The 5 Deadly Sins of Advertising
The late Leo Burnett was an advertising superstar.
Burnett is the guy who created such famous ad campaigns as “Charlie the Tuna,” “The Marlboro Man” and “The Pillsbury Doughboy” – as well as, interestingly enough, “The Lonely Maytag Repairman.”
He often said, “Before you can have a share of the market, you must have a share of mind.” Leo knew his business. He understood people. And that’s the key.
The foundation of all customer relationships are the words we use in our advertising and how we use them. Advertising is applied psychology using the media.
Here’s the basic advertising formula:
Knowledge of Human Psychology
+ Very Effective Communication
= Effective Salesmanship.
That’s it. Sounds simple, right?
It’s not. You’ve really got to work at it. It’s all about being psychologically technically correct in your ads. Unfortunately, many business owners are not.
Numerous mistakes are made in advertising by owners lacking the understanding of the psychology of advertising. That can cost you big time – and put you in a really bad mood as well.
As a result, I’m going to point out what I believe to be the five most common (and costly) mistakes for businesses, so you can avoid these pitfalls, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your advertising, and of course get more bang for your advertising buck:
1. Focusing on features, rather than benefits.
This is a classic advertising sin. It’s very common. It happens all the time with all small businesses.
The usual cause is not understanding that people (all people, including you) consistently listen to the same radio station. The call letters are WII-FM, which stands for “What’s In It For Me?”
Many business owners are preoccupied with the various “cool” (in their minds) features of their business because they paid to have them, and they want to talk about them. Unfortunately, they advertise them from their own personal perspective as a store owner – not from the viewpoint of a customer.
Imagine walking into a Laundromat and see that the signs over the washers say things like “Holds 40 Pounds,” “Holds 20 Pounds,” etc. Informing customer of the machine capacities in terms of pounds is a complete waste of time.
People don’t weigh their clothes. They just want to know how many loads a machine will hold. In other words, what’s in it for them?
Therefore, instead of indicating the poundage, the signs should say something like “Holds Up to 4 Loads” or “Holds Up to 2 Loads.” You get the idea.
In other words, drive home the benefit, not the feature. Although they may have been impressed with a technical feature when they bought a particular machine because that’s how the equipment salesperson likely sold it to them, the customer won’t be.
There are many other examples of emphasizing benefits over features, such as:
• Instead of saying your Bakery has a lot of variety of breads you can say,” Have you tried making a grilled cheese with our rolled foccacia” (WII-FM benefit: Convenience)
• Instead of advertising that you have spa packages, you can say, “Combining a nail treatment, pedicure, and massage will help you feel good inside and out. WII-FM benefit: Happiness)
2. Not using the A.I.D.A. advertising model.
These four simple letters – which stand for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action – should play vitally important roles in every type of advertisement you do.
Each and every ad you spend money to run must properly call attention to your product; it must cause interest to develop; it must create the desire to buy your product, and it must cause the ad recipient to take the appropriate action to obtain your product.
Did you know that all successful infomercials contain these critical ingredients? They do. And that creates what infomercial experts call the “glue factor,” which simply means that you, the viewer, will remain “glued” to your chair to watch the full 30 minutes.
When I consult with clients on ad design, I always make sure that each and every ad contains these sections in appropriate order. For example, a typical generic ad might read something like this:
Clothing Boutique:
Are you tired of the same fashions everyone else is wearing? (Attention), Well at The Monkey And Owl Boutique, we only stock limited quantities of clothing and accessories (Interest). Mix and Match from the most exclusive lines in town (Desire), So jump in your car and head over to The Monkey and Owl Boutique before your friends do (Action).
Accountant:
Is your old shoe box still full of receipts? (Attention), At Shakey and Slippery Accountants we do more than taxes (Interest). Reduce the time you spend on your bills by using our monthly services (Desire), Call us today to see how Shakey and Slippery Accountants can manage all of your bills and expenses.
3. Not using visuals in your ads.
People are visual creatures, which is why so many of us watch television as opposed to listening to the radio. Radio is, as they used to say, “the Theater of the Mind,” which means the listener can envision anything he or she wants – correct or incorrect – when listening to an ad.
Visuals, (pictures or video) will also prepare the other senses for what they could expect. Take for example some of the ads run recently for air fresheners. Notice how they blindfold the people so they can’t see their environment before they smell it. This is to avoid the mind creating a perception of what they should smell based on previous experiences. If you were to look in the back of a van on a hot day and saw a bunch of garbage you would not want to even open the door based on what your mind tells you nose to expect.
But I must add that radio is still an important medium. People listening to the radio tend to be a captive audience, especially during specific times of their day, so the correct and playing the in the Theatre of the Mind can certainly be effective. Imagine hearing about a spa while you are stuck in traffic. Your mind will easily visualize how you would feel and how relaxing it would be.
The key point to take away here is to always utilize visuals in every ad or make sure you put the right visual on stage at the Theatre.
4. Not recognizing the great diversity of your marketplace
We now live in a culturally- and age-diverse country.
The United States has changed significantly in terms of diversity. You are no longer advertising to just one type of customer. Your marketplace is extremely heterogeneous, and you must respect that.
In fact, each cultural and generational difference now represents a distinct market segment. And each market segment likes, dislikes and appreciates different things. This applies to your advertising and every part of your business. Everything!
Your advertisements now must appeal to all market-defined groups. It’s now an intrinsic part of modern advertising. After all, the only truism constant in the business world is change – so embrace it.
5. Not knowing that, in advertising, repetition is more important than reach.
Muhammad Ali didn’t get to be arguably the greatest fighter in the history of boxing by hitting 300 people just once. He got there by hitting one person 300 times.
So, when allocating your advertising dollars, define your target audiences, and focus on them repetitively. Don’t advertise in every magazine and newspaper and on every television channel despite the fact that advertising salespeople will go to great lengths to convince you that their opportunity is clearly the best choice.
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Be like Ali and you can win championships, too.
In addition, it’s common for people to need to hear your ads multiple times before they respond. Carefully define your valid media choices and stick with them. Patience is the key, as long as there are no errors in your premise and your ads are structurally sound.
Spreading yourself too thin will do nothing but make you invisible.
Cost-effective ads must focus on perceived customer benefits, incorporate the A.I.D.A. model, always include visuals, take diversity into consideration and be strategically repetitive.
Think of it this way and it will be your new energy drink – Highly effective advertising should always have a price, but never a cost.
Do you need to advertise? Absolutely!
The only organization I can think of that can make money without advertising is the United States Mint.
BONUS TIP:
Talk about your business to everyone you know and meet. Use your 60 Second Sales Hook.
Ask a friend what your business has to offer if they can’t tell you about it how will they spread it by one of the most effective advertising methods…Word of Mouth.
If you have any comments please post them below.
To Your Prosperity
Ken Barrett
P.P.S Are you a business and need to improve your online presence? Maybe I can help START HERE
