Know what your customers need to know
Published on 12/09/2002 under Ad Strategy
If you want to try an interesting experiment, open the latest issue of your favorite trade publication and select ten ads for scrutiny. Write down for each ad what you think the advertiser’s primary message is. Note how the main visual supports or fails to support this message. Ask yourself, “How compelling is this ad?”
Now switch hats and assume you are the customer these advertisers are trying to reach. If you were in the process of finding a source for the advertised products and services, would the messages presented in your selected ads help make the decision easier? Or would they muddy the picture?
My guess is that most ads you happen to see in trade journals do not help the targeted buyer because advertisers are trying to tell you what they want you to know, instead of addressing the things you need to know. There’s a huge difference.
In the October 14th issue of Marketing News, I told you the story of Hobart Corporation, a leader in food industry equipment, and how they shifted their emphasis from promoting product messages to addressing “Things that keep customers awake at night.” This doesn’t mean they totally abandoned product information. The paradigm shift for Hobart was they started thinking about how their products and services could help customers solve important problems.
I think all business-to-business advertisers could benefit from this strategic shift.
Occasionally when speaking to professional groups, I don a white doctors smock and wig, assuming my alter ego of “Dr. Deadline,” one of the world’s leading authorities on bad advertising. The good doctor has collected hundreds of ad samples and arranged them in categories, such as visual clichés, puns, puffy slogans, borrowed interest, etc.
It’s particularly hard for me to accept that so many advertisers are convinced their customers will leap for joy when they see some variation of a jigsaw puzzle and learn you are putting all the pieces together for them. Or when you provide a large target that helps explain how your products are hitting the mark. Or a pill that symbolizes the fast relief your stuff will bring.
My favorite visual cliché is the use of gambling analogies to show that you’ve taken the gamble out of buying whatever. Or maybe your products are the ultimate gamble. I can’t remember for sure.
In any event, I think it’s safe to say that no form of abstract cleverness is really going to help nudge customers in your direction. The only thing that will bring measurable results is to put yourself in the shoes of the people you’re trying to reach, and provide information that will expedite their decision process.
I’m not saying your ads have to look like engineering bulletins. Despite everything they will try to tell you about their superior logic and built-in resistance to propaganda, engineers, scientists and other technically oriented professionals are still human beings, and they will react to emotional appeals. Just make them relevant.
For example, if your product is an electric motor and certain customers are interested in motors that will “fast cycle” from the off position to full operating speed in the shortest possible time, it’s okay to dramatize the speed factor. But don’t stop there. Summarize the start-up speeds of the major motor brands your customer might be considering in a box next to the body copy, and offer a free technical paper that contains detailed information about this and other performance standards.
That serves two purposes: it makes your speed claim more credible, and it gives you a good call to action. Your customer will appreciate that you’re making his or her job easier by providing verifiable performance data in an “apples to apples” format. And your salespeople will have something specific to talk about when they call for a follow-up visit.
And if you really want to be helpful, don’t make the customer wait two weeks (or more) for your technical bulletin to arrive in the mail. Provide a link to a special section of your website that contains the full report. Be sure to require the prospect to log-in before gaining access to the report, so you have his or her name for follow-up, but don’t make it too difficult to get in.
Many managers are paranoid about letting “sensitive” information fall into the hands of competitors. Chill out! They’re going to get it eventually so don’t worry about it. Instead, worry about how you simplify the customer’s decision making process and gain the inside track for your brand. That’s the best you can hope for.
In advancing these arguments on behalf of advertising that addresses the things customers need to know, it might appear that I’m assuming all advertisers actually have a handle on this. Nothing could be further from the truth. In my experience, the marketer who has a clear understanding of a customer’s buying needs is something of a rarity.
So, if you’re dealing with someone who sidesteps the issue or appears unsure, by all means, suggest some research or a brainstorming session with the most experienced salespeople to find out which decision factors are most important. Otherwise, your program is doomed before it even starts.
One final thought: It’s not helpful to tell customers too much. Many B2B clients think they need to pack every bit of information about a product or service into every ad. All that does is hide the primary points among the secondary and tertiary ones.
I’m reminded of the first time I walked into a computer store to buy some PCs for my new ad agency. All I wanted was for someone to listen to my needs and tell me which ones were best suited for that. Instead, I got so much information I couldn’t decide. I went from store to store, hoping someone would simplify things for me.
Telling customers what they need to know is a vital part of selling. Your advertising should play a significant role in that process.