Tag: value proposition

Some Tips for Communicating Your Value Proposition

Even when people know their value, many find it difficult to describe it.

Let’s say someone asks you the simple question, “What do you do?”

How do you answer? Of course, you need to get your value across, but as we note here, when communicating your value proposition, you don’t want to deliver the same canned speech for everyone.

What you need to do is first craft, then learn to deliver specific nuggets of information you can use to get your value across. Put all these nuggets together, and you have what we call a value proposition positioning statement. 

A value proposition positioning statement is a compelling, tangible description of how a company or individual will benefit from buying from you.

For example, we might start ours with, “We at Digital Spark Marketing help companies to improve their sales performance. If you want your salespeople, professionals, and leaders to sell more, we can help.”

This is the umbrella under which we operate. It’s a nugget of information we use in the early part of conversations. And it’s an important nugget as it’s the ultimate reason why clients eventually hire us!

But there is always a set of factors and specifics that sway them to choose us versus:

  1. doing something themselves
  2. choosing someone else to help them, or
  3. choosing to do nothing at all.

Obviously, as the conversation moves along, we (and you) need to communicate more if we want to tip the scales in our favor.

To get a full picture of your value across, you need to be able to cover 6 areas, including:

  1. Target customers. Whom do you serve? What makes for an ideal customer regarding industry, location, size, type and so on? This allows the person on the receiving end to know if you work with companies and people like them. Know your target customer so you can craft messages that will resonate with them. In addition, the more you can position specialization for a particular buyer set, the more you typically resonate and differentiate.
  1. Need/business problem. What types of needs and business problems do you address? How do you help? This helps prospects understand how and when they should use you.
  1. Impact of solving need. What are the rational and emotional benefits of solving the need? Getting this right is a major factor in whether or not you resonate.
  1. Your offerings. What’s your product and service approach, how do you run your company, solve problems and work with customers? Notice that company and offerings are a fourth here.
  1. Proof of concept. How can you demonstrate that your approach has worked to solve similar problems for others? How do you substantiate your claims? How do they know that what you say will happen, will actually happen?
  1. Distinction. Why is your offering preferable to other options for solving the need? Do you have something special about you that’s worthwhile to share? Is there some way to highlight how you’re distinct from others?

Once you’ve built all of these nuggets, practice it as one statement until you have it down.

Then forget it.

At least, forget delivering it in one slick mini-speech.

Like this post? Find more good ones at digitalsparkmarking.com.

Small Business Challenges for the Foreseeable Future

This article offers strategies for the future survival and growth of small businesses. It explores the evolving nature of small businesses and documents how many are creating successes that are richly creative and widely beneficial. This article summarizes major challenges for the foreseeable future impacting small businesses. While the trends that follow are not exhaustive, they are major drivers of business change. Small businesses should be aware of these broad trends, should think about how they may positively or negatively affect the future of their business, and should adjust their planning for the future accordingly.

Personalization

This important trend bodes well for small independents that can leverage their inherent advantages of flexibility and customer intimacy to create a more personalized experience for their customers. While technology permits sophisticated database marketing and promotions, small independents are still the best poised to get to know their customers individually as they are often a personal part of their lives. Knowledge of customers’ birthdays, favorite colors, time of day they like to shop, and other information is not just pleasantry anymore. It can be an essential driver of sales. While big companies employ slogans like “reach out and touch someone,” it is more likely the small business can actually shake their hand.

Value Proposition

American consumers are becoming more interested in getting more value for their money. Price is not the only factor in a value determination. Speed, convenience, service and knowledge all play an increasingly important role. Both large and small businesses continue to redefine their value propositions with better prices, selection, service, and products. A value proposition refers to the unique characteristics that distinguish your business from competition. It defines the intrinsic worth of your business’s offering to customers. A strong value proposition communicates a clear message to your marketplace about why potential customers should buy from you. It defines what your customers will get for their money.

 Increased Competition

Competition continues to increase in number and intensity. We are over-stored with an explosion of products displayed in an ever-increasing amount of square feet per capita in the U.S. Big businesses continue to get bigger, employing market share growth strategies and communicating value propositions that are designed to either dominate a product category or customer segment. Increased size leads to increased efficiencies that in turn fuel additional growth. Small companies are left to scramble for the remaining market share. Further, the market has become global with the Internet blurring the lines of traditional market areas. Because of the Internet and the increasing clout of large national chains, small businesses must not compete on price. The real strengths of successful small businesses revolve around specialization, differentiation and finding profitable, defendable, and sustainable niches. Success for many derive from the decision to move beyond just the selling of product to creating customer experience, moving from a transaction orientation to establishing on-going relationships. This decision shifts focus from what moves product to what moves people.

Changing Demographics

Three powerful demographic trends will cause profound change

The Aging of America – It is predicted that the number of Americans ages 55 and older will almost double between now and 2030. This aging of America will present many opportunities for small independents that may choose to target this growing segment.

The growth of the Hispanic population – The U.S. Hispanic population became the largest minority in the United States in 2002 and will continue in this position through 2050. This growing market continues to be underserved by many small businesses.

Generation Y – Born between 1981 and 1995, this new generation numbered 57 million. It is the largest consumer group in the history of the U.S. and represents a dominant future market. Many of the most popular traditional brands are having a tough time appealing to this group who seem immune to traditional marketing messages.

Community Activism

There is a growing national trend of community resistance to unrestrained small business development in order to protect local community personality, feel, and values. This trend speaks to the perceived benefits of small independents. Nevertheless, the consumer will find his or her way to where they want to shop – big box, specialty store, or national chain. Trying to stop new development often becomes a major distraction when they should be spending time thinking about their own business and improving their downtown or neighborhood shopping areas.

Health Care Costs

The healthcare insurance crisis affects the small business especially hard due to the runaway costs of providing benefits to employees. It creates a real competitive disadvantage. The availability of health insurance is often a determining factor in choice of employment. Until this problem is fixed, small businesses need to explore every available alternative, from exploring the availability of state or trade association health plans to implementing new solutions like the recently available high deductible health savings accounts. If small retailers want to attract and retain the kind of employees that will give them competitive advantages, health care benefits must be considered.

Changing Consumer Attitudes and Behavior

The traditional customer definitions and delineations have been blurred by the sheer volume of marketing activity across the entire socioeconomic spectrum. People are more fluid in their shopping behavior. They move in and out and around and through value businesses, middle market stores and luxury goods purveyors on a weekly basis. Everybody is everybody’s customer now. It is up to the business to know their customers well enough to make the connection and offer that will entice them to buy. Time has become number one on the list of what Americans cherish most. The desire for convenience will continue to drive changes in store concepts, formats, retail mixes and locations. People are time-starved and small independents need to factor the need for speed and convenience in their individual value propositions. Given the explosion of choice, consumers are less loyal, less tolerant, and more willing to explore and experiment in search of satisfaction. Consumers are growing more cynical and skeptical. Small businesses need to develop trust through clear and consistent demonstrations of their differentiated value propositions. They need to make the shopping experience easy for the customer by eliminating confusing or inefficient elements that frustrate customers and complicate their choices.

Urban Sprawl and Real Estate Development

A recent trend in new development is to create community spaces of mixed-use that exhibit a strong sense of place. Many of these developments called “the new urbanism,” incorporate features more in keeping with feelings of towns and neighborhoods vs. traditional large retail centers. They are designed to promote social interaction and leisure time activities. These mixed-use, smaller scale, more friendly environments that hearken back to the tradition of Main Street, providing a social hub where people, live, shop, work, and play. Small business fits this model more logically and more naturally than many larger format competitors.

Value Proposition: 11 Rookie Mistakes That Lose Customers

If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete. Excellent point from Jack Welsh. Does your business have a winning value proposition? We have found many clients that cannot articulate their unique value proposition.  In fact, building value propositions creates more mistakes than any marketing subject we know.  In our opinion, trying to win against your competition with value proposition mistakes is like trying to sail with no wind. Such mistakes will certainly lose many valuable customers.
Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.
Nothing is more important for your business than competitive advantages … the more you have, the stronger your business. So pay close attention as we describe many mistakes when building and implementing winning value propositions.
Before we continue, let me ask you a question. 
What works best for value propositions in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? Be the one who starts a conversation.
With the advent of the Internet, the number of marketing options available to both budding and experienced entrepreneurs has become staggering.
Related: Grow Your Business with 10 Secrets of Value Propositions
So how do you derive good differentiation?  For starters, make sure you understand the concept of a value proposition:
Start by understanding there are two ways to win in a competitive market:
  • Achieve sustainable lower cost (and therefore price) than your competition for the same products and services (very difficult to sustain)
  • Deliver more value, despite equal or higher price
A business is a value delivery system. The heart of a winning value proposition is the end-result experiences of value a business intends to deliver to its target customer segments. It needs to be articulated for the customer value end state … not for your product, service, or business process.
To understand your potential value to customers:
Be your customers … study and creatively infer value by observing/learning from what they do.
Do your claims surpass the value alternatives in the marketplace?  Do your customers believe your claims?
So where should you look for mistakes in your business’s value propositions?  The top areas include:

 

Value proposition mistakes … limited real value

The most useful definition of unique selling propositions (USP) is a believable collection of the most persuasive reasons people should notice you and take the action you’re seeking.
 
This way, it guides your decisions much more clearly and can be used as the basis for marketing messages.
If you don’t have strong selling propositions, people don’t have good reasons to do either of those.
For example, if your online bookstore has an average selection, decent prices, delivery, a guarantee, good customer service, and a website, why would anyone buy from you? There’s surely a competitor who beats you in at least some of those aspects.
You don’t have to be the best in every way. Sure, it’s great if you are. But realistically, it’s difficult enough to be the best couple of ways.
However, if you’re the best in at least several ways, you’re the best option for the people who value those propositions.
Starbuck’s doesn’t have the lowest prices. Amazon isn’t the most prestigious bookseller. Zappos’ isn’t the easiest way to shop. People buy from them for other reasons.
So, if your bookstore has the largest selection, for example, but the other things are just average,  the people who value a large selection have a reason to buy from you.
You must have some product or service elements that are unique. Something has to make you the best option for your target customers.
Otherwise, they have no good reason to buy from you.
 

value experiences
Use your value experiences.

Value proposition … limited value experiences

The heart of a winning unique selling proposition is the end result experiences of value a business intends to deliver to its target customers. The end result experiences. For example, a customer shopping for an electric drill is looking for one that can deliver holes as easily and conveniently as possible. Also, one that can deliver the most multiple functions.

 

Not articulated for customers

Unique selling propositions need to be articulated for customers … not for your products, services or business processes. Products, services, processes are the vehicles for the proposition delivery.

 

Value proposition model … limited specifics

Customers perceive relative value in any proposition, even implicit ones … so every business delivers a unique selling proposition (explicit or implicit). You need to design it explicitly. Don’t let it happen by chance.

 

Limited knowledge of target customers

“Become” your customers instead of just asking them what they want from your business. Listen, observe and study to creatively infer from what customers DO.

 

Not having multiple unique selling propositions

When your customers have customers, different USPs are required for different players in the value delivery chain.

 

Doesn’t grab customer attention

People won’t ever buy from you if they don’t even understand why they should pay attention to you. And they notice you only if you have strong and unique selling propositions.
The usual definition of a unique selling proposition is incomplete. It is a promise of something the competition cannot or does not offer. It must be strong enough to move the masses, i.e., attract new customers.
Unique selling propositions, as defined it like that, is a decent, but incomplete, internal tool that can guide your decisions to the right general direction. But nothing more.

Value proposition example … no proof of claims

If you say, my pizza is the best in the world; will people flood your restaurant? No. They won’t believe you.
Without proof, you can’t say much before it starts to sound like marketing talk. No one pays attention. Or remembers. They just don’t believe. No believing, no trust. It is all downhill after that.
For example, I recently saw a digital marketing competitor site where they claimed to be the secret weapon of digital marketing for the most successful companies in the world. Needless to say, we doubt anyone can take that seriously when nothing supports the claim.
As long as you don’t prove your claims, people are unlikely to really believe them. And your unique selling proposition becomes of no use.
Use studies, testimonials, and common sense, among other methods, to prove your claims.
Impressive numbers can be the right choice, but they don’t always work.
Instead, a few expert testimonials make the idea credible. They can even take away the need for you to make any claims’ the testimonials can make the claims for you.
Similarly, you can use testimonials to build your products’ overall perceived value and take away the last doubt people might feel about your promises.
Many businesses don’t help people see what sets the company apart from its competitors. This always amazes us.
They are better than others, and they could prove it. They just don’t do it.
Instead, they try to persuade people with general promises, corporate babble, and feature lists. If your website doesn’t clearly tell visitors what makes you worth their attention, they won’t spend the time to figure it out on their own.

 

Weak claim communications

It’s your job to hit people in the head with what makes you different and worth attention. Clever ways to communicate your claims. In believable ways.
When people understand why they should buy your product instead of any other, they’ll do it.

 

Poor customer experience/service

 Great service creates a great experience and becomes something worth your customer talking to his friends about. It is the most important element of your word of mouth marketing campaign.

 

lose customers
Lose customers.

 

Limited trust and warranty

 Trust is the most often named reason customers say they select businesses to do business with. Good warranties are great places to start building trust.

 

 

The bottom line

 

So, if you were wondering where to put your marketing time and energy to optimize how to win customers from your competitors, focus on avoiding these mistakes in building and delivering winning unique selling propositions.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential clients?
 
 Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
 
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And this struggle gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
 
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
 
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
 
Are you devoting enough energy to improve your marketing, branding, and advertising?
 
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
   
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on value propositions from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Examples of Values … 17 Creative Value Proposition Ideas
Proposition Examples … 6 Awesome FiOS Value Statements
Unique Value Proposition … Does It Covert Leads Well?
11 Creative Tips to Build Small Business Differentiation Strategies
 
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
 

It Is Essential to Design Brilliant Ads to Rise Above the Noise

Leo Burnett once said: The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships. It is a simple concept. People don’t read ads, they read what interests them. So if you are going to design brilliant ads, you are going to have to create an interesting copy.

And, oh, by the way, it must be more interesting than the millions of other advertisements out there. Now that is a daunting task, isn’t it?

Brilliant ads
Design brilliant ads.

Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.

Check this out: Volkswagen Ad … The Secrets to Its Effectiveness?

It has been said that advertising is the price to be paid for being unremarkable. That may be true, but I have noticed, despite the growth in online marketing, that even remarkable businesses also advertise the old fashion way.

It is a key component of your marketing campaign, for awareness or consumer education of your value.

 

According to Nielsen, there are 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared each day.  And Statistic Brain says that our average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds – one second less than a goldfish!

 

We check our phones 150 times per day. We check our email up to 30 times an hour. And the amount of information in the world continues to double every 18 months.

 

All this available information and data is creating a battle for customer attention between brands, publishers, and every one of us who creates content. But more importantly, its forcing businesses to think and act like publishers and creative designers.

 

Ever written an advertisement, or thought about it? I’ve done marketing for my clients in small businesses for the past 4+ years and I’ve learned a few things about making advertising look professional even on a tight budget. Many small businesses don’t have a lot of time or resources to have ads professionally made. So what’s a small business to do?

 

If everyone is creating content, how does a business break through the noise? How do we reach our customers in a way that engages them?

The role of a great publisher is not to predict what readers may want to read, but to help them form their opinions through strong, authoritative journalism. You win in the marketplace not by chasing readers with algorithms, but by attracting them with a superior product. Great journalism can’t be automated, because it is among the most human of endeavors.

 

Here are 10 important enablers we rely on to create effective advertisements that can do both:

 

Design brilliant ads … strategy

Before undertaking the design of an advertisement campaign, consider the following:

 

What would you like to accomplish with your ad campaign?

 

What are you offering to your potential customer?

 

Why is your product or service unique?

 

All of these questions are essential to defining the advertising strategy. Here are some additional factors to consider:

 

Target the end state values to your customers

A good example of this is Dell’s fast delivery of a custom computer.

 

Be relevant to your target market.

Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing the insights of your target market.

 

Define your positioning

Your positioning is the frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can.

 

 Clearly, link your messages

Link your messages to your brand. Remember the AFLAC duck or E-Trade’s talking baby … these are great linkages to the brands.

 
messages and content
Focus on messages and content.

Messages and content

       Use simple messages complemented with powerful visuals

 

Make your messages simple

 

So simple that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.

 

Your Logo

If your business’s logo/name doesn’t contain what you do, make sure to clarify that in the ad. For example, saying “Ron’s European Inc. Collision Repair” instead of just “Ron’s Inc.”

 

Add information about what your business does and how you intend to help your potential customers.

 

Less is more

Don’t overwhelm people with information. Keep it as simple as possible while getting useful information across to the viewer.

You only have a few moments to communicate, so use powerful, focused, and simple words – such as ‘free’, ‘unbelievable’, etc.

 

Use easy arguments

Easy arguments are the conclusions people reach using inferences without a careful review of available information. Find and use easy arguments that work because it is almost impossible to succeed when working against them.

 

Optimize the content

A call to action is crucial. Make it large and prominent to catch give the viewer’s an incentive.

 

Keep your message personalized – address it to one person, not to masses of people.

 

Ask a question to get the viewer thinking.

 

Give the readers a reason to act right away (for example – ‘today only’).

 

Use testimonials.

 

Make it easy for the customer to reach you. Add the telephone number, mailing address, and the web address

 

Here is an example where the heading is very misleading. Do parent immunize their children to “help the community?” It’s a noble thought but entirely unrealistic for those outside the healthcare profession. Parents are concerned about their children’s welfare and their immediate family’s far more than the communities.

 

The use of the word “flatline” subconsciously associates vaccinations with death. It’s not about killing the flu. It’s about gaining peace of mind, and feeling like you’re making the right choices as a parent.

 

Brilliant ads … appeal and attention

The present appeal that grabs consumer attention

  

Grab and hold viewers’ attention

 

Interesting information is the foundation.  Your ad messages must be appealing to your target communities.

 

Headlines are the first place for attention

Here are techniques that we have found to be most effective:

 Be newsworthy

 Define your benefit

 Ask a question

 Create curiosity

 

Variation is key

Use multiple creatives for an ad campaign. Our best performing campaigns are the ones that change banner creative often. We highly encourage new creative every couple of weeks for a fresh new look, and to decrease burnout.

 

According to John Caples’ book, Tested Advertising Methods, there are three classes of successful headlines:

 

Self-interest Headlines

This headline appeals to the reader’s self-interest and contains a personal benefit to the reader. These are the best performers.

 

News Headlines

They add something new and are rated the next best.

 

Curiosity Headlines

Rated third best, they arouse curiosity. For curiosity headlines to be most effective combined with self-interest or news.

 

This Samsonite ad lacks any sort of story, any sort of coherence, or any sort of relevance The entire idea is a non sequitur — two things that shouldn’t go together, but which are smashed into the same space. The idea of professional hockey players using luggage in the place of sticks is absurd, and since the ad is meant to be flashy, not humorous, the absurdity makes no sense whatsoever.

And the image itself is very poorly done. It’s not the worst national ad campaign we’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly a good example of a bad ad.

 

Creative ads … visual elements

            Visual elements should be part of the story

 

Support your messages with visual elements like a photo or graphics. This can be your logo, a picture of your business, or a graphic to support your messages.

 

Show and don’t tell

“Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for visual presentation.

 

Use symbolic language and images that relate to the senses?

People prefer symbolic language and images that relate to the senses. People are far less receptive and responsive to language and images that relate to concepts. Life is experienced through the senses and using symbolic language and images that express what people feel, see, hear, smell or taste are easier for people to understand, even when used to describe abstract concepts.

 

Use powerful videos to convey your messages

The truth is that the processing capacity of our brains is limited and words may get in the way of emotionally powerful visual images. When powerful visual images dominate – when “a picture or video is worth a thousand words” – be quiet and let them do the talking.

 

Articles with images get 94% more views than those without. And posts with videos attract 3X more inbound links than plain text posts.  A study by 3M showed that 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.

 

And this holds up when you look at how the social world is evolving. The meteoric rise of sites like Vine, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as the efforts by Facebook and Twitter to add more visual elements to their platforms, are simply following the trend that visual content is the best way to reach short-attention-span audiences in a world filled with so many content choices.

 

McDonald’s is constantly coming up with innovative new ways of advertising, this brilliant print ad being its latest offering. The eye-catching visual design features a box of fries, carved from the very ingredient from which they’re made. Simple but conveying a powerful yet memorable message.

 

Emotional influence

                      Create emotional influence wherever you can

 

Tell a simple story that evokes emotion

A good story has a beginning where a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation, a middle where the character confronts and attempts to resolve the situation, and an end where the outcome is revealed.

A good story does not interpret or explain the action in the story for the audience. Instead, a good story allows each member of the audience to interpret the story as he or she understands the action. This is why people find good stories so appealing and why they find advertising that simply conveys information boring.

 

Convey basic emotional appeal

Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the experiences are important to remember.

There are eight basic, universal emotions – joy, surprise, anticipation, acceptance, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust. Successful appeals to these basic emotions consolidate stories and the desired calls to action in the lasting memories of audiences.

 

Design and layout

           The biggest design and layout mistake? Too much information.

 

Information hierarchy

Choose information that’s most important and make it your main element of the ad. Every piece of information in your ad should be weighted according to its importance. Make sure it is prioritized from most critical to least.

 

Use space wisely

Don’t use every inch of white space because you can. Leave some “breathing room” so people can digest your message. We believe the more the better.

 

Use contrasting colors for fonts and backgrounds to make sure that your copy is readable. The best combo is dark type on a light background so it’s easier to read.

 

Fonts, fonts, and fonts

Use mostly sans-serif fonts and use different font sizes to differentiate the importance of the copy. Avoid using too many font types or too many font colors (think one or two max). A little color and a lot of white space go a long way.

 

The layout makes a difference

Be sure that your ads flow from left to right (as the eye travels left to right)

 

Pay attention to color schemes … avoid designs that are too busy

 

The size of the headline font should be big, and powerful enough to grab the attention of the reader.

 

This hard-hitting print ad aims to raise awareness of child labor… a simple but effective offering. Two things that could use some improvement, however: The ad is in black and white (when all the other ads on the page were color) and most of the fonts are the same size and too small. By adding color and font size increase and variation, they could have really spiced things up!

 
value proposition
Build a strong value proposition.

Effective value proposition

Sometimes the value proposition is the packaging, not the product.

 

Define a value proposition that truly discriminates you from your competition. It is essential that you give your customers reasons to select you. It is amazing to us that many campaigns neglect this.

Identifiable music

Match what viewers see with what they hear

 

People expect and prefer coordinated audio and visual messages because those messages are easier to process and understand. Audio and visual messages that are out-of-sync may gain attention, but customers find them uncomfortable.

 

Identifiable music

Music can be a rapidly identified cue for the recall of emotional responses remembered from previous advertising. Making the same music an identifiable aspect of all advertising signals the audience to pay attention to more important content.

 

A great TV ad by Dell that celebrates new business startup successes. Check out this memorable music that does a fantastic job of complementing the ad’s messages … ‘this magic moment’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja61fxmY77Q
 

Brilliant advertisements need a call to action

 

                A simple call to action is needed on all ads.

Say exactly why people should contact your business and what you can do for them. For example “Come home to a life that is SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT.”

 

Make the desired call to action a part of the story

A good story that is very entertaining but does not make a direct connection between the desired call to action and the story is just a very entertaining story. The whole point of the story in advertising is to effectively deliver the desired call to action.

If the audience does not clearly understand the desired call to action after seeing the ad, then you are missing the real opportunity. Remember this: having an entertaining story and clearly delivering the desired call to action are not mutually exclusive.

 

Part of an integrated marketing campaign

Make your ad a component of an integrated marketing campaign.

It’s key to have social integration across all areas of the business. Social media is a tool to be used across all functions: HR, sales, marketing, product design, online, and customer support. Look for how all areas of social (listening, research, support, content, and analytics) come together to have an impact on customer experience and employee collaboration.

Embed social media in the fabric of the company and empower your employees to use it to achieve better results for customers and the business. This is the best way to create an integration in your marketing.

 So if you remember one thing from this article, remember this:

 Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering.

 The bottom line

That’s the power of a good story. It provokes thought and discussion. It holds our attention because we want to see how it ends.

Instead of a canned, linear sequence of events, we enter an unfamiliar world that surprises us and teaches us something. We genuinely don’t know how things will turn out.

EMPLOY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Employ customer experience, yes?

Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?

 

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

 

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.

 

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

 

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?

 

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

 

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

  

More reading on advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Ogilvy on Advertising … Best Lessons Learned from his Secrets

Effective Advertising … 14 Best Examples of Ad Design

Use 8 Breathtaking Commercials That Employ Emotional Appeal

Insurance Advertising War … 8 Examples to Learn From

 

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.

 
 
 
 

Would These Galaxy Marketing Videos Persuade You?

Have you seen these new Samsung Galaxy marketing videos? We are interested in whether they persuaded you. When we evaluated the Samsung Galaxy S4 marketing video, we were big fans of their marketing strategy. Now the question is, did Samsung improve on the S4 marketing video?

Galaxy marketing video
Galaxy marketing video.

The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.

– Leo Burnett

About 2 years ago, Samsung launched one of the most hyped smartphones, the Galaxy S4. It had a lengthy list of special features.

However, it failed to impress critics because it was too confusing and difficult to use, despite their excellent marketing.

Then, Samsung took a step back with its newest flagship phone, the Galaxy S5.

Here they refined the experience to focus on the stuff people care about the most like screen size, camera, and battery life.  And in many ways, it trumps its competitor’s thanks to a superior screen and excellent camera performance.

Have you seen any of the recent Samsung Galaxy S5 advertisements? If not, or in any case, here is the

Effective Advertisements: 8 Keys to Creating Ad Designs

It has been said that advertising is the price to be paid for being unremarkable. That may be true, but I have noticed that even remarkable businesses advertise. It is a key component of your marketing campaign, for awareness or consumer education of your value. This blog’s objective is to give you some tips on creating effective advertisements.

effective advertisements
Ways to create effective advertisements.

The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
– Leo Burnett
Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering.
Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.
Related post: Insurance Advertising War … 8 Examples to Learn From
Here are 8 important enablers we rely on to create effective advertisement messages:

Grab and hold viewers’ attention

Hold attention with interesting information.  Keep in mind that people don’t read ads, they read what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities.

 

Define a value proposition

The value that truly discriminates you from your competition. Give your customers reasons to select you.

 

Consider the end state values to your customers

A good example of this is Dell’s fast delivery of a custom computer.

 

Make your messages simple

So simple that the reader will quickly understand. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words.

 

be relevant
Your message must be relevant to the audience.

Be relevant to your target market.
Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market.
Define your positioning
Your positioning is your frame of reference. Make comparisons to your competitors if you can.

 

link your messages
Link your messages.

Effective advertisements … clearly, link your messages

Link your messages to your brand. Remember the AFLAC duck or E-Trade’s talking baby … these are great linkages to the brands.
Related post: Successful Advertisement Design … 12 Best Examples to Study

 

Make your ad a component

It should be a component of an integrated marketing campaign.
Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer, it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement.  After looking over these enablers and Allstate’s mayhem ads … how do you think they did?

 

effective advertisements

 

What are some of your experiences with advertising as a component of an integrated marketing campaign?
 
Do you have an advertising experience to share with this community?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
 
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your advertising design?
Do you have a lesson about making your innovation better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
 
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s leadership, teamwork and collaboration? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a team or leadership workshop?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Do you have a lesson about making your learning better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
 
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
The Nine Most Valuable Secrets of Writing Effective Copy
How Good Is your Learning from Failure?
10 Extraordinary Ways for Learning to Learn
Continuous Learning Holds the Keys to Your Future Success
 
 Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.