No one likes the dark

WHEN YOU ENTER A PITCH DARK ROOM the first thing you want to do is turn the light on. But wouldn’t you rather have the room be well-lit when you enter? Of course you would.

When you leave your customers a message that says, “Call me back,” to them it feels like walking into a dark room. The same goes for letting somebody know there is phone for them, but not letting them know who it is. In effect, this means, be ready for anything!

Like good telephone etiquette, good advertising never asks the customer to walk into darkness. A good ad will describe exactly what the customer can expect when he walks into your place of business.

No person takes action until he has seen himself taking such action in his mind. We always imagine doing a thing before we do it.

If you can cause you customer to imagine using your product or service before they have made the choice to do so, you’re headed for a sale. A good ad artfully describes what awaits the customer.

Do your ads take your customer through the entire experience? Do your ads make your customer see, taste and feel your products? A good ad will cause your customer to “see” himself doing what you want him to do. If you’re persistent, he will someday transfer his imagined experience into actual experience.

The longer you keep it up, the better. Ads that whip a customer into immediate action work less and less the longer they run. Ever wonder why those infomercials only do well during their first week or two of being on television? Or why the hottest new diet pill never really sticks around that long (even though it was a “wonder” drug).

Do you have the patience to invest in doing it right?

Can you write ads that cause the customer to experience your products in his imagination? If not, start learning how.

It is both classy and profitable to describe to your customer what he will experience the moment he steps through your door.

No one likes walking into darkness.

-          Martin

Our Need For Recognition

I recently read a psychology report where it said that a person’s biggest need is that for recognition.

Why do we have such a need to be recognized?

It goes hand in hand with our need to be defined. Who are we and where do we fit in?

This need for definition is very powerful and rarely discussed, but it is nonetheless universal, and an ability to tap into it is often the genesis of a very compelling ad campaign.

Our need for definition influences the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the beer we drink (or wine) and the houses we live in.

As we know effective advertising speaks to a person’s specific need. I have come to realize that our need for definition is perhaps the most compelling need felt by individuals in our society today. Most of our purchases are a form of self-expression, and we tend to buy things we identify with.

Let me give you an example.

I remember deciding to buy my first proper dress watch. When I walked into the watch store I browsed over the range they had and looked up to find a big poster for Seiko watches reading, “Now is the time to act.”

Now Is The Time To Act

My bond with Seiko was immediate. Any watch brand that understands the value of taking action and therefore control of your own life is my kind of watch. I have noticed Seiko in stores before but never thought of getting one. Care to guess what my last three watches have been? Yep, Seiko.

In a small way I feel connected with Seiko. Even though it’s small, it’s still a lot more than I have with other watch brands. Seiko was bold enough to “tell” people to act, and they gained a customer. I know there are tons of watches that are equally as good, but I’ll probably always be a Seiko man.

Like me, all people have the need for definition, and the companies that help customers best define themselves are the most powerful.

Do you think I’m crazy? Believe me, every customer you have is crazy. Tap into the lunacy and watch your sales skyrocket.

-          Martin

Murphy’s Law

Go Figures!

We have all caught ourselves mindlessly muttering the term, “He/she deserves it. It’s Murphy Law.” What do we mean?

Murphy’s Law is taken from the platitude known as, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Murphy’s first law is “Nothing is as easy as it looks,” and his next nine make increasingly cynical statements about the nature of the universe and the futility of life, reaching the final in Murphy’s tenth law, “Mother Nature is a bitch.”

I am sure Murphy intended to stop at his tenth law but it is his eleventh which made me think he realized a new perspective. Number eleven caused me to think he finally figured it out.

Today’s real problem is society. (This is my observation, not the eleventh law.) It seems to me that everyone is frantically looking for someone else to help them with their problems, and when we don’t find such a person, we rage at the cosmos.

I believe this is why opposites attract. All of us are weak in some areas in our lives and therefore attract people have strengths in those same areas. Conversely, we have no patience for people who are weak in areas we are strong.

A person who is always happy calls a moody person negative. Someone who is always punctual despises someone who is late.

Yet the world needs them both.

Have you ever read the sign, “A lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”? This is another example of the world looking for someone to come to the rescue and how few of us want to be that person.

A lot of the time a customer needs rescuing. That is what customer service is all about. Customers rarely obey the rules and therefore expect to be rescued every time they do something stupid.

Will you be a “rescuer,” or will you insist your customers follow proper procedures?

The world is a perfect creation. Everything works as it should; stars, galaxies, rivers and mountains. It’s you and I who need some work.

Oh, before I forget Murphy’s eleventh law? “It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.”

Do something great today. Rescue a fool who doesn’t deserve it.

Who knows, you might need him tomorrow to rescue you from a shortcoming of your own.

-Martin

Go Ahead, Sell Your Soul

When the world looks at you it sees one person; when you look at yourself you see another.

The odd difference between the two faces can be traced back to a time when you were still a toddler playing in the sand.

Planning my armies escape

You saw yourself as a daring knight, building cities in the sand and armies out of toy soldiers. The world around you saw only a young child, silly in his adolescent ways.

“What army of Indians?” said Dad. “Those you see coming over the hill by the thousands. We don’t have much time!” you replied.

 “Alright son.” Dad said. “Just make sure you wash up before dinner, you don’t want your mother to see this mess.”

“But Dad, it’s easy to see. Just look.” you whimpered.

Maybe dad had forgotten about this business of adventures.

In James Thurber’s book, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” he explains of Walter Mitty who, in the space of a single afternoon, is the commander of a navy hydroplane, a life-saving surgeon, an expert marksman, and an intrepid army captain. Walter Mitty isn’t crazy. He just has trouble convincing the outside world of who he is inside.

Who among us never played cops and robbers, astronaut, kings and queens or cowboys?

Just like the little kid you were playing in the sand, each of us has a secret life, and it’s silly to pretend our outward choices are not influenced by the people we are inside.

If we insist on being mature we can tell the little kid to grow up and abandon his childish dreams.

But if we were to sell our product and make two customers happy, we will speak not to a frail little child and an insecure son.

We will eloquently address the needs of a chivalrous knight and an intrepid army captain.

 This is called “advertising.”

 There are two worlds: the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world that we feel with our hearts and imagination. – Leigh Hun

- Martin

Your mind is a crowded room

Make It About Them

Every day you are bombarded with an overflow of external and internal activators. Memories of familiar smells, tastes, sights, emotions and that irritating new song from the black eyed peas;”Tonight’s gonna be a good night!”

A familiar face, a special place, a distinctive smell – familiar touchstones like these bring order to the chaos and us of who we are and why we do the things we do.

Such sensory images are like old friends; each encounter with one of them brings our self-image more sharply into focus.

Advertising is like an intruder banging on the door of the customers mind. The subconscious mind answers the door and asks, “Who do you know in this house? Name the people you know.”

A good ad associates itself with a familiar touchstone and gains entrance into the mind. The ad that only speaks about itself is quickly shown the door. “Go away,” says the subconscious. “It’s too crowded in here for you.”

New and unknown ads are more easily excepted when they are related to the known and familiar. Do your ads touch the familiar in your customers’ mind? Do people relate to the things you say? Or are you just going on about Whom, What, Where and When, while failing to answer the most important question: Why?

Most ads are written under the assumption that the customer is asking, “Who are you? What are you selling? When are you open? What is your address?” Unfortunately the only thing on your customers’ mind is, “Why Should I care?”

Your customer wants to hear a story with them in it. Don’t tell them a story about you. Tell them how your product can save them time, make them money, and allow them more time with their kids. If not, leave them alone. You’re wasting their time.

Most ads are about companies and their products, and these ads yield disappointing results. The best ads are the ones that speak about the customer and how the product will change their lives.

What kind of ads are you writing?

-Martin