There is an old adage in advertising that says:
“Half of my advertising dollars are wasted. I just don't know which half.”
Anyone who has tried to amp up the effectiveness of their advertising program has had to struggle with this reality, and easy answers are hard to find.
In my personal experience (for more see "About Us") , this old adage is still highly relevant. HOWEVER, it really only applies to large organizations with well-funded marketing departments (more about this issue in a later post).
The rule for small business is rather different: 80% of all small business advertising is wasted !
This radical opinion is based upon my informal survey of hundreds of small business ads in newspapers, magazines, and direct-mail pieces, and on radio and television. I believe most of them to be poorly thought out and generally a waste of money.
Before I proceed, let me state:
- I am not against advertising. In fact, I am an ad junkie.
- I am not against any of the above mentioned media or their copy-writers. (My feelings about their sales staff are not as positive.)
- I am not saying that small business owners are foolish, purposefully wasteful, or stupid.
But I do believe that 80% of their advertising dollars are being misspent.
How do I justify this audacious claim?
Because so little of the small business advertising I see even attempts the answer the Big Question!
In this over-hyped and saturated media environment, the audience will spend about 10 seconds determining if you are going to address the Big Question. If they decide that the answer is “No”, they just tune you out.
If your ad doesn't immediately address the Big Question, your money has been wasted!
OK, so what is the Big Question?
Simply put, someone exposed to your advertising asks this question:
“Why should I buy from this company, as opposed to a half-dozen others that do the same thing?”
Your audience knows your competitors. They want a reason to do business with you instead of your competitors. Most small business advertising doesn't even pretend to tackle this issue. The message most often communicated is simply “please buy from us, because we are in business too”. From the audience viewpoint, that message is just lame.
The reason most small businesses don't tackle the Big Question in their advertising is that they haven't figured out the answer. My advice: Stop all of your advertising immediately, and figure out the answer before spending another penny.
Practical Tip of the Day:
- Gather up all of your advertising and promotional material for the last 2 years.
- Have your sales staff go through every line and highlight each sentence that helps differentiate your company from the competition. (Caution: only select those issues that your customers really consider relevant.)
- Try re-writing your advertising copy using only those highlights sentences.
