Cutting through the Clutter
By Chuck Mancino, MMPR
This is what I often hear from vendors at trade shows:
"Chuck, we can't figure out what works and what doesn't. It doesn't seem to matter what magazine we are in, or what ad we run. Nothing seems to make a difference that we can tell."
"Chuck, it just seems to be so hard to get people to respond to anything."
"No one seems to care about anything we are offering."
"We've tried ads, mailers, email blasts...but we can't seem to get responses."
"I know we messed up our message. I've tried several. I can't seem to find any theme that gets anyone to care."
There is no doubt about it: We live in a time where we are all bombarded with messages all day, every day, from every conceivable source. Ads on TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, email ads, ads on the backs of boxers, ads on coasters in bars – and yes – ads in the many magazines serving complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners. Have you ever sat in front of the TV, searching for any program or movie that wasn't running an ad, and no matter how many times you turned the channel, you landed on another ad? This has happened to me too many times to count. I have clients who market through email campaigns and have found that their audience is getting so many email ads that they no longer can get a decent response even when they email their own list.
With that being said, some companies are successfully marketing and advertising in our CAM market. So it can be done. But how? How are these vendors finding success in their advertising?
- They have a "unique selling proposition (USP)." What is unique about your product or service? Are you the least costly? Most effective? Have the best service? Do you offer a unique ingredient? I had one client who had established their USP as "best service, best price". When they sold the company, the new bosses decided they wanted nothing to do with offering the best price or focusing on service. They chose to cut cost over all other directions. Their brand of "best service, best price" was abandoned, and so was their sales and market share. Not only did they lose their USP, but they didn't seem to offer a new one. They became known for....nothing, I guess. They may have cut a lot of expenses, but it was at the detriment of losing their USP, which led to losing business.
- After determining brand/USP/message — treat it like shampoo directions X 1,000: rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, and rinse, repeat. So many companies make the mistake of thinking their message is old and tired so they keep searching for the "silver bullet" by constantly switching up their message. This is a huge mistake. After you determine what your best, most-effective message is, repeat it, and then repeat it again. While you begin to tire of your message, your audience probably hasn't even noticed it yet. There is a very wise and true saying in promotion and marketing: It is better to put your flag in the sand and be noticed, even if you are wrong, than it is to not get your point across. There are some very popular products out there that make claims of certain ingredients or processes that I'm not sure even matter to the audience. What matters is that these brands keep repeating their USP making the assumption that the ingredients or processes are heavily critical. Are they? I am not sure. But since they keep repeating their USP, a good percentage of their target audience believes they are. Again, it's better to repeat your USP loudly and often, even if it's not meaningful, than it is to not get a message comprehended at all.
- Sometimes you have to change up your USP. One vendor's USP (one of them) was that their product allowed hands-free application, as opposed to the competitors' products needing to be applied manually using your hands. Well, the "hands free" USP wasn't as significant when a competitor came out with their own version of a spray-on application. The product did have some other unique properties and they had to start marketing those other aspects. The "spray-on application" was no longer unique. Moral of the story: not every USP will be timeless and sometimes you have to change what your USP is.
- "Consistency" is your top priority and that applies in a few areas, not just one. In all of the most valid media studies, the #1 criterion for cost-effective advertising is consistency. The worst thing you can do is sprinkle some ads in a bunch of different publications. Few vendors can afford to advertise in all possible publications, so choose wisely and run your ads often in the publications which best reach your target audience. If you can't afford to run full pages that often, then reduce your ad size so you can afford to run your ads on a consistent basis. This is critical. There is no bigger waste of money than running a few ads and then disappearing. I used to tell my ad executives, accepting a one-time ad is like having your customer put their money on a park bench.
- Avoid clutter and trying to say too much in your ads. The goal of yours ads is to get your prospects to grasp a message - not totally explain everything about your product/service. You can do that after you have caused your prospects to respond, either on a phone call or at a landing page. If you try to say too much in your ads, all that will happen is that your target audience will turn the page before ever absorbing your message. Even if you word your message brilliantly – if it's too long, no one will bother to even begin to read it.
- Avoid too many dark colors. It just isn't inviting to the reader, just as too much copy isn't inviting to your reader. Graphic designers live to add too many nice colors. Don't let them.
It's tougher today than ever before to get noticed amongst all the marketing messages bombarding your audience every day. But you can successfully rise above the white noise and static if you take the appropriate measures. It can be done.
About the Author:
Chuck Mancino, MMPR, has been in advertising, copy writing and PR for over 24 years – with the last 11 being in the CAM market. You can reach him at 904-280-5433, or email cmancino@gmail.com or visit www.gommpr.com.
|
