When I hear a statement like that I generally like to join the conversation. And I’m never disappointed in hearing some inane reason why that particular advertising is the best. Last night I chose to restrain myself and not join the conversation. After all, friends and I’d heard this particular friend’s “best” advertising many times, each time a different best. So why at 5:15 a.m. after a night of Valentine revelry did my mind decide to bring back the topic?

I don’t know but I wanted to sleep in.

I’ve hard all types of “the best advertising is” statements and mostly they are based on an isolated incident that brought notoriety to a business (read that as people saying “I saw/heard you on/in…..”) but never generated a measurable and sustained increase in revenue. And most of these expert opinions on the best advertising have come not from marketing and advertising experts but from people in other fields. In my youth I would immediately grab my sledge hammer and start bashing their argument deftly making my point as to why they were incorrect. And when asked what was the best advertising I would, depending on my level of maturity in my career either let them know that there is no best that advertising success depended on too many variables and was different for various businesses and industries, blah, blah, blah.

Yea, I was onel of those guys. I can be pretty goo d at spouting all of the marketing mumbo-jumbo and often catch myself reverting back.

This morning my mind gave me what I believe is the definitive answer to “What’s the best form of advertising?”

An elated customer.

Not just a happy customer or a satisfied customer or a long time customer because for the most part these will rarely praise you to their friends and strangers in the checkout line at the grocery store.

An elated customer can not control themselves and will look for an opportunity to tell someone, friend and stranger alike, how great your business is. An elated customer will spread the gospel of your product with such fervor that others will come to you in droves. The elated customer will not allow them to do anything but come to you.

The Elated Customer, that’s your answer. That’s the best form of advertising. Now that you know it go start your campaign.

Thanks for your time,
Jeff

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

Why do we forget? First advertisers like the idea and glamor of Broadcast TV. It’s a puff-out-your-chest moment when you can say I’m on TV or when someone says they saw you on TV.  Second, things we know often get pushed back in our mind. New information, more immediate information is laid upon foundational knowledge and we focus on the new.

It’s great to see research restating the known from time to time because we all need to re reminded.

Why is Magazine advertising more effective than online and TV? Think about the media. TV is a mass market outlet, expensive in nature with high production costs. Commercial are viewed by the user as interruptions, time to get a drink, go to the bathroom, change channels, skip with DVR, etc. Sure TV can be target by purchasing time in specific shows but you are still not pinpoint targeting and have to deal with the audience you purchased leaving while your ad is on. And, once your ad is done it’s gone.

Online is touted as the next great thing yet few have found profit in it. Ads are more annoying than Gary Trudeau infomercials and online trust is a major issue. I just battled a virus that infected my computer. The IT Security Specialist I hired to fix me up said I probably got the virus from a very well known site. It was not their doings that infected me by hackers, a common practice.

So all of those flashing noisy banners and things that float across my screen are a pain in my rear and I ignore them all I can. And I virtually never click on them.

Magazine ads are a bit different. Magazine ads are part of the content of the publication.  Products advertised are strongly associated with the subject matter found in the mag. Motorcycle parts are found in motorcycle mags not home decor pubs. The reader purchased the magazine knowing there are ads, they are not interruptions but overwhelmingly viewed as part of the information in the publication. And, each time a reader uses the mag they are exposed to the ads, that’s frequency.

I need to make something clear…Online and TV advertising are valuable and when done correctly can drive business. We just need to remember what we know, Magazines can target and generate sales, build brand awareness and give the most effective cost per person and dollar spent.

Thanks for your time,
Jeff

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

No Shit!

Most companies still lack digital cunning or basic knowledge as to how to best utilize the internet to drive their business. One reason is the varying views as to what success looks like online. Another is that few success models are available and even fewer people want to look at what brought that success.

I was faced with multiple examples of this recently as I met with various clients. Invariably they told me how much of their budgets were going to interactive advertising and how well it was doing but when asked to qualify their success the answer was “We get a lot of hits.“

OK, I am learning to overlook the inaccurate use of hits understanding they are meaning click throughs and site traffic. However, non could go beyond the hits and convert that to conversions, actual sales. Why? If all your efforts are going to driving traffic fine but if you are selling books or games or shoes you want to know how those hits converted to dollars.

Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on hits that bring in no sales? Why wouldn’t tracking be in place to give the conversion info so that you could see if your efforts were actually profitable?

Too often we see good ideas, especially in the digital realm, taken half way to a point where success and failure can not be determined. In these cases the definition of success and failure is changed to meet the outcome. “Hey, that banner got us a 30% increase in traffic! The campaign was a success.” Too bad the time spent on your site plummeted and your bounce rate skyrocketed. And it’s really too bad that your sales didn’t increase a a bit.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

Those who has worked in local advertising understands Social Media. They understand the importance of customer contact contact on a personal level and the importance of telling a story. They understand shaking hands and networking whether it’s at Chamber events or from a booth at a local expo or fair.

The ingredients that have gone into successful Social Marketing for generations are the ingredients that are being espoused as new tactics on Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedin and other social sites. Perhaps giant companies and agencies are so detached from the streets that they have forgotten. Or maybe they are so wrapped up in winning awards with their creativity that they lost sight that the 4Cs were always the important aspect of marketing.

“Long gone are the 4Ps of marketing, these are the days of the 4Cs, a customer centric approach that includes the customer’s wants and needs; the cost to satisfy the customer; the convenience; and communication.” Read the rest

If we haven’t been focusing on the customer all of these years what have we been? It comes down to your marketing If you want to win a street fight higher a Street Fighter. Look at who’s in your corner do they mind getting dirty, even bloody, for you? If not find someone who will tell your story ’till they drop.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

I’m talking about the presentation, the message offered to the audience. Of course we’ve seen advancement in the delivery methods and the number of ways to reach the public, I was faced with a 4’ x 5’ ad for Mt Dew in a frame zip tied to a fuel hose as I filled up my car the other day.  Is that an advancement?

We are each bombarded with 5,000+ ads each day it’s too bad they are mostly garbage.

What is it that makes ads garbage. On the larger stage, that of national and international campaigns we too often run into creative’s with clout. These are well known names, award winning teams, who value the awards and recognition but too often forget the purpose of the ads. On the local stage we run into uneducated sales reps who do what everyone else does, over worked copywriters and designers who crank out one stale ad after another. Both are often faced with know-it-all clients who dictate what is included in the ads and spreadsheet management that sees spending too much time on creative as counter bottom line.

An additional for better ads is the pressure for status quo. If their ad does not sound like, look like, feel like their competitors, and everyone else’s, the belief is that it is not good. Poop!

Ads can be creative but the creative can’t distract from the client message and not sell the product. Remember the “Dogs Love Trucks” campaign for Nissan, or was it Toyota, I don’t remember. It won awards. It was cute. But nobody cared and truck sales took a dive.

Ad development does not have to suck life out of a bottom line. When done well ads will increase the bottom line by keeping clients and gaining more.

If you are a local ad rep learn, read, write, design, practice.  Become the person known in your market for great creative and happy clients with growing businesses. The time you spend learning will pay off hugely.

If you were wondering about the stupid ad and didn’t follow the link here it is. It’s tasteless and insulting to New Yorkers and everyone in the US.

WWF stupid ad

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

It’s one of those questions every business owner and manager should know the answer to and a question every advertising and marketing professional should ask.

Few had and answer other than “What do you mean…I’m not sure.” or “ $58.76, pointing to the last cash register receipt.

Wrongo! Think long term. Think a life time of doing business with that customer. If your typical customer spends $58.76 with you each month he’s worth $681.12 per year. If you keep that customer for 10 years that’s $6811.20 if he spends the same every month and you never up sell him.

Here’s your assignment:

What is your average monthly ticket per month? (months total sales / # of sales)

Ex: $63,836 / 1542 = $41.40

What is the average life of a customer? Do you have customers return often over a long period of time or do they come and go like the wind? For our example let’s use 3 years and they visit once each month.

Ex: 36 months x $41.40 = $1490

Each customer is worth $1490 to you.

Ah but what if that person tells just one other person about you. That person’s value just increased. And what if that customer stayed 51 months or spent an extra $2 each month?

Or what if you upset that customer and they leave after 23 months or tell others not to shop with you?

You can see the variables that can effect the value of a single customer and the prosperity of your business.

For now start simple and do the math. What is a customer worth to your business?

We’ll delve into this deeper in the near future.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

I have seen and heard no less than 14 economist, market experts and business gurus pinpoint mid year as when we’d see an upward turn in the economy. Terms like “A damn of cash.” have been used to describe the current situation. That damn will break eventually and mid year is when most are predicting it to happen.

That means that by planning now you can get a jump on your competition. Right now the cost of voice, how much it costs to reach customers, is extremely low. Why? Because 1) media has discounted inventory 2) fewer of your competition is advertising. Instead of competing with maybe 10 businesses the number that is actively advertising is maybe 4.

You can reach more people more times more cheaply!

This downturn will end. Some will emerge stronger, larger more wealthy. Others will fade away. Choose your path.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

Apparently coke gives you energy, confidence, belief in your ability to conquer all. Unfortunately it’s temporary. And each time that temporary state of heightened ability subsides you need more cocaine. And each time you use it you user it you need more to reach the same peak. It is a downward spiral that ends with a devastating crash.

My guess is that most business people have avoided coke at least in the literal since. My guess is that most businesses that offer a product or service at a price have however experienced the cocaine effect of sales.

I’ve done it. I’ve lived large on deals narrowly escaping the crash. Sure there’s always another story to tell, always another reason to lower prices or not to raise them. But the energy expended in ‘working the magic’ is better spent building your company and brand.

There’s that word, BRAND. It’s a cliché today I think but if you dig to its core it is an invaluable concept.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.

It’s not necessarily a profound Christian statement, although I can see it’s relevance in a path following Christ, but rather a great rule to live by.

You Get What You Put Into It.

How obvious yet how often forgotten or worse ignored.

I look at my life, my relationships with family and friends, my work, my play, and I feel like a lazy bum. It’s not that I haven’t been successful in work but I am no where near my potential, AND I KNOW IT!

A look at my relationship with my wife and kids shows me how far from WOW I am. Everyone needs a WOW in their life. You know, after a hard physical days work your give it a “Wow, I’m tired.” or after a softball game it’s “Wow, that was a great game.”

or “WOW!” and you see as if you’ve been blind.

When’s the last time you said “WOW, that was great!”?

When’s the last time you laughed so hard you clutched your stomach and fell to the floor?

When’s the last time you felt like you gave your all and were satisfied with your day?

It’s been a while.

You Get What You Put Into It.

God promises to return to you ten fold what you give. Do you believe it?

I always thought of that in contributions to the church, tithing and such. I now wonder if it’s not a promise for everything in life.

©2010 The Buzz Forge. All Rights Reserved.