Why Bother creating boring limp ideas and marketing?

The marketing madness and idea stupidity, continues.

Let's see why that is.

All thanks to a company called Bother. 

(And the name itself 'Bother', is, as you'll soon see, rather dim and unoriginal on the choice and selection scale.)

BOTHER.

In essence, their angle is...

We bother (about taking care of the shopping) so you don't have to.

And what was the genesis of the thinking here?

Of many being bound together by an unrelenting burning, yet basic irritation of running out of this and that around the home, so wanted some solution to that. 

Is that a burning marketplace desire for a problem that needs solving that hasn't already been solved? 

There's a business with 57 people.

There's mention on the website of the business being backed and supported by a few well known businesses. 

To what capacity, that's not clear. 

Whatever proportion has been invested by the owners piling their own money into the business, or if it's loan or VC backed, there could be a long waiting game in the money being returned, based on the communication and marketing evidence. 

Whatever the case, there's a lot that needs re inventing and recreating. 

Let's touch on a few ideas.   

Take the promotional flyer to do with their business that's popped through the letter box today. 

What's the opening thrust here?

"£15 off your first shop"

Hmmm...

Anything to do with the rise in the cost of living? 

Don't know. There's nothing on the flyer to say that. (Tis a good idea to address the current conversation going on in the minds of one's audience) 

And below that money off your first shop...

There's an image of a list of products.

And... that's it.

Nothing more. 

No compelling story.

No personality.

No reason why. 

So let's see what's on the other side of this promotional piece.  

Mercy me... A headline!

Wow!

Let's dig in.  

"Finally, an eco-friendly way to shop that doesn't cost the earth" 

Now how many times have we heard a version of that cost saving thrust? Nothing new or exciting.  

And below that, a Here's how this works sequence of images along with some copy. 

Nothing mind blowing about it.

Nothing earth wobbling or amazing.

Nothing immediate or instant to have you get your mind racing or to want to make you whip out your money to be part of it.  

How could they apply some proper intelligence to the flyer without resorting to no thinking?  

There are multiple angles to choose from.

One angle is to take a leaf out of David Ogilvy's masterpiece book on ideas and advertising.  

Cleverly named... OGILVY on ADVERTISING! 

Now there are many ideas and angles you can be inspired by in that masterpiece book, if you care to look.   

One such inspiration is an ad to promote Guinness beer.   

And, it was masterfully done via promoting a guide to oysters. 

More specifically...

GUINNESS GUIDE TO OYSTERS!   

 

Now what's that got to do with anything?

Well, by educating and informing people about the various kinds and types of oysters, and by positioning Guinness as the Beer of choice, the connection between the two made people buy more quantities of both beer (Guinness) and oysters!

Oh, and here's what's said about the direct connection between beer and oysters:

Oysters and beer are a remarkable pair. The brine from the oyster not only complements and highlights aspects of the beer, it's washed clean by the beer's crisp carbonation, inviting you to eat another oyster (and another oyster and another oyster and…)      

So how can we transition the idea and employ something similar to Bother and their offering?  

Bother's Guide to The Most Run Out of Popular Products at Home

And then...

Listing 9 or 12 popular products, giving each one a diagram and a real life story and reasons why they run out quickly, etc. And, the different target groups of users can be represented in each different 'square or block'. 

That's not the only idea.

It's an angle.

And it's way better than the £15 off your first order version on the flyer.   

It's informative.

It's entertaining.

It's engaging.

It has personality.

It'll have some people who'll keep that flyer up on the fridge where they can see it.   

Clever, creative, intelligent marketing thinking always outperforms lazy thinking marketers and owners.    

Want your ads and marketing pieces to make you even more money?

Here's something I learned from what they do at the Microchip Technology company.

Or more accurately put...

...it's actually a systematized, working practical philosophy that's rolled out through the entire company, in all its divisions. 

And that working philosophy is rooted in the following...

All systems are perfect for producing the results they bring.

Want better performing ads and marketing pieces? 

Well, your current ads and marketing assets are going to produce exactly what they're going to produce... no more, no less.

Now if you want to make more sales, more profits, enjoy longer deeper relationships with your clients and customers (mainly through your written ads and promotions) then you're going to have to change your ads and marketing pieces somewhat. 

In other words...

The COPY you employ to help you sell what you sell... well, that has to change.

So how do you go about making those changes? And, how do you know what are the right changes to make?

Let me tell you a secret... the answer to creating winning profitable ads and communications... is by asking the RIGHT questions!

Now you might be asking... what exactly are the right questions to ask that'll lead you to more sales and more profits?

There are many.

However, let's dig into a few of them just now that'll help trigger and stimulate your thinking.

And yes, you do not have to apply each and every question to all the ads and marketing pieces you want changed to see a difference in results.

What you do need to do however is to let the questions and their resulting answers seep into your brain so you have enough of the necessary raw material to carve out a NEW ad version or a new series of ads. (David Ogilvy used the term, a 'family of ads', to describe it.)

So, let's go...

• Why are you writing your ads and promos in that specific way that you do?
• What's the BIG IDEA your ads are based on?
• Are your ads based on guesswork or, on specific research and info hunting?
• When was the last time you changed your current ad or promotional pieces?
• What's the biggest knock-on effect in your business if your ads and marketing pieces don't work out as well as you'd like?
• Are you targeting (calling out) the right prospect in your ads?
• Are your ads direct response ads? 
• Is your headline for the ad compelling and irresistible enough to pull the reader in and to have them want to carry on reading?
• Are your ads easy to read and understand?
• Are there clear instructions telling the reader what to do next?
• Are your ads emotionally compelling and curious enough to keep your reader captivated all the way through your ad? (IE, they're not boring, are they?)
• Does your ad solve a particular burning problem for your reader and is the solution clear, unique and the best value your prospect can get, anywhere?#

If you're afraid to change your ads and marketing pieces, despite the fact they need drastic altering, then this list of questions which by the way are by no means exhaustive or definite... 

...yet you can cherry-pick from them and see what clicks or connects for you.

And by all means...

...keep coming back to the above list when you want your existing ads and marketing efforts to jump-start into profitable action. 

raja.hireker @ gmail.com  

Marketing Lies We Tell Ourselves

There are a bunch of lies we tell ourselves in order to avoid reality, to look good, to keep us out of action and to gain some kind of sympathy to those who'll listen to our stories. 

And, there are some lies that we've told ourselves so consistently that it seem it's all baked into our DNA and so guess what; we amble around with that 'made up truth' about WHO we are as IF it was all cemented in stone and where we unknowingly signed a contract to its seeming permanence. 

It gets worse.

Because, those lies, when acted out in adult world of business and making a living, we use those lies to lie low, to cower, to not show up in the way we need to show up the most.

Many a life has come crumbling down because of the self created lies we force feed ourselves on a daily basis that we comfortably take with our cereal and tea and think nothing more about it.

When you can decimate, dissolve and deconstruct the following marketing lies, and replace them with the opposite, you'll see a resurgence, a renaissance, a revolutionary reinvented way of showing up in the world through your products and services.

What kind of marketing and business lies am I talking about? Well, let's get into a few of them.

Marketing lie - I don't know how to do this! (Untrue. You've not practiced or been trained in it. You've not set yourself a good enough standard. You've not fueled your desire enough to want to know how to be successful at that marketing tool or process. There are guides and resources galore in showing you how to do something.)

Marketing lie - The competition is eating us alive, we'll soon go out of business if they keep things up (Untrue. They won't have your business collapse unless you choose to sit on your brain and do nothing more than worry and moan and search for information and do nothing with it. You can create new ideas and get the help you want, if you choose to. If you choose to.)

Marketing lie - We don't have any new money to market or advertise (Untrue. You do have money - and that money is locked up inside your past and current customers. You don't need new money to create a promotion or an offer to those people. Get busy creating and implementing and you'll soon have more money coming in than you could imagine) 

Marketing lie - Customers are hard to reach (Untrue. Figure out who you like serving and helping the most through your products and services and then locate where they are via google, mailing lists, facebook, linked in. Then, create a way for them to sample what you have and then give them an exceptional experience so they go the whole hog and sign up with you and buy what you have)

Marketing lie - I can't learn new things (Untrue. You haven't chosen to want to learn it. You're not a tree. Your not a table. You're not a person who has had a brain transplant where your brain has been substituted with an aubergine. You can learn anything if you want to. Again, go to the Internet and you'll find there are guides and resources galore in showing you how to do something.)

Marketing lie - I just don't have the time to do all this (Untrue. You've not ranked what are the most important activities in your business are and who should be doing them. Marketing and sales and copywriting are the most important function you could ever engage in and your time needs to be allocated accordingly. Look to your diary because it'll show you in the clear light of day what functions you consider valuable and important and what kind of time you're allocating to it)

Marketing lie - Lowering prices will boot my business (Untrue. It'll give you a temporary 'Groupon type rush' yet you won't sustain a business based on a low price model. You'll get burnt out trying to sustain it all - physically, mentally, financially. You'll not survive on razor thin margins. You'll resent what service your providing. You won't provide the best you can in what you do. And yet, your customers will demand more and more from you based on the peanuts you've trained them to give you.)

You can continually live on a diet of marketing lies, or, you can stop making those lies real and come into a world of refreshing reality where the grass is green because it gets watered and where sales come in because there's created action and implementation taking place.

Here's the access pass - raja.hireker@gmail.com - to that new world. 

 

“That letter you did... we are seeing conversions at 7.8%..... It is like a train...I've never experienced anything like this in all my life. That letter...I'm just dumbfounded. Isaac Jon - Ganston Reed Publishing

"Raja knows more about the techniques of persuasion than nine out of ten copywriters. He has a winning style, great determination and unusual ingenuity." Drayton Bird - Author Commonsense Direct Marketing & Sales letters That Sell and Former International VP & Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather Direct.

"Raja has written all my sales letters and has had a good hand in all the email copy and strategy. His ideas are exceptional and his timeliness in creating the finished output is extremely high. Also, my consulting brainstorm sessions with him always generates high value ideas. His work has helped me bank tens of thousands of pounds and continues to do so"
S. Anwar - Provider of Educational products and services to Professionals financial, IT, energy and banking sectors.  

 

A Rubbish Thinking Professional = Rubbish Advertising = An Utter Waste of Money

And so the 'creative advertising merry-go-round madness', continues.  

Take a look at the above.

The headline of course, is utter rubbish. The message it's trying to convey, is nonsensical. 

Next, why pay for a full page ad, if you're only using half the page?

Next, why have the copy outlined in the format of some shimmy hoola boola dancers? 

And then, why have the copy be made hard to read with light blue writing on a paler blue background?

Ads are meant to stand out and gain attention. But not in this nincompoop way.

In fact, there's some insightful copy in the piece, though it's poorly presented in the way it appears above. 

So what would make this ad stand out? (And therefore, get greater readership and potential investors?)

How about dropping the copy into a formatted version of the David Ogilvy ad - "At 60 Miles An Hour, The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls Royce Comes From The Electric Clock"    

There's no reason to have shoddy advertising represent good quality products and services. 

Yet it seems to be happening everyday when you flip open a magazine, newspaper or search the Internet.

And what's all the more worrying is this kind of shoddy lazy application is being produced by 'professionals' who have probably attended some kind of university or place of higher learning. 

Oh dear.    

So what if you're reading this and you have to create ads to sell your products or services - why not challenge yourself or your people to create the most inviting, engaging, curiosity provoking ads they can create?  

Why not challenge them to produce a 10X  better ad than what they first come up with?

There's nothing inspiring about creating mediocre or less than mediocre output. Not only is it damaging to a business, it's a complete waste of money - CLIENT money. 

If you want a fresh pair of qualified eyes help you create the kind of advertising that creates monetary results and riveted attention from your audience, then here's the place to go: raja.hireker@gmail.com 

   

Poor Ad and Marketing Results Comes From Lack of Truth & Integrity

Ask those who create the ad and marketing promotions that fizzle, you'll get a number of excuses as to WHY the whole thing flopped.

Of course, none of those excuses or reasons, would be zeroed in, or targeted at, the creators of the flop.

The MESS, naturally, belongs to others.

Naturally.

However, with careful sleuth like investigation, if we dig deep, we'll uncover a few hidden truths.

For example; if those responsible for creating the non-productive, were asked exactly on what basis did they create the promotion, there'll probably be a lack of successful models that would have been referred to. You may instead, get a messy summary of how 'their creative minds' were looking for that compelling hook and it just wasn't right because of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - and you can fill in X with whatever you want because that's exactly what it would be filled in with...

...whatever they could come up with!  

There's a disciplined science behind creating advertising and marketing that... WORKS.

And, it's NOT by scratching one's head and saying..." LET'S TRY THIS, IT SEEMS LIKE A GOOD IDEA". - which seems to be the avowed strategy and mantra of the dull and lazy.

Of course, if it's client money on the line and NOT the advertising or marketing people's money, then... anything goes (Which invariably means... a lot of client money gets flushed down the toilet with the client being none the wiser because there's (obviously!) no tracking or accountability as to how the advertising and marketing performs from a money and sales standpoint)

That's not true for the savvy, switched on, responsible marketer or agency team of specialists who are focused on results, on positive ROI - and NOT on winning awards, applause and accreditation for 'outstanding' work.

These people refer to models of past success. They refer and read the (classic) books on salesmanship and accountable-based marketing and advertising. (Tested Ad Methods by John Caples, Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins, The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier, Ogilvy on Advertising and Confessions of an Ad Man, both by David Ogilvy, How to Write a Good Advertisement by Vic Schwab, Secrets of Successful Direct Mail by Dick Benson...)

They tell the TRUTH about the product or service in an enjoyable and irresistible way.

The whole creative aspect is based on (and driven by) customer, product and company Integrity.

And what does INTEGRITY mean in this context? It means standing for something, honouring your word (by that, I mean telling the truth about what the company does and what the product or service actually does for the user) and delivering the message in a way that captivates, engages and... SELLS.

Most advertising and marketing doesn't match up to that because the creators of such efforts don't match up to owning much of that themselves - truth and integrity.

www.RajaHireker.com