Armchair Quarterbacks Teach a Valuable Marketing Lesson

Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am

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Will Your Ad Break This Man From His Trance? I’ll Show You How…

4187 man sitting on a couch channel surfing the tv and drinking beer(1) Armchair Quarterbacks Teach a Valuable Marketing Lesson

Without fail, most businesses who advertise screw up their message. Have you noticed that most advertising speaks at you? It is said that in an average day some of us are exposed to 3000+ advertisements.

You would think our heads would explode from all those pesky ads popping up all around us, all day.

How do you manage to stay sane? You ignore them. You have developed blinders that do not allow your mind to be distracted from meaningless messages.

In an effort to show you a perfect example, I’ll use your wife/girlfriend. Let’s say you are watching your favorite sporting event. Your team is behind and making a comeback. Suddenly your lover appears behind you telling you about something that happened at work.

Most men nod and say ‘really, wow’, ‘okay’, ‘sure’, ‘maybe later’… or nothing at all. Let’s say the same woman walks in behind her man and says ‘I slept with Ron at work and I am so sorry’.

What happens now, do you keep watching your team drive down the field? Hell no, that game is nothing now. Your full attention has been redirected in an instant.

Most advertisements speak at people that are transfixed on something else or many things. When you speak at them they will not listen. You are no different than the 3000+ messages they are getting hammered by. (that are also ignored)

We are all wrapped up in our little worlds. We have a sick kid, bill problems, dog is crapping on the floor, work, relationship problems, the car has a weird noise, something good is on tv…. all of these more important than your offer.

Until you prove otherwise.

Knowing your ideal prospects well can help you craft what I like to call ‘meaningful relevance‘. If you know who you are after very well it is much easier to grab their attention.

Don’t dream up shit you think should be meaningful, base your actions on an educated analysis, not what you think should be meaningful.

Instead of trying to force them to listen, go with the grain of their everyday life. Relate to them and they will at least take notice for a second. It’s up to you to keep their attention from there.

Please feel free to leave comments instead of emailing them to me. Share your opinion with everyone.

go get some

Paul