Wednesday, December 14, 2011

What you say is more important than finding the right audience ...

Reaching the Right People with Your Ad Message.

OK. OK. You’ve heard me say this … and I know some of you don’t believe it … (Heck, there was even a time in my career when I wouldn’t have believed it either) … but it doesn’t so much matter that you are reaching the right people. Instead, it is more important that you are saying the right things. In fact, the message is the message.

Here’s what I’m saying –

I used to work with another fellow and we provided some consulting services to a local plastic surgery center. He was quite caught up in scientific measurement, wanting to know just who the audience was and how we went about reaching the client’s targeted audience. He wanted to always know what medium should be used to carry the message to the right audience.

His erroneous belief was that if we could scientifically find and measure the right audience, then we could turn the advertising results on and off, much like turning on and off a water spout.

He had our department doing hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of useless reports so that he could impress the client with how scientific and logical he was. Buying decisions were to be weighed and measured based on the ability of a particular medium to deliver just the right audience. To him, the audience was to be identifiable and quantifiable. So, he had us spending our time looking for the right people. That activity gave him all the confidence of a vacationer studying a road map.

Unfortunately, he was missing the point.

“Saying the right thing” is more important than finding the right audience. When you are saying the right things – there are no rules, no road maps, no intellectual evidence. There is no way to justify why you did what you did, especially when things don’t turn out quite the way you had planned.

Clients unfortunately cling to their belief that if they can just “reach the right people”, it will be OK.

But it isn’t.

And, I think the fear and frustration surrounding the client’s inability to say the right thing is what scares the heck out of most advertisers.

Overcome this fear, and you’ll be on your way to marketing success.

Good Selling!

J  Dana

Mr. Dana Kehr
Pro Marketing Northwest
(253)579-4040
getmedana@gmail.com
 
P.S.  Need help “saying the right thing” in your ads? Give me a call. It’s what I do!

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