12 causes of advertising failure

Mike Sloverwww.whatsthemeat.commikeslover@wizardofads.com618-889-0674

Exultation is the goingOf an inland soul to sea,Past the houses - past the headlands - Into deep eternity –

Bred as we among the mountains,Can the sailor understandThe divine intoxication Of the first league out from land? Emily Dickinson - Exultation is the going

12 Causes Of Advertising Failure

And How to Avoid Them

Which Half Is Working?

John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half."

A Harvard Study on Brand Loyalty Revealed Three Types of Customers:

• Type 1: Non-Switchable 

There is essentially nothing you can do or say to cause these customers to switch from the product/service they currently use.

• Type 2: Switchable     

These customers may be won, but only if you say the right thing and keep on saying it until the prospect is finally convinced.

• Type 3: Switchable for Reasons of Price Alone The study strongly recommended that you NOT pursue these customers. If you appeal to these customers, you will likely enjoy initial success, but your position will never be a strong one, because these customers will switch from you just as quickly as they switched to you, and for precisely the same reason.

1: There is No Direct Correspondence between Dollars Invested and Results Gained:

No mathematical formula can be devised to answer the advertiser’s question, “If I spend this much on advertising, what can I expect to happen?”

“How Advertising Works”Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of  advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached:

2: The Variable Which Prohibits a Mathematical Formula is The Power of the Message. Two advertisers can reach precisely the same audience with exactly the same repetition. One advertiser is successful, while the other fails miserably. The difference? The Message.

“How Advertising Works”Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of  advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached:

“How Advertising Works”Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of  advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached:

3: When a message has been uncovered that generates a positive response, a mathematical pattern does emerge. The benefit experience in year two will be twice the benefit experienced in year one, provided everything else remains equal and the core message does not change. The benefit in year three will be three times the benefit in year one.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS THE

RIGHT MESSAGE?!?!

The Right Message is Derived From:

• A good business. • A good business owner. • A strong selling strategy. • The right combination of words.

BUT

Good advertising can’t fix a bad business, a bad business owner or

a bad selling idea. - Roy H. Williams

#1. The desire for instant gratification.

Immediate response will be immediately forgotten.

The Farmer

The frequent and consistent use of a message that has salience will become stored in long term procedural memory, causing the customer to think of you first when they need your product or service but don’t expect too much too soon, it takes a lot of patients to become a household name.

The Chickening Out Period

The chickening out period usually happens around the 3rd or 4th month of a campaign .

The Tipping Point

Shortly after the chickening out period will come the tipping point, when the public begins to like, know, trust, and feel best about you and your company.

#2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget will

allow.

• Will you reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way?

• Or will you reach 10% of the people and convince them 100% of the way?

• Own what the budget will allow with a frequent & consistent message.

"There is more money wasted in advertising by under spending than by overspending. Under spending in advertising is like buying a ticket halfway to Europe."- Morris Hite

#2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget

will allow.

#3. Assuming the business owner knows

best.

• “It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle.” - Mike Webb

• Too much product knowledge causes the business owner to answer questions no one is asking. This makes for extremely ineffective advertising.

• What does the customer care about?

#4. Unsubstantiated claims such as “highest quality

at the lowest price”.

• Do your ads supply new information? Do they provide a new perspective? If not, prepare to be disappointed with the results.

• Most ads aren’t written to persuade they are written to not offend.

• Talk about what matters to the customer in the language of the customer.

#5. Improper use of passive media.

• All media works if done right.• Which is the highest and best use of your

time and money?• Print is a great 50 yard dash runner but

intrusive electronic media is the champion marathon runner.

• With patience, the consistent use of intrusive media (such as radio and television) will win the heart of the customer before he is in the market for the product.

#6. Creating ads instead of campaigns.

• Good ads make one point, like a rhinoceros.

• An advertiser with seventeen different things to say should commit to a campaign of at least seventeen different ads.

#7. Obedience to unwritten rules.

If You Put A Black Background Behind A Black Background

You’ll Have A Black Background

For some insane reason, advertisers want

their ads to look and sound like ads. Why is

this?

#8. Late week schedules.

• Why choose to compete for the prospect’s attention each Thursday and Friday when you can have a nice, quiet chat all alone with the prospect each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday?

#9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting.

• Saying The Wrong Thing has killed far more ad campaigns than Reaching The Wrong People. It is amazing how many people become “the right people”, when you are saying the right thing.

#10. Event driven Marketing.

• If one percent of the people who hear your ad for a special event actually choose to come, you will be in desperate need of a traffic cop.

• Yet your real investment will be in the 99% who did not come to the event.

#11. Great production without great copy.

• Too many ads today are creative without being persuasive. “Slick, clever, funny, creative and different” are poor substitutes for “informative, authentic, humanistic, believable, memorable and persuasive”.

#12. Confusing “response” with “results”.

• The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of your company and its Unique Selling Proposition. When we confuse “Response” with “Results” we create “attention getting ads” which say absolutely nothing.

"If you have a good selling idea, your secretary can write your ad for you."- Morris Hite

“Concentration is the key to economical success” - Peter Drucker

Avoid The 12 Causes

You’ll Know Which Half IS Working

John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half."

Courage

Commitment

Mike Sloverwww.whatsthemeat.commikeslover@wizardofads.com618-889-0674