[Ankesh]

Thanks TW.

When I was young - I hated drinking milk. Yet I drank it because it *apparently* made you taller faster.

I find the same mentality with small business owners. Most of them don't like marketing. They think of it as a necessary evil.

Focus on marketing, and you lose them. Focus on the end benefit (make more money during bad times, live an independent worry free lifestyle etc etc) - and you have a better chance of getting them to read further.

Be more like Seth Godin. Less like Dan Kennedy. And you'll win the mainstream audience - and not just the marketing geeks.
(For the record: I consider myself a marketing geek.)

But thats just been my experience.

(Of course - the place where you'll post your ad also plays a part on your message...)