Roy Williams – Phil Bernstein's Advertising, Marketing, and Sales Training Blog

When People Complain About Your Advertising

“Most ads aren’t written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.” — Roy Williams

What do you do when people don’t like your ads?

Chaos on my mind — Photo Credit: Hermano Gris via Compfight cc

Not long ago an ad agency pulled a home improvement commercial off the air in Portland and Seattle because several listeners had called the client to complain about it. The client was concerned that he was offending potential customers, and the agency had to scramble to come up with something else.

So what happens when some people don’t like your advertising?

[bctt tweet=”They don’t have to like your advertising — they just have to buy.”]

Sunny Kobe Cook, whose relentless pitches for Sleep Country USA in the 90’s irritated thousands, once told a seminar audience that she would occasionally work behind the counter at one of her stores.

Customers would walk up to the counter after choosing a bed, hand her their credit card, and then do a double-take. She described the typical encounter like this:

Customer: You’re Sunny Kobe Cook!

Sunny: Yes, I am.

Customer (leaning forward, whispering): I hate your commercials!

“They’re standing in my store,” said Cook, “and making a purchase for a thousand bucks or more. I want everyone to hate my commercials like that!”

Cook annoyed people with her voice and relentlessness. Rob Christensen, by contrast, deliberately pushed the envelope of good taste. Christensen ran Apple Auto Sales of Charlotte, North Carolina. In his TV ads, he played “Reverend Rob”, a televangelist who would “HEAL your credit.” They’re cheesy, poorly-acted, and have the ability to offend on multiple levels.

They also sold cars. You can watch one here.

According to Mike Drummond of the Charlotte Observer, Christensen began running these ads since 1997. Viewers complained, and some stations refused to run the spots.

Christensen aired the commercials on stations who would accept them, and took his money to the bank. “I’ve had people tell me they hate my ads — hate them,” Christensen told Drummond. “And yet they still bought a car from me.”

Roy Williams echoes the sentiment:

Ninety-eight point nine percent of all the customers who hate your ads will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don’t cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they’re handing over their cash.

A caution is in order here: An annoying campaign may get you noticed, but you can’t forget to sell within the commercial. The Sleep Country and Apple Auto Sales commercials were more than just exercises in irritation. Each one contained a powerful sales message and a call to action.

Don’t reject an idea simply because some folks might not like it. They don’t have to like it — they just have to buy.

[reminder]If you work in advertising, have you ever had to deal with a client who wanted to bail on a campaign that was generating heat? How did you deal with it?[/reminder]

A Couple of Reasons Your Advertising Isn’t Working

These come courtesy of Roy Williams’ Monday Morning Memo, this week entitled “Blind Spots”. Just two points to consider — read the whole thing here.

2. reputation.
Consider the people who don’t buy from you. Are they buying elsewhere because they haven’t heard about your company, or is it because they have? I’ve never met a business owner willing to believe their company had a bad reputation…

7. media myths.
Are you anxious to find a more effective media? If so, you’ve got really bad ads. I’ve never seen a company fail because they were using the wrong media or reaching the wrong people. But I’ve seen thousands fail because they were saying the wrong things. A powerful message will produce results in any media.

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What You’re Facing in 2008

Roy Williams’ Monday Morning Memo has a remarkably clear-eyed look at the forces you’re up against as you go to market in a rapidly changing society. Scroll down to “What to remember when selling in 2008.”

Inspirational excerpt:

“Naiveté is rare today. Your customer is equipped with a bullshit detector that is highly sensitive and amazingly accurate. And the younger the customer, the more accurate their bullshit detector.

When selling, remember: If you don’t admit the downside, they won’t believe the upside.”

When you read the full article, pay special attention to #4, Word of Mouth is the New Mass Media.”

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

When People Complain About Your Advertising

“Most ads aren’t written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.” — Roy Williams

So what happens when some people don’t like your advertising?

Customers would walk up to the counter after choosing a bed, hand her their credit card, and then do a double-take. She described the typical encounter like this:

Customer: You’re Sunny Kobe Cook!

Sunny: Yes, I am.

Customer (leaning forward, whispering): I hate your commercials!

“They’re standing in my store,” said Cook, “and making a purchase for a thousand bucks or more. I want everyone to hate my commercials like that!”

Cook annoyed people with her voice and relentlessness. Rob Christensen, by contrast, deliberately pushes the envelope of good taste. Christensen runs Apple Auto Sales of Charlotte, North Carolina. In his TV ads, he plays “Reverend Rob”, a televangelist who will “HEAL your credit.” They’re cheesy, poorly-acted, and have the ability to offend on multiple levels.

They also sell cars. You can watch one here.

According to Mike Drummond of the Charlotte Observer, Christensen has been running these ads since 1997. Viewers have complained, and some stations have refused to run the spots.

Christensen airs the commercials on stations who will accept them, and takes his money to the bank. “I’ve had people tell me they hate my ads — hate them,” Christensen told Drummond. “And yet they still bought a car from me.”

Roy Williams echoes the sentiment:

Ninety-eight point nine percent of all the customers who hate your ads will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don’t cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they’re handing over their cash.

But you shouldn’t reject an idea simply because some folks might not like it. They don’t have to like it — they just have to buy.

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“It’s What You Say…

…multiplied by how many times you say it.”

Roy Williams

If you’re in charge of marketing your business, here’s something that won’t come as a shock: it’s harder to reach potential customers than it’s ever been. Attention spans are shorter, the environment is more cluttered, and your prospects have more ways to filter out your message.

• Voice mail and the Do Not Call list have greatly reduced the effectiveness of cold calling by phone.

• The Internet is turning the printed newspaper into a dinosaur.

• Digital devices like TIVO allow viewers to skip your television commercials.

All of this means that when you accomplish the difficult feat of gaining your prospects’ attention, you’d better tell a story that rewards their interest and moves them closer to doing business with you. The quality of your copy is the most important factor in this, and yet it’s often an afterthought once the media buying decision has been made.

Consumers, always a moving target, are now more elusive than ever. Your job is to get them to stop whatever they’re doing long enough for you to make your pitch. The success, or failure, of your efforts will ultimately come down to the two factors Roy Williams cites:

1.The copy – “What You Say”.

2. The strength of your advertising schedule – “How Many Times You Say It”.

While fragmentation has definitely become an issue, the fact remains that a radio commercial on a major station in Portland will still reach thousands of people at once. They will do their best to ignore you, but a compelling message, delivered steadily for a long period of time, will ultimately break through their filters and cause them to act.

You’d better make sure that the story you’re telling is relevant to your prospects’ lives. If it is, they’ll stop and listen. If it isn’t, they’re gone.

Here are some questions you should consider before writing your copy:

1. What problem is your customer having that you can solve?

2. What product or service do you offer that will solve that problem?

3. Why is your product or service the best choice to solve it? What evidence can you offer to support your claim?

4. How will your customers’ lives be improved when they’ve solved the problem?

5. What do you want your prospects to do after they’ve heard your message? Call your office? Visit your store? Log onto your web site? Define exactly what action you want them to take.

6. Why should they do it now instead of waiting for another time?

All of these questions need to be answered from your customers’ point of view – they will buy for their reasons, not yours.

Once you’ve answered those questions internally, make sure the person who writes your copy has access to them – and has access to you for any follow-up questions.

Fortunes have been lost by business owners who just told an untrained ad rep to “just bang something out.” Your copy — what you say – is too important to be left to chance.

If you’d like more on this topic, I’ve written a white paper called The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them. It’s a study of some of the most common ways that companies waste their advertising dollars — along with suggestions to make those dollars work harder and smarter. Request your free copy here.