Does your business provide information in hopes of selling a product, or does it provide real value to showcase your business, product or service before the sale?
Let's face it, the web and the world are jam packed with information! Anyone can come up with catchy marketing copy and push it out to thousands or hundreds of thousands of people with the click of a button. Offering real value like a test drive is a lot more difficult. Thus, most companies’ marketing departments coast by – pushing out more and more info, but getting less response from a market overwhelmed and swimming in information. The companies spend more and more money, and their ROI just keeps dropping.
Today people expect to test drive your offers before they’re willing to commit to becoming your customer. The auto industry figured this out years ago. The software industry has set the standard for online marketing with "trials". Even infomercials offer a "no risk money back guarantee". Trials and test drives are becoming the norm because they create powerful marketing connections that add depth to your customer relationships. It doesn’t cost your business anything more to let people try before they buy and the gains put your business on the right side of the ROI curve – small investment, big return.
The internet is obsessed with bacon. In about 15 minutes of research (delicious, mouth-watering research) I found recipes for Bacon Cupcakes, Bacon Salt Caramels and even Bacon Jam! Unfortunately, just as Spam became SPAM when the word came to refer to unsolicited email, bacon is transforming into BACON: unwanted, but legitimate email, sent by legitimate senders. Do you have a BACON problem?
Think about your inbox. How many mailing lists are you on? Every day you probably see deals, updates, newsletters and coupons from a huge variety of businesses: Amazon, Chapters, Godiva, The Gap, Atlus, Groupon, Expedia, Apple, Sephora, American Apparel… and those are just the ones that just pop up in my inbox that I can think of off the top of my head. You could probably add 10 more without trying.
The popularity of BACON is staggering. You might even get more BACON than you do actual email, considering over 27 billion BACON emails were sent last year - that’s 4 emails every day for every person on the planet! We know BACON has grown almost exponentially, but why?
Think about your family and your friends. Do you know people who fast forward through the commercials if they can? Do you know people who hang up on telemarketers? Do your friends use pop-up blockers and spam filters? Does everyone you know do these things? Do you?
Based on this evidence, it seems to be clear. People hate advertising. Look at how much we go through to avoid listening to sales pitches!
But it’s not so simple, is it? I don’t think people hate advertising like they say they do. For example, everyone loves Superbowl ads. The whole internet went crazy for the Old Spice viral marketing campaign during the summer. Starbucks has 1,119,261 followers on Twitter (at time of writing), and Coca Cola has over 16,629,200 people on facebook that Like them. These people aren’t following on twitter, interacting on Facebook and passing around links because they hate ads. These people are clearly getting something out of the advertising – be it entertainment, information, interaction with the brand or a chance to talk with like minded people.
“People Hate Ads” is probably the biggest marketing myth in the world. People don’t hate ads. They hate ads that are forced on them, ads that don’t respect their intelligence, ads that don’t give them anything back to the consumer for listening to the sales pitch. People hate CRAPPY, STUPID ads. Not all ads – just the bad ones.
What the Twitter and Facebook numbers tell us is that consumers will actually seek out ads – as long as they’re relevant to their interests. People actually want to see ads from Starbucks and Coca-Cola, otherwise they wouldn’t choose to include them in their social media circles. Therefore, if an ad has: relevant content, great writing, and meaning for the person watching it, it’s a good ad. Chances are consumers will find it informative, entertaining and enjoyable. Maybe even all of the above, as in the case of the Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials. Seriously, listen to them, they’re great.
So – what can we learn from these examples of great advertising?
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- Advertising is important – every product needs advertising, even if it practically “sells itself” – for example, beer (as above) and iPods.
- Advertising isn’t just about one sale – it’s about building a relationship over time between the brand and the consumer.
- Consumers aren’t stupid. Far from it. Consumers are you and me. I’m not stupid, and you aren’t either. (You’re reading this blog post aren’t you?)
- Bad advertising is ignored or tuned out; good advertising gets the message through.
- Good advertising is something consumers choose to listen to. Good advertising is funny, relevant and useful.
- Consumers want to engage with brands, not just receive the message passively.
Therefore, in order to sell your product or any product the best advertising is
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- Relevant
- Targeted
- Intelligent
- Conversational
How can you create ads for your products and services that meet all 4 criteria?
First of all, tailor your message – what do your customers want to know? What are they interested in? Some of your customers might want to know about your sale items, others might want to know about corporate discounts – give them the information they actually need to capture their attention.
Secondly, get smart with your advertising. Be clever, be funny and be in character for your brand, or business.
And finally, don’t just shout your message at your customers, give them a chance to give feedback, seek their input, and engage them in the process. Aladdin Chocolates in Sweden did an incredible job of this. When advertising drives a conversation and gives people an ownership stake, they’re more engaged and the message takes.
So, hopefully this post helps you with your marketing ideas. If you’re in the market to market your product, we here at CMAEON makes 1to1Real™ - a tool that can help you make your ads more relevant, targeted, intelligent and conversational. Got feedback? We’d love to hear it.
