Too often, a company uses their marketing to push their features and benefits - ‘Best location, Best Product, Best Service, Best Employees’ - but these are not clingy and sticky. Features and benefits are slippery and rarely remembered.
McCartney rocks and Shakespeare roles and both showmen move their audiences with antithesis. Steal a gift from Paul and Will. Use antithesis in your writing.
If you’re selling a commodity and that commodity is called the same thing at every business, give yours a better name. I can get a “large coffee” anyplace. I can get a Grande only at Starbucks.
The goal is to move shoppers from an objective, consumer-reports mindset to an enthusiast’s mindset. Put plainly: if you’re selling premium products or experiences, you need to understand the power of portals.
Creativity is the second most important factor in advertising effectiveness, according to over 50 years of quantitative data.
This fiery video challenges your media company to have an internal advocate for your advertisers. Somebody who will act in the best interest of the client and campaign.
When done right, THIS is the stuff that creates a distinct voice and personality. I’ve seen a few scores of them over the years, and 95% have been utterly worthless.
Businesses that grow BIG and profitable use the five-step Relational Systematic Marketing process. Bond. Guide. Satisfy. Nurture. Delight.
When you say it in your ad, the audience is as likely to dismiss it as accept it. When you cause the audience to say it in their heads, it’s automatically, unquestionably accepted.
Most businesses practice Transactional Reactive Marketing to varying degrees. It’s why most marketing disappoints or fails.
Verizon couldn’t afford to lower rates or compete on price. Instead, they had better advertising.
The day Rick posted his 2003 Ford F 350 on Kijiji (a weird Canadian Craigslist), there were 66 other listings for the exact same truck. Rick’s rig sold in 23 minutes...to a Texan.
If people do business with you because of your ads, then they’re expecting the buying experience to match the one promised in the ads.
Is it better to have a bunch of little 15 second ads or a full 60 second ad? Is a quick postcard better than a long letter? And how can we leverage entertainment?
"Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak” — or so says Elmer Wheeler. And if you’re in marketing or sales, either you like that phrase, or rather strenuously object to it. Those who object say things like "If you sell sizzle without the steak you’re a con artist."