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Today we have a story of a group of little guys beating the big guy, an example of an entrepreneur seizing an opportunity, and a marketing lesson all tied up in the same tale.

Act 1:

The backstory begins obliquely in December of 1944. General Maxwell Taylor was absent from the 101st Airborne Division at the time the German Army laid siege to Bastogne. General Taylor’s diplomatic and language skills were required in a secret mission to Rome to coordinate maneuvers with Italian forces.

General Anthony McAuliffe was left as acting Commander when the German XLVIIth Armored Corps surrounded the American forces. General Heinrich von Luettwitz demanded McAuliffe surrender.

McAuliffe sent back his famous one word reply: “NUTS!” A Colonel Harper, who delivered the typed response to the German delegation had to explain the meaning of the word to the Germans. McAuliffe’s forces were able to hold off the siege until the 4th Armored Division arrived to provide reinforcement.

Act 2:

Network television offers programming to attract viewers, then offers access to the viewers to advertisers for cash, which pays the production costs of the programming (and with the right combination of skill and luck, a profit for the shareholders).

When the network execs determine that a program isn’t garnering the audience they expected, it may be moved to a different day or time. When they determine that they can’t make a profit on the show, they cancel it.

And that’s it.

Or is it.

When CBS cancelled Cagney and Lacey in 1983, producer Barney Rosenzweig encouraged fans of the show to start a letter-writing campaign. CBS brought it back, and the show went on to win 14 Emmy’s.

Designing Women did respectably well on Monday nights when it launched in 1986. CBS moved the show several times, finally to Sunday night, where it was dismally received. A viewer campaign saved it from cancellation. CBS returned it to Monday night, where it consistently stayed in the top 20.

Touched by an Angel was cancelled during its first season in 1994. Fans staged a letter-writing campaign. CBS brought it back. The show ran for eight more seasons.

And this year, Jericho became the most recent CBS cancellation, followed by a grassroots campaign to save the series. In its final episode before being cancelled, the enemy offered to let one of the main characters surrender. Quoting General Taylor’s reply to the German army, the character said “Nuts!”

But this time, it wasn’t a letter-writing campaign that was organized to bring the show back.

Act 3:

This time an on-line petition gathered together the “signatures” of thousands of fans. CBS wasn’t impressed. Then, one of the fans contacted Nuts Online, and asked them to Nuts Online offered to take small orders ($5) and package them into larger shipments to be delivered to CBS in New York and Los Angeles.

After 40,000 pounds of nuts were delivered to CBS, the company relented and purchased seven more episodes for a second season.

Epilog:

As you might imagine, the story got a lot of coverage, and each time Nuts Online was mentioned. I suspect we can agree that this quick-thinking entrepreneur received millions of dollars of free publicity for his company.

He was willing to accept minimal or no profit from this promotion, which made it affordable for nearly every fan to participate.

However, Braverman will probably make a significant follow up profit from the huge opt-in mailing list he’s compiled.

Can you apply Braverman’s example to your business?

Can you support a worthy cause? Will you send press releases and interviews? Are you willing to compile a mailing list and follow up after the promotion, consider joint ventures, and cross marketing opportunities?

Congratulations. You may be on your way to the kind of publicity that makes some companies look “lucky.”

Now, start looking for your promotional tie-in.

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The Lovely Mrs. McKay is a crafty person. Not crafty in the sense that she plots and schemes, but rather in the sense that she crafts things. Usually decorative household items. She’s also an accomplished seamstress, and loves making costumes.

Last week she was on a mission: there was a particular fabric she needed to sew a costume for our eldest granddaughter. I was drafted as the pilot, navigator, and sidekick for this adventure.

We set out to find the nearby Major Craft Store. Because we were somewhat new in the community, we’d never visited it before. We had been told it was about 40 miles away.

Taking my role as navigator seriously, I called information for the store’s number, and then phoned for directions.

They hung up on me.

OK, it could have been a mistake.

I called back, and again asked for directions.

This time they put me on hold. Four long, awkward, cell-phone minutes passed. I think the stubborn gene I inherited from my maternal grandfather had already kicked in by the time I hung up and redialed.

This time I asked “Would you page any customer who lives in the neighborhood to come to the phone?”

The employee on the other end was confused. I repeated my request. “Since none of you seem to be able to explain your location, please ask anyone in the store who doesn’t work there to direct me.”

The clerk placed me on hold. It took two more minutes for the manager to get to the phone.

I explained that I was driving on the Federal Interstate Highway System, and merely needed directions which might include the correct exit, and any necessary thoroughfares that would lead me to his fine establishment.

He apologized, and gave me very simple directions: next exit, two zigs and a zag to his parking lot.

We arrived to minimal fanfare.

After roughly 20 minutes of searching, the Lovely Mrs. McKay determined they didn’t have the fabric. Disappointedly, we left.

Although this is the end of my story, its not today’s point.

Today’s point involves customer contact.

We live in a time of plenty. Neither supply or distribution is a problem. Today you not only have competitors on the next block, but also on several other continents. People will do business with you, if they choose to.

Only if they choose to.

And people tend to choose to do business where they’re made to feel important.

How important do your customers feel?

Most owners and managers know how important each customer is. When the boss is in, most employees offer pretty good customer service. But how do your employees handle shoppers when you’re not there?

Try this: call your own company, and listen. Don’t place the calls yourself, since your voice is likely recognizable by your staff. Have someone else place the call, and listen in.

One of my clients, after conducting this exercise, fired one employee and gave another a raise. Another discovered that when his night mode voice mail was on, there was literally no way to leave a message.

Its no secret that people are suspicious of advertising.

The first time the actions of your employees contradict the message in your ads shoppers determine you to be a liar. And many times the first actual contact shoppers have with your company is the telephone.

Would you do business with your own company, if the impression you got on the phone was all you had to go by?

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I need a new hair cutter.

Oh, the one I’m using now is very good. She gives me the most consistently great cuts I believe I’ve ever had. She doesn’t charge too much, is reasonably available. She has a fun personality.

But I’m kinda looking, just the same.

Why am I dissatisfied?

For the last thirty years I’ve seen the same process every time I get my hair cut. The cutter wraps some spongy paper around my neck, pulls an apron up tight, cuts and trims, unties the apron, removes the paper, then picks up a blower and BLOWS THE LITTLE SHARDS OF HAIR CLIPPINGS DOWN MY SHIRT. I also found some Hair Bundles Near Me that I contemplated on for some time and later bought, which was indeed beneficial in case of immediate requirements.

I’m pretty much forced at that point to stop my day, go home, and shower just to make the itching stop.

You know, I’ve mentioned to every person who’s picked up a pair of scissors that they should trade in the blower for a shop vac, and remove the hair instead of hiding it inside my shirt where it will itch all the way to the shower.

Every one of them has listened to me complain, nodded in agreement, and then waited for their “complaining customer” to leave the shop so they can say what they really think of him.

“Snort. He expects us to change the way we work, just for him.”

Yes.

Yes, I do.

And eventually, I’m going to start actively searching for a new cutter.

The cost of change includes risk.

I’ve mentioned before that sometimes people do business with us because it’s too much trouble, or too much expense, to switch suppliers.

In this case, it’s fear. Fear that I’m going to hate the next haircut.

So, I schedule my hair appointments late in the day, and keep going back to a service provider that annoys me with each purchase.

But imagine the ads I could create for anyone willing to change the way she works, just for the customer who asked for the change. Do you think that ad could be compelling enough to induce you to risk one haircut?

Are there customers that you’re annoying with each purchase? With the right promise from a competitor, they’re gone. Listen to them, now.

A customer complaint is valuable. Treat those complaining customers as if your business depends on making them happy. Either that, or be vulnerable to the first competitor who does.

Oh, one more thing: If you know someone who cuts hair anywhere near Huntington, West Virginia, and owns a vacuum cleaner, drop me her (or his) name. I’m going to make that kid a star.

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Over lunch with the manager of a craft store, I learned of a customer who regularly brings her ill behaved children to the store. They deliberately break things, tear signage, and in general leave a mess wherever they go. The employees cringe every time this customer shows up with kids in tow.

Last week, the customer decided to take her children to the store’s restroom, and was stopped by an employee. She was told they don’t have a public rest room, and that no non-employee was allowed in the back area.

The customer got indignant, got loud, and harrumphed out. The question during our lunch discussion of this story was about word-of-mouth. Do this woman’s friends know how her children behave? When they hear her story, will they automatically assume the store is in the wrong, or will they understand that their friend has parenting issues?

And, if these hypothetical friends are like our customer, do we want more of these people in our stores?

I don’t shop in craft stores, but I do wish parents of ill-behaved children would be encouraged not to bring them to dine at my favorite restaurants. Hearing about a place that defended my dining experience, by insisting that the parents reel in their kids or leave, might result in great word-of-mouth for people like me.

In Website design it’s common practice to create an anti-persona which represents a vendor’s biggest time wasters, and in hopes of driving off others like him, design a less than optimal experience for that personality. Is there a parallel in the bricks and mortar world? Have you seen this happen? How has it affected the store’s word of mouth?

I welcome your comments.

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Have you ever had it happen, that you’re discussing something obvious with another person who refuses to admit the current circumstances, and insists that things SHOULD be different? Every now and then marketing consultants run into this delusion, usually held by the owner of a small business struggling to stay afloat.

It’s hard to see your business as potential customers do when you’re wrapped up in the day-to-day operation of that business. That’s why you bring in someone from outside – to give you the unbiased perspective you need.

I refer you to a hypothetical small Internet Service Provider in a small town. The town doesn’t matter. The business, as I said, is hypothetical; at least, for the purposes of this article.

Diversify!

It made perfect sense to the ISP owner to add web design services. He hired a designer, and a coder.

Then, he decided to branch into the creation of a web-based software product. He hired another coder, and some (by the hour) highly-educated professional people to write the individual software modules.

And finally, seeing another opportunity, he invested in hardware and software to provide off-site data backup.

Of course, with no dedicated sales staff, people were not lining up to hire his web design, or web-based software, or even his off-site data backup.

His additional payroll started eating away the profits of his original business.

Came the press release.

One day, according to the local newspaper, a large local business contracted an out-of-town company to design its e-commerce web site.

Our friend, the ISP owner, was outraged. “They didn’t even let me bid on the project!” he vented. “People in this town just don’t want to support local business.” At least, that’s probably what he would have said, if this had ever happened.

And had I been part of this conversation, I’d have likely pointed out that the large local business was going to invest a lot of money in their e-commerce site, and needed the assurance that they were getting help from a company that specialized in solving e-commerce problems. I’d have noted that when the stakes are high, only a specialist provides assurance that you’ll get exactly what you need.

There’s a basic problem in marketing your business.

There’s a problem in marketing any business. You can compete as a commodity producer and try to be the lowest-cost provider, or you can be clearly and compellingly unique.

Here’s a hint: only that which is different gets noted, or talked about. Want strong word-of-mouth? Do not be interchangeable with any other company.

Second hint: for incredible word-of-mouth, become known as the solver of one particular problem. Don’t try to be all things to all people.

Put yourself in the mindset of a customer. Say you own a company which deals in vast amounts of computer data, and were worried about the safety of that data. You’re concerned about fire, or earthquake, or even vandalism. You’ve heard of off-site data backup and storage, and you’re intrigued by the possibilities. Will you trust the future of your company to a provider that also does web design? Or will you find yourself inexorably drawn to someone who lives and breathes data safety, 124-bit encryption, and full redundancy?

It’s not the customer’s fault that he isn’t comfortable trusting the ISP to deliver a completely different service. He needs to stop blaming those potential customers who do not feel doing business with him.

The good news is it’s not too late to turn things around.

He needs to dump the web design business, sell off the web-based software product (if he can find a buyer), and set up the off-site backup as a separate company with a qualified salesperson as the separate company’s new manager. He needs to go back to being known for providing Internet service.

At least, that’s what I’d have told the ISP owner, if this conversation had ever actually taken place.

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I attended my first Amway recruitment meeting in 1978. A successful looking young man, and an equally successful looking middle aged woman each did a 20 minute monolog on how much money each of us “up-line” would make from each person we recruited, from the people they recruited, and from the recruits recruited by the recruits of the recruits.

I sat quietly for about three quarters of an hour (and through six charts designed to help me visualize my income increasing geometrically with each additional recruitment level).

Finally, when they offered to answer any questions, I asked “Who sells the soap?”

The presentation we sat through assured us we could make money by recruiting, rather than by selling. But the company exists to sell cleaning products. At some point, someone has to sell soap.

Telling people they can succeed in multi-level marketing without having to sell is an attempt to draw raw numbers of people into the organization, in hopes that some of them might stumble across a sale before they get discouraged and quit. The vast majority of them will never sell anything.

It’s the “stuff against the wall” theory.

It’s very much like the numbers from the early days of e-mail marketing. People spent nearly nothing to blast out 5 million e-mail offers a day, and made pretty good money on the 650 or so who responded. That translates to a conversion rate of 0.0000013%, if you’re counting.

More stuff against the wall.

But, let’s not get sidetracked. Today we’re talking about selling the soap.

Ever notice that just about every expert at selling on-line, teaches how to sell “How to sell on the Internet” information?

It’s the 1978 Amway presentation all over again – make your money on recruiting other people who will recruit other people. Don’t worry about moving product. Instead, buy the resale rights to somebody’s report, and sell that report to some other fool.

These things appear to work because people so badly want to purchase their dreams.

Everyone wants to own a company that has lots of sales, but no one wants to do the selling. Everyone wants to be 6 levels up-line, but no one wants to talk to shoppers about soap.

Yesterday, while researching a topic for a client, I blew $8 on a report titled What Your Potential Joint Venture Partners Really Want. On the last page it says “Making money with this report is very easy. Simply send people to the sales letter site using this URL . . .”

So, you buy the report. You then have the privilege of selling the same report, while sending your “customers” to the writer, where he fulfills their orders and harvests their e-mail addresses.

(Side note: since I’ve purchased the resale rights, I’ll sell it at my price: $0.00. If you want a copy, drop an e-mail to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com, and I’ll send you the report at no charge. If you feel guilty about not paying for it, make an $8 contribution to your favorite charity).

Information marketers know most of the people who buy information are paying a premium for the dream, and will never apply the info. It’s also common knowledge that people who buy “how to” information buy lots of it. Many spend thousands of dollars on advice that they never apply.

And then there are the gurus who promise the secrets of setting up a web site that “sells for you 24/7,” so that you never have to make a sales call while the money comes rolling in. You know what the sad part is? When it doesn’t work, the dream purchasers assume they’re doing something wrong, and they only need to buy the next big Internet “secret” to have the cash start rolling in.

A public speaker I’ve crossed paths with, frequently makes thousands of extra dollars per talk by selling information products from the back of the room. Suspecting that people weren’t applying the information from his course, and wanting to find out, he packaged a six audio CD set, deliberately manufacturing #2 and #5 as blank disks. He told me that out of 300 courses sold, only two people contacted him to complain that #2 was useless. No one called to ask for a replacement for CD#5.

To his credit, he’s in the process of changing careers.

People want to buy the dream. They will pay handsomely for it. Especially if they don’t have to sell anything.

Let me wrap this up by reminding you what you’ve known for decades. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Now, you have an additional tool to analyze any potential offer.

Figure out who sells the soap.

If it’s not you, it probably is too good to be true.

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Final thought: there are people making money selling through the web. They’re not necessarily getting rich, but they are experiencing positive cash flow. They’re building sustainable on-line business the same way entrepreneurs have been building bricks and mortar businesses for thousands of years: by meeting the needs of one customer at a time.

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Empowerment. It’s what’s shifting the balance of information from sellers to buyers.

Just a few years ago the conventional selling wisdom was to brag about the good word-of-mouth, and try to hush the bad. Since the only thing customers tended to have in common was that they purchased from the same seller, they weren’t able to tell each other much about their respective experiences.

When the seller told prospective customers the good news of a positive referral, they may have never heard the bad news from other customers.

But technology has changed that balance by connecting, and empowering, the buyers. They’re connected through cell phones, through IMs, chats, e-mail groups, blogs, podcasts, and vidcasts. They’re sharing information.

They’re talking about you. They’re doing it right now.

In the past I’ve stated you are in control of your company’s word-of-mouth. I’ve even explained how to budget for word-of-mouth. And here I am telling you that customers are talking to each other and leaving you out of the process.

Let’s discuss some real world causes of word-of-mouth.

Imagine a customer planning a getaway for a family of four. She’s checking prices online, and finds Best Western has a price-match guarantee. She finds a better price at HotelClub.net, books a non-smoking room, and submits a price-match claim.

Best Western rejects the claim because she booked a non-smoking room, and HotelClub.net didn’t guarantee a non-smoking room.

Being the stubborn type, she goes back to HotelClub and books a smoking room. She again submits her claim and is again rejected. This time it’s because although their hotel only offers two double beds for the occupancy of four persons, she didn’t specify that she wouldn’t accept a double and two singles, or even four singles.

Think she might put her story on the web?

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Suppose a customer was excited by the news that as of January 1, 2005 Blockbuster was no longer going to charge late fees on their movie rentals. Further suppose he had rented one, and didn’t return it within a couple of weeks. Would he be upset to find he’d just purchased that movie?

Then, to add insult to injury, the company indignantly states that there ARE no late fees any more, which technically is true. They’re not charging a fee for keeping the disc. Instead, they’ve just sold it to him.

What do you think? Will he sit on this story, or share it with other anonymous prospective buyers?

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Making false promises, and weaseling out of them is so common that savvy shoppers automatically begin by reading the fine print in the offer.

Look at the basic price match guarantee. To qualify for the price match, a shopper should have to compare apples to apples. That’s fair, isn’t it? In order to match the price, the items sold must be exactly the same, as evidenced by the model number.

Suppose a shopper found the exact same Minolta camera at three different major retail chains. Oh, wait, they’re not exactly the same.

One is marked 430si, one 450si, and one 400si. That model number is literally the only difference. The major retailers (who purchase a lot of Minolta cameras) have successfully negotiated with Minolta to help make sure they’ll never have to pay off on any price match guarantee.

Might a disgruntled shopper put that story on the web?

It isn’t just Minolta, and this strategy isn’t limited to cameras. My brother-in-law found a similar situation with Dyson vaccuum cleaners. No two chains carry exactly the same model. Their respective model numbers differ only by the hyphenated final digit.

While researching this article, I found the Minolta story. Since then, the page has been removed, and yet, you’re reading about it here anyway. That’s another example of applied word-of-mouth. Another example of the persistance of word-of-mouth.

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A buyer checking out Netmarket’s 200 percent price match guarantee, would have found Netmarket also uses this strategy, (“Exactly the same means an item with the same model number, manufacturer’s U.S. warranty and accessories, as the one you bought from Netmarket.”)

But just to make absolutely sure they’ll never pay off, Netmarket has added a couple of extra steps.

First, they require you to contact the manufacturer and prove to Netmarket that the company you bought the item from was indeed authorized by the manufacturer to sell that model number at that particular price.

Second, the competitors ad can’t state a “no return” policy, can’t limit the number you’re allowed to purchase, or can’t have an expiration date.

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CampusTech’s price match guarantee states that once you’ve actually placed an order with them, the item no longer qualifies for the guarantee.

Huh?

They’ll price match right up until you actually purchase, then the deal’s off.

Of course, CampusTech maintains a $50 limit on their match and says they won’t sell below cost, no matter what the price guarantee.

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Best Buy’s web site offers to let you purchase on-line, and pick up the merchandise at the store, where the price is higher. The Best Buy folks will tell you that their on-line sales happen through a separate entity, who sets prices independantly.

Will upset buyers tell people about this if they felt cheated?

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We could go on discussing individual examples of companies who dishonor their advertising in their fine print, but I’m sure by now you get the idea (and I also hope you start reading that fine print much more closely).

Years ago if a customer was outraged to find himself a victim of this weasel clause strategy, the only people who might hear of his experience were close friends or co-workers. If one of them was in the market for a vaccuum or a camera, he might have affected their purchase decision. Chances are, few of them were in the market at that time.

But now? Now, your customers, although total strangers, are telling each other exactly how you treated them.

My original point was that you control the word-of-mouth related to your business, and you do.

All you have to do is treat your customers honorably.

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In 1993 I watched from behind the glass as a focus group of young women unanimously agreed about the most useful thing to their morning routine. It was a morning radio disc jockey’s “Color of the Day” feature.

All they had to do was to listen for the color of the day, then choose an outfit of that color. One less decision to be made by busy wives and mothers during the most hectic part of their day.

The ladies perceived local traffic to be a major issue, too, even though none of the men we interviewed shared their opinion (or for that matter found any value in the Color of the Day). Those features would be useless clutter to a radio station trying to attract as listeners the men we interviewed.

But a station attempting to gain the ladies in my story as listeners would be well advised to add morning traffic reports to their Color of the Day.

What’s meaningful to one group of people is frequently meaningless to another.

As marketers we need to understand the people we’re targeting. We need to appreciate the topics they believe to be important, and craft messages which talk about those issues at an emotional level appropriate to the strength of their belief.

We don’t care what non-prospects think of our message.

In the focus group example the things the women found valuable, the men thought silly. (Tuck that away for the next time someone wants an ad to reach “everybody”). But when it came to the Color of the Day or a morning traffic report, it didn’t matter whether those men reacted at all. They were not the target.

I direct your attention to Roche Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline’s current television ad for Boniva.

Boniva is the trade name for ibandronatef. It’s prescribed as a treatment for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Sally Field is their celebrity spokesperson. Since her osteoporosis diagnosis in 2005 she has taken Boniva to build bone mass.

The ad opens on a close-up of Ms. Field.

My girlfriend and I were talking about osteoporosis and she told me she has to set aside time one morning every week to take her osteoporosis pill. I said, “I take once monthly Boniva. It fits my routine.” And she said “That I can do.” Boniva helps build strong, healthy bones to prevent fractures with just one pill a month. With all I do for bone health Boniva fits right in.

Now, despite the derogetory comments of two gentlemen friends of mine, I’m betting that the research indicates post menopausal women find setting aside time to swallow a pill to be a real issue.

My friends opined that worrying about the time required to swallow one pill a week is ridiculous. But then, they still don’t really believe the surveys which show women prefer chocolate to sex. And frankly, we don’t CARE what they think. Neither of these gentlemen will ever purchase Boniva, or recommend it. To Boniva’s marketers, my friends don’t even exist.

The ad ends with,

Sally Field: Ask your doctor if Boniva is right for you. My girlfriend is so glad she did.

Announcer: Don’t wait another week. Ask your doctor for a free trial offer or call one eight hundred four Boniva.

In your experience, is pill swallowing, (or more accurately the setting aside of time to swallow pills), an issue for post menopausal women?

Please post your thoughts while I’m gone. I’m stepping out to buy some chocolate stock.

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I was recently having lunch with an old friend for the first time in years, catching up on mutual friends, and jobs, and families, when he mentioned how much he and his elder daughter enjoyed a particular cellular phone ad.

He was able to recite a substantial portion of the dialog. He emphatically told me this was the best ad on television.

Out of curiosity, I asked the name of the advertiser.

He couldn’t remember.

Pause with me for just a moment, and let this admission soak in.

He remembered the ad, and couldn’t remember the advertiser.

Ouch.

How many millions of dollars has that advertiser spent to entertain my friend, his daughter, and hundreds of thousands of other people?

And they can’t even recall whom to thank.

I submit this is not the best ad on television.

In fact, would not a great ad accomplish exactly the opposite? You’d remember the advertiser, or his product or service, and not have any recollection of where your impressions of that advertiser came from?

Too many times advertisers seem to get it backwards. They want ads that look and sound like… ads. In fact, the more those advertisments look and sound like other ads, the more comfortable the advertiser is with the presentation.

The downside? The more they look and sound like other ads, the easier they are to ignore.

Think back with me a few days into our mutual past. Do you remember any ads catching your attention? Assuming you said, “yes,” did they catch your attention because of the sameness of those ads? Do you remember saying “My goodness… this ad appears to be more like all other ads than any I’ve seen this week. It stands out in my mind because of its ability to blend in with all of the others?”

Or, did it stand out as different, and because of that difference become worthy of attention, and remembrance?

Be careful with that quality of memorability.

Are you remembering the advertiser, or the ad?

Making ads memorable is easy. Insert a gorilla in a jockstrap into your next ad. It will be noticed, and remembered. It may even be talked about. And much like the cellular telephone ad, it won’t sell a dime’s worth of your product.

Can we agree that the purpose of your ads is to communicate to a prospective customer that you have goods and services for sale? Can we agree that our objective is to persuade that prospective customer to come shop with you?

I submit that good ads, persuasive ads, communicate an idea which will be remembered. Once the idea is shared, the vehicle which carried it to the prospective customer is quickly forgotten.

When people are saying, “Hey, that’s a great ad,” chances are it’s not.

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The nice young man from the television station has patiently presented his ratings, shown you the qualitative studies on his viewers, and presented the package pricing. You’ve decided to run a television ad. .

Whazzat? He needs to know what you want your ad to say? Let him decide. He’s the advertising expert. You’ve got a business to run.

Oh, look. He’s back with the finished ad. Humm. Interesting idea. Maybe you should get another opinion. Let’s ask the salespeople who have to deal with our customers what they think of this ad.

Stop it.

Either accept the ad, or don’t. But stop gathering opinions of people who flat out don’t know. There’s never been a conclusive study to indicate why, but there are three things everyone believes they can do better than their fellow citizens: drive a car, make love, and create advertising.

We’ve all seen their driving, and seen entirely too many bad ads to believe that a substantial portion of the population can be good at either.

You can trust your spouse.

Yes, you can, but the issue isn’t trust. It’s difficult for any spouse to get past the “I don’t like it, and I can’t imagine anyone else liking it ether,” stage.

And your staff? Yes, they’re available. But an odd thing happens when you ask people for their opinion. They always have one.

Even when they don’t have one, they will have one. But take the spousal response, multiply it by the number of staff people being consulted, and recognize that as soon as you ask for an opinion EACH OF THEM WILL BE COMPELLED TO CREATE ONE… on the spot… with no training, no knowledge, no preparation.

You’re going to get bad advice.

So, you shouldn’t get staff input?

Well, that would be a mistake. Your salesfolk are probably pretty good at dealing with customers one-on-one. They will have some good suggestions of things to include, when you ask them in advance.

And that’s the key.

Ask for key points to include before the copy is written. Once it’s done, you decide whether the ad leaves the correct impression in the minds of those watching it. Then, based on that impression only, either accept the ad as it is, or reject it outright.

But don’t ask anyone’s opinion after the fact.

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