Marketing Strategies
Which ads attract new customers? Does repeating the same ad pay? Do ad slogans help a product launch? Are headlines in ads important?
George Clay
You have a product or service you want to launch. How to do it? Hire an advertising agency? Their marketing strategies of clever slogans and big product launches work some of the time for some of the clients. But for YOU — the small business owner — those big ad budgets get mighty expensive.
Wasting money on advertising is easy. But there is a cost efficient marketing alternative.
- Test Campaigns: “Almost any (advertising) question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally by a test campaign. And that’s they way to answer them — not by arguments around a table.”
From radio ads to direct mail to internet advertising to print ads, test your ads on a small scale before spending money on a big scale. Test everything you do — headlines…offers…body copy…illustrations…price points, etc.When tested and measured by response rates rather than by personal opinion you will be shocked how often ads you think are winners are duds…and vice versa. EXAMPLE: The most graphically gorgeous and clever sales literature will fail…unless it appeals to valid needs of your customer. A simple letter — black and white —addressing these needs will out pull slick mailings that miss your customer’s “sweet spot”
- Things Too Costly: “Many things are possible in advertising which are too costly to attempt. That is another reason why every project and method should be weighed and determined by a known scale of cost and result.”
That’s especially true when it comes to advertising campaigns or product launches. You may “oh and ah” over the expensive graphics. But the final jury and the only jury that matters is the customer. Do they buy it..or reject it. Does your ad make a profit for you…or for the creative team you paid to create your advertising? Do not rely on personal opinions. Rely on measured returns you can count. If your test fails you are spared the needless expense of a big (and wasteful) ad campaign. If successful, you expand your test…one step at a time.
- Good Business: “…most national advertising is done without justification. It is merely presumed to pay. A little test might show a way to multiply returns.”
The Depression Changed Marketing
Done right, any product or service can be market tested using this simple method. Research proves that one ad can sell 151/2 times more than another…that with small differences in copy or headline one ad can pull FIVE times more orders than its competitor. But it wasn’t always so! In the early days of advertising there was almost no research.
Then came the depression.…when cost-conscious advertisers DEMANDED to know the factors behind the success or failure of advertisements. This is when meaningful, scientific advertising really began. This is when WISE advertisers learned how to test and measure the efficiency of their selling efforts.
They learned what kinds of headlines attract the most readers…why copy under pictures gets higher reading…which kinds of pictures get attention…how split-copy advertising works…which appeals succeed…which fail. They learned that almost any question about the effectiveness of their advertising could be answered cheaply, quickly, and finally by a test campaign. And that’s the only way to answer them — not by arguments among corporate decision makers.
- “Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.” …David Ogilvy, OGILVY ON ADVERTISING
- “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.” David Ogilvy
- “Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, “Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money.” That is not a popular appeal.” .…Claude Hopkins, SCIENTIFIC ADVERTISING
Your questions and comments are welcome!
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