Marketing is complicated. There are a lot of moving parts. Sometimes, we wish we could just be blunt with the business owners we are trying to help and tell them the cold, hard truth about the things we know. So we’ve created this blog series “You’ve Been Schooled!”. We hope it will help business owners understand marketing a little better and make better decisions with their marketing dollars. Today’s topic is messaging in ads and our expert is Kelsey Huber.
If I could vent about (ahem…educate) business owners on messaging in their ads, I would tell them this:
Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know!
“Have you ever heard someone say ‘You can count on our terrible customer service’? Of course not. No one would say that. But the flip side of that is that everyone says they have great customer service. It has become white noise to consumers. If you’re going to use it, at least give it some teeth. For instance, if you’ve won the Angie’s List Super Service Award three years in a row, don’t say you have great customer service. Show you’ve got great customer service by doing a little bragging about those awards. The proof is in the pudding! That will mean much more to your customers than a tired old phrase that literally everyone uses. Even adding that you have 24-hour service or something else they didn’t know makes your ad more valuable than just running your name and logo.
Give people a reason to choose you. Take a look at your ads and ask if they’re telling anyone anything they didn’t already know about your business. If you sound like everybody else in your industry, take the time to figure out why you’re different/better and focus your ads on that.”
Kelsey Huber – Director of Content Strategy
And there you have it. If you’re paying money to run an ad, whether it’s on radio, TV, in print or digital, make sure you actually tell the viewer/listener something that makes you different/better. If all they see is your logo and tagline, you wasted an opportunity to sell yourself or let them know why they should choose you over your competitors. Get every last bit of bang for your buck when you’re using your marketing dollars. Differentiate yourself.
We hope this helps you in your quest to grow your business. Should you need marketing help, please contact Lure Creative and we will be happy to share our insight and expertise (but not in a bossy, condescending way) to help your business Get Found and Be Known.
