For those of you who read this column with any regularity, today’s title might seem strange for me. I’ve written several times in the past year about the frustration tied to traditional marketing tactics, advertising included in that mix. My emphasis on relationship marketing seems to be the opposite of the position that “advertising works”.
Traditional marketing tactics are losing their effectiveness. This is not just my opinion; many marketing professionals agree. But, not all things are black and white. Advertising does work, and it works on several levels.
To understand how and why advertising works, it is necessary to have an appreciation of the process customers might go through when making a purchasing decision. On the simplest level, there are four steps – awareness, comprehension, conviction and order.
Awareness is just that – the customer is aware of who you are. Nothing more. Your name might ring a bell, or they’ve seen your product or service somewhere, and it stuck with them. Awareness is a marketer’s job. Marketing professionals need to create awareness; it is a crucial stage that cannot be left to chance.
Once aware, a customer needs to comprehend. Comprehension is an understanding of what is offered and potentially received through use of the product or service. Comprehension does not usually translate into an order. Comprehension is an intellectual position, and buying is an emotional decision.
Conviction is investment. Conviction means the customer not only comprehends what the product or service can do, but is also convinced that it can do it. Conviction is an investment of emotion. To have conviction about something means you take a position. You’ve considered the situation and made a decision about the probability of a result.
Order is commitment. Conviction translates into decision and a purchase. The customer is not only emotionally invested, but they become financially invested.
The Right Time
So back to “advertising works.” If you look at the four stages, advertising is most appropriate in the first two stages. Advertising can create awareness. A full page ad with nothing but a logo and a website address creates awareness. And awareness is very good.
A good friend made me aware of a study that says only 3 percent of a given populace is ready to buy what you have at any point in time. Who populates that 3 percent is constantly changing. If a marketer can effectively create awareness within the entire population, then they know at any moment that 3 percent are buyers ready to take action.
What moves those buyers to further action is comprehension, and advertising works here as well. Good advertising can create intellectual understanding. A well written ad with clear concise information and possibly some testimonials reasonably informs a potential customer on the capabilities and benefits of a product or service.
Advertising works because it invites opportunity. Awareness and comprehension of something is an invitation to explore the opportunity of using the product or service.
Advertising works because it invites emotion. Good ads stir emotion, and a relationship with a customer is an emotional bond. Advertising creates the potential for this emotional connection and conviction on the part of the customer.
Good marketers use advertising to open up doors of opportunity for those emotional bonds to occur. Great marketers inject emotional connections into their advertising, and invite prospects to invest. Be a great marketer by understanding who you want relationships with. Then judiciously use focused advertising to create emotional connections with them.
Ken Cook is managing director of Peer to Peer Advisors, an organization that facilitates business leaders helping each other. You can reach him at kcook@peertopeeradvisors.com.
