Why Most Ads Don't Work

Why Most Ads Don't Work
By Roy H. Williams (The Wizard of Ads)

I’ve said many times, “Most ads aren’t written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.”

This goes back to chapter one, “Nine Secret Words” in my first book, The Wizard of Ads. Do you remember the nine secret words? “The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity.”

Clarity. Ah, there we have it.

Rare is the ad that makes its point clearly.

The customers who cost you money are the ones you never see; the ones who don’t come in because your ads never got their attention.

I was writing an ad this week and decided to insert a word flag. I chose a phrase of declarative rebuttal; “And to that, we say, ‘Piffle and Pooh.’”

Obviously, ‘Piffle and Pooh’ is just a whimsical way of saying “Poppycock.”

My client was worried that people might be offended, so he asked me to change it to something else. I hung up the phone and yelled at the walls. If you’re curious what I said, just walk into my office. I’m pretty sure it’s still echoing in there.

Would you like to know the 4 Biggest Mistakes made by advertisers?

Mistake 1: Demanding “Polished and Professional” Ads
If you insist that your ads “sound right,” you force them to be predictable.
Predictable ads do not surprise Broca’s Area of the brain. They do not open the door to conscious awareness. They fail to gain the attention of your prospective customer. This is bad.

Mistake 2: Informing without Persuading
Study journalism and you’ll create ads that present information without:
(A.) substantiating their claims,
“Lowest prices guaranteed!” (Or what, you apologize?)
(B.) explaining the benefit to the customer.
“We use the Synchro-static method!” (Which means…?)
“It’s Truck Month at Ramsey Ford!” (Come to the party, bring my truck?)

Mistake 3: Entertaining without Persuading
Study creative writing and you’ll draft ads that deliver entertainment without:
(A.) delivering a clear message.
“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (Dogs like our food, you will, too?)
(B.) causing the customer to imagine themselves taking the desired action.
“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (I should buy a taco for my Chihuahua?)

The best ads cause customers to see themselves taking the action you desire. These ads deliver:
INVOLVEMENT: Watch a dancing silhouette ad for the iPod and mirror neurons in your brain will cause part of you to dance, as well. This is good advertising.
CLARITY: The white earphone cords leading into the ears of the dancing silhouette make it clear that the white iPod is a personal music machine.

Mistake 4: Decorating without Persuading
Graphic artists will often create a visual style and call it “branding.” This is fine if your product is fashion, a fragrance, an attitude or a lifestyle, but God help you if you sell a service or a product that’s meant to perform.

“Do you like the ad?” asks the graphic artist.

“Yes, it’s perfect,” replies the client, “the colors create the right mood and the images feel exactly right. I think it represents us well.”

Sorry, but your banker disagrees.

Hey, I’ve got an idea; why don’t you and Artsy go home and redecorate the living room at your house? Me? I’ll stay here and ruffle some feathers and sell some stuff. I hope you don’t mind.

But you probably will. Because you worry needlessly when people don't like your ads.

Ninety-eight point nine percent of all the customers who hate your ads will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don’t cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they’re handing over their cash.

Do you believe the public has to like an ad for the ad to be effective? You do?

To that I say “Piffle and Pooh.”

Yours,

Roy H. Williams

Conventional ads get conventional results. Are you sure that's what you want?

Speaking to audiences on 4 continents for 15 years I've said, "Raise your hand if you think your ads ought to be producing better results." The hands and arms always remind me of a field of wheat at harvest time. Then I say, "Raise your hand if you believe your ads are doing all they're supposed to do." I've yet to see my tenth hand in all those years.

I don't write conventional ads because I don't want conventional results. Do you?

Test the Offer-Not the Medium

This is the best advice I can give you about advertising: Test the Offer, NOT the Medium.

So many times I have heard clients say, "I tried newspaper, radio, tv, print.....and it didn't work. There must have been no one listening/reading/watching".

My first response is to gently remind them that every medium has an audience or it wouldn't exist and then I ask, "What were you trying to accomplish?" and "What was the offer"?

There are just 2 types of advertising: POTUA and Branding. POTUA is a formula for "Immediate Traffic" advertising. It stands for Price, Offer, Theme, Urgency, Action. Branding is a formula for long term, consistent, slow-and-easy-wins-the-race, Top of Mind Awareness, you will see results over time advertising.

If you are expecting (or needing) instant results with your advertising, you must run a POTUA campaign. And with POTUA, you need an offer. A good one.

I recently helped a client sell $14,000 in gift certifcates in one day as the result of a radio campaign. This client has a small spa business that typically does $10,000-$20,000 in sales in a week. How did I get her a week's worth of revenue in one day? With a good offer.

Here is the formula we used:

Price: A $100 Spa Treatment for $50 (She covered her costs in the hopes that the offer would prompt additional purchases....it did)

Offer: Downloadable half-off gift certificates

Theme: Target busy, working women. The ad highlighted the fact that women take care of everyone but themselves. The spa offered woman a chance to remedy that, affordably

Urgency: The ads ran with high frequency on a female targeted radio station Monday to Friday with a purchase deadline of that Friday at 6:00pm

Action: Log on to a website, purchase a half price certificate with a credit card and print it out (make it as easy as possible for people to follow through with your offer)

In one day, the client sold 302 certificates and surpassed her wildest expectations.

Had any part of the above formula not been followed, the promotion would not have been as succesful.

Use this formula yourself when you need a little instant gratification advertising. When combined with good frequency/repeptition, it works every time.

Just remember to put every offer through the filter of, "Would I do this"..."Would this offer be enticing to me"..."How many people need this product or service right now"...."Is this offer good enough to get a noticeable response"?

Also remember that the higher the price tag of the item or the longer your product cycle (how often people need your product or service), the more shallow your response pool will be. For example, you can offer me a $10 King Sized Mattress set but unless I am the Princess and the Pea or currently in the market for a mattress, I will not respond.

Lastly! POTUA should not be abused. Too much of anything is...too much. Offering a sale every week, even every month, is the fastest way to deminish the perceived value of your product or service. Reserve this type of advertising for once-max twice-per year.

Now go on...get some results!

Social Media is NOT Advertising (Whaa...??)

Phew! Aren't small business owners lucky these days? With so many free online resources available to get the word out about your business...Facebook, Youtube, Twitter...all you have to do is put yourself on each one, update daily and the customers will find YOU! Right? (insert buzzer or wah wah sound here). Unfortunately, social media is just one small piece of the advertising pie. Read on....

From "Social Media is not Advertising and Other Words to Live By" December 2, 2009 by Sara Barton

Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger.

I have been around the marketing and advertising block a time or two, and I've seen some changes -- some great and some not-so-great changes. However, with the advent of social media, I have seen a series of trends I find truly disturbing: overestimating or underestimating social media's importance.

As a public service, here are three trends to avoid:

Scary Trend #1: Not Giving Social Media Enough Credit.

While I think it's great many companies are jumping into the social media fray, some companies think social media is "for the kids," so they underestimate its importance as a communication tool. They hand over the social media reigns to an intern in order to provide some "busy work," rather than realizing the ramifications of a social media strategy that is not carefully planned. If you're going to incorporate social media into your marketing campaign, do so deliberately. Don't blow it off or do it halfway.

Scary Trend #2: Giving Social Media Entirely Too Much Credit.

Some companies (and I'm not naming names!) have decided that since social media is so popular, it should take the place of an integrated-communications strategy. They eliminate the rest of their marketing plan and hire a social media guru to do what an entire marketing department has not been able to do, thus setting up said guru for failure. Social media is merely one tool in your arsenal; it does not take the place of an integrated strategy.

Scary Trend #3: Too Much To Soon.

If you're active in social media, you know this scenario all too well: You start following a company on a social media site because you like the brand. The next thing you know, you're bombarded with promotional messages, product information, and generic messages, much like getting stuck in the corner at a party, talking to some blowhard who only wants to talk about himself. If you don't want to engage your customers in a dialogue, then skip social media and buy some spots already.

Asheville business owners: Would you like a free advertising consultation? Murphy will come and learn about your needs, your advertising objectives and then design a customized campaign specifically for your business. Complete the form below and she will contact you within 24 hours.

Relational vs Transactional Advertising-You Can Do Too Much Of One

Article by Roy H. Williams to Entrepreneur Magazine

In any product category, roughly half the public will be in relational shopping mode, while the other half will be thinking transactionally. A customer in transactional mode:

A. Thinks short term.
B. Cares only about today's transaction.
C. Enjoys the process of shopping and negotiating.
D. Fears only paying more than he had to pay.
E. Is willing to spend lots of time investigating.
F. Considers himself an expert.
G. Hinges every transaction on price.

Consequently, transactional customers are always the quickest to respond to advertising. And what they respond to is predictable. Although I usually advise against targeting customers in transactional shopping mode, I figure if you're going to do it anyway, you might as well know how to do it well. Here's how to write the ads that trigger instant traffic:

1.Begin with a product that has wide appeal. Transactional ads don't create desire; they merely capitalize on a desire that's already there.
2.Reduce the price below what is considered the typical discount. The more desirable the item and the lower the price, the faster the traffic will come.
3.Explain why you're offering the price reduction. Your volume of quick-response traffic will be directly tied to the credibility of your desperation.
4.Create urgency by having a time limit. "Everyday low prices" may be a reasonable brand position in the long term, but it's no reason to rush to your store today.
5.Discount a highly respected brand that isn't usually discounted. A low price is unimpressive when there's a question about the quality.
6.Use specifics, which are more believable than generalities. Avoid ambiguous claims such as "up to 70 percent off" and vague disclaimers like "on selected items."
7.Schedule a high frequency of repetition for your TV or radio ads-or use a second color (like red) in key lines of your newspaper ad-to support the perception of urgency.
Content Continues Below

Leverage these seven factors and you'll increase your store traffic quickly. But be aware: The more often you use these tips, the less well they'll work. Consider the dwindling response to Little Caesars' initially successful two-for-one "Pizza! Pizza!" campaign.

You'll know your company is addicted to transactional advertising when customers begin asking, "When does this go on sale?" The price of this strategy is that you train your customers to wait for the next sale. Their sense of urgency is diminished with every new "Sale!" ad you write. In the end, the brand you're building will be weak. A number of studies on customer loyalty have clearly indicated customers that switch to you for reasons of price alone will switch from you for the same reason.

Style vs. substance: There's a big difference between saying something powerful and merely saying something powerfully. What message communicated in your ads doesn't expire? Is the most powerful part of your message true "for a limited time only" or "while supplies last"? Are you training your customer to wait for the next sale?

Unlike the transactional customer, a customer in relational shopping mode:

A. Thinks long term.
B. Considers today's transaction to be one in a series of many.
C. Doesn't enjoy comparison shopping or negotiating.
D. Fears only making a poor choice.
E. Hopes to find an expert he or she can trust.
F. Considers her time spent shopping to be part of the purchase price.
G. Is likely to become a repeat customer.

The goal of relational ad campaigns is to become the company that customers think of immediately and feel the best about when they-or any of their acquaintances-need what you sell. Customers in relational shopping mode are impressed by:

1.The owner as spokesperson. Think of Dave Thomas for Wendy's, or George Zimmer for Men's Wearhouse.
2.An unaffected, natural style, tinged with vulnerability. Your willingness to share your hopes, dreams, shortcomings and failures will endear you to relational shoppers. Let them feel as if they know you.
3.Genuine statements. Hype and self-aggrandizement are simply not acceptable.
4.No time limits. "Here today, here tomorrow, here when you need us" is a powerful message, no matter how you say it. Relational customers pay little attention to ads that expire.

5.Statements that indicate honesty. Never claim to be honest. Just make the kinds of statements that only a person of real integrity would make. The public isn't stupid. After awhile, these ads will begin paying off better than you can imagine.

6.Statements that indicate competency. Don't use the word "expert." Just make complex concepts easily understood, and the relational customer will say "expert" in his mind.

Remember, the fear of the relational shopper is that he'll buy the wrong one.
Ads that target the relational mindset seem to do nothing at first, but they work better and better the longer you run them. Ads that target the transactional mindset work miraculously at first but less and less well as time goes on.

Which type of ads will you choose?

Roy Williams is the founder and president of The Wizard of Ads, a company serving the advertising and marketing needs of business owners around the globe. Williams is also the author ofThe Wizard of Adsand Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads.

If You're Not Online, You're Really Kind of Nowhere

"Tech geek" Chris Pirillo on internet radio advertising:

The Secret to Good Advertising

The secret to good advertising? (lean in....I'll whisper it)

What you say x how many times you say it.

What you say - as with any advertising medium, if you actually want people to buy your widgets or book your widget-cleaners, you need to give people a good reason to do it. People won't flock to your store, or jam the phone lines, just by hearing you're a "family firm" and offer "good service".

Try to beat the "So what?" factor. The best way to do this is to come up with something unique about your business, your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

Then say it over and over again.

What you say x how many times you say it.

Done.

Are you throwing the wrong net?

Targeting the Imaginary Customer

Ask the wrong question and you will get the wrong answer

Most businesses target an imaginary customer because someone – probably an advertising salesman – once asked, “Who is your customer?”

Ask any businessperson, “Who is your customer?” and he or she will likely answer with a singular customer profile. Something like, “My customer is a career woman between 28 and 44 years old, college educated, making at least $45,000 per year. She has exceptional taste and style and wants to express her individuality through her purchases.”

And her favorite author is Danielle Steele and she likes to take long walks on the beach in the moonlight, right?

Ill-advised questions like, “Who is your customer?” must find their answers in that shadowland where memory meets imagination.

Although it may seem logical on the surface, “Who is your customer?” is a dangerously worded question.

Yes, I said “dangerously” worded.

Your whole life you’ve been told, “We remember more of what we see than what we hear.” But it isn’t true. In fact, clinical tests have proven quite the opposite: the precise wording of what enters our ears profoundly alters what we see in our mind.

The question, “Who is your customer?” conjures the mental image of an individual since “customer” isn’t plural. Ask that same business owner, “How many different types of people do you serve?” and you’ll get a radically different, far more valuable answer.

So now you’re going to tell me the 28 to 44 year-old female customer profile you gave me was the average customer, right?

Dr. Neil Postman, the celebrated Chair of the Department of Culture and Communications at New York University, has this to say about that:

“We must keep in mind the story of the statistician who drowned while trying to wade across a river with an average depth of four feet. That is to say, in a culture that reveres statistics, we can never be sure what sort of nonsense will lodge in people’s heads… A question, even of the simplest kind, is not, and never can be unbiased. The structure of any question is as devoid of neutrality as its content. The form of a question may ease our way or pose obstacles. Or, when even slightly altered, it may generate antithetical answers, as in the case of the two priests who, being unsure if it was permissible to smoke and pray at the same time, wrote to the Pope for a definitive answer. One priest phrased the question ‘Is it permissible to smoke while praying?’ and was told it is not, since prayer should be the focus of one’s whole attention; the other priest asked if it is permissible to pray while smoking and was told that it is, since it is always permissible to pray.”

In a Loftus & Palmer experiment reported by Dr. Alan Baddeley in his 1999 book, Essentials of Human Memory*, a group of people were asked to watch the video of a collision between two automobiles. Viewers who were asked, “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” gave answers averaging 40.8 MPH and reported having seen broken glass. But viewers reported speeds averaging only 31.8 MPH and remembered no broken glass when asked, “How fast were the cars going when they made contact?” Keep in mind that each group had seen the same video only a few moments before these questions were asked.
Control the question and you control the mental image it conjures.

Create your marketing plan around the question, “Who is my customer?” and you’ll soon bump your head against a very low ceiling. The true profiles of “your customer” are like the characters in a Fellini movie; an unimaginable circus of people with conflicted personalities and unconscious buying motives.

Proponents of hyper-targeting are quick to say, “You’re using the shotgun approach. I believe in putting the customer in the crosshairs of a rifle.”

But we’re not hunting just one customer, are we? Hyper-targeters believe in fishing with a hook. But for best results, I suggest you find a net.

If you want to grow your business, don’t target age, sex, income or education. Target according to buying motives. The question isn’t, “Who is my customer?” but rather, “Why does my customer buy my product? What does it do for him or her?” The answers to these questions will tell you exactly what to write in your ads.

Congratulations. You found your net.

Roy H. Williams
The Wizard of Ads
http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/?ShowMe=ThisMemo&MemoID=1850