Home
>
Advertising
>
What Do Your Ads Say?

What Do Your Ads Say?

Make a list of everything you think should be included at one time or another, in one of your ad, be it radio, newspaper or Little Jimmie's class play program.

Everything. Experience, staff, facility, product. The list will be quite long. Take the time to do it now, before you read the rest of this article.

Next, take a hard look at your list, pencil in hand, and cross off all items that are about YOU (including YOUR staff, YOUR building, YOUR ranking, awards etc). Now, x-out all the FEATURES of your products or service.

The number one rule, the only rule, for great advertising is "Sell the Benefits".

Take a poll, people don't care if you have the largest selection in town. It means nothing that "New Stuff is arriving daily". They want to know what you or your product can do for them. WIIFM or "What's In It For Me?" Ease pain and you gain.

You see and hear ads everyday that miss the point entirely. Giant billboards with pictures of the medical clinic staff standing in front of a wall of awards. Picture of a guy with a wrench and the words "See me for all your plumbing needs." Three little girls on TV yelling an unintelligible slogan about their daddy's store. It's all about them. It should be all about the customer.

Did you see the one on TV where a guy gets the water cooler dumped on him because he bought the good software? What picture does that tell? It would have been better if the guy told me (from a sunny beach location) the boss gave him another week of vacation because the new software saved the company 40 million bucks. Benefits.

How about the newspaper ad with the picture of the funeral home building and how they have been around for 85 years? Benefit?

Ads about "you you you" can look and sound really great, to you, you, you. We all love to talk about ourselves. Where are the benefits? What hook does your face on a billboard use to bring customers through the door? Your face is NOT a benefit.

We all grew up thinking "me me me". Remember how excited you got when you first saw your name or picture in the newspaper? Even the school paper. It was a BIG deal. "Me me me." Great for your ego, but take that thinking to your advertising and it flops.

The first time you make the list and cross out the me me mees and all the features, you may have only one or two points left to promote. Make a new list and think "them them them". Think benefits.

The ads that stick in your head are the ones that promise to make your life easier. The appliance store promising to deliver at the appointed time. You don't have to stay home all day waiting for the truck. A real benefit. It makes no difference if the TV is made by Acme or Zenith? They will deliver on time. Let's go there. Benefits.

The company that says their plumber will show up clean, on time, and not smell. Another benefit!

Who cares what a financial advisor looks like, but tell people they can retire and not eat dog food and you get their attention. Benefit.

Funny thing, the ads about benefits are the ones we make the mental note to remember. Hmmm.

Sell the benefits and you don't have to sell yourself.

For more about advertising, get my article "What's Your Selling Sentence?" Send a blank eMail to MailTo:SellingSentence@BigIdeasGroup.com

Subscribe to "BIG Mike's BIG Ideas" Newsletter MailTo:subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net

In The News:

Kenya Advertising Spend to Rise as Competition Grows, TBWA Says
Bloomberg
Kenya's advertising market, which grew more than 30 percent last year, is set for further expansion because of intense competition among consumer goods companies, according to TBWA Worldwide's local unit. â€œInternational companies are now facing stiffer ...

and more »

Technology Review
Advertisers and Consumers Embrace New Facebook Social Ad Format
MarketWatch (press release)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 21, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Facebook's investment in social advertising is paying off according to research findings released today by Marin Software, the leading online advertising management platform.
Why GM And Others Fail With Facebook AdsBusinessWeek
The Facebook FallacyTechnology Review
Is There a Problem with Facebook Advertising?The FINANCIAL
AccuraCast
all 17 news articles »

Sponsormob Launches New Service to Help Mobile Advertisers Convert Impressions ...
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Mobile advertising provider Sponsormob implements its new Call-Back feature, further connecting mobile advertisers to targeted mobile users Austin, TX (PRWEB) May 22, 2012 Berlin-based Sponsormob announced it is launching a new service aimed at ...
Sponsormob offers Call-Back to convert impression into leadsTelecompaper (subscription)

all 5 news articles »

Los Angeles Times
Judge Says Pom Wonderful's Advertising Is Misleading
New York Times
It was issued after an Federal Trade Commission complaint two years ago, contending that Pom Wonderful had engaged in false and misleading advertising, â€œThe greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony demonstrates that there is insufficient ...
Judge Rules POM Deceptively Marketed Pomegranate JuiceWall Street Journal

all 134 news articles »

Interviews and Insights from Advertising's Best! Check out Advertisers at Work
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Meet and learn from top advertising professionals and world class ad agencies. New York, NY (PRWEB) May 21, 2012 Mad Men brought it to the forefront and now we all want to dig deep into the exotic, fancy, cut-throat world of advertising.

and more »

SeaWell Networks & BlackArrow Partner to Enable Monetization of Multiscreen TV ...
MarketWatch (press release)
TORONTO, May 22, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SeaWell Networks Inc., leader in multi-platform video delivery software for network operators, today announced successful integration with BlackArrow, a worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for ...
RGB Networks teams up with BlackArrow for targeted advertisingDigitalTVEurope.net

all 8 news articles »

iMedia Connection
7 things GM doesn't understand about Facebook advertising
iMedia Connection
It's hard to believe there wasn't some sort of agenda in telling the Wall Street Journal, three days in advance of what's slated to be the biggest IPO in US history, that advertising on Facebook isn't working for GM, but that's what the automaker did.
Can Individuals Profit From Internet Advertising?Benzinga
Facebook Piggies Went To Market But Retail Piggies Stayed HomeForbes
Facebook Droops and a Bubble BurstsThe Atlantic Wire
Kansas City Star -MarketWatch -Reuters
all 2,103 news articles »

Advertising spending sees sluggish growth
China Daily
By Meng Fanbin ( China Daily) China's advertising expenditure in traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and outdoor, increased just 1.4 percent in the first quarter, the lowest in nearly five years, according to a report released ...

and more »

The Drum
London Taxi Advertising Showcases the Company's Great British Patriotism with ...
MarketWatch (press release)
LONDON, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- London Taxi Advertising today announces their re-vamped and re-energized brand identity celebrating its British heritage and ten years in the business. The rebrand has been launched in time to mark the ...
London Taxi Advertising offers free taxi wrap for company which predicts ...The Drum

all 14 news articles »

Nitrobahn
GM: Super Bowl Spots Not Worth The Cost
Wall Street Journal (blog)
By WSJ Staff Even though it has touted the value of Super Bowl advertising and spent heavily on it in the last two years, General Motors Co. said it will skip the big game in 2013, in part because running television spots costs too much.
General Motors Skips Advertising in Upcoming Super BowlNitrobahn
GM pulls ads for next year's Super BowlDigitaltrends.com
GM says no to the Super BowlMSN Money
DailyFinance -Washington Post -Forbes
all 296 news articles »

Google News