:
- Attention: attract the attention of the customer.
- Interest: raise customer interest by focusing on and demonstrating advantages and benefits instead of focusing on features.
- Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the service and that it will satisfy their needs.
- Action: lead customers towards action or making a purchase.
You might also add an “S” to the above list, that being for Satisfaction. Be sure to satisfy the customer so they become a repeat customer and provide referrals to your company. Follow the AIDAS formula and you have a good chance of earning more from your marketing activities, at no extra cost.
Mark L. Hendrickson is President of The Wingra Group, a Madison-based marketing and business development company. He can be reached at mark@wingragroup.com