It's a Crowded Room ...

Inside your mind are stacked – and usually not all that neatly – memories of smell, color, taste, touch, sight and sound. There are half-remembered words and phrases along with buried emotions piled higher and higher with each passing year.

In this room, you’ll find glimpses of a familiar face, a special place, a bit of a song, a distinctive smell. They are all there among the stacks and they help bring some order to the chaos, reminding us of why we do the things we do.

These sensory memories are like old friends and each encounter with them brings our self-image into sharper focus.

And yet – businesses create ads that pound on the door of this room, wanting entrance to the overcrowded mind. The gatekeeper to this room – our subconscious mind asks: “Who do you know. Name any friends you have in this room.”

If the ad can associate itself with any of the stored memories and emotions, it can immediately gain access.

But the ad that does not associate itself with items already in storage is quickly dismissed. The subconscious mind says, “Go away. It’s too crowded in here for you.”   

Most ads are written under the assumption that the prospective customer is asking: “Who are you?”  “What is your product?” “When are you open for business?” “Where are you located?”

Unfortunately, those are not the right questions to gain access to our minds.

Yet, your media sales reps and your ad agency write ads that answer those things and fail to get to the crucial question that must be answered in order to gain entrance to your mind.

The real question that must be answered is this: “Why should I care?”

You must tell a story that tells the prospective customer what’s in it for them. It is NOT a story about you. Can you save them time, make them money, reduce their stress, cause others to think more highly of them?

If not, your gatekeeper will quickly show them the door, saying: “Go away. You are wasting my time.”

Locally, most ads are about the product or the company that makes it.

But the best ads are about the customer and how the product will change his life.

So, what are your ads all about?

Good Selling!

J  Dana

 
Mr. Dana Kehr
Pro Marketing Northwest
PO Box 731413
Puyallup, WA  98373
 
getmedana@gmail.com
253-579-4040 text and direct

P.S.  Need help writing ads that will have the gatekeeper welcoming you in? Call me. It’s what I do!