Advertisers are not Marketers

As I sit here working on my next project (see it here) I am reminded of the difference between advertising and marketing.

Most people lump them both together and we as marketers HATE that. Advertisers only sell one thing- ads. The only person they know how to sell to is desperate businesses.

Advertising is something that must be measurable or it can become a cancer to your bank account. Most advertisers rarely have real numbers of what to expect with your ad. The one number they do know is how much to charge you.

It is vital to never let anyone involved with design or an ad agency to plan your marketing. Designers and ad agencies are where you go when you have the wording and design idea that is conducive to your target market.

Don't allow some creative yo-ho take your ad and crash it into the ground. They can be very persuasive as they show you some killer graphics surrounding your business name. They use this as a aphrodisiac and play on your ego.

When you see Super Bowl commercials and get done laughing do you go to the store and buy that product or switch your car insurance? Not likely. Guess what, GEICO has no idea if the ad for the Super Bowl works either because there is no direct response measures in place.

Do you see how that could kill your business?

You want people to see your ad and call, not build up some long bullsh-t link with them. It is an utter illusion that we need to expose our company a thousand times to get people to call. I don't care to get them to memorize my name if I have them as customers.

When you watch tv notice what direct response marketing is (what you want to be doing) and brand recognition (like owls and air freshener).

Those commercials that are telling you to buy Nutri-System now push you to the phone. How many phone calls do you think GEICO got after the Super Bowl? How many Sham-wows do you think sells every time the commercial airs? LOTS!

Yellow Page reps are terrible also. They will literally tell you to do what the guys in the big ads are doing. "well if it is working for them"... who said it's working? Who says I want to be another spoke in the wheel. I want to out gun my competition not look like a big page of sameness.

Almost nobody uses direct response methods in their yellow page ads. Most use the business card style generic ad. If you add a freebie to your YP ad along with the right wording you could easily get the jump on the bigger companies.

Whenever you find yourself discussing wording for your postcard, flier or space ad with the person making/selling it... STOP! They know nothing about you, your target market or how to sell your service. Pretty pictures and a great logo will get you nothing (but a good stroking of your ego)

Contact somebody with a little know how with direct marketing before you hand over the keys to the car. If the advertiser is wrong they still get paid. If they are wrong you're screwed.

Advertising is a part of marketing, not the other way around.

Go get some


Paul