Marketing Archive - Page 7 of 13

Do funny ads work?

Remember that funny ad?

Well, can you also recall what it was advertising? Let alone did it make you buy the product?

You’re not alone, judging from a study by Ace Metrix which found that “funny ads were slightly less likely to increase desire or purchase intent than unfunny ones”.

But let’s look closer. Michael Curran, the study’s author explained that “humorous ads tend to be light on informative content, which in turn creates a lower desire for the advertised product”.

Which – to say it straight – is disrespectful to the audience. Essentially, funny ads fail when they favor the “wow effect” at the expense of the “aha effect”. When they go for the laugh without going all the way to the insight.

In other words: Make your communication fun and entertaining, but do it in a way that serves your message – rather than having it steal the show.

Humour is a great way to get people’s attention. But clarity about the message must come first: What’s the point? And why should I care?

PS: Essentially, what Ace Metrix found is that funny ads do work if implemented that way.

The Leaders Light the Path Manifesto

Every change start with someone who sees a better future.
Change happens when you make others see what you see.

Introducing the “Leaders Light the Path Manifesto”.

Whether in tiny ways or affecting the world at large, great communicators make change happen by helping us see what they see, a future that matters and that we strive for. Through their communication, they light us a path that brings us there.

In the past 14 years, I’ve had the honor to work with many of those leaders. On top of that I’ve spent an enormous time analyzing even more of them, some well known, others not so much.

What’s common to all of them is that they don’t persuade harder, but resonate stronger. They start with empathy, honesty, and trust. They do work that matters and tell true stories about it.

The Leaders Light the Path Manifesto captures the essence of that approach: https://LeadersLightThePath.com

I hope that you take it as an inspiration to follow their example. Please spread it far and wide if you find it useful.

Keep lighting the path!

Electric clocks

In the 50s, Rolls Royce claimed that their cars are super quiet.

But how quiet were they? Here’s how Rolls Royce explained it:

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

Can you explain to me your promises in plain English in a way that I can make sense of them from my everyday experience?

Clarity is revelation work

Clarity is much more revelation work than it is creative work.

When we encounter one of these charismatic leaders who seem to just magically nail it and find words that make the complex feel simple, it can feel like they are just natural born talents.

I don’t think that’s true in most cases. More often than not, they are just much more rigorous in their thinking. They:

Reflect on what truly matters
Strip the non-essential
Focus from the right perspective
Refine the difficult parts and
Boost their impact

I built “Crack the Clarity Code” to walk you through this process and find that rigor in your thinking. My goal is to take you from a gut feeling of possibility to razor-sharp clarity.

It seems to work. Even after day 1, I got this note from Bob: “The clarity is already coming.”

Find out more at https://crack-the-clarity-code.com.

All successful marketing works the same

All successful marketing basically works the same.

It makes customers see a brighter future and leads them to the point of no return, a point where it becomes an unbearable thought for them to go back to normal so that the only possible resolution is to buy your product.

Successful marketing makes the customer want that brighter future.

The problem is: Sneaky marketers know that, too. Actually, they know it particularly well. All of the sneaky marketing schemes out there are built on that principle. Sneaky marketers are masterful at figuring out what customers desire and then making bold promises around these desires – without caring about whether they can keep these promises.

The challenge for honest marketers is that they do care for keeping their promises.

The challenge for the customer is to notice the difference: Does the marketer (only) care for their money or do they actually care for delivering on the promise?

If you’re an honest marketer, the lesson here is to understand these principles of successful marketing … and master them even better than the sneaky marketer. Here are three questions that might help you:

What is it that my customers truly desire?
What is the boldest promise that I can confidently make towards that desire and still be able to keep it?
How can I lead them to the point of no return so that it becomes an unbearable thought for them not to buy your product?

Marketing stories that work

A great product solves a problem, resolves a struggle, or fulfills a desire.

It tastes delicious without me having to cook. It sounds awesome while being affordable. It’s efficient, sustainable, stylish. It gives me a feeling of mastery or pure joy. Or whatever it is for your product.

Great products transform me into a better person. One who eats healthier, takes better photos, works with more focus, or makes better decisions.

Essentially, it gets me from point A where I still have that struggle to point B where my struggle is resolved.

It’s that transformation that great marketing stories capture. They give us the feeling of being seen with our struggle and they light us the path to a better future where that struggle is resolved.

Marketing stories work when the struggle is real and the path to the future is accessible.

They keep working when the product delivers on the promise.

In one sentence

Many great products can be described in one sentence:

“The notebook for creative people.”
“The fastest acceleration of a production car ever.”
“The headphones that let you work in silence.”
“The blackest black paint.” (Black 3.0)

Here’s a simple test: Can a customer (not you) describe your product in one sentence?

PS: If not, then my new course “Crack the Clarity Code” might be for you. It’s launching today and you can get 10% off using code “IwantClarity” when you order in the first week.

Everything that can be automated, will be automated

When you visit McDonald’s, you don’t need much human interaction, anymore. Go to a terminal, place your order, pay, pick up your meal. No need to speak even a word.

It’s much more convenient for McDonald’s, too. Three terminals easily replace one human and so they can sell faster. Plus, there’s no need to speak with annoying customers.

Everything that can be automated, most likely will.

Which makes the leverage for non-automated interaction even greater.

The crucial aspect is this: Can you provide a better experience than the automation? Can you put a smile on your customer’s faces in a way machines cannot? Can you leverage emotional labor to delight a customer in a way machines cannot (yet)?

If you can’t, your business might be in trouble sooner or later.

If you can, however, your business might be better positioned than ever.

But our product is dry stuff

It’s not!

It solves a problem that businesses are willing to pay good money for.

It saves them a lot of hassle. Just imagine the trouble they would need to go through to solve the problem without you?

It’s a huge time saver form them. Knowing that they can rely on you provides them with peace of mind. Which in turn frees their mind to come up with better solutions for their customers.

It’s just not true that these things are dry. They are highly emotional. Because they are highly relevant.

It’s not the product that’s dry. It’s the story.

What makes a story dry is when the humans get written out of the story. When it’s only about features. And processes. Rather than what these features and processes enable the humans to do.

Businesses don’t lack sexy products.

They lack the courage to go beyond the features and see the humans who use their products. If it solves a real struggle, it’s almost guaranteed to be attractive (at least) or even sexy.

Taking responsibility for our work

Knives can kill people. Are the makers of the knives responsible?

How about the marketers?

Let’s assume X out of every 100,000 knives are used to do harm. When they do more effective marketing to sell more knives, does that affect their responsibility? After all, it increases the number of knives out there that can potentially do harm – and in extension it quite likely increases the number of knives that are used to actually do harm.

When you take ownership of your marketing success, do you take ownership of the side effects as well?

Just thinking out loud …

Posts in Tag: Marketing