Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising - Review


I have read a lot of marketing and advertising books, and this is the best I have found for small business owners. The information is simple, easy to implement, and extremely practical. Read it if you want tips that you can implement today. Some reviewers have complained that the information is outdated and doesn't include new information. To me, that is one of its strongest points. If I want to learn more about social media and blogging, there are hundreds of books to choose from. This book will give you principles and formulas that are timeless, remind you that there is a difference between response and results, and serve as an excellent foundation for other marketing books. 

Read it if you want to learn:

* How to set growth objectives

* Formula to calculate your average cost per new customer

* Marketing tools for getting referrals

* When/How/Where should you advertise?

* How do you know if your advertising is working? Should you ask your new prospects?

* What are the 10 Critical Components of Copy?

* How is your advertising held accountable?

* What percentage of your sales should be redirected to advertising?

In short, this is a great book. I have a business degree from Texas A&M, have taken multiple college level marketing classes, and read more than a few dozen books on marketing. If any small business owner asks me for the book they should read first, this will be my recommendation to them. Highly Recommended.

3 comments:

  1. I am the small business. Would you recommend this book for professional writers?

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  2. Darla,

    It's not all applicable, but there is a lot of great advice in it that authors can, and probably should, use. One of things I thought would be really helpful was thinking through was your "Unique Selling Proposition" would be as an author. What makes your book different from any other? How do you communicate that in one sentence? It also has some good advice about copy, whether to use radio, the difference between response and results, etc.

    Its a little outdated, but in some ways thats a plus - you don't get bogged down in the social media material that you can find in so many other books. I think there is a lot of valuable advice for authors who are thinking through how to be successful once they reach the marketing stage.

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  3. I own a small business in our small town. I decided to try out a few advertising methods and to keep track which methods produced the most new customers. Thank you for sharing this! I know it can help me a lot!

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