The 5 Biggest Mistakes Advertisers Make - Squarespace

Why do some advertising efforts “Breakthrough” while others go unnoticed?

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Advertisers Make (Breakthrough the Marketing Clutter)

David A. Petro & Neil Morrison Published by: davidpetro|consulting


davidpetro|consulting davidapetro.com

“Failure to act is often the biggest failure of all.” -John Wooden-


David A. Petro & Neil Morrison

1st Edition - 2014 Published by: David Petro Consulting Copyright 2014 by David A. Petro All Rights Reserved Cover Design and Illustration Layout: David A. Petro Contributing Editor: Amy Centers



David A. Petro & Neil Morrison Copyright 2014 by David A. Petro To learn more about the authors, schedule a strategy planning meeting or speaking engagement, please visit: davidapetro.com The phrase, The 5 Biggest Mistakes Advertisers Make: Breakthrough the Marketing Clutter is a registered trademark of David A. Petro and may not be used in any way, shape or form, without the express written consent of the author(s). All rights reserved. No part of this book, published, eBook, or audio program may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, public performance or in any other manner in whole or in part without prior written consent by the authors. (Except for brief quotation in critical reviews or articles). Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher, editors and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher, editors nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. Contents of this book may have been modified for this format.


DEDICATION

M & M, It has been a fun and interesting journey thus far. Thank you for being by my side through it all. Love Always and Forever. -Me

“If you can” Jesus said. “Everything is possible to one who believes.” Mark 9:23

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Advertisers Make (Breakthrough the Marketing Clutter) CONTENTS Introduction i Chapter I: Prepare for Liftoff Go Where Creativity and Innovation Soars 1 Chapter II: Demographics Why Outdated Philosophies Don’t Work in Today’s Marketplace 11 Chapter III: A Brave New Business World A New Mindset to a Better Way of Advertising 21 Chapter IV: The First Mistake Failing to Identify Your Ideal Customers 37 Chapter V: The Second Mistake Failing to Create an Effective Message (That Produces Amazing Results) 51 Chapter VI: The Third Mistake Failing to Commit to a Specific Medium 67 Chapter VII: The Fourth Mistake Failing to Allocate a Proper Advertising Budget (Without Breaking the Bank) 79 Chapter VIII: The Fifth Mistake Failing to Enhance Your Brand’s Identity Through the Power of Positioning 97 Chapter IX: Pros & Cons The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Side of Popular Advertising Media 111 Chapter X: The Closing Our Final Thoughts 135 Glossary 145 Acknowledgements 149

Chapter V The Second Mistake: Failing to Create an Effective Message (That Produces Amazing Results)

“Formal education will make you a living; Self-education will make you a fortune.” -Jim RohnAmerican’s Foremost Business Philosopher

KILLER CONTENT

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ll too frequently, advertisers miss the mark when it comes to creating the right message. A well- crafted message will engage the audience. It will grab the consumer’s attention and inspire action. Unfortunately many advertisers fall into a number of traps, crippling their marketing campaign and leaving them scratching their heads, trying to figure out what went wrong. There are two incredibly important components of a well-crafted advertisement. They are the Message and the Offer. An effective commercial is all about the commercial copy, the message. It’s what you say and how you say it. Miss the mark here and your campaign will crumble before it begins. Marketing Sidebar Here are a few poor marketing techniques that must be avoided:  Marketing Clichés, such as, One Stop Shop, Closer Than You Think, etc.  Commercial language that uses unrealistic dialogue.  A marketing message that lacks a strong, motivating offer.  Campaigns that target the wrong audience with the right message. 51

If you are currently using, or planning to use, any of the above techniques in an upcoming campaign, stop immediately and continue reading this chapter. We will share with you alternative solutions that will help you eliminate these errors and create a message that packs a powerful punch.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE Before you can create an amazing advertising message, you must first know what your target consumers are seeking. You can achieve this by uncovering the needs and wants of your ideal customers. There are five key elements that must be addressed in order to identify your ideal customer’s requirements and create a motivating marketing campaign. Four of them will help you create a motivating commercial message. The fifth will help you establish a realistic marketing strategy. These elements are: Target Audience Benefits Competition Positioning Marketing In Chapter IV, we demonstrated a great system for identifying the Ideal Customer (Target Audience). In Chapter VI, we will cover Committing to a Specific Medium (Marketing). And in Chapters VII & VIII we will discuss Competition and Positioning. In this Chapter, we will share with you techniques to create an effective message that will capture the attention of your ideal customers and motivate them to act--(Benefits).

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Once you have identified your Ideal Target Audience, you must uncover the benefits that your ideal customers are seeking. Note: Great Customer Service, Family Owned and Operated and Serving the Local Community for Thirty Years are not benefits to the consumer. These are nothing more than generic phrases that have been, and continue to be, overused in today’s clutter-filled advertising marketplace. There is absolutely no upside in using ineffective phrases in an effective advertising campaign. True benefits are tangible qualities that excite consumers. They are benefits a consumer can hear, see, touch, taste, smell or experience such as: Have 20/20 Vision in only One Hour Gets Forty-Five Miles per Gallon Brighten Your Smile in as little as Ten Minutes These are honest benefits consumers look for in products or services. These true, honest benefits are what motivate consumers to act. These are benefits that encourage consumers to choose one brand over another. Please note that you absolutely must know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what your consumer audience is looking for and what they will react to. Identifying these key catalysts in your commercial copy will separate you from the competition. We cannot stress this enough, it’s imperative that you uncover your marketing It Factor in order to create an effective message. Your It is the reason consumers want to do business with you. Each and every product, service, company or brand has unique benefits which are sought after by their core consumer base. Identify and communicate the important benefits sought after by your target consumers and you will win the marketing game.

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(Remember back in chapter III when you were asked to create a list of true problems and perceived problems? It’s now time to put that list to use).

THE BLUEPRINT OF AN EFFECTIVE MESSAGE What does an engaging advertisement look or sound like? How is it going to motivate the consumer audience? The following are four elements that should always be considered when you are creating an advertisement that grabs the consumer’s attention. The INTRODUCTION The BRIDGE The OFFER The CLOSE Each element is valuable in its own right and has its own unique place in the commercial copy blueprint.

THE INTRODUCTION The Introduction is quite possibly the most important part of any advertisement. This is the advertiser’s one shot at grabbing the consumer’s attention before they move on to another opportunity. Unfortunately, this is one place where we find many advertisers making some of the biggest advertising mistakes. They frequently incorporate a multitude of the most unappealing advertising introductions known to mankind, such as: Attention senior citizens Calling all home owners This Mortgage Minute is brought to you by…

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These are only a small sampling of the many non-effective introductions used in advertising. They are nothing more than trite clutter introductions that the audience has heard a thousand times before. Believe us when we say that busy people are not excited by the word Attention. Your typical consumer audience will not stop what they are doing because the announcer is using a generic introduction. A generic introduction is advertising suicide. Stay clear of them! There are many amateur marketers out there who believe we’re wrong about this. They’ve told us they use these types of introductions and they’ve worked for them. And this may be true, they sometimes will work, because even poorly-executed advertising campaigns do work from time to time. Our point is this: Just because it works some of the time doesn’t mean that an advertisement is working as proficiently as it could or should. In the book Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy states, “When you advertise in newspaper and magazines, you must start by attracting the reader’s attention. But in television and radio, the audience is already attending--your problem is not to frighten consumers away. It is fatal to warn consumers that they are about to hear a friendly word from the sponsor.” Mr. Ogilvy goes on to state, “Do not warn consumers they are about to be hit by an advertisement.” Be smart and be creative. Many businesses are missing out while consumers continue to spend millions, if not billions, of dollars elsewhere--all because of the bad marketing decisions made by the advertisers. If there is ever a good time to be greedy, it is when you’re advertising. Get all the business that you can, and deserve, with a skillfully executed advertising campaign.

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Bad introductions have become increasingly popular in response to our fast-paced lifestyle and the lack of creativity in connecting with today’s busy consumers. Many professionals are touting that people begin to tuneout after twenty or thirty seconds. In fact, we can provide studies that show an advertiser only has eight to ten seconds to get the point across before being tuned out. It is true that a small percentage of the consumer audience may tune-out after a few seconds…if you have nothing important to say. But if you do, well that’s a different story. Gripping content is key. As an audience has a tendency to tune out, be sure your introduction is clear and concise. And be sure to hit your ideal customers with the right opening. One way to invoke an authentic response is by tapping into the emotions of the consumer audience. Since you now know who your ideal customers are, you can create an introduction that resonates with them and captures their attention. Allow us to provide you with an example of an introduction that taps into the emotions of a consumer audience. We recently worked on a commercial campaign for a client who specialized in Senior Citizen Home Care. The client provides in-home medical services for seniors who want to keep their independence but need a professional caregiver to stop by their home and administer weekly medical care. The target audience for this commercial was the adult children of the parents in need of the service. The commercial opened like this: “On December 23, 2003, my father-in-law lost his battle with cancer. After nearly 60 years of marriage my mother-in-law was now frightened and alone.”

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As one might imagine, this opening was hugely impactful. It immediately captured the attention of consumers who had elderly parents in need of medical assistance. The emotional impact of this introduction alone had our client’s phone ringing off the hook. Always be impactful with your introduction. Tap into the audience’s emotion and force the consumer to stop what they are doing and react to what you have to say.

THE BRIDGE The second part of a well-crafted advertisement is The Bridge. Now that you have the attention of the audience, it’s time to connect them to the body of your message. This is where you’ll use one or two lines to bridge your Introduction to the Offer portion of your commercial with something like this: “We needed the help of a professional service; someone we could trust to be there for my mother-in-law when we were unable to be there for her.” This bridge allowed the client to introduce a solution, as well as the support of a professional company, while at the same time acknowledging the consumer’s concern for credibility of the company and the service. A good bridge can answer some obvious questions that the audience may have, while allowing you to move seamlessly into the third element of your advertisement: The Offer.

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THE OFFER The Offer is the heart of the message. This is where you present a strong, motivating reason for the audience to call your business. The key here is to make a compelling offer and highlight the benefit(s) of your product or service. Without a motivating offer, your campaign will simply add to the everyday clutter. Remember, solve a problem for the consumer and they will respond to your advertisement. Our client’s motivating offer was professional, 24-hour-a-day in-home caregiver service that was covered by most insurance companies. This was a hot button with our target audience. We knew our ideal customers needed the service but were concerned about how they would be able to pay for it. Notice, though, that we did not get into cost. We implied affordability without engaging in a price war. Once you establish your business as a low price leader, you become a commodity, which is bought and sold at the cheapest price. At that point your great service, quality products and professional accolades go out the window. They won’t mean anything to a low price, bargain-hunting consumer audience. If you have done your job by capturing the consumer’s attention with an emotional introduction, and you prove value with a motivating offer, your product will not need to become a commodity. Price will become less of a determining factor. The great author and motivational speaker, Tom Hopkins, states the three most important things consumers look for are Quality, Service and Price. As Mr. Hopkins brilliantly notes, “No business can offer all three in any one product or service.” Tom Hopkins continues, “Mr. Consumer, since no product can offer all three, which one do you want to eliminate?” Note: Consumers don’t want to purchase garbage. They will pay higher prices if they perceive better Quality and Service. 58

Do not sell your business short by devaluing your product or service in a price war. There’s one more piece of insight regarding our client’s advertisement. Once we moved to the Offer portion of the commercial referenced above, we incorporated the voice talent of a Registered Nurse. This helped change up the commercial, while giving credibility to the client with the endorsement of a trusted healthcare professional.

ONE CORE SELLING POINT It’s immensely important that you stick to one core selling point. Be sure not to bog down your message with too much information. This can lead to information overload, a detriment to any advertisement. Keep in mind, the goal is to plant the seed, not grow the tree. If you have multiple selling points, we suggest multiple commercials. You can utilize the same Opening and Closing, just simply change the Offer portion of the advertisement and run them in equal rotation.

THE CLOSE This now brings us to our final element: The Close. This is where you tell the consumer how and where to contact your business. Again, keep this simple. Don’t give the audience too many ways to reach you. It confuses the consumer and muddles the message. Keep in mind, the majority of consumers are very active. Make your contact information as easy to remember as possible with a memorable website address or phone number.

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If you are using radio, be sure to always repeat your contact point three to four times in your advertisement. This will help the audience retain your contact information and increase consumer follow through. It also gives the audience time to write down your contact information. Something worth reiterating at this point: Please resist the urge to use marketing clichés in your close, such as, Your One Stop Shop, Closer Than You Think or For All Your Home Service Needs. Marketing clichés truly serve no valid purpose. They will not help the audience remember your advertisement. And they will not help your business sell more products or services. If you are using marketing clichés to chew up space or time, shorten your advertisement and leave the clichés out all together.

ENDORSEMENTS MOTIVATE CONSUMERS One more thing to consider: Your brand may benefit greatly by utilizing a recognized personality or spokesperson. You can achieve this with the use of a local deejay, or by teaming up with a musician, athlete, or film and television star. A celebrity attachment will give your brand instant credibility in the market place and separate your brand from the clutter. The endorsement for our Senior Citizen Home Care campaign was by a local Registered Nurse. Our nurse brought the client the credibility needed to make consumers feel comfortable about our client’s service. Implied credibility can do far more for your marketing image than simply telling consumers, Trust Us, We Have Credibility.

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THEATER OF THE MIND The phrase Theater of the Mind is one that is commonly used in the radio industry. To be effective, radio must create a satisfying mental experience for the listening audience. While other media may have the ability to utilize pictures, sound and graphics to engage the consumer audience, every advertising medium must be able to create some sort of Theater of the Mind in order to motivate consumers to act. The most basic premise of advertising is for an advertiser to tease the consumer just enough to peak interest, thus motivating the shopping/buying response. There is no better way to accomplish this than by inspiring consumers to mentally picture themselves in possession of a product, or solving a worrisome problem before they have physically made a purchase. Keep in mind, the key to creating effective Theater of the Mind is choosing the right words. Words are extremely powerful. The right words can produce strong emotions within the consumer. When chosen properly, words will sell your product or service long before consumers ever reach your business. Choose your words wisely.

EMOTIONAL HOT BUTTONS Words can create an emotional firestorm within us due to our human make-up, our DNA. Integral to each of us is our human nature, which, reacts to emotional triggers called Hot Buttons. A hot button is what makes a person act; to make purchases and impulse decisions. Although, each of us has different hot buttons that influence our actions, we all have these emotional triggers wired deep inside our brains.

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The right words can and will stirrup deep emotions. These catalysts, propelled by the right medium, can generate an unstoppable marketing force. Emotional hot buttons and effective advertising can be a powerful combination, and, when implemented correctly, will effectively connect your brand with an enthusiastic consumer buying force. According to the book Hot Button Marketing, by Barry Feig, there are 16 recognized Hot Buttons which will trigger an emotional response within consumers. These Hot Buttons are: 1-Control, 2-I’m Better Than You, 3-Excitement of Discovery, 4Revaluing, 5-Family Values, 6-The Desire to Belong, 7-Fun is its Own Reward, 8-Poverty of Time, 9-The Desire to Get the Best, 10-SelfAchievement, 11-Sex, Love, & Romance, 12-The Nurturing Response, 13-Reinventing Oneself, 14-Make Me Smarter, 15-Power, Dominance & Influence, and 16-Wish Fulfillment. You’ll recall, we utilized four of these emotional hot buttons in the commercial copy created for our Senior Citizen Home Care campaign. We strongly recommend applying some type of emotion in every campaign. Simply telling consumers your message will not work. It is essential that you connect with the consumer audience on an emotional level. You need to elicit the consumer’s wants in order to get them to act.

HOW LONG SHOULD AN AD BE? One question that comes up a lot with advertisers is how long should the advertising message be? And quite frankly the answer is very simple; as long as it needs to be. If you can get your message across with a few words, great. If you need more time, that’s okay too. The length of a message should not be an issue; just make sure you get your message across in a clear and concise manner.

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AVOID AD SPEAK WARNING: Stay clear of Ad Speak in your advertisement. What is ad speak you ask? Ad speak can typically be found in radio and television advertisements. It occurs when everyday people suddenly become experts in an advertisement. You’ve heard it before, when unassuming individuals are amazingly transformed into corporate attorneys, or they begin speaking as if they are scientists rather than the average consumers they are portraying. Consumers know when they’re being oversold, so don’t try and outsmart them with copy that’s unbelievable. Eliminate industry buzz words from your advertisement and allow the talent(s) to speak as real people do. Your campaign will have a much greater impact.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW! Think of your own lifestyle. You probably don’t sit down to read, listen to or watch commercials. Like most of us, you’re likely engaged in multiple activities when commercials pass by your eyes and ears. 

Stay away from generic introductions and marketing clichés. They provide no service and ruin your credibility with the audience.

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Tap into the emotions of the audience. Whether its humor, fear or good old-fashioned romance, an emotional response will capture the attention of your audience and keep it engaged throughout your advertisement.

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Remember: Theater of the Mind. Choose your words carefully, and inspire consumers by creating a vivid, mental picture in their minds. The right words will trigger emotional hot buttons, while at the same time helping produce a strong desire within the consumer to follow through with their purchase.

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Simplify your message. Refrain from information overload. Focus on one core selling point and you will attain a better outcome from your advertising campaign. Remember, plant the seed, don’t grow the tree.

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Motivate the consumer with a compelling offer. Emphasize true benefits that matter to the consumer. Telling the audience that you’re family owned and operated is not a benefit. Instead, tell the consumer how your product will improve his or her life. Stress the true benefits of using your product or service.

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