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Make your advertising more effective

Advertising can stimulate desire.
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Advertising can stimulate desire. Not that any advertising I ever participated in when I was single resulted in crowds of female admirers, however, working in the health food industry, I would often work to create in my readers a desire for better health. These ads would try to kindle a response that would generate traffic in my business, enabling me to sell the products that would make a difference for these people.

Advertising can make people mad. I remember the first time I upset people with my marketing was when I was the advertising sales person for the college newspaper back in 1984. I ran an ad for the local pub, suggesting to students that they would enjoy their beer much better at this pub rather than at the campus drinking hole. Apparently, as I learned later, the college rag should not have been promoting those establishments that weren't paying for ads. My ad caught the attention of some people in authority and I was reprimanded. Over the years, some of my advertising has made other people angry as well, as was my intention.

Terry O Reilly, author of the book This I Know and host of the Under the Influence radio show and podcast, states that when we are marketing and advertising our products, "we need to connect with the audience emotionally." If we fail to connect somehow in an emotional sense, we will be unable to get the response that we are looking for. The purpose of all business communication, whether it be from a business, non-profit or government, is to get a response. In business, that response is typically to drive leads that our sales team can close.

The interesting thing about your advertising is that it might produce an effect which is totally the opposite of what you are trying to do. How often do we see bad advertising that just annoys us? Sometimes those ads are wasting space in a publication, interrupting our time on the radio, TV (if anyone is still watching TV), or social media, or perhaps it's a billboard blocking the view. It's not that the company spending well-earned money is intending to upset you or annoy you, the truth is that most advertisers don't really have a clue about how to get the response that they want. They believe that if they advertise where people might see them, customers will flock into their business.

Wrong!

Good advertising stands out because it is so rare. Think about a time when you looked at an ad and it really captivated you, caught your attention and made you feel an emotion. It's hard!

Sometimes we respond to advertising because we happen to need that item and it's placed at the right time in the right medium. The advertisers have done something right; they know where you are, yet how they are capturing your attention is weak. More often than not, we respond to advertising because we are searching to fill our needs not that the ads have reached us.

Too often, advertisers are trying to get new customers rather than marketing to their existing customers. Studies show that it takes eight times more money to get a new customer to buy from us than to sell more to an existing customer. Think about it. When we have a relationship with someone, isn't it easier to build on that friendship than to put the effort into making new friends? Not that we couldn't use some new friends sometimes.

Your advertising should make people mad, sad, happy, joyful, caring or experience whatever emotion you are trying to illicit. Good advertising works to capture attention and get responses, it shouldn't be a waste of money.

Next time you look at an ad or are building an advertisement, consider if it is really going to be effective or just satisfying your need to spend money. If you are not great at doing the work yourself, start by asking your paid media rep to help you. Chances are they want you to get results as well.

- Dave Fuller is the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy, he has an MBA and is an award-winning business coach. Email dave@profityourselfhealthy.com and tell him about the best advertising you have ever experienced.