Guest Blogger: Marketing Advice
"I rue the day the dairy industry launched its "Got Milk?" campaign. It spawned a generation of unoriginal ad campaigns that nauseate and bore millions of marketing-conscious Americans.
Got Church?
Got Plaque?
Got Radiator Problems?
Got gastro-intestinal trouble?
Got an original thought?
Think how effective and refreshing a sign that read, "Do you need a new transmission? We offer transmissions at a fair price" would be. Or, "You're welcome at our church." Or, " First-Time Patients: Free Teeth Cleaning. Call 555-5555."
Cleverness only works if you're clever. Remember that your competitors are also trying to produce a clever marketing scheme that will attract consumers, and most of them don't know how to do it either. They are resorting to the trite "Got ?" campaigns. Join them and you will be fatally commonplace.
We all try too hard; we all make marketing mistakes. But failure is no excuse to keep it up. If you don't have the budget or edge to compete with the dairy farmer' million dollar advertising campaigns, don't. Offer a good product, sell it professionally and with class. Work to retain your clients and gain referrals. When drafting advertisements write simple, declarative sentence. When in doubt remember that less is more.
If you need help eliminating unnecessary text, Bullfighter is one resource. It is an inconspicuous tool that, with the push of a button, will review your text for "bull." It will even rate your document and explain the rating.
Another helpful document that I've frequently referenced is, "Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes." It's hard to overstate the usefulness of Bad Ads, which was originally published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help nonprofits build meaningful public service campaigns. Click here to download Bad Ads (free).
Extra tip: If you have long-winded friends, Fight the Bull offers a deliciously creepy tool called the Mystery Matador that sends an anonymous message measuring the amount of jargon and verbosity in your friend's document. Ouch!"
--Katy Barbour, Marketing and Administrative Director.
Click here to contact Katy, offer feedback on this post or suggestions on improving her marketing efforts.
Labels: Advertising, Real Estate Trends, Successful Marketing
Posted in Boise’s Best Real Estate by katy on Friday, June 30, 2006
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1 Comments:
Well said!
Alan Bloom, "Closing of the American Mind," said, (not a quote), my peers state that I write in a language unattainable by the American reader. I write how I have always written since the 1950's. It is you who have settled for mediocre writing and English vocabulary...
"Got Bloviation?"
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