Advertising

Know When You Have

Garth Beyer

Every marketer, reporter and business person has a goal for those at the Pandorareceiving/purchasing end. Without a goal, it’s all just busy work. Yet, I see one big problem over and over again in their strategy to meet the goal: they don’t shut down their tactics to reach the goal once they reach it.

Pandora has a pop-up explaining that you can now use Pandora as your alarm clock. Who doesn’t love to wakeup to music they enjoy? The first few times I opened Pandora, I had to exit out of that same pop up before I could listen to music.

After the fourth time, I thought I would go ahead and use Pandora as my alarm. I didn’t really like my current alarm sound anyway. (This was, after all, Pandora’s goal.)

I set up the Pandora alarm and opened the Pandora app to listen to music again. Can you guess what happened? The pop up still came up advertising that I do what I have already done.

 

Stay Positive & Stop When You Reach Your Goal

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Will Anyone Give A $%*@ About It

Garth Beyer

That’s the first question Dave Florin, president of Hiebing, a PR agency in Madison, asks when it’s time to evaluate an ad campaign or PR strategy.

Here’s a few more bits of wisdom shared:

  • Most marketing philosophies speak over the heads of people. Every strategy needs to pass the “So what” test. If it passes the “So what” test, then it’s much more likely to be paid attention to.
  • Sensitive + awesome = sweet spot
  • Relevant + differentiated = sweet spot
  • Know who the product does not appeal to
  • “Compelling stories are engaging, simple, portable. . . at the end of the day, there is a person there.”

Businesses try to appeal to everyone and waste money on it. The way to good writing is to write to a single person that fits your target. The same goes for creating ads. Create an ad with one person in mind. Every newsroom and broadcast station that I have visited, I can always find a poster of a person that is meant to remind everyone of who they are supposed to be writing to.

Who do you write to? And do they give a $%*@?

Why The Digital Age Is Creating A Stronger Sense Of Community

Garth Beyer

Getting things for free feels so good. Getting things for free when you know you shouldn’t – that feels even better.

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Everything that this digital age is producing – whether it be ads, shifts in cultural norms, or tangible products – the result is the same: a stronger sense of community.

(unrelated to digital age) You go to your favorite local coffee shop and since you bought one Turtle Mocha, you get a second one to go for free. Compare this to going to a local coffee shop and buying one Turtle Mocha, but when you pick it up, the barista gives you a second one to go “on the house.”

(related to the digital age) You get one month of Netflix free, after that one month you have to pay. Compare this to getting one month of Netflix free, and after that one month, you get the username and password of your girlfriends’ parents account.

In the coffee shop scenario, getting something free when you shouldn’t have established a connection between you and the barista (effectively the coffee shop too). In the Netflix scenario, you’ve reaffirmed the connection between you and your girlfriends’ parents (obviously a win-win).

This effect is one of the single most important reasons why I love advertising in the digital age. No matter the success or failure of ads, they always leave a stronger sense of community.

Either you buy into the brand and become part of that brands community (coffee deal drinkers or addicted Netflix supporters) or you find a way to get something free when normally you shouldn’t – be it through pre-existing connections (step-brother, in-laws, etc,) or through making new connections (class mates, coworkers, etc,).

The end result is the same: stronger sense of community.

 

Stay Positive & There’s A Reason It’s Called The Connection Economy

Garth E. Beyer

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Here’s a bonus read. Enjoy.

 

Where You Start: Up For The Challenge

Garth Beyer

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In a previous story, I noted that where you start really matters.

I used marketing to five year-olds for McDonald’s as an example of a poor place to start if you are actually passionate about the elderly being active.

I missed the opportunity to mention that poor places to start are often excellent places to excel, so long as you are adamant enough to withstand resistance and up to challenge of creating cultural change. For example, there is a push for McDonald’s to become a more healthy option – and to advertise as such.

I’ve mentioned a million times before that there is always room for improvement. You can decrease inequality, you can lower the number of obese people in the country, you can create cultural change from the bottom up.

It starts with saying no.

No to advertising unhealthy McDonald’s products to five year-olds.

It grows by saying “here’s a better idea.”

And having a plan to turn the idea into reality.

 

Stay Positive & Let Your Passion Fuel You, Not Your Food

Garth E. Beyer

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Why Where You Start Matters

Garth Beyer

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As much as I would love to say that just starting is all that matters, it’s not.

Where you start matters a lot.

Where you first gain experience solidifies your future path of experience and work.

If you began working at an ad agency and your campaign focused on advertising McDonald’s to five year-olds, it will be a lot easier to then work for Arby’s and Dairy Queen targeting a similar age group.

If you passionately support this advertising campaign, wonderful. But, if you’re like me and don’t quite approve of five year-olds eating that type of food, it’s more difficult to get an advertising job targeting the elderly for the fitness industry afterward. They are complete opposites!

Your first client will be your first real branding experience. Ad agencies looking for someone to target the elderly for the fitness industry (what you really want to do) is going to have a difficult time being convinced that you can use similar strategies on getting five year-olds to nag their parents to buy McDonald’s on the elderly and the fitness industry.

Figuring out where you want to start requires two things from you:

  1. You need to self-reflect until you’re certain you know what you want to do. No, it’s not seriously difficult to alter your path once you start, but it’s much easier to start down the right one to begin with. Backtracking only helps those who have lost something, not those who want to discover something new.
  2. Never settle with where you start. It’s easy to take what you can get when you’re first starting out, but I urge you to keep going after the position you want.

This isn’t just for those looking to go into advertising, it applies to anyone that wants to start something.

 

Stay Positive & Now, Seriously, Go Start Something

Garth E. Beyer

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Why We Consume

Garth Beyer

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In the early days, we consumed to meet our needs.

Then we consumed to meet our wants.

What most people miss is after we met our wants, we didn’t want more; what we wanted was to feel.

People don’t buy a BMW because it shines. People don’t buy Starbucks because it’s the best tasting coffee. People don’t buy bigger houses because they want more, more, more.

People buy into how items makes them feel.

Businesses have gone from advertising (more, more, more) to marketing (feel, feel, feel). We’ve gone from buying what we want, to buying how we want to feel.

Looking at it this way makes consumption seem more positive. The more you consume the better you feel. But let’s not forget that the less we consume, the more leisure time we will have.

Ask yourself, how would more leisure time make you feel?

 

Stay Positive & Better Than Consuming?

Garth E. Beyer

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