9 Steps to Courageous Advertising

Are you willing to advertise courageously? If you are, you can net the same results that the most courageous leaders achieve in any field…you can win.

To understand how important it is to advertise courageously, you must first understand how advertising works.

Because only a small portion of your target market is in the market for what you are advertising today, you must make certain your advertising creates a brand identity for you with the 95% of the market that is not going to buy from you this week but may consider doing so in the future.

Your ads cost the same whether they influence 100% of the people who see or hear them or only influence that 5% of the people. The more unique the message the more attention it will receive, even if they are not in the market for your product or service today.

In addition to selling today, your advertising investment must build your brand for tomorrow’s customers if you do not want to waste a significant portion of your advertising investment.

Do you have the courage to differentiate your business? Most of us do not. Most of us do exactly what our competitors do, making our ads sound and look like everyone else’s.

If you do have the courage to take your market by storm, here are 9 tips on how you can break away from the pack:

1.) Be Different. There is a reason why Geico has become one of the most well-known insurance companies in the world.  They choose to stand out from the crowd. It’s not just about having a unique difference. If your marketing and advertising sounds and looks like your competitors’, why should your consumers think about you any differently?

2.) Tell the truth! How many times can you claim to have your “Biggest Sale Ever” and have it believed? In the movie, Crazy People, Dudley Moore gets people in a psychiatric hospital to write ads for fun, and when the ads hit the media by mistake they work better than the professionally-produced ads. Their secret? They told the truth. In one ad, they said, “Volvo, boxy but safe.” Do you have the courage to say you are “boxy”?

3.) Don’t play follow the leader! There is an old expression, “Unless you are the lead dog, the view ain’t too pretty!”  Don’t do what they do. Don’t go (advertise) where they go. Don’t act like they act!  Find a media or medium that you can dominate and where you can have the strongest share of voice at a fraction of the cost. Share of Voice, with a strong message that stands out, equals Share of Mind. Ultimately Share of Mind nearly always equals Share of Market.

4.) Lead with your perceived negative! Here’s one that really takes courage.  Research has proven that if you admit an already known weakness, the consumer will give you the positive. Like Avis Rental, “We’re #2, but we try harder”. See Rule #2, Tell the Truth. Admitting a mistake or a negative can create a very positive impact in the consumer’s minds.

5.) Stick-to-it! Sound investments take time to pay off. Do you have the courage to stand by your advertising decisions, or are you going to change the message or the media if you don’t get a return by Friday? When you started your business, your goal was not to sell everyone in your first week. You had a long-term plan for consistent and sustainable growth.  Do you have a long-term advertising investment strategy, or do you change direction just before your campaign starts to work?

6.) Have the courage to admit you are not “normal”. Being in business, you do not absorb media the same way “normal” people do. When you hear your ad or your competitor’s ad, you hang on every word to make sure there are no errors or to hear what your competitors are doing.  That is not normal. Do not make media choices and advertising decisions based upon your personal media habits or choices. You are NOT selling to you.

7.) Check your ego at the door! Some of us want to have “the biggest ad” for all the wrong reasons. A half-page newspaper ad, for example, garners 80% of the readership of a full-page, yet our egos encourage us to spend twice as much for the full page. In Google Search, surveys reveal that 65-72 % of internet users will click on a business name they are familiar with before they’ll call on an ad at the top of the page that they have never heard of. Make an investment to be “known”.

8.) Admit you are not the only genius in your company! Your front-line salespeople know the kinds of information customers want and what concerns your prospects have. Pick their brains so you can craft advertising messages that deliver the information and answer the concerns your customers have.

9.) Don’t be afraid to seek out a trusted advisor! Find someone that can help guide you and give you good counsel on how to make your business stand out among your competitors. Find someone whose advice and expertise you trust, then don’t be afraid to let go of the reigns and capitalize on their knowledge.

Contact Titan Broadcasting & Digital Group today for a free Marketing Consultation, at Titan Broadcasting & Digital Group, our success is based on making you successful too!