We about got into a fight to the death with an ad rep for a client a few days ago. Why? Because ad reps are not marketers and they attempt to give you unwanted bad advertising advice. NO offense to any ad rep that does know what they are actually doing, but many know absolutely nothing about marketing. Many have never studied, created or done ANY advertising themselves. They have not been knee deep in the trenches of entrepreneurship like we have. They do not know what it is like to struggle and risk everything for a dream. They haven’t had to put their OWN money on the table for advertising because they are employees.
This is incredible to me because these are the same people who are advising countless small – large business owners on their “marketing strategies”. Many are just salespeople that “do the ads for marketing or graphic design work.” They have done zero marketing themselves and are not required to know tactics, strategies, case studies, response rates, industry data and research (the list goes on for days…) before they give advertising advice. They couldn’t tell you which fonts increase readership, they can’t show you ANY proof for what they are selling / telling you. They just give their opinion without any reason whatsoever and many people follow along blindly. WHY? Because most aren’t experts either! That’s why they are seeking out ad space and marketing advice in the first place. It’s truly the blind leading the blind.
Remember the ad rep for a popular local magazine I was talking about earlier? This is no joke, she tried to tell me to take out my offer, copy, coupon, testimonials, headline and other marketing tactics and to just leave a logo, website and address for a two page ad because she said “those tactics don’t work.” (PLEASE NOTE: I DIDN’T ASK FOR HER ADVICE IN THE FIRST PLACE). This ad rep was advising me to take away the very PROVEN GUTS that convince people to come into the business! These tactics have been proven to work for 200 years and this ad rep thinks they don’t work? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW SCARY IS THIS? This is a lady that is advising numerous local businesses on their marketing!!! The truth is that most ad reps simply do not know any better. They do not know what it takes to get a customer to drive to your PLACE of business and walk in the door and slap down their credit card. WHY AGAIN? Because they have NO SKIN IN THE GAME. They can’t track results and they DON’T want you to either!!!
99% of advertising doesn’t sell much of anything. — David Ogilvy (Founder Of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Agency.)
I want you to stop for a moment and ask yourself: What is the REAL reason you advertise?
The bottom line reason you advertise is to get people to act. To make money. It’s not to be pretty, modern, funny or entertaining. It’s not to get people to say “Wow, great ad.” It’s simply to make money and get more business. You want your advertising to persuade people to whip out their credit cards and slap it on the counter right then. Branding, being funny, creating buzz and being creative is great and all, but the red line is that you simply want customers to pay for your stuff as quickly as possible. That’s what matters isn’t it? You can have all the buzz in the world but if it doesn’t produce any money in return then it’s completely worthless!
Focus your advertising on getting a direct response. Remember the purpose of your marketing and advertising: TO GET PAYING CUSTOMERS not getting “buzz” or to win awards. You want to be able to say, because of this ad, it brought X amount in return, If you can’t do this with your forms of advertising, then don’t do it and PLEASE dedicate the resources necessary to a marketing firm that can actually HELP YOU! And for your sake, when dealing with ad reps: ask freaking questions. Ask them why they are advising you to do something. Ask for proof. Ask for more than demographics and how many people they are reaching….
Don’t just take their word for it because “they have found that —– (insert crap here)—– to be true. Make em’ prove it with real examples and better yet – NUMBERS.
This is amazing information. I cringe at the $$$$’s I have thrown away. And worst yet, most of the time the “copy” was wrong, time and time again….and they kept my money.
I loved your article about the ad rep and I as an ad rep agree myself with you on many of your points. With all of the media outlets today one has to be very selective in where they invest their marketing dollars. However, I disagree with you on one point. Advertising does not always get an immediate response or ROI. The most important thing about advertising is to be consistent in all things you do. Where you advertise, your target demographic, the amount you do, the look and feel of the advertisement, your slogan etc. etc.. Advertising is all about consistency and in my personal opinion is a long term investment in ones business. That buzz, hip ad, funny ad may not pay off today, but you could have reached a future customer tomorrow.
“Only 6% of your audience is in the market to purchase right now, the other 94% buys later” -Jim Doyle & Associates-
“Half of my money is wasted on advertising. The problem is I don’t know which half.” ~famous ad man….
I agree with consistency and I am also saying – you have to have trackable marketing tactics. You will see results or you won’t and you will see those results quickly. Marketing is also about testing the water…. just like advertising. The biggest marketers across the board and the richest people in the industry ONLY use trackable marketing practices in conjunction with their ads. What we are saying here is…… ads can look pretty etc…. but they better have an offer or a way to track the results along with the “funny”.
A few months ago I was putting an ad together with a company I hadn’t tried before, but I had heard some good things about. The lady straight up told me right to my face that she didn’t like my logo and she thought I should redesign it completely. The thing is, I didn’t ASK her for her opinion on my logo…the same logo that as soon as she saw it she said, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen your signs all over town”. Needless to say, she didn’t get any of my advertising dollars!
I don’t need my ads to look perfectly pretty, I need them to get results.
Great article, thanks!