Pavlov's Dog is Dead, Part II

We've trained him to distrust us! Year after year, the advertising community has rung the bell and offered our customers bogus sales, products that aren't available, or our worse, your lowest end products.

Oh, sure! We got their attention...even drove them to our stores, but at what cost? I'll tell you...our good will...their trust...future long-term customers!

The advertising world is based on being the loudest, most obnoxious! 80% of ads are focused on some kind of sale...sales only target the "transactional customers". These transactional customers are the first ones to show no loyalty and purchase from the lowest priced business.

WHY DO YOU SPEND 80% OF OUR AD DOLLARS TARGETING YOUR MOST DISLOYAL CUSTOMERS?

Because, most advertisers do not know how to connect with their key customers, the loyal customers who shop and buy day-in-day-out. The consumers who drive our revenue, but more importantly drive our profits!

The key to solving the advertiser's dilemma is to effectively reach loyal, relationship driven customers! We must retrain our customers to hear us, not just the sales bell, but to really hear and listen to what we have to say.

Pavlov's Dog is Dead! Part I

Long ago in a very different world, businesses could buy an ad on a prime time show on one of the three broadcast channels reach a 1/3 of the buying public and launch a new product instantly!

Procter Gambel, Kraft and Sears had it is easy.

You do not. You no longer have the option to buy one :30 second commercial run it on broadcast TV and watch the people come running like Pavlov's Dog.

Ok...maybe Pavlov's Dog isn't dead...maybe he is just deaf.

Maybe he just can't hear anymore or more specifically has learned to ignore the bell. Possibly, we the advertising world rang the bell too many times and didn't deliver what we promised or worse yet what he expected.

We taught him to come, when the bell is rung and now, we've taught him to ignore us!

[Editor's Note: Yeah...we kinda already knew that! How do we fix it?]

Good question! Keep reading my blog and over the next few weeks, I'll give a "little" insight to how to overcome our deaf dog and retrain them to "trust" you and more importantly to comeback running the next time you ring your advertising bell.

[Editor's Note: If you can't wait till my next post...shoot me an email and we can take this conversation offline]

Rome wasn't Built in a Day!

Neither was your marriage, your home, or your business. Something of any value takes time and in most cases a long time to succeed.

When you first opened your business, you developed a plan for success, right?

You created forecasts of revenue...a timetable to profitability...and tactics to make it happen. After 2 weeks, 2 months, or even 2 years, you didn't panic and pull the plug did you?

Probably not...in fact...if it didn't start off like you planned, you probably went back to your plan and readjusted some numbers and came up with some new ideas to get it back on track.

That is because you were committed to its success!

Then why do most business begin to panic 2 weeks into an advertising campaign, when the doors haven't been blown off the hinges from all of the new customers?

Yes, I realize you are spending a lot of money, relatively, and you it kills you to see it not working immediately, but you have to realize that success takes time.

Here is why:

• Consumers are bombarded with 3,000 ad messages a day
• Only a sliver of potential customers are in the market on a single day -- what are the chances that they all hear or see your advertisement in a short period of time
• You have competition that has been telling consumers their message for years -- you better give new prospects a good reason to switch or be patient for them to change their habits organically
• Pavlov's Dog is Dead -- consumers no longer hear the "bell" (ads) and come running

Come back over the next few weeks and I'll explain in more detail these long-term "why's".

It's the Economy, Stupid!

Actually, today's post has nothing to do with the economy, but isn't that a great headline!

It is also a great example of how the right message at the right time repeated over and over can do amazing things! It took a little known Governor from like the worst state in the country and made him a 2-term President, even with all of the other baggage he was carrying around.

So that leads me back to your advertising:

1. Is your message clear, concise and on target with your customers?
2. Does it tell them almost everything they need to know?
3. Does it break through all of the other advertising clutter and crap.

If the answer to any of these questions is "no", then you need to start over!

Have Something to Say!

Wow...that seems really simple, but I am amazed how many small and mid-size businesses don't say anything worthwhile in their ads.

Oh, sure, they have a lot of words and pretty pictures in the ads. Most have a fabulous star burst exclaiming they are number one in something or have the greatest sale of the year, but they don't really say anything to their customers.

They don't speak in their customers language. They don't talk about what the customer cares about or even what they want.

Harsh Reality #1: Your customers do not care about you UNLESS you have something they want or can solve their problem...period!

Your ads must be focused around your customers. Say something they want to hear!

Be Authtenic!

Seriously, the next buzz word to come from the mouths of marketing gurus...authenticity!

Yes, we have come full circle.

The next new spin for advertising is the truth! Yes, you heard me...your customers want the truth! Period!

Be direct. Be honest. Be real! No gimmicks...no puffery...no spinning.

Offer a good product or service at fair price (Note: I said "fair" price...that doesn't mean cheap or discounted. Give people a solid value for their money).

Offer creative that demonstrates that message in a creative and unusual way and repeat!

Next entry: Be Consistent!

Is Time really Money?

We have heard it for years. Your Dad said it. Maybe even your Mom. And your first boss definitely said it.

"Time is Money", right?

I say that up till 3 years ago, this was not true. We didn't really act that way. We still wasted a lot of time trying to save money. We would go to 5 stores to find the best deal on a new TV. 10 car dealers to find the best deal on that new Ford Taurus. And maybe 20 different sales centers to find our new home.

If time was really money, we would not have ever done that, would we? No!

But, today, I believe that we have finally become so busy that we would rather trade money for time, which is why Sales Leads or Traffic is down.

See today, we no longer have the time, or more accurately want, to "spend" the time to visit multiple stores to find a better deal. No, today we go online and research our shopping options before we ever enter a store, dealership, or sales center.

We used to go to 10 places before we would buy one thing. Which meant we counted as 10 different leads to businesses, but only one sale.

Today, that same sale, only counts for 2 or 3 leads, because we only have the time to visit our top 2 or 3 options.

Traffic may be down, but our sales are either the same or up.

Which begs the question...how good is your website at selling your product?

If it is not really good, not only will your traffic be down, but your sales are probably down, too.

Viral President

We keep hearing about the power of the internet. We keep hearing how the net can launch regular people into "virtual" entertainment stars.

You've seen the net create tv shows...music stars...comedians...and even reality stars...

Now, it appears that the internet has launched it's first presidential campagin...the question is will it last or will it be another net bust?



Yes, this is obviously "fake". (I would have much better campaign ads and collateral ;-)

But, what a great use of technology.

Want to create your own "Presidential Bid Video"?

Visit http://www.news3online.com/spread.php

You've got YouMail

Full Disclosure: I have nothing to do with this company, but I would love to. ;-)

I am just a new raving customer of YouMail. This is an amazing technology that could change the way that we communicate with friends, family, and most importantly in the context of my blog, customers and prospects! (This installment is more for the former ad sales guy in me.)

YouMail is a free service...not sure how they are planning to make a profit, but at some point I'm expecting the site and alerts to be ad supported.

All you have to do is set-up an account with your cell phone and an email address. Then you are able input phone numbers that will allow you to set-up different, personalized voicemail greetings for each number. It is brilliant and it works perfectly!

So, other than being just a very cool gadget, it can be a fantastic tool for personalizing your message to customers and prospects.

Think about it. You want to break through the clutter, but worry about someone calling you back and getting voicemail. Don't worry...you can set-up an attention getting message personalized just for them.

Check it out at www.YouMail.com