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In our industry, rules are as pervasive as bad ads themselves. In fact, the least effective ads are often the results of the misapplication of rules. As sure as there is a new marketing book on the shelf, a new set of rules (and catch phrases) emerges, demanding from us that everything that has come before be
thrown out.

It’s an appealing temptation to look for answers in the form of “rules” that promise a sure-fire method to solve your marketing problems. But too often, while many of these rules can and do work in some instances, they are not always applicable to every marketing situation. Unfortunately, most are based on a single case study. Not very scientific.

Take David Ogilvy’s classic book, “On Advertising.” The author pounded home such iron-clad rules as “never reverse-out type for a headline.” To be sure, there was a time when anyone reading that would have thought it would stand the test of time. Thankfully, creative rules die quickly. (What speaks more to the legacy of the great Mr. Ogilvy are the brilliant and timeless insights he had into human behavior and corporate culture. For example, he advised his agency’s management to hire people smarter than themselves in order to “become a company of giants.” Good rule.)

Marketing is a marriage of the rational and the emotional. It’s a tempestuous relationship. No rules can master it. But with the right amount of chemistry, the mixture leads to passionate work that yields real results. The only sure-fire formula is to use your brain, know what you are trying to accomplish and understand those you need to reach in order to be successful. You’ll be surprised at how often your gut instincts are the beginning of great advertising.

Just for fun, what are today’s advertising/marketing “rules” that will be tomorrow’s tomfoolery, shenanigans and ballyhoo?

 

We’ve always felt that advertising should feel like a conversation between a brand and a person. The best examples of persuasive communications are usually designed to connect to a single individual, even in political speeches written for the masses (“Ask not what your country can do for you...”).

Often in the attempt to talk to a target audience, advertisers can succomb to thinking of their consumers as a literal mass of people instead of a collection of individuals. The advertising messages get crafted for a “they.” The problem with this approach is that, with some exceptions, there really is no “they” reading your ad, visiting your site, listening to your radio spot or watching your commercial. There is only a person (or a succession of many individuals) who will come across your messages.

As part of the strategic process we do with our clients, we ask them to think of a certain key individual (usually their best customer) when thinking of their offering. The idea is to guide the thought process to this insight: “My brand would succeed even more if I just had more customers like this key person.”

So what would that one key person want to hear from your brand in order to compel him or her to take action? That’s the start of your conversation with each one of your future customers.

 

Return on Investment (ROI) is the age-old conundrum of advertising and the root of the famous quote from John Wanamaker: “I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.” Of course, in this day and age, this quote no longer amuses people. It annoys them.

The simplest way to explain that you can’t always directly measure the ROI from your marketing is by using the time-tested “AIDA” model of the consumer purchasing process. This model says that in every purchase decision a customer goes through these four stages:

1. Awareness: A customer becomes conscious of your product/service
2. Interest: Something about you or your product interests them
3. Desire: They actively seek your product
4. Action: They buy

For consumers, this process can happen in an instant (deciding where to eat lunch) and other times it takes weeks, months or even years (picking a vacation spot, buying a house or a car). This brings us to the main point of creating a brand. Most successful marketers realize that if they can create a space in people’s minds for their brands; when they do market specific products and/or need a short-term purchase, they can start at Step 2 or even 3. They don’t have to work as hard to get to Step 4 because people are already aware of and interested in their products.

This, obviously, is what you are trying to do by creating a consistent, ongoing umbrella message that is more emotionally compelling and less product specific. You’re investing in your brand’s value.

Now comes the dilemma. You can’t directly measure the first three steps in the short-term without some sort of research because your target hasn’t done anything you can measure. But you will see the long-term payoff in your investment via repeat business, increases in sales, etc. Even in the long-term, it is difficult to measure directly, because brand value is intangible and hard to quantify.

Ultimately, as a marketer, you have to go on gut, or use an ongoing research tool to measure over time.

 

© 2008 3 Advertising LLC, a full-service advertising agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico.