Advertising Mistakes

10 Common Advertising Mistakes That'll Waste Your Hard-Earned Money-- Part One
by Frank Buddenbrock

If you're like most advertisers, you are on the hunt constantly for the ideal vehicle that'll get your message in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Where can you get the most bang for your advertising buck? A newspaper ad? Magazine ad? A brochure? Email with an html message? Direct mail?

Regardless of which vehicle that's chosen, too many ads fail to answer your prospect's primary concern, "What's In It For Me?" When your ads don't answer that question, your prospect will not respond, and there goes your money, usually lots of money.

Don't write another ad, brochure, email, flyer or direct mail piece until you correct the costly mistakes you're making. To be sure there are more than just ten mistakes, but here are the first five of ten of the most damaging ones most advertisers make trying to persuade prospects to plunk down their hard-earned cash.

Check to see how many of these mistakes you or your company make. Once you've identified them you'll have a better idea of how to fix them.

Mistake No. 1. Not Focusing On The Most Important Person In Any Sale- The Prospect

You'll see it over and over again: ads that are just a vehicle for the ego of the advertiser. They'll brag about their fancy brochure, their slick ad, or their clever direct mail piece, ignoring the most important person in any sale- the prospect.

The ONLY reason for having marketing literature is to get a prospect to connect with you so that you can do what's necessary to sell him what you've got.

Mistake No. 2. Your Marketing Materials Are Too "Me"- Oriented, not Prospect-Oriented

You spend too much time, and money, talking about you and your company, and not about what your company can do for your prospect. I continually see brochures and ads that drone on and on extolling the virtues of the company.

When you write your marketing materials, put yourself in your prospect's shoes. He cares only about himself, and how your company's product or service is going to make his life better. Or how your product or service is going to take away some of his anxieties.

Why should the prospect care if the size of your warehouse is 30,000 square feet? Does that make your product more effective, ease his worries, or enhance his life? Show the prospect the benefits he'll receive by buying your product or service. Square footage is not a benefit to your prospect.

Use every device you can think of to get him to contact you. Show him that you care about him, his wants, his desires.

When you consider that the typical prospect is plagued by more than 7,500 marketing messages per week, you'd think that advertisers would want to make every attempt to grab even the slimmest slice of time from their prospects, but you'll see it again and again. Too many ads that fail to answer the prospect's primary concern, "What's in it for me?"

Mistake No. 3. You Fail To Develop Any Kind Of Consistent Advertising Campaign

Do you hope to score big with a single promotion rather than a well-thought-out and well-planned advertising campaign? Maybe you haven't really thought it through, the reasons why a prospect may not buy your product or service after seeing your ad ONE time.

What if they never saw it? Perhaps their magazine got lost in the mail, was incorrectly delivered, or didn't come this month. It does happen. Or perhaps your brochure got inadvertently delivered to a neighbor who never walks it over to the correct address. What if your prospect was on vacation?

Maybe money's a little tight this month and your prospect will just wait until next month when they see your ad a second time. Will there be a second time? Will you let the opportunity for a second chance slip away? Why would you give up after only one ad?

Repetition breeds familiarity and credibility. If you contact your prospect only one time, or they see your message only once, how will they know if you're still around? Your prospect is anxious enough about making a wrong decision. You become a high-risk choice if they see your materials only one time.

Take a hint from the big boys. We all know Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Ford, Tide, and Hilton. But they still run their ads, everywhere, and over and over again.

Mistake No. 4. Your Headline Doesn't Grab Your Prospect

Too many headlines say nothing. Take a look at this headline for a full-page color ad for a San Diego engineering firm- "San Diego Pride."

Who does that appeal to? What does it mean? Is there a group of lions in San Diego? What's in it for me?

Apparently the writer of this ad forgot that the headline is the most important element of any ad or brochure, or in fact, any marketing material. It represents at least 50-75% of the advertisement, some experts would say even more. Effective headlines identify the prospect and satisfy his self-interest. They arouse his curiosity, give him new information, or offer solutions to his problems.

Look at the headline for the engineering firm's ad again. It's a good lesson in what not to do. Who does it identify? What self-interest does it satisfy? I'd guess this ad did very poorly. The worst thing is that the advertiser probably doesn't blame the ad or its headline for the poor result. They'll probably run the same ad again, probably in a different publication hoping for a better response.

Mistake No. 5. Your Headline Doesn't Offer Your Prospect A Benefit

Take a look at the headline for this article. I've identified my prospects (advertisers), and through implication offered a benefit (once they're aware of the mistakes they're making, they can fix them). I've teased you by offering only half of the whole package. You're probably wondering what the other mistakes are so that you can fix them, too.

Don't forget- that's what prospects want to see- benefits, benefits, and more benefits. If what you've written doesn't appeal to your prospect's self- interest, he'll just move on, completely forgetting you. And that hurts. Especially in the pocketbook.

These are just some of the mistakes made by the majority of marketers who then wonder why their advertising rarely seems to pay off. Keep these mistakes in mind the next time you write any marketing documents, from emails to brochures and ads, from media kits to proposals, and from newsletters to direct response mailings.

In part two of this article I'll share five additional money-wasting mistakes.

Frank Buddenbrock is president of findanexpertonline.com, an online community of experts, specialists, professionals, consultants, coaches, instructors, and gurus. A constant and curious student, Frank is always learning and looking for ways to make his website your first choice for solutions to your problems, and answers to your questions. His website offers answers through a blog, a forum, a directory of experts, an articles directory, a calendar of events, and podcasts with experts. A past officer of IWOSC (Independent Writers of Southern California), Frank enjoys writing on a number of subjects with an emphasis on business solutions. Frank Buddenbrock may be contacted at http://www.findanexpertonline.com or frank@findanexpertonline.com

5 Advertising Mistakes Most Small Businesses Make
by J D Moore

Copyright 2005 J D Moore

Effective advertising is an investment in your business. Ineffective advertising is a liability and a waste of money. Here are the top 5 things to avoid making sure you advertise effectively.

1. Don t advertise at all If you are in business and you don t do some kind of advertising you are not doing business. The only excuse for not advertising is that you have more business than you can handle and then you should expand, raise yoru prices, and advertise more.

This is not to say that you should buy advertising that you cannot afford. If you're strapped for cash, look for low cost advertising options like co-op advertising, buying remnant newspaper space, flyers, direct mail, or negotiate for trade.

If you are reading this then I am assuming that Coke and Nike are slightly larger companies than yours. These companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year in advertising. Why? Well, how long do you think they would keep brand dominance if they stopped advertising today? Pepsi and New Balance would take over in a matter of days or weeks.

If things are slow  that s a ridiculous reason not to advertise. How do you expect them to pick up  magic? Studies show companies that advertise through economic downturns out perform their competitors during the downturn. When the economy picks up they boom.

There are too many cost effective ways to advertise for you not to be building your business.

2. Put all your eggs in one basket One ad in one place does not make an effective campaign. A good advertising strategy includes a good mix of methods. Studies show that ideally you should be reaching your customers 4 or more ways.

Combining radio or TV advertising with print will increase the ROI of both. Multiple exposures to your message has a synergistic effect. Don t blow the budget on a tv or radio campaign and forget other channels.

3. Don t target your advertising If you are selling a product or service targeted to people that earn in the top 2% income and you advertise in a mass market medium like the newspaper you are wasting 98% of your advertising dollars.

Who are your customers and where are they likely to see your message?

I saw a great example of targeting recently. An upscale steakhouse advertised in a golf magazine. Golf is a fairly expensive hobby, and many who golf for business networking also do business lunches and dinners in upscale restaurants.

4. Run a cute or gimmicky ad Ads that are cute and gimmicky may win advertising awards (and frequently do) but they do not sell unless they are designed to sell.

I know you have some wonderfully creative idea for an existentialist ad that violates the advertising principles that billions of dollars and hundreds of years of research have proven effective. Good luck! Creativity is great, but ground it with good marketing principles.

5. Advertise inconsistently Ok you ran your 2 column inch display ad in the back of the local newspaper once and you didn t get the 50,000 new customers you want. So, you pull the ad, change your whole message and put it somewhere else. No dice.

Testing response is ok, and it s a good idea to test campaigns. However, advertising takes time to work. Did you know that the average person who responds to an infomercial has seen that infomercial 7 times? Print advertising builds to a level of maximum effect after 4-6 months. Even direct mail takes multiple hits to be effective.

Consistency and repetition are cornerstones of effective advertising.

J D Moore is a recognized Small Business Marketing guru and pulisher of Marketing Comet - a blog that helps small businesses with marketing. J D Moore may be contacted at http://www.marketingcometcoach.com

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