The Purpose Of Advertising

April 5th, 2008

Odds are you believe you know “good” marketing from bad. After all, we are so awash in advertising, how could you NOT believe you know the difference between good and bad marketing?

If you are like most people I speak with, the advertising you believe is “good” is the stuff that entertains you or makes you laugh.

And why not? I mean, that type of advertising IS entertaining, and I do personally enjoy it as well.

But, is it “good” advertising???

Stay with me here. All of my years in advertising and direct response have taught me one thing. Good advertising is there to do one thing, and one thing only.

SELL PRODUCT.

Somehow, some way most of the General Advertising agencies have forgotten about this very fact. I was chatting with someone about an Ad for a certain type of car the other day.

It was the ad where the guy is singing the song “I feel like a woman” by Shania Twain. His friends are packed in the car with him and they are obviously extremely perturbed.

It’s very funny! However…

Can you name the product? I asked my friend this and naturally, like most people, he forgot the product…

And even if he did remember, what is the correlation between a guy singing “I feel like a woman” and Chevy Trucks? (That’s the product being “branded” in this particular ad).

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!

And hence that is my exact problem with “branding” and exactly why branding does not work. I will write more about this outdated idea of branding in a future blog.

Getting back to advertising that works (or sells product, if that’s your goal )

The type of advertising that works does the following:

1) Grabs your attention (knocks you out of “Alpha” Mode and into “Beta” Mode)
2) Engages you
3) Educates you
4) Makes a clear offer

Let’s first talk about the “attention” aspect. I have to admit, some of the advertising you see on TV and what not does a great job at grabbing your attention, or knocking you out of “alpha” mode.

First of all, “Alpha” mode is a state of conciousness in which we exist most of the time…a good example is when you are in your car driving to a place where you go consistently, so let’s say a drive to your office in the morning…

Have you ever driven to the office in the morning, arrived there, and realized you saw absolutely NOTHING on the way there??

That’s a perfect example of “Alpha” mode. It’s a level of conciousness in which you do not really recognize much.

On the flip side, and example of “Beta” mode is driving to work in a terrential rainstorm, and you have your hands locked in the “10 and 2″ position. (Your high school gym teacher turned driving instructor would be proud )

Nevertheless, during these times, you ARE aware of things going on around you, and you are more apt to remember them.

All of this being said, ALL advertising is designed to knock you out of Alpha mode and into Beta mode. This is a smart thing because, of course, you want your prospects to remember you and your product.

However, the problem is in which the way most advertisers do it…

I call their advertising a “false beta”…

In other words, their advertising headline is something like:

“SEX”

Now that I have your attention, I would like to offer you this great health insurance package. We have very competitive rates blah blah blah blah…

That’s a false beta. You THOUGHT the ad was going to share something with you about sex. Instead you got the cheesy health insurance ad.

And the same goes for the “I feel like a woman” ad that Chevy has run in the past. Sure, it’s funny, it knocks you out of Alpha mode and into Beta mode, but where is the correlation there?

IT’S A FALSE BETA!!!

And also probably why you don’t remember the products behind some of your “favorite” ads.

So, in learning this, what is the advertising formula that DOES work???

1) Knock you out of Alpha Mode with a promise to solve a problem you have:

EXAMPLE:

“Do you have dandruff? Here’s some good news…”

“Are you in debt? Are the bill collectors calling? Learn how you can get out of debt for pennies on the dollar!”

ALL of these headlines do the following:

1) Take you out of Alpha mode and into Beta where you are aware…

2) Make a promise of solving you problem, and then getting into the “how”…

As they say, the best selling product in the world is a solution to a problem. So ask yourself, how does your product solve the problem of your prospects/customers?

And how are you addressing that in your advertising? Are you trying to “entertain” or “brand” yourself in your advertising???

Gosh, I hope not…

Address your prospect’s pain. Address their needs, not yours! Talk about them, and what they will get, not about you!

The internet essentially consists of two different types of sites….

1) “About Us” sites (95% or more sites online)

2) WIIFM Sites (What’s in it for me sites, 5% or less)

As you can imagine, the 5% or less sites work MUCH, MUCH better.

Let me clue you in on something. Your prospects can CARE LESS about you. Deal with it, it’s the truth. They want to know, specifically, how the heck you are going to solve their problem, make their life easier, make them healthier, make them sexier, make the richer, etc etc.

SO WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF??? Stop it, you selfish moron!

;-)

Just kidding!

Remember:

Address THEIR needs. Tell them how THEY will benefit. How they will become the person they want to be by virtue of buying your product. They are buying the benefits to themselves, not because you are family owned and operated and have been in business for 20 yrs.

If you cannot solve their problem, they can care less!

Ok, more on this later. I hope you enjoyed it. Please, if you have not already, subscribe to my newsletter.

Till next time,

Matt

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“But My Customers Are Different”

December 30th, 2006

One of the more favorite phrases I get from new clients (before I have them properly indoctrinated LOL) is what I call the “but my customers are different” syndrome…

Essentially what this involves is the clients misconception about their prospect and customer base, most notably their unfounded belief that their prospects and customers will NOT read long copy or will NOT respond to offers that are a bit on the “sensational” side.

Nothing could be further from the truth- and I can’t think of anything that pisses me off more than a misguided client who actually believes this!

Here’s the reality of the situation:

Your customers are HUMAN BEINGS. All human beings buy products, information and services for the same basic menu of reasons. And they WILL respond to offers that are on the “sensational” side as long as there is TRUTH in the story.

The perfect example is the mailing John Carlton put together for golfers that mailed successfully for 8 years at a 20 to 1 clip on revenue to ad spend with no changes made to it whatsoever.

Golf Digest was worried that the offer was “too sensational” and would “piss off” their customer base and was concerned that their “customers were different” because they thought that golfers were a conservative bunch and a bunch of other unfounded nonsensical beliefs that I care not to get into at the moment.

The headline?

“Amazing Secret Discovered By One-Legged Golfer Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices…and Can Slash Up To Ten Strokes From Your Game Almost Overnight!”

This was actually a TRUE story (embellished of course) and the hook was of course the one legged golfer. The morons over at golf digest falsely believed that this headline would “piss off” their customer base and work against them in the long run because their customers were “different” and would not like this (for whatever silly reason they can come up with in their minds).

Instead, this mailed unchanged for 8 years and was one of their most successful campaigns- ever.

So, the question is…

Are your customers different?

Matt

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Create Your Own Search Engine

November 21st, 2006

Just recently Google put a new program together that most marketers missed, or are just not talking openly about it…

This program is called “Google Co-op” but most likely will be known in layman terms as “Create Your Own Google Search Engine” or the like.

It’s a simple concept that I am certain will be a big part of the search engine game moving forward. Basically, Google allows you to create a search box on your website (that can be a blog, e commerce site, or even “look” like a search engine such as the google.com look).

One of the caveats is the fact you can tell Google which websites to search (therefore only including sites of yours, your friends,etc) and EXCLUDE competing sites and websites that may disagree with the philosphy etc you are trying to bring forward…

This may not seem to be an “optimal” result for the user doing the searches, but remember we are talking marketing here and not necessarily JUST “playing fair”- after all, this is business and it’s a competitive game.

The obvious application for this new program is to create “niche” search engines of your own and return the results that YOU want your users to see.

As an example, if you had a group of 60 nature loving/bird watching/tree hugging websites that all talked about the beauty of nature, you could develop a search engine that JUST indexed those sites- so all the results that came back from searches for “rare birds” would be from YOUR own web properties mixed in with sponsored or paid results (of which you get a % of click revenue- the Google Adsense model).

Are you seeing the potential here? The sky is the limit- learn more here:

Google’s Create Your Own Search Engine

Have to run for now- enjoy!

Matt

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Current Events

September 22nd, 2006

Are you using current events in your marketing? If you’re like most, you are not, and missing out on a big opportunity.

As you may know, all marketing that you see from the big agencies (in mainstream TV and print) is designed to first and foremost get your attention.

We all operate in the “alpha” level, and the point of this advertising is to get you into “beta” level which is where you are conciously aware of what’s going on around you.

Most people I talk to do not believe it, however, we ALL operate in alpha level the majority of the time. Alpha level is a state where you are not 100% conscious of what’s going on around you. The perfect example of this is when you are doing something you do often and you don’t recognize things around you. For example, if you are part of the (unfortunate?) group of people who drive into work every morning, you may have an easy drive and not “see” a thing on the way into the office.

This is the perfect example of operating in the “alpha” level. Beta level, on the other hand, is like driving to the office during a snowstorm on extremely difficult terrain.

In that case, you are definitely aware of what’s going on around you.

And that’s exactly what your typical ad agency advertising is designed to do, get you into beta level so you are aware of the message they are trying to convey.

The problem, of course, is their message sucks and 9 times out of 10 they don’t even have a point to their advertising.

Usually it goes something like this:

Buy from me because I am funny
Buy from me because I am creative
Buy from me because I am cute
Buy from me because I made you laugh

Etc etc etc

There’s also a “brand recognition” element here that I am not even going to bother to address. It’s pointless because it’s non quantifiable and a bunch of BS that ad execs will sell to their lesser informed clients.

Ahh…but I digress.

So, on to my main point for writing this article- when you use current events in your marketing, and tie them into your product/service/information, then you are able to get your prospects into “beta” mode and THEN make them an appropriate offer.

For example, when the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines about crashing his motorbike (WITHOUT A HELMET ON), I noticed several sharp marketers use that story as means to get their product offering out there…

The communication went something like this…

Matt, don’t be like Ben Roethlesberger (the steelers quarterback for those of you who don’t care much about American football)

And then the pitch was something like “Ben knew he shouldn’t ride without a helmet, but he did anyway, and now he’s paying the price” type thing. Then, naturally, the letter asked why you didn’t invest in the coaching club, product, service etc even though you KNOW it’s the right thing for you and you need it, etc etc.

Here’s the point:

Use current events to get your prospects into beta mode. It’s free, you won’t have to hire a celebrity, and depending on your creative ability, you will be able tie these events in quite nicely with your product.

And if you follow my suggested guidelines for time tested marketing principles, you will be able to ride the coattails of these events quite nicely.

That’s all for now…

Matt

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It’s NOT Your Fault

September 4th, 2006

I am writing my first blog entry from Warsaw, Poland today where I am traveling throughout Europe with my Fiancee, Debbie.

It’s interesting the type of response I receive from folks who have learned of my “move” out here (although it’s more of a working vacation since I will be back in Chicago for 3 weeks here and there quite often).

Most people are just pure floored that I’ve taken my business over here- not to mention their thoughts on “how far” it is and just how much I removed from the daily news going on in the states.

Well, I still have my Fox News, so I am NOT that removed from things- even though The O’Reilly Factor does come on at 2 AM local time…

Nevertheless, it brings up an interesting point I wanted to make regarding the media and advertisers in the U.S., because if you DON’T use this in your marketing you are really missing the boat big time.

An important point to take to heart…

It’s what I call the “It’s Not Your Fault” concept.

When conducting marketing campaigns, you should NEVER be the one to tell your prospect that the problem they face is their fault!

This may seem obvious, but just the mere fact of NOT 100% stressing to them that it’s not their fault that they are overweight, depressed, broke, lonely, (whatever a problem your product solves) is a major mistake most advertisers make in their marketing online.

The idea is simply this- if most traditional media is telling your prospects that “it’s not their fault” for whatever problematic situation they find themselves in, then you DON’T want to be the person who is saying it IS their fault (or even implying it by not driving it home as well in your online marketing!).

That may seem like a reach to some, but I can tell you this is a very powerful motivator when it comes to your prospects making a buying decision.

As human beings we love to lie to ourselves, blame others and other circumstances “beyond our control” for our misfortunes. Whether it’s true or not is another story. However, when marketing your product, this posture has to be part of your presentation, otherwise you are likely to alienate a good portion of your prospective audience.

That’s all for now.

Matt

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