Category: Marketing

Phil Bernstein on the Radio — Find Out How to Fix Your Advertising Mistakes

Find out tomorrow, right here.

On Thursday, January 12, I’ll be appearing on Susan Rich’s internet radio show, Your Marketing Plan. I’ll discuss the seven most common mistakes companies make when they advertise, why those mistakes will hurt your results, and ways to fix them.

I’ll also tell you how you can get a free copy of my newly-revised-and-expanded report, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them.

  • The Show: Susan Rich Talks — Your Marketing Plan
  • Date: Thursday, January 12
  • Time: 11am Eastern/ 8am Pacific
  • How to find it: Go here and  hit the play button at the top.

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Email Phil Bernstein here.

Like what you’re reading? There’s more! Sign up for Phil Bernstein’s free advertising and marketing e-newsletter here.

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Making a Funny Commercial Work

“Oh… and make it funny.”

For nearly a decade, my biggest Portland radio advertising client was a car dealer who appeared in his own commercials. I wrote the copy — more than 500 separate scripts over that time. And whenever he gave me the copy points, “Make it funny” was one of them.

He wanted the commercials to sell cars. But more important to him, I learned over time, he wanted his employees, customers, and friends to tell him what a funny guy he was.

In the interest of getting the copy approved, and preserving my commission, my first objective became to make him laugh when he read the script. My second objective for the script was to make it sell cars.

I’m not necessarily proud that my objectives were in that order, but there you go.

I’m reminded of that struggle every time I see the Volkswagen “The Force” commercial. This ad debuted on the Super Bowl, and two things happened:

1. Everybody loved it. Loved it. LOVED it.

2. When it was over, nobody could remember what car was featured in the ad.

It entertained, but it forgot to sell.

Pretty much everyone who owns a TV has seen it, but if you haven’t, here it is:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0]

It was Radio Copywriting Guru Dan O’Day, at a seminar in Los Angeles, who taught me how to do both. His rule: the sales message must be part of the comedy.

On Dan’s blog, he’s begun an extended discussion of why humor, used properly, works in advertising. Here’s a short excerpt:

When an advertisement comes on the radio, the listener’s guard is up. Even though my saying this will offend a few radio sales chauvinists, people do not turn on the radio for the commercials….

If the commercial makes you laugh, however, then while you’re laughing your guard is down. Your filter is in the “pause” mode.

The full discussion is well worth reading, and there’s more to come. You’ll find the full post here.

__________________________________________________________________________

Email Phil Bernstein here.

Like what you’re reading? There’s more! Sign up for Phil Bernstein’s free advertising and marketing e-newsletter here.

Become a Facebook Fan of “Doctor” Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert  here.

If you like this post, share it — click the “Share” button below.

3 Who Did It Right: A Year-End Customer Service Salute

I’ve spent some time on bad customer service lately — Best Buy, Ocean Marketing and Penny Arcade, and, of course, SuperBookDeals have offered plenty of material.

So it’s only fair to salute three companies — two national, one local — who did some small things that made things just a little bit nicer. In December alone:

  • The folks at the Lloyd Center Mens Wearhouse in my hometown of Portland called me last week to remind me that I had a $150 credit that would expire at the end of the year. Yesterday I went to the store and burned $149.49 of it.
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  • ZipCar sent me an email reminding me that my drivers license was about to expire. I’d received a notice from the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles about a month ago, and had forgotten about it. Since I’m a ZipCar member, they had my license info on file. Somebody was smart enough to realize that this kind of reminder would be quite valuable, and made it part of their automated database program. My license is now up to date.
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  • And finally, a thank you goes out to Phil Schlaadt, who runs the Portland MyDoor Dry Cleaning franchise. MyDoor does dry-cleaning pickup and delivery, one of the great time-saving inventions of modern life.
    –
    Phil Schlaadt had given his customers plenty of warning that there would be no pickup or delivery the week after Christmas. At least one of his customers (umm… Phil Bernstein) had forgotten this until late last week. I emailed him asking for a recommendation for a cleaner who’d be open.
    –
    He had one, and went me one better — he picked up my bag of laundry last Friday and dropped it off for me at a local shop he uses. Yesterday I went by that shop and picked my laundry up. Crisis averted.

Yes, Virginia, there are people out there doing it right, and they don’t get nearly enough credit. Thank you, and Happy New Year — see you in 2012.

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Email Phil Bernstein here.

Like what you’re reading? There’s more! Sign up for Phil Bernstein’s free advertising and marketing e-newsletter here.

Become a Facebook Fan of “Doctor” Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert  here.

If you like this post, share it — click the “Share” button below.

Penny Arcade, Ocean Marketing, and an Email Lesson

Let’s start with the lesson: email is social media.

Even if it starts out private, it can be made public. Extremely public.

The short version: in November, a guy named Dave orders a pair of PS3 controllers from an outfit called Ocean Marketing. The controllers don’t arrive. In mid-December, Dave writes to the company asking what’s going on.

He hears back from a guy named Paul Christoforo. Paul’s initial reply is not particularly helpful. Dave gets irritated, and Paul gets insulting. My favorite:

…put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else.

At some point, Dave forwards the email chain to Penny Arcade — a website/webcomic devoted to the gaming industry that has, according to Wikipedia, about 3.5 million readers

Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade enters the conversation, and Paul insults Mike. Mike then publishes the whole exchange on Penny Arcade (did I mention that they have 3. 5 million readers?)  and the real fun begins.

I am not a gamer, and was familiar with neither Penny Arcade or Ocean Marketing until reading the story. But a quick look at Ocean Marketing’s website reveals that their primary business is… social media marketing!

So here, in three parts, is the lesson I hope Ocean Marketing has learned today:

1. If you accept money for an order, ship the product on time.

2. If the product gets delayed for reasons beyond your control, be pro-active and notify the customer.

3. Apologize.

4. “Put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else” is not an apology.

5. If you’re going to insult your customers, remember that emails can be forwarded.

For further reading, Google “Penny Arcade Ocean Marketing”. It just keeps getting better.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Email Phil Bernstein here.

Like what you’re reading? There’s more! Sign up for Phil Bernstein’s free advertising and marketing e-newsletter here.

Become a Facebook Fan of “Doctor” Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert  here.

If you like this post, share it — click the “Share” button below.

Public Relations Pros: How Would You Help Best Buy?

You are a public relations professional, specializing in crisis management. Your client, Best Buy, took a whole bunch of orders online, and now can’t deliver.

What advice would you give them? Comment below.

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Email Phil Bernstein here.

Like what you’re reading? There’s more! Sign up for Phil Bernstein’s free advertising and marketing e-newsletter here.

Become a Facebook Fan of “Doctor” Phil Bernstein, Portland’s Advertising Expert  here.

If you like this post, share it — click the “Share” button below.