I suppose that if anyone asked me what the theme of this month's columns has been so far it would have to be marketing. Hopefully I've got you thinking about how and where you market the products that you sell online ... and yes, selling memberships in porn sites is selling a product so I am talking to you guys.

So if the theme for the month so far has been marketing then perhaps we should finish of the month on the same note. Oddly enough while I've been waffling here for the last couple of weeks about marketing Steve, my partner, has also been thinking about marketing.

It's not what I've been saying here that has had Steve's brain ticking over. What got him thinking about marketing was a link someone sent him on one of the obscure hobby email lists he's a member off. The link was to a .pdf version of a book called "Poster Advertising" written by G H E Hawkins in 1910.

The author describes the book as "Being a talk on the subject of posting as an advertising medium ..." Obviously back in 1910 no one was talking about posting on websites or message boards or in chatrooms either. Back then, when you talked about posting, you were talking about bill posting on what we know today as billboards as well as the small ads that were often pasted onto walls and power poles.

And surprisingly that old book has a lot to teach modern billboard advertisers and adult webmasters too. If you look at print ads from back then you will often see quite complex designs filled with a lot of words because it seems that back then people had time to stop and read every word.

As we all know things are quite different today. We need to get the message across with simple designs and far fewer words and that's why this old book is definitely worth tracking down.

Included in the book are 32 full-color examples of what the author suggests are the best billboards and bill posts of the time and there's one thing that really stands out. The designs aren't complex and many of them have fewer words than what we see in advertising today and yet they get the message across in a way that many of us fail to do with our advertising.

Many of those ads use images to set the scene and simple words to connect the scene and anyone looking at the billboard to the product. For example there's a bright and colorful Budweiser billboard that uses just six words and an image of a man in a top hat and tails to suggest to people that beer is a very sophisticated drink ... with the obvious inference that if it's a sophisticated drink then you should be drinking it.

So what can you do with bright colors, six words and just one image? Can you build a powerful marketing message that will reach out to your potential customers and draw them into a fantasy that will make them want to reach for their credit cards?

Look at the banners you currently use ... is there a powerful marketing message in there or have you just opted for the easy option of showing more porn and hoping that the sight of some bare tits or some serious hardcore will be enough to make a few sales?

Are you prepared to even go so far as to build your own marketing messages or do you just use the tired and ineffective old stuff that some bored graphic artist threw together because the sponsor was too miserly to pay for some quality banners?

And don't forget ... for many "graphic artists" the more they can cram into a banner the better the more effective they think the message will be while many marketers understand that less often sells far more. If you keep the message simple you can make more sales ... and how much simpler can you be than one image and six words?

And if you're still not convinced about the need for simple messages jump in your car and take a trip out along a highway ... any highway. Think about the billboards that catch your eye during the trip ... some will catch your eye but you'll miss the message entirely ... others will just not catch your eye at all ... and some will catch your eye and deliver a message.

When you work out why some don't work at all ... why others catch your eye but don't deliver the message ... and why others do their job perfectly ... you'll know how to deliver a marketing message here online that will put money in your pocket.

02/20/2012 - Tales from the Street

01/23/2012 - Getting Inside Their Heads

01/17/2012 - Planning to Survive

01/09/2012 - Headlines and Creeping Jobs

01/02/2012 - What Are You Planning for 2012?

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