Three reasons why ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK

Have you ever heard anyone say that advertising doesn’t work? Have you ever thought it yourself? There’s got to be a point of view out there too that says some types of advertising work better than others. The reality is that sometimes advertising doesn’t work and sometimes it does but there are three wonderfully simple reasons why it doesn’t:

1. There’s no such thing as one kind of advertising being better than another. There is such a thing as one kind being better at targeting the audience that you want to reach. For example, there’s a big difference between bus shelter posters (6-sheets) and the ticket gateways (AdGates) at major railway stations. One audience is more affluent than the other and potentially has different needs and purchasing preferences. So, you’ve got to pick the best medium to reach your audience. For example, if you’re selling cars, say, the bus audience might not be the best choice. Petrol station fuel nozzle advertising (AdNozzles) reaches all the local car drivers so is possibly a better bet.

2. Then there’s how often you advertise. Running a campaign for four weeks and then thinking a flood of sales leads and enquiries will tsunami their way through the door is possibly a little short-sighted. This is because your customers go through something called The 5 Stages of Awareness. This applies to whatever you want them to buy. The stages are 1) Unaware 2) Problem aware 3) Solution aware 4) Product or service aware and 5) Most aware. You’ve got potential customers on every point of that buying spectrum but most of them are at Stage 1 Unaware. Not only don’t they know who you are or what you offer but more than that, they are not currently at Stage 2 Problem aware. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling (yet), they don’t even know they might need it. One ad-campaign a year will catch some low-hanging fruit but that quantity is tiny compared to the high-hanging fruit where there are plenty more sales to be made. And your prospects have desperately poor memories. Advertising that works is based on reminding them often about what you do, certainly, but there’s something even more important than that.

3. There’s the message. If you just tell them that you sell tyres, houses, cars, double glazing or whatever – you’re going to get a trickle not a tsunami. Follow the five stages: get them aware, that they have a problem, that can be solved, by you, until they act on it. Zero your message in on their problem. If you’re a restaurant, their problem is that Valentine’s is approaching and they need an intimate romantic venue to pour satisfaction and appreciation into their best beloved! Paint the story of your business around them and build it up in stages. You can have all the stages created with beautiful pictures and a variety of messages in one place at one time if you want to. Not all media platforms can do this – but AdNozzles and AdGates do…

If you want your advertising to work tsunami not trickle style:

1. Pick the right one(s) to reach your audience.
2. Don’t just advertise once – you’ll build year-round enquiries and revenue if you do it often enough.
3. Get the messaging right. Sell them the “why” not the “what” and base it on their 5 Stages of Awareness.

Then you’ll be able to tell people why your advertising works, even if theirs doesn’t!