Inclusive Communication By Design

Your company is looking at a lot of late night local cable availability, and thinking that a 30-minute infomercial might be appropriate. The boss has just found out that companies which specialize in infomercial marketing will charge tens of thousands of dollars to produce your program.

He wants to know why you can't do it "in house." Can't you just put a talent in front of a camera and let him persuade those late night visitors to buy?

I wouldn't.

Too many dollars would stay on the table.

In addition to the obvious differences in production quality that an infomercial specialist brings to the table, there is the difference in strategy. The pros know you can't treat all potential customers alike.

You see, some people want you to just cut to the bottom line and tell them what your product will do for them.

Some want to read the fine print.

Some want to know if other people have successfully used your product to solve their problems.

And then there's the group that wants to know a whole lot more about your company before they consider doing business with you.

The right thing to say to one is exactly the wrong thing to say to the others. So what's an aspiring infomercial producer to do?

According to Dr. Richard Grant, you should make a specific appeal to each of the eight different Meyers-Briggs communication styles in our offers. He calls the process Inclusive Communication by design.

It only makes sense that if we talk to people about their concerns, in a style that makes them comfortable, and address the questions that are important to them, that we’ll persuade more of them to do business with us.

Here is my assessment of the approach we need to take with each of the Meyers-Briggs “types” for your new 30-minute infomercial.

E – needs a good verbal presentation. Cover the major points at a fast pace without too much detail.

I – needs time to reflect. Will buy, but not before deliberating.

S – begin with facts, and build to “big picture.”

N – begin with “big picture” and fill in the facts.

T – emphasize soundness, reliability, and statistics.

F – support with first-hand testimonials

J – no surprises. Appear to stay organized.

P – diplomatically remind that a decision must be made within certain time constraints

In practical application, here’s how I would organize a program.

Minutes 1-3
Introduce the show, and summarize the next thirty minutes for the “Js”. Make the overall claims for the product quickly for the “Ns”. Then, for both the “Ns” and the “Ss,” start building your facts. For the “Ss,” build to your conclusion and restate the claims for the product.

Minutes 4-8
For the “Ts” support the claims with science. For the “Fs” bring in the testimonials. Keep it fun and fast paced for the “Es”. Explain the dependability of your staff/call center for the “Js” and the fun people will have interacting with them for “Es.” Remind the “Ps” that this special offer is only good during this program.

Make your first call to action.

Minutes 9-17
Repeat your overall claims in summary form for the “Ns.” Build your facts, and re-state your conclusions for the “Ss.” Amplify and expand on the science for the “Ts.” Refer the “Is” to your web site. Reassure the “Js” that everything you’ve promised will happen right on schedule with no surprises. Consider using recorded testimonials from other customers, and use them now for the “Fs.” Again, remind the “Ps” that this special offer is only good during this program.

Make your second call to action.

Minutes 18-29
Have the interviewer “put you on the ropes” and make you defend the claims for the “Ss” and the “Js.” Keep it logical for the “Ts” but light-hearted for the “Es.” Pull out the science in deeper detail, and discuss the manufacturing process for the “Js” and “Ns.”

Talk about the company, and your commitments to quality and customer satisfaction for the “Ns,” “Ss,” and “Is.” Consider a :40 second interview with one of the call center operators as entertainment for the “Es” and reassurance for the “Js.” Restate that your customers get exactly what they expect on the timetable you’ve committed.

Remind the “Ps” that it’s time to place an order, if they want to take advantage of this special offer.

Make your final call to action, and wrap up.

---

In the event that you find yourself considering the services of an infomercial professional, you owe it to yourself to talk to Wizard of Ads ^® partner Adam Detheridge at ADco Video Productions.

Adam is not expensive. Additionally he knows every way to stretch your marketing dollar, including making :30 and :60 second television ads from the same footage. Call him for a quote on your next long-form project at (940) 763-2326.

Share This Article With A Friend.

Read more!

Control Over Word-Of-Mouth

Nearly every business person you talk to will tell you that word-of-mouth is his, or her, best advertising. Then someone, (usually a media rep), will point out that word-of-mouth is also the worst form of advertising, because you have absolutely no control over it.

I disagree. You have total control.

The operative word in business in the first half of this decade was bandwidth. For the second half, I suspect it’s going to be transparency.

What’s transparency?

It’s telling your prospective customers what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s admitting when things aren’t going as you planned. It’s being totally truthful in your dealings with your prospects and your customers.

It’s candor, truthfulness, openness, honesty. Its accountability, understanding, and the willingness to team with your customers to help them get what they want.

And why is transparency becoming so important?

Because the internet has become a powerful communication tool. Because customers are now in control. Because they are now speaking directly to each other.

And you can bet they’re talking about you.

In the old days, when you controlled the media, you also controlled what was said, approximately to whom it was said, and how often that message was repeated. Today, customers will talk to total strangers about you. They will also believe what they hear.

And why not? What incentive does a stranger have to lie? What does he gain by misleading someone else? He’s not involved in your company. Shoppers expect you to tell them the good things about your company and leave out the bad. They don’t expect other people to lie for you.

The reality is if they don't trust you they won't buy from you.

So, if you want shoppers to start trusting you; if you want customers to keep trusting you, you need to tell it all, brother. Tell it all. The good, the bad, and what you’ll be doing next.

Which brings us back to word-of-mouth, and how to control it.

It’s simple. You commit to treating every customer as if (s)he’s going to tell everyone in town what doing business with you is like.

You make that commitment right now, and you never waver.

And if you do treat everyone that well, what do you suppose your customers will be telling total strangers about you?

---

Share This Article With A Friend.

Read more!

The Magic Advertising Formula

Please don’t think that I’m suggesting that you should offend small groups of people. That’s not it at all.

I’ll bet the point becomes obvious as you read these examples.


Example Number One:

Everyone has heard the fable of the six blind men and the elephant. It’s a simple tale with an obvious lesson that even a small child can understand.

This story has been around for generations, primarily because it is such a vivid example of differences in perception.

I once alluded to those six men in a radio ad. I said “Like the six blind men and the elephant, everyone comes away with a highly personalized understanding of the process.”

Imagine how surprised I was to receive a call from the President of the local Association for the Blind. He was offended that I had chosen to portray non-sighted people as having "limited abilities and inferior intellect."

In a market of roughly 500,000 persons, I had offended one.


Example Number Two:

Dan O’Day, formerly a top-rated major market disk jockey and currently a radio programming consultant told me of a podiatrist joke he told over the air on a San Francisco radio station. The girlfriend of a podiatrist called station management and complained. The manager then said to O’Day, “Dan, you’re never going to be a popular DJ if you alienate podiatrists.”

I just did a Google search. San Francisco, a city of six million people boasts 610 podiatrists.


Example Number Three:

In the early 90s I owned a pair of radio stations in East Texas. One of my clients was a local baker, famous for their cheesecakes.

We produced an ad for the bakery which said, in part: “New York, New York is a city of fifteen million people. New York, Texas is a city of fifteen people. New York, New York is famous for its cheesecakes. But the best cheesecakes in the world come from a secret recipe from New York, Texas.”

The ad ran for several months. New bakery customers commented on the ad, and bought more of their products.

Then one day a pair of ladies from New York, New York came into the bakery. They told the bakery owners how offended they were by that ad. How DARE anyone claim better cheesecakes than those that came from NY City?

Then they each purchased a cheesecake and left.

I got a call from the bakery instructing me to stop broadcasting the ad.

I pointed out that the ad was obviously working well. Not only had those ladies been motivated to visit the store, but they had also purchased product.

I argued that the chances of anyone else from New York, New York hearing the ad were infinitesimally small. I even refreshed the owners’ memories of how much positive response this ad had generated for their store.

Their minds were made up. They didn’t wish to offend anyone. "Please pull the ad."

Figured it out? The point those three examples illustrated?

Sure you did. It's obvious.

There is no magic formula for advertising which will appeal to everyone.

Some people exposed to your ad won’t care.

Others will quite likely be a bit put off (assuming the ad was any good).

You see, there's only one universal truth in advertising: any use of media that gets people emotionally involved will offend some other people.

Great advertising runs the risk of being criticized. Bad advertising runs the risk of not being noticed at all. You've seen those bad ads. They are are so sterilized, so flaccid, so lifeless that they have no ability to emotionally pull us at all.

You probably don’t remember those ads.

And that is the most obvious confirmation of my point.

---

Share This Article With A Friend.

Read more!

Cause and Effect: Another Application of Transactional / Relational Shoppers

Suppose that you had 50 people in a room, and asked each of them to flip a coin. Those whose coins came up “tails” were instructed to sit down, and those who had “heads” flipped again.

The law of averages suggests that twenty-five of your people would flip a second time. Twelve, or possibly thirteen would flip a third time. Six would still be standing for the forth flips. Three for the fifth. And one, possibly two, would flip a sixth time.

If the coin came up “heads,” our flipper would have successfully tossed six heads in a row.

What are the odds that his seventh flip would also be heads?

Fifty percent.

Each time a coin was tossed, there were only two possible outcomes. The law of averages says each has an equal probability of occurring each time. Did our last coin flipper standing beat the odds?

No. The laws of probability played out exactly as they always do.

If you understand the cause (law of probability applied to a large number of people) you won’t be so impressed by the effect (one guy flipped six heads in a row). Understanding the cause also makes the effect predictable.

Sometimes otherwise intelligent people mistake the effect of an action for the cause of an action. When this gets applied to marketing, the results can be disastrous.


The Case Study

In 2002 a Midwest grocer, who shall remain nameless, came across some research that compared the number of visits a new shopper made to a store to the tendency of that new shopper to return. The data indicated that after the sixth visit, the shopper became “loyal” to that store.

I’ll explain which is the cause, and which is the effect, in a minute. First, though, let’s look at Mr. Grocer’s logic. If it took six visits to make a customer loyal, he would to mount a big campaign designed to bring new shoppers into the store at least once a week, and keep bringing them back for at least six weeks.

Mr. Grocer purchased game pieces with liberal prize pay outs which were passed out with each sale. He scheduled serious price reductions in specific departments. And, he purchased massive numbers of GRPs to make sure the community knew of the discounts, the prizes, and the quality of each of his departments.

The short-term result? A huge influx of new shoppers for the six-week period of his campaign. Long term? Only a small percentage of them became loyal and returned regularly after the promotion.


What went wrong?

There were two major factors. First, a lack of understanding of the difference between relational and transactional shoppers. Second, the assumption that six visits to the store CAUSED shopper loyalty.

Transactional shoppers are only interested in today’s purchase. Give them a bargain, and they’ll buy. They’ll drive across town to save money on that purchase. They consider the time spent in comparison shopping part of the challenge of getting the most for their dollar.

They have no loyalty. As soon as someone else offers them a bigger bargain, they’re gone.

And which shopping mode did Mr. Grocer’s promotion appeal to? He heavily advertised low prices, discounts, and free prizes. It’s no surprise that he drew a large contingent of transactional shoppers.

Oops.

When one considers the number of dollars spent on this promotion, even the most experienced marketer is going to wince.


Look at what was likely recorded in the research.

People shopped a new store for the first time. A large number of them had a generally favorable shopping experience. They came back and shopped again. A few had a disappointing experience and failed to return.

We see the same thing happen the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth time shoppers visited the store. Each time, most of them had a generally favorable shopping experience, and a few didn't. The few refused to come back and shop again.

By the sixth week, all of those who had previously had a negative shopping experience had dropped out of sight. Those who had six positive shopping experiences in a row were generally so pumped by the treatment they’d received they could find no reason to shop elsewhere.

It wasn’t six coin tosses that caused one coin to come up heads six times in a row. It’s that all of the tails outcomes had been removed by the sixth toss.

It wasn’t the six visits to the grocery story which caused the loyalty. It’s that all of the shoppers who didn’t feel good about the place after their earlier visits had already sat down.

What should Mr. Grocer have done? He should have focused on the relational shoppers who will return even when they don’t have a coupon. He should have gone out of his way to delight them with each shopping experience.

• He could have increased the number of checkers so that people didn’t have to wait in line.

• He could have set up a baby sitting area so that Mom could shop without trying to keep the kids in tow.

• He could have offered free coffee and cookies, or sodas, or other beverages and snacks.

• And he could have implemented these changes permanently. He could have heavily advertised those changes.

He could have focused on things which appeal to relational shoppers.

And please don’t tell me that these changes cost too much. They are insignificant when compared to the cost of his disastrous six week promotion. And they pay off much longer.

Who are you targeting?

What’s the logic that’s the foundation of your advertising?

---

Share This Article With A Friend.

Read more!

The Invisible Ad

Is there a kid who never dreamed of becoming invisible? To pass unnoticed before people’s very eyes? To come and go with no accountability? There could be some very real advantages to being invisible – provided you’re not an advertising message.

For an ad, invisibility is the kiss of death.

An advertisement is judged for its ability to persuade a prospective customer to purchase goods or services. Ads that don’t get noticed don’t persuade anyone.

How does one make an ad invisible? One loads it full of clichés.

A cliché is a saying that’s been so overused that it no longer holds any meaning for anyone.

Suppose this was the advice you were given to improve your advertising:

"Therefore you should avoid clichés like the plague, especially those which could not stand the test of time. Knuckle down, keep your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, and your eyes on the prize as you leave no stone unturned. Of course, if you can get your act together these weak hackneyed phrases could be a blessing in disguise. But, half the battle defies conventional wisdom. Wrack your brain for short and sweet expressions that reveal the unvarnished truth about this particular wild goose chase."

Could you follow this advice? Of course not.

Do you remember anything from it? (No fair peeking).

The preceeding paragraph didn't say anything. You saw the words, you heard them in your head, but none of them were strong enough to create a visual image. There was nothing even slightly memorable in those eighty-six words.

The whole paragraph is invisible.

How about your ads? Are they also invisible?

Are you still offering the perfect gift for everyone on your list?

Something for everyone?

Friendly, courteous service?

Are you running an inventory reduction sale?

Prices too low to advertise?

For a limited time only?

Do you treat me like family?

Go the extra mile?

Offer over 37 years of experience?

Invisible ads. No one will even notice them, let alone remember anything you told them.

The easy cure is to stop sounding like an ad and start sounding like a person. Actually SAY something. Make me an offer. Express it with one human voice. Say it in everyday language.

People don’t dislike advertising, they dislike ads that say nothing they can relate to. They dislike ads that sound like ads.

Here’s a quick and easy test of your new ad. Get 12 inches away from another person – any other person. Maintain eye contact while you recite your ad.

If anything you say embarrasses you or makes you feel silly, strike that line from your copy.

If you’re still running ads that look like ads, sound like ads, and are loaded to the gills with clichés, you’re wasting your money. Let me repeat that: you are expending capital and getting nothing in return.

My business can’t afford that.

Can yours?

---

Share This Article With A Friend.

Read more!