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5 Ways to Make Me Want Your Advertisements

Founder, Duct Tape Marketing Recent Posts

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August 6, 2009

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“John, That's fun to hear. Have you some more ...”

Martin Lindeskog

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So, maybe you’ve heard, advertising doesn’t work anymore. Or, at least that’s what many business owners have come to believe. While it’s true there are some very attractive new ways to create awareness about your business, few things afford the total control that advertising does.

If you are having a sale, launching a new product, or just want to promote a service offering, you can target your audience and pinpoint the exact date with advertising. Turning the tap on at a specific time is a little tougher to do with other forms of lead generation such as PR or referrals.

Truth is, it has become much easier for prospects to tune advertising out. You’ve got tools like spam filters, no call lists, TiVo, and commercial free satellite radio all dreamed up to block out unwanted messages. The trick then to making your advertising effective is to find ways to make me want to read it and receive it.

Consider adding these elements to your ad strategy to increase effectiveness.

1. Don’t Sell Me Anything – I know, that seems a little odd, I mean an ad is supposed to sell, right? In today’s hyper-information world of search, advertising has become a tremendous vehicle for creating awareness of your educational content. Whether it’s an ad on Facebook or a direct mail piece teach me something, lead me to even more great stuff, let me know where your next free event is being held – then I’ll sell myself.

2. Drag Me In Fast – No matter the medium, even a letter, grab me by the throat with a headline that I can’t pass up. Maybe you think it’s cheesy sounding, but you do read those tabloid headlines don’t you, you can’t resist. That’s what you’ve got to do to get me interested and maybe even a little entertained.

3. Create Excitement – Tell me a story or paint me a picture of how my life is going to be once I have all that’s possible through a relationship with you. Help me fantasize about results.

4. Put Some Lumps In It – If you really want to get my attention send me a package. It’s so hard to ignore something with a lumpy shape, even a box. A package will almost always get past any gatekeepers and it certainly sends a message that I’m important. You can even get super creative with this. Send me a hula-hoop to announce your intention to jump through hoops to make me happy.

5. Tell Me What To Do Now – It’s funny how many ads leave you thinking, “that was nice,” or worse yet, “what was that trying to tell me?” The recently deceased pitch man Billy May made a career out of his dynamic style, but he was also very good at leading you to the call to action and then making sure you not only knew what to you knew you better do it right now because it was in your best interest. Don’t leave me guessing, I’m not very good at it!


Image credit: superbomba.


John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

 

 

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  • Martin Lindeskog 2 years 9 months and 14 days ago

    Martin Lindeskog

    John, That's fun to hear. Have you some more interesting lumpy mail stories to tell. I bet USPS most love you! ;) Or did you use private courier services?

  • John Jantsch 2 years 9 months and 18 days ago

    John Jantsch

    You know I did get that package, but I've been promoting Lumpy Mail for years. I've done a lot of really fun campaigns sending people odd stuff related to a message.

  • Martin Lindeskog 2 years 9 months and 18 days ago

    Martin Lindeskog

    Grasshopper. Sorry for the typo.

  • Martin Lindeskog 2 years 9 months and 18 days ago

    Martin Lindeskog

    John Jantsch, Talking about "4. Put Some Lumps In It." Did you get the chocolate covered grasshoper? How did it taste?

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