Bad ads? If you’ve been around more than 30 minutes, I’m almost certain that you have encountered bad ads. Print, broadcast or social — they exist….. Beautifully designed ads that are diminished by omitting the phone number, physical address, or reducing text so small that it becomes indiscernible in printed form, or the mystery commercial. The one that leaves you wondering ‘what were they even promoting’? International advertisers use the mystery commercial formula frequently, surely it’s to overcome a multi country language barrier.
However, my feeling is that the message is forgotten immediately. There being no lasting anchor planted during viewing. That would be especially true today with the constant marketing bombardment from morning till night. Marketing experts estimate that Americans are exposed to between 5,000 and 10,000 messages each day.
How do you keep your organization from falling down the “Memory Hole”?
To remain on the Top of People’s Minds and easily accessible to prospects, keep some basic rules in mind.
Your message has to be memorable. The sentiment “drop by our place, we’ve got good food” really isn’t memorable nor lasting in todays advertising environment. A better sentiment would be – “come to our place, our service is awesome, our food is awesome and our location is awesome – when you come to our place you’re going to have a memorable time!
No matter the fact that you have a Dynamic QR code, your website address and all of your social media sites, prominent in your ads; buyers and serious prospects don’t want to have to search your website and/or your social media to get answers to their questions. They want to speak with someone, sooner rather than later. They want your phone number at their fingertips, they want your physical address (if public) so they can visit your location. What the prospect truly wants is human customer service. (More on that in a coming installment, check back soon)