I have outlined below the points that are important with respect to advertising and any form of communication. The following elements drive successful communication, be it advertising, a letter, email or other form of communication aimed at eliciting a sale.

There are ten critical elements in the composition of the communication. Every communication should be evaluated against these criteria to determine its likely level of effectiveness. This is a self-test that every client using an agency or designing his or her own ads should do. These are listed below in order of importance:

• Heading
• Photograph, illustration, graphic
• Caption
• Consumer Purchasing Benefit
• 2 – 3 additional benefits
• Risk Reversal
• Added Value
• Call to Action
• Test, test, test
• ALWAYS measure results

Prior to discussing the importance of each of these elements, it is important to understand that different vehicles are used for different purposes and therefore while the ten elements are still equally as important, the message of the communication will vary to achieve the desired purpose of the medium being used.

For example:

Newspapers

Newspapers are an information medium. They are not time dependent such as television or radio. The aim of a newspaper advertisement is to communicate powerful information in a form that involves emotionally and justifies pragmatically. The aim is to get people to ‘tear it out’ and put it on the fridge or in their wallet. It is an ‘information rich’ source.

When placing newspaper ads, ensure that you have selected the best day and that the newspaper reaches your target market.  Daily newspaper circulations can very widely depending on the daily inserts, sports, TV guides etc. and are certainly not consistent across cities.  Some suburbs may have high readership while others may be negligible.  Also, make sure you are on a right hand page, preferably lower half.

Radio

This is an immediacy medium. The aim is to paint a picture that people can interpret in their own way to suit their own needs or circumstances and get people to act now! It is not a brand awareness medium for two reasons. Firstly, the average person only recalls one radio ad they hear each hour and in 72% of instances while they may remember the ad and the subject of the ad, they cannot recall the name of the advertiser.

Secondly, recent studies have shown that while recall increases exponentially from 7 – 12 hearings, after 12 hearings, recall actually begins to decrease.

Again, the audience demographic can vary not only from station to station but also program to program.  Ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck.  I also never recommend buying “run of station”, that is where the station selects your time slots over a week.  It is a little more expensive but it is much more effective to place each ad exactly where you want it.  Also, don’t forget contests, in-store tie-ins, (relationship builders) can be more effective than 15 or 30 second slots.

Television

This medium conveys color, excitement and emotion. People watch television; they do not tend to ‘listen’ to television ads. It is therefore a medium that needs to convey, in your case, depending on the audience targeted, for example, the bonding of a family, the fun and the relationship. This is not an information or an immediacy medium unless deliberately producing a direct response commercial, which requires a totally different philosophy.

Don’t buy a national or even regional advertising if a local ad better suits your business.  In the US in particular, you can almost nominate the suburb you want to advertise in.  Again, watch the program demographics and always try to be first or last ad in a break.  The first ad in a break can have up to 10 times the audience of the 3^rd or 4^th ad.

Website

The website, or an ad (be it a banner or triggered by a search) that directs to a website is again an information medium. People who utilize the web have usually decided to seriously consider the purchase and are usually looking for information and answers.

I recommend that you engage a specialist in web advertising.  There are a lot of tricks to this trade, it continues to evolve, but it can be a phenomenally inexpensive medium per eyeball or outrageously expensive.

Don’t just concern yourself with traffic; it is conversion rate that counts, what do they buy, what’s your ROI.  Ideally today you should “pay per click”, not the number of people that see your ad, how many click through, then get closed!

Mobile Marketing

Again, my recommendation is to use an expert.  Mobile Marketing is everything from ads to text  message voting campaigns, SMS prompts to buy pizza tied in with a radio ad, games, gossip, news, updates, etc.  This is very effective and has very high response rates.

Social Media

Social media is a powerful communications medium that reaches over 500 million people a day. So what is social marketing? It is a marketing opportunity that is:

• Disseminated via social interaction
• Uses highly accessible channels
• Publishes through scalable techniques

Social media marketing is pull, not push.

• Traditional marketing is push marketing and is old school.
• Traditional marketing is expensive.
• Pull marketing is results driven, cost effective and measurable.

Using techniques such as blogs and SEO are critical.

Top 10 Social Media Tips for Beginners

1. The time for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is now. To maximize your opportunities, you need to be present on the world’s most popular social-networking sites.

2. Be one with Google. Register your website with Google and Google Maps so customers can find you. Use Google Alerts to see what the media and bloggers are saying about you.

3. Post every day. Commit to blogging/updating your social media presence as part of your daily business routine. Get your followers into the habit of looking at your latest blog.

4. Find followers. Read blogs and visit websites to seek those interested in what your company has to say.

5. Engage in conversation. Comment, post, update your status, and offer content that compels responses.

6. Be visual. Utilize video/YouTube to show customers what makes your business different.

7. Social-media content should not be the same as your advertising message. Advertising and social-media content are not the same. Provide real insights into your expertise, not a phony brief message.

8. Find out what your customers think. Encourage customers to ask questions, report concerns, and give feedback on your service.

9. Pace yourself. You can always increase frequency of content but slowing down can be a red flag.

10. Be patient. Success requires effort and a willingness to adapt to changes you may face. As BusinessWeek recently stated, “Millions of people are creating content for the social web. It is highly likely that your competitors are already there and your customers have been there for a long time.”

It is critical that you create a focused plan to leverage social platforms to achieve real business goals. You need to think about your overall business strategy and the role social media might play in achieving these goals.

There are a number of ways to leverage social media:

• Public relations
• Customer support
• Market research
• Brand marketing
• Promotions
• Consumer education
• Sales
• Product development
• Customer relationship management

The best approach to this highly effective advertising medium is to hire a consultant, at least until you are fully conversant with the medium.  But, do your homework, many consultants are learning on the job.

Postcards

Postcards are a combination of emotion, information and call to action. Because they have less ‘authority’ than a print advertisement and are frequently regarded as ‘junk mail’, they need to be specifically targeted to address their intended purpose, catch attention so that they are even read and then they need to provide information so that they are retained and acted upon.

Preferably you want people to retain postcards so you can offer monthly prizes to a specifically numbered postcard.  That way many people will retain them.  You also need to be able to track your response source, so you should code cards so you know who is responding.

Brochures

Need to be informative, but focus on addressing the potential customer’s specific issues. The information needs to be presented in simple form, and easy to read. Photos need to be relevant to the point being made with captions reinforcing the points. Never assume that the customer will make the correct assumption. The information needs to be sufficient but not excessive.

Let’s address each of the critical elements in some detail:

Heading

The heading is the most critical part of any communication, whether it is a newspaper ad, a radio message or an email. If the subject matter doesn’t ‘grab’ the reader or listener, they will switch off. Between 81 – 100% of people, depending on age group and the environment in which they are exposed to the message, do not read or listen past the headline.

The headline must powerfully address the primary issue that you want to convey and that is of major issue to the potential customer.

For example: We had an experience recently where over 94% of respondents to a survey thought that there was no real difference between our client’s product and a competitor. So as part of a 3 ad series, one of the headlines was:

‘So you think there is no difference between Product A and Product B.  Think again!’

Then the copy went on, to create a difference in the potential customer’s mind.

‘XYZ Wins the 2005 Best Product Award Over 343 Competitors’

The most effective headlines are these that provide a testimonial or state a ‘fact’. If there are a number of competitors that the potential client is likely to perceive to be similar in the area, the Headline should focus on a real OR perceived, point of difference.

Photograph, Illustration, Graphic

After being ‘grabbed’ by a powerful headline, nearly 85% of people next look at the photo, graphic or illustration. This needs to be relevant to the headline and reinforce the headline’s message, giving it an emotional hook. If you don’t have a graphic that reinforces the headline, don’t use any.

Caption

Never allow the potential customer to interpret a photograph, graphic or illustration. Always provide a caption that strongly reinforces the message being conveyed. Real life situations the reader can readily refer to are very powerful. For example:

“John Brown has an impressive 30 year history in the ‘ABC’ industry.”

Always choose your words carefully. For example, always use positive, happy words for a vacation, never use a negative word.

Always speak in regular ‘people speak’ not technical or ‘cute copy writer’ speak.

Consumer Purchasing Benefit (CPB)

The ‘Consumer Purchasing Benefit’ is the most powerful sales tool in the marketers’ armory. It is the driving force in differentiating your company from your competition and research shows that a good CPB can influence over 77% of purchase decisions. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 487 of them have a CPB for the company or its major products. By contrast, less than 3% of SME’s have a CPB.

It is critical to realize that a CPB is NOT a slogan; the CPB is the most compelling reason that a person should purchase your product or service rather than your competitors. It usually takes one of two forms:

• It is the major advantage (real or perceived) that your product or service has over your competitors.
• It emphasizes the real or perceived weakness of your competition.

It is important to note that slogans and logos have recall rates below 5% (except in very exceptional instances like Nike’s swoosh or the Target circles), whereas effective CPB’s have recall rates of over 80%.

The other critical element of a CPB is that most of the most effective are emotional, directed specifically at the customer. As ALL decisions are made EMOTIONALLY and then only later, justified PRAGMATICALLY, an emotive CPB obviously has much more chance of being effective.

Some effective CPB’s:

Coppertone ‘Tan don’t Burn’

This expresses your emotional desire and eliminates your fear in just 3 words, extremely powerful!

Visa ‘Anywhere you want to be’

Subconsciously reinforces your experience that not everyone takes American Express.

BMW ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’

Says it all.

Nike ‘Just Do It’

Appeals to the independence and rebellion of youth.

Wheaties ‘The Breakfast of Champions’

If you are not eating Wheaties, you aren’t a champion.

Avis ‘We Try Harder’

Differentiates them from the others whom it suggests ‘Don’t care as much’.

Each of these appeals strictly to their target market, address a customer issue and differentiate themselves.

The CPB doesn’t have to be real, for example Blue Omo Soap Powder became the number one powder in every country in the world in a highly competitive category where research has shown little difference in results, by using the CPB ‘Washes Whiter Than White’.

It is a non sensical statement, but conveys very clearly that ‘you simply can’t get any cleaner than this’.

We created the CPB ‘Affordable Bathroom Elegance’ for Flair Bathroom Vanities because they couldn’t differentiate themselves from their competitors. By stating forcefully that they were Elegant, thus addressing everyone’s desire, yet everyone who really cares about style and elegance really CAN afford it, they increased sales by 37% in the first year of its adoption.

Your CPB, known locally – respected nationally is OK, but ‘known’ is a weak word. It needs to be stronger, lots of people are ‘known’, it is not a compelling reason to do business with you.

Additional Benefits

A recent very extensive study by Pfizer of the messages communicated on drugs to both the public and to doctors and pharmacists made very strong conclusions:

• Despite being a complex issue, – drugs having side effects, different benefits, results of trials, approvals etc etc, – the most effective messages contained no more than 3 benefits. Prior to the study, Pfizer produced comprehensive advertisements and brochures, often with a dozen or more important points or issues. They found that emphasizing 1 – 3 benefits was increasingly more effective and once more than 3 benefits were promoted effectiveness declined considerably.
• Emotive benefit descriptions, supported by hard facts, statistics etc, were over twice as effective as just stated facts. People related to the emotional benefits much more readily and, once justified, accepted the findings as fact where often when just facts were quoted they were skeptical.

In any communication designed to ‘sell’ a product or service, every single sentence must contain a benefit to the customer. Otherwise eliminate it because it has no point and simply wastes valuable ‘message’ time.

Risk Reversal

The inclusion of a risk reversal has been shown to increase closure rates by up to 57%. At the time a person is confronted with a decision they automatically get the collywobbles. And the value of the decision doesn’t matter. Whether it is an average Joe buying a car or a wealthy person buying a $3.00 item, all people question the purchase and the majority errs on the side of caution.

For example, ‘Can I afford it?’ – ‘Do I really need it?’ – ‘What if I find it cheaper somewhere else?’ – ‘What if I get it home and my spouse doesn’t like it?’ – and so on! In your case it is assurance that this is a great holiday destination that while not cheap, is really, really worth it!

So the more you can reduce the risk of the decision, the more you increase the chance of the decision going your way.

There are many ways to reduce the risk. Some of these are:

Money Back Guarantee: Totally removes the risk – why shouldn’t I buy it?

30-Day Trial: As above

Testimonials: Other people that I either respect or who are ‘just like me’ have done it successfully.

Awards: On an important night out are you more likely to go to a restaurant that ‘American Express’ have awarded three Gold Plates to, or one that has won zip?

These are the most popular. For example:

Video Ezy – When ‘If you don’t like the movie, we will exchange it for free’ was recommended to Video Ezy, their first reaction was that people would take advantage and constantly get new movies. However, the actual result was a rental increase of 212% and an increase in returns of ¼ of 1%.

Aussie Alarms – The endorsement of Aussie Home Alarms by a swimming gold medalist increased the percentage of respondents who would ‘definitely buy one’ from 4% to 23% and who would ‘consider buying one’ from 17% to 38%.

Thomas Tank Engine Beds – The promise of free home delivery, free trial for a month, free pick-up if not satisfied and a bonus of ‘you keep the 2 pillows, doona and sheets’ for free turned the business from near bankrupt to a six month waiting list with no returns!

Added Value

Adding value to the purchase can increase sales by up to 67% BUT only if the added value is directly related to the offer. Added value can also take many forms, for example:

• Additional product e.g. 20% more.
• Buy one, get one free.
• Complimentary service e.g. complimentary DVD player in cabin.
• Beneficial information.
• Related offer – an offer that compliments the work you are doing. E.g. ‘Call us now and we will forward you an interest rate ready reckoner with my compliments’.

Call to Action

It has been clearly demonstrated that at the end of any message, whether it is a print, television, radio, postcard or even a letter or email, if you don’t tell the recipient, clearly and precisely what you want them to do, they won’t do anything. So there needs to be a clear course of action.

The lack of clear contact details in an advertisement also creates a level of nervousness in people. They want to know that you have an address (ideal if you have been there for a period of time), near a landmark they know, a phone number and ideally someone to call, e.g. Call Vicky today. Each of these elements increases the potential respondent’s comfort level and hence their likelihood to respond.

Payment

Lessening the pain of payment is an important part of the call to action and credit card payments, pay by the month interest free, all assist to close the sale. Payment options often take creative forms.

Test, Test, Test

This is the most important element of all. Once you have determined your advertisement, email or letter, that meets the criteria set out above, then you need to test it to be sure that it works. This is done with a sample group and the results and the return on investment (ROI) evaluated. We will frequently create 3 or 4 advertisements, test them in the same target market and compare results.

It is also important to compare against competitors. For example, if the competitors are running print ads, you should paste each of them on a card separately, and then pay 20 target audience people to sort them in order. Put the ad that appeals most on top and so on. Then they need to tell you why they chose the particular ads. You can then modify your ads until you are the favored one. We usually pay $20 to each respondent for his or her input. There is no use running an ad if you don’t know it will get the best response.

Measure the Results

The results of every initiative MUST be measured, preferably according to target market parameters depending on the initiative. These can be geographic, socio economic, employment, sex, age, etc.

Each respondent should be asked why he or she responded to the particular initiative. One reason is good, more is great!

One Additional Killer Closer … NLP

The one additional element that will greatly enhance your marketing and advertising is to incorporate the elements of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which can dramatically enhance your results.

NLP is difficult to describe in a few words, but there are literally dozens of great books on the subject at Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, Borders, Dymocks and Amazon.

Early next year I will get an NLP practitioner to write an easy to understand article on it.  Watch for that.