Bad vs Good

There is a battle going on and you are in the middle of it. No, I’m not talking about the Twitter war between you and your competitor.  This conflict has the power to fundamentally change the effectiveness of your business. Your image. Your legacy.  It is not the age-old struggle of Good versus Evil. This is an epic battle between bad versus good.   I hate to be the one to tell you this, but…

Your advertising is bad.

“What are you talking about?  My ads sound professional.  They promote my products and let my customers know that we are the experts in our field. Besides, they sound way better than the ads my competitor runs I’ll tell you that”

Roy H. Williams is one of the foremost experts on creating advertising that works. And also pointing out what doesn’t work and why.  He says the problem is that most advertisements, even ones that are professionally produced, are no longer written to persuade. They are written to not offend; which is why they so often use worn-out clichés.

Add to that the sheer volume of advertisements consumers are bombarded with daily. If an advertisement looks like an ad, sounds, like an ad, and feels like an ad; those messages will never make it past the defense mechanism the brain has in place to ignore such information.

“But you said my advertising is bad. How do I know the difference?”

Willams states it plainly:  Bad advertising is about your product.  Good advertising is about your customer and their life.  Constantly talking about your company and your product will just make your ads sound like ads.  What you are looking for is more than just name recognition. You want lasting, cumulative impact with your advertising campaign.  Don’t try to convince your audience to care about what you wish they would care about with the ads you create.  Talk about what they already care about.

This is never more important than when putting together advertising that will be played to your callers placed on hold. Focus the content of your program on the needs of your current and potential customers.  This philosophical shift will seem awkward at first, because your on-hold advertising won’t sound like on-hold advertising.  It’ll sound more like a conversation between friends.

“And that’s good?”

Very.

Tom McTee, Super-Genius