Look at the advertising that’s going on around you.
Kind of “reconnoiter” what your friends and
enemies are doing. Take a couple of minutes and cut-out,
and/or tape (VCR or audio), the ads and commercials YOU
like. Now cut-out and/or tape the ads your competitors
are going to market with. Now put all of these next to
YOUR ads.
See anything different? Sure you do. Now, let’s
set aside the ads of the companies that are successful
in the
market. Is there still a difference? Of course there is,
and the difference is probably becoming more apparent.
Now let’s ask the simple question,”Why?”.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the
best ads have a lot in common:
they are basically uncluttered;
they have a strong visual
and headline;
they take advantage of the space available
to them;
they do not try to get too many points or products
in one ad;
they communicate to the people they are trying
to talk (sell) to.
Years ago somebody once told me that
you knew you had a good ad when you could cover up the
name of the company
and everyone would still know who the advertiser
was. You know, that really has not changed; except now you have add “...
and they have a product/service I need/want”.
You have to remember that
your customers are people who respond like you do; they react to the same stimuli.
But you have to THINK like they do before you
create or approve your next ad or commercial. I know, your ads and commercials
are better than anybodies - that’s why you’re where you are and
your competitor(s) just made a public offering. Kind of like Joe Hooker saying
he’ll
show Bobby Lee how much better his troops can fight. And you know who won that
argument (then again, maybe you don’t). I could also tell you that ol’ “Fightin’ Joe” lent
his last name to something else - today they’re called “ad agencies”.
No, the key to good advertising is r-e-a-l simple: come
up with an ad that make people, the people that you want
to reach - read (or see/listen to) it.
Mass media (radio,
TV, and, to a lesser extent, newspapers) require a more
subtle and universal approach to be effective.
These media are intrusive, costly and require either a
lot of money or a lot of thought to be anywhere near effective.
Bad ads mean you have to spend a lot to get anything back,
good ads mean you spend can less, but you better be right
in what you say and who you say it to (we’ll cover
broadcast creative tips next time).
Print advertising is
becoming a lost art because most people do not read newspapers
or magazines to the extent that
they used to, therefore, less emphasis is given to doing
good creative. Far too many advertisers attempt to do much
in an ad and, in the process, fail to accomplish their
objective:
Grab the readers attention
Get the reader to notice what
the ad is about and who the advertiser is
Catch the point
the advertiser is trying to get across
Remember the ad
Act on the ad
Research has shown that most people look
at an ad in a “Z” scan;
left-to-right across the top, diagonally from upper right to bottom left, then
across the bottom from left-to-right. That why most ads have a headline at
the top, usually over a visual, subheads scattered through the body copy (to
keep the reader interested), and place the company’s name, address and
logo in the bottom right corner. Notice too, most ads that follow this pattern
are not overburdened with copy. The idea is that you don’t have to tell
the reader everything, only enough to have them want to act on the information
you have provided.
Well, the bugle sounds and we’re off on another ride
around “Little
Mac”.
