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Subject: So, That's What They Think About Us

Author:
Dennis S. Vogel

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Date Posted: 00:36:42 03/25/15 Wed
In reply to: Dennis S. Vogel 's message, "They Can't Really Mean That, Can They?" on 22:46:23 01/30/13 Wed

In various ways, Jay Abraham, Claude Hopkins & others have emphasized a vital point: Advertising is another form of a sales call.

The old version is "Advertising is salesmanship in print." I prefer to include both genders & other media.

To share something valuable, I'm using a good sales scenario in advertising & sales calls:

Hypothetical Sales Presentation >
As you evaluate me as a marketing consultant, I'm evaluating you as a prospective marketing client.

To form a solid working relationship, we focus on agreeing, not negotiation.

While I explain my expectations of clients, you can determine how comfortable you are with what I expect. I tell you what I want to do & how I've been doing things.

I won't reveal anything confidential about past & current clients, yet I want us to determine how well you fit my niche.

As I help you do a compatibility check with me, I'm giving a sample of how we could work together - telling you things I recommend & why.

My presentation is an example of what I recommend in marketing.

Your sales efforts should help your niche members virtually experience the results you offer. You can carefully use some humor as long as it fits their current & desired situations.

Their potential situations could be portrayed, for comparison, with & without benefits you offer. Your main emphasis should be on how much they'll benefit by working with you.

While we work together, we'll develop your messages & offers. I'll help you determine good times & places to put your messages.

If I'd imply or explicitly state I advise clients to do foolish things, it'd seem to be what I'd expect of you as a client.

If I'd say or do anything to indicate my clients are stupid or I think badly of them, you probably wouldn't want to be my client.

Now we can compare that with some commercials.

That's What They Think About Consumers!
I've been hearing some bad commercials quite often.

A cellular phone company representative sold phones & a calling plan to a man & woman. They say the occasion calls for a group hug.

Instead of firmly saying it's not allowed, the rep is passive & expresses some disgust during the hug, "we're hugging, really hugging".

Based on how her voice sounds, it seems like the customers are coated with dung.

I realize those customers have personal boundary issues & don't care when somebody wants to maintain physical distance.

Do you prefer politely assertive workers? - OR - Do you want employees expressing how disgusting they think customers are?

Would You Rather Be A Pepper Or An Oscar Meyer Wiener?
Long ago, an advertising campaign seemed to imply people, who drink Dr. Pepper, have fun.

The choreography, flashy dancing costumes & sound made the advertising POP, but it wasn't persuasive.

To answer the question, "Wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too?" No, I wouldn't.

Another campaign featured children who would rather be wieners because everybody loves that brand. I'll be FRANK, it never appealed to me.
Those campaigns relate to this next subject.

To help you understand what I've written, I could suggest checking this web page - http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Group_Influences.html
I haven't suggested that since I'm jealous about Lars Perner having a lot of knowledge & a good web site.

Would that jealousy indicate an aspirational desire?

By explaining the concepts so well, he saved me a bit of work, so I should be thankful.

I've read some of Lars's work, but not enough for a total endorsement.

In addition to jealousy, I'm not on speaking terms with Lars Perner since we've never communicated with each other & aren't affiliated with each other.

You're definitely more curious now than you would be if I made a typical suggestion.

Some promotions are based on aspirational reference groups &/or associative reference groups.

Some advertising explicitly or implicitly focuses on associative reference groups & dissociative reference groups. That method associates an advertiser with people or things a niche likes while associating competitors with people or things a niche dislikes.

Advertisers can portray situations with & without benefits they offer for comparison.

Something to remember is nonconsumption is also a competitor, as Clayton M. Christensen & others explained.

Too many advertisers seem to focus only on dissociative reference groups.

Stupidity Is NOT Confidence
An automobile manufacturer has been advertising how confident its customers are. The customers are 'confident enough' to do stupid - or at least ill-advised - things.

That doesn't inspire me to feel more confident in the company.

The commercials imply stupid people pick that company; its customers must have bad reputations. Does that make the brand a wise choice or ...?

If I didn't already operate two vehicles of that brand, I may totally avoid it.

Note: My parents bought one of those. I'm their chauffeur & go-for. I didn't apply for the 'job'. If I'd want to work for them, I wouldn't act like a confident fool.

As the situation unfolded, they know how dependable I am, but they chose me anyway. I mean they chose me because I'm dependable.

It's a bit of self-deprecating 'humor', but I didn't push it so far that they or I would seem totally foolish. It demonstrates the limit of humor I'd use in marketing.

I Think The Results Will Come Up Short Also
I'm sure most of us agree about these things: Mass media advertising is expensive. There are many information & entertainment sources (advertising venues) & it's hard to determine which of them attract our niche members enough.

In this case 'enough' means -
1 - a high number or percentage to justify the advertising cost;
2 - often so they'll notice & pay attention to our advertising;
3 - long enough to remember our advertising &
4 - buy a profitable number of our products & services.

Some advertisers use small print & Internet ads that are hard to notice & have little content.

Some advertisers are using short broadcast & Internet commercials that have such little content, I wonder if there's enough of a message to achieve AIDA.

In my area, an advertiser has been running a micro message. The message is the USP & web site URL. That USP is good in the context of the full message. As I remember, the full message is good.

This advertiser seems to run the short commercials without interspersing the full versions. I wonder if the reach & frequency are high enough to keep sales at the same level or increase.

Without the full message, the USP doesn't promise a benefit, so why would anybody be curious enough to check the web site. There are a lot of other things to do each day.

I wonder how many people either never got the full message or forgot it.

If people don't remember enough content to form links, what they see & hear now won't connect.

For people, who don't know or forgot the full message, I doubt that micro message would be enough to get them find the web site.

Short commercials & small ads can be good for reminding people by repeating short versions of established messages.

Example - If my message already occupies a place in your long-term memory, I don't need to repeat the full message.

A short message could remind you of the full message, IF you aren't already too distracted & stressed to notice my short message, plus remember my full message.

Short messages & small ads cost less to run, but if the results don't justify the expense, the money spent (to run shorter or smaller versions) is wasted.

Just When I Needed It Most - Or So I Thought
Back in the early 1980s, I needed something refreshing to drink while I was exercising. I figured Gatorade would be a good option. It didn't taste like a good option though. Yet, I figured I needed what Gatorade contained.

Its tag line was "scientifically formulated to taste best when you need it most".

If that was its best taste, then I guess I didn't need it most. The next few times I exercised, I figured I needed Gatorade. It still tasted just as bad. Would that mean I never needed it most? If so, why should I buy it?

Who am I to argue with science?

It Seemed Like A Good Idea Until ...
There are various ways to express this - Plans can be 100% effective until enemies strike back.

Anything in marketing can seem great until it's rolled out.

Marketing messages can seem great ... until ... somebody thinks about the messages from other perspectives.

Though consumers aren't enemies, they have different standards, perspectives & opinions about your (perceived) mistakes.

You & your sales copy writer may spend hours developing messages (scientifically called encoding). Consumers often get messages & perceive stimuli when they're busy doing other things.

It's vital to remember - there's a limit to people's attention spans.

Though you understand your messages as you intend them to mean, niche members understand messages based on their interpretations (scientifically called decoding).

Technically, decoding counts more than encoding.

They decode based on what & how much they perceive in a situation. Most situations are too complex (too many stimuli) to be fully perceived.

Consumers' perceptions & experiences affect which stimuli they perceive & how they perceive those stimuli.

Though you won't know each consumer thoroughly, you can be successful by increasing & applying your aggregated knowledge.

People's interpretations make sense to them, so if they don't understand your messages, it's not due to their problems. Your lack of results is your fault & problem, not theirs.

I emphasize knowing & understanding your niche as much as you can. A major reason is - You need to have your messages viewed, heard & experienced when niche members are ready to receive your messages, when they can plan to buy or take buying action.

You need to know where those places are.
You need to know the times when they're at those places.
You need to understand enough of their experiences to know which messages & offers are appealing.
Messages & offers are appealing only based on how consumers understand them.

Examples:
When everything is (or seems) "normal", something can still be bad.

I've been hearing medical commercials from health care clinics promising to get me back to normal. That isn't compelling to me since normal in my so-called life is less than optimal.

I've heard a commercial promoting a limited supply of gift certificates. The limited supply wasn't defined with a specific number. The announcer said, "When they're gone, they're gone. Please remember, you can buy as many as you want."

Somehow these statements don't quite add up.

What if I go in the first day to buy 100, but the limited supply is 40? The most I'd get would only be 40, but that wouldn't fulfill the promise.

If I go in the last day & want to buy 10, but limited supply is down to 4 or is gone, I'd be disappointed (at least) because the promise wouldn't be fulfilled.

If you don't understand anything I've written for you, please let me. You can post a message in this forum or send questions & comments to the email address below my name.

Thank you for using this blog.

Dennis S. Vogel
thrivingbusiness@email.com
Your business success depends on understanding why consumers want & need certain benefits.
Please use this URL to get for free information.
http://www.voy.com/31049/

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