Wizard of Ads Clay Campbell

Five words not to use in your ads.

Over the past 18 years I've written many different ad campaigns and slogans for businesses and experiment with words in ads. My quest has always been to try to find out what works, what doesn't, and why. That is why I five years ago I went to the Wizard Academy. Business owners are always looking for that magic ad or the magic words that will make people rush in and say, " I heard your ad and am here because that ad convinced me to do business with you."

But I've never heard someone say that. I have heard lots of people say they had heard an ad on radio or TV. But nobody will say an ad convinced them… because no one wants to admit to being manipulated. I really don't have any words that are magic. Let's face it…there are no such things as magic words, particularly in a culture that is being saturated with 3000 or so advertising messages a day.

I do know some words you should NOT use. Here they are along with my reasons not to use them.

#1. Quality
This one is probably the most overused word in advertising, which is the primary reason why you should stay away from it. What exactly does "quality" mean? Lexus and Hyundai both say they area quality product. I have a client that has a deli and a slogan that says, "Where quality is the main ingredient." In our local phone book there's a big ad for, Quality Plumbing" "fast friendly service." There you have it… car dealers, fancy jewelry stores, pizza places, a deli, plumbers and septic tank services all using the word quality.

Every product worth buying is a quality product. It may be high-priced quality or it may be low-priced quality, but it's quality either way. That means every company believes it can use the word "quality" in its advertising. Too many have, and as a result, now "quality" has become a cliché.

#2.Value
Like quality, value has been ruined by overuse. In the Lexus and the Hyundai examples -- which car is the better value? It depends -- on the buyer, on the purchase occasion, and on what features and benefits value is being judged. Both dealers say in their ads that the cars are a good value

Wal-Mart says they have good value, but so does Tiffany & Co. Saying in an ad: "We provide the best value" is a waste of money to purchase the airtime to say it. To me… value happens when what you paid for something is far below what the estimated worth of it is in your mind. But everyone has a different opinion of what a "good value" is.

#3.Service
Have you ever heard an ad promising lousy service? I bet you have heard a lot of ads promising good service, or fast friendly service. Good service is a foregone conclusion. In the hostile environment today, about 98.5% of the time when people complain about a business it is about poor customer service. If everybody is claiming good service and hardly anyone getting it, a business that gives "over the top" good service stands out like an airplane sitting in your front yard. It's great if you have really good service but don't say it in your ads. If you don't have it and say you do… please email me, and let me know how that's working out for you.

#4.Caring
Can you really say your company cares more about your customers than your competition does? You might think so, but if your competitors didn't care about their customers, they couldn't stay in business.

Service companies tend to get caught up in wanting to promote "caring" because they don't sell a tangible product. But to say "we care more" in an ad presumes that your competitors care less, and that would be hard to prove. Consumers are very savvy and for you to say you care and indicate that your competitors don't is like the Republicans saying. "Democrats are not patriotic." Or the Democrats saying, "Republicans don't care about poor people."

These four words should be left out of ads. They're way overused, and they're based on variables that are different for everybody.

#5 Integrity

I'm not saying don't use this one. Just understand the way it might be perceived by the consumer. A company either has integrity or it doesn't. It's either honest or it isn't. Most folks will give a business a chance and the benefit of the doubt one time. You wanna know what brings a customer back for the second visit? Their FIRST visit! If a business espouses having integrity in their advertising it's for one of two reasons. They're either trying to cover up some lack of integrity in themselves or their industry or they're implying they live by a higher standard than their competition. Every company needs to have integrity. No company needs to blatantly advertise it.

Do you want consumers to view your products and services as being high quality and of good value? Yes. Do you want them to appreciate your caring, your great customer service and strong integrity? Yes. Every company wants those things. But those that win the hearts and minds of consumers over the long haul have good word of mouth advertising working for them too! The customers themselves are singing the praises of the caring, integrity, quality and value of the service or product.

What you think about your company doesn't matter when writing an ad. All that matters is what your customers and prospects think. The next time you're tempted to use one of these five words in an ad, stop and ask if there's a better way to get the message across. You'll get more Bang for your Buck in your advertising if you'll find creative ways to leave these words out.

A CUSTOMER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN OUR BUSINESS

This is a story posted on the American Small Business site http://www.americansmallbusiness.com by on of my Partners Steve Rae. I thought it well worth passing along as I feel the same way about our customers. I would like to encourage all of you who want to get "more bang for your marketing buck" to read "You want it Now?" post there by yours truly. If you like it; please vote and give me a "thumbs up." Please don't give anyone a thumbs down. :-)

Here it is;
A CUSTOMER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN OUR BUSINESS… He is not an interruption of our work, but rather the purpose of it…we are not doing him a favor by serving him, he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so…A customer is not dependent upon us - we are dependent upon him…he is not an outsider to our business, but a part of it…A customer is not a cold statistic: he is a flesh and blood human being with feelings and emotions, biases and prejudices…he is not someone to argue or match wits with (nobody ever won an argument with a customer)…A customer is a person who brings us his wants and it is our job to handle them profitably, both to him and to ourselves. L.L. Bean

If I want something I go out and buy it. I don’t want a sales pitch.

My birthday is coming up in a couple months so I wondering what I want because my sweet wife will say to me, “Honey what do you want for your birthday.” She looks at ads, and clips coupons. Then she will go shopping and shopping and shopping.
If I want something I go out and buy it. I don’t want a sales pitch.
My resourceful and accomplished Wizard of Ads Partner Michele Miller says, “ Women in the United States control and spend 85% of the money.” I told Michele, “Yeah, that’s right Michele; and men spend the other 15% buying things for women!” (A little humor there to lighten things up on this serious subject.)
My process for shopping and buying is different than Barbie. (My adorable wife of 26 years)
First I come to realization that I need it or want it. Then I go out and buy it and bring it home.
She can go to the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville and spend all day there. I don’t know how in the world she does it. When I go there I try to park as close to the store as I can, I go in and buy what I’m after and walk straight back to my car and leave. Though I take the occasional detour to include Starbucks. I tend to do the same thing at home in Paducah Ky. Whether I’m going to one of those big box stores or a small owner operator store. Personally I like to go where I know the owner or manager. (Don’t you?)
I tend to be a more of a relational shopper rather than transactional most of the time.

My wife is more cognizant of what’s on sale than me. So she will “shop around” a lot. She pays much more attention to the little shopper paper that comes in the mail each week than me. When I want something, I go buy it. Two guys selling insurance came by yesterday. At the end of their presentation they encouraged us to “go ahead and fill out the paperwork.” To buy it now. He said, “Is there any reason you would want to get the coverage you need today?” I just don’t like being “sold” or urged to buy something “today”. That’s old school selling. I urge you to take a look at new school selling by my Partner Steve Clark.
These urgent, pushy, and over used cliché statements in mass media advertising often have the opposite effect on a consumer than the business owner is hoping for:
XYZ Furniture is having “our big inventory reduction sale”
“Prices will never be this low again”
“We have the best deals in town”
“Free financing for 3 years”
“Tent sale ends Friday!”
“There’s only two of these beauties left”
“It’s our year end 50% off sale”
“This special financing deal ends in three days”
“Hurry, this offer ends this Sunday”
My wife on the other hand loves to go to those places having those kinds of deals and sales. She says you can find all kinds of great bargains. She says we save all kinds of money. She wants to just go and “see what they have”. I never want to do that! I don’t give a rip what they have. If I want something I just go out and buy it. Do you know anybody like that? Just call me weird.
Many times in the last couple years both of us have gone to the Internet with our differing ways of shopping. She likes to shop online. I don’t. I may however do a lot of looking for some particular thing I’m hunting for at the time. Advertising though, that urges me to take advantage of some special offer whether online, on radio, TV, newspaper, or the salesperson in the store, just irritates me. I ignore it. If it happens in person in the store I rarely go back. The newest thing in “get it now sales pitches” happens on the way through the check out lane. It’s the Cashier Con.
Are very many other people like me in their shopping preferences? Yes
Are there many like my wife? Yes
Should your advertising and marketing efforts appeal to both? Yes
The Future Of Ad Writing is about advertising that persuades both.
More later,
Clay

Clay is a writer of ad campaigns, a business owner, and author of two books. His third book is in the works now. The working title is More Bang for your Marketing Buck: How a Small Business Can Get Above Average Results from your Advertising Dollars For more info on Clay go to www.claycampbell.biz

Moving up the needle in the consumers mind

On May 16th I said, “I do a lot of things in my own business to try to move up that needle in a persons mind. (The “who cares” needle)
In my mind I see it as advertising.”

I thought listing these things might be a great idea, especially if you have a very limited budget. I have implemented all these in my own business. They’ve helped us to increase ticket sales by over 200% in the past 5 years.
So here are some suggestions that would apply to a broad group of small businesses whether you have a plumbing supply business, or you’re a dentist, Roofing Contractor, Bank, Nursing Home, Computer Repair Services. Whatever. These ideas will be helpful.

· Sit down with an outside consultant. Do an uncovery.
· Look realistically at your strengths and your weaknesses and those of your competitors. Look carefully at your website then look at your competitors. You need a consultant because it’s hard to read the label when you’re on the inside of the bottle.
· Establish a realistic strategy and set goals for the next 12 months. Your growth through mass media advertising will depend exclusively on how many dollars you can spend. Decide how much of your business is repeat, referral, from your location, and advertising. Probably 90% comes from the first three! Be brutally honest.
· Establish a budget. How much can you realistically and consistatly spend to advertise and expose your business? Low side and high side. Be sure to include your cost of rent as part of your total cost of exposure.
· Advertise for the long-term not short-term. What is a quick fix for this month is usually not a good plan for the long haul.
· Advertising is just like exercising. Its best to do a little bit everyday and keep on doing it; month after month, year in year out. Start off small work up to what you feel fits your strategy, goals and plans.
· No small business has enough money to advertise effectively and get results using everything. McDonalds can do newspapers, radio stations, cable TV, direct mail, yellow pages, your local TV Channels ABC, NBC, Fox & CBS, Billboards and the Internet but not a small business. Pick something you can dominate. For the best “Bang for your Buck” email me.
· Establish a relationship with other business owners who would promote your business to their customers in return for you promoting their business to your customers. Lots of business owners will help you like that if you’ll ask them. Don’t be afraid to ask. Many will gladly help you. Even if you have very few customers at first and the trade is very lopsided.
· Keep a file of every customer!! If they give you a check or credit card. Get as much info from them as possible. At our business we get their name address ph # and email. This is an easy thing to do, but it’s also easy not to do. It’s not surprising to see a business fail if they fail to implement this simple idea.
· With the information you gather, send them a monthly newsletter. Give them information they would want to have. Not just an advertisement, or sale brochure, or some gimmic. Give them something useful. Something that when they see you at a ball game, church, or at a restaurant; they’d say to you, “Hey thanks for sending the___________ I really appreciate it.”
· If you can’t figure out what to send them, email me.
· Read 33 Ruthless Rules for Local Advertising by Michael Corbett
· Also read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Al Ries & Jack Trout
· And in my opinion the best book on marketing out there is the Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams
More later,
Clay

Clay is a writer of ad campaigns, dynamic speaker, business owner, and author of two books. His third book is in the works now. It’s called Get more Bang for your Buck OR How to Achieve Above Average Results from your Advertising Dollars For more info on Clay Campbell go to www.claycampbell.biz