What You Can Learn from Good Advertising
| Category: Marketing | Date: 2001-07-03 |
This past Sunday evening, while watching the Golden Globe Awards, I saw a series of commercials by one company that was truly brilliant. That I got more excited about this than watching Catherine Zeta-Jones, tells you a lot about me.
The commercials were about presbyopia - "long arm eyes" - something many of us over 40 suffer from. Usually it was one person talking to another across a table. The scenes were beautifully set. The humor was subtle but fun.
Each commercial opened with the "problem scenario" - You have something called presbyopia and this makes it difficult for you to read something close to you such as a menu or a book. And reading glasses don't help much because you need to keep taking them off to see at a distance. If you're over 40 you know exactly what they were talking about.
Then the man with presbyopia was handed a pair of glasses with Varilux lenses. He put them on. He could see - close or far. He was happy. he was amazed!
Close with a black screen and a pair of lenses and the word, "Varilux," the advertiser. They have a fun web site too, by the way: http:www.varilux.com.
What can you learn from this as a professional service business?
A lot! First, when someone asks what you do, you can answer just like these commercials did. "I work with a certain kind of client that have this kind of problem." This gets immediate interest and attention. They know it's for them and they immediately relate to the problem because they are living with it.
"We work with Silicon Valley companies that are having problems keeping their best talent."
"I help creative individuals who have a huge contribution to make but are having trouble making it real in the world."
"I work with training departments that can't find reliable vendors for their standard training needs."
Once you've established the market and the problem, then your listener is going to have a lot easier time hearing your solution:
"We've helped over 100 Silicon Valley companies not only increase their retention but to hire better people."
"I've helped many clients who are very creative people turn those talents into successful businesses."
"We have the largest on-call staff of training consultants in the area that can meet virtually any training need."
Start paying more attention to those commercials that interrupt your TV programs. In many cases they're entertaining, often they're annoying but frequently they are so good that they can give you insight into better ways to market your services.
Who won in the Golden Globes, anyway?
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Did I mention to check out the InfoGuru Online Marketing Manual? Please do. Just click on http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html for complete details. No Varilux lenses required.
As a special bonus, I'll send you a special 90-minute cassette tape on the "InfoGuru Marketing Principle" and "Your Core Marketing Message," but only if you order within one week! (by Sunday, Feb 4)
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Marketing Flashes - on using problems to get attention
Listen for what your clients complain about when talking about your competition. "The thing I hate about consultants is that they are long on theory and short on practice." Use that in your marketing. "We work with manufactures who are tired of working with consultants who are long on theory but short on practice."
Can you do something faster, better, cheaper? Don't say that, it isn't believable. Reverse it with a problem. "We work with chip manufacturers who just can't get projects in on time."
Talk about specifics. Money is one possibility. "Our research has shown us that the average high-tech firm loses over 3.7 million dollars per year on attrition costs."
Make it emotional. "Most of the people we work with have been struggling to attract clients and are so frustrated by marketing that they've all but given up."
About the Author
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing works with professional service businesses to help them attract new clients. His web site is a valuable resource for anyone looking for effective marketing ideas.
:To contact see details below.
robmid@actionplan.com
http://www.actionplan.com
The commercials were about presbyopia - "long arm eyes" - something many of us over 40 suffer from. Usually it was one person talking to another across a table. The scenes were beautifully set. The humor was subtle but fun.
Each commercial opened with the "problem scenario" - You have something called presbyopia and this makes it difficult for you to read something close to you such as a menu or a book. And reading glasses don't help much because you need to keep taking them off to see at a distance. If you're over 40 you know exactly what they were talking about.
Then the man with presbyopia was handed a pair of glasses with Varilux lenses. He put them on. He could see - close or far. He was happy. he was amazed!
Close with a black screen and a pair of lenses and the word, "Varilux," the advertiser. They have a fun web site too, by the way: http:www.varilux.com.
What can you learn from this as a professional service business?
A lot! First, when someone asks what you do, you can answer just like these commercials did. "I work with a certain kind of client that have this kind of problem." This gets immediate interest and attention. They know it's for them and they immediately relate to the problem because they are living with it.
"We work with Silicon Valley companies that are having problems keeping their best talent."
"I help creative individuals who have a huge contribution to make but are having trouble making it real in the world."
"I work with training departments that can't find reliable vendors for their standard training needs."
Once you've established the market and the problem, then your listener is going to have a lot easier time hearing your solution:
"We've helped over 100 Silicon Valley companies not only increase their retention but to hire better people."
"I've helped many clients who are very creative people turn those talents into successful businesses."
"We have the largest on-call staff of training consultants in the area that can meet virtually any training need."
Start paying more attention to those commercials that interrupt your TV programs. In many cases they're entertaining, often they're annoying but frequently they are so good that they can give you insight into better ways to market your services.
Who won in the Golden Globes, anyway?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did I mention to check out the InfoGuru Online Marketing Manual? Please do. Just click on http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html for complete details. No Varilux lenses required.
As a special bonus, I'll send you a special 90-minute cassette tape on the "InfoGuru Marketing Principle" and "Your Core Marketing Message," but only if you order within one week! (by Sunday, Feb 4)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes - on using problems to get attention
Listen for what your clients complain about when talking about your competition. "The thing I hate about consultants is that they are long on theory and short on practice." Use that in your marketing. "We work with manufactures who are tired of working with consultants who are long on theory but short on practice."
Can you do something faster, better, cheaper? Don't say that, it isn't believable. Reverse it with a problem. "We work with chip manufacturers who just can't get projects in on time."
Talk about specifics. Money is one possibility. "Our research has shown us that the average high-tech firm loses over 3.7 million dollars per year on attrition costs."
Make it emotional. "Most of the people we work with have been struggling to attract clients and are so frustrated by marketing that they've all but given up."
About the Author
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing works with professional service businesses to help them attract new clients. His web site is a valuable resource for anyone looking for effective marketing ideas.
:To contact see details below.
robmid@actionplan.com
http://www.actionplan.com
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