WorldWide Drilling Resource

I separated the ads into two piles. Pointing to the first pile I said, "These two ads may have generated a small response, but far from what you hoped for.” I could tell by the look on his face I was correct. I then pointed to the second pile and stated confidently, "These four ads generated no response at all." The company president's mouth fell open and he said, "You're absolutely right.” He then demanded angrily, “How can you know that?” I tried to explain to him there is a science to advertising. It’s not difficult, but there are simple principles of psychology to be followed which ensure an ad will work. Most of the ads from the zero response pile had humorous headlines, photos, and illustrations which had nothing to do with his product. Beginners, who have watched too many beer commercials, believe an ad has to be funny or clever to get attention. Below the headlines and visuals were dense blocks of copy which would turn away any casual reader. The copy in all of his ads mostly bragged about the company’s growth, and said little about the product other than its features. There was no copy which pointed out the benefits the customer would gain from doing business with this company. By contrast, in a successful ad, the headline and its supporting images call out to the target audience, letting them know about something beneficial to them. The greatest failure of his ads was they did nothing to show how his software would solve his prospective customer’s problems. Advertising is all about problem solving; and people are motivated by solu- tions to their problems. Af ter the meet ing, I learned the owner had created those ads himself and had expected me to praise them. When I didn’t, he grew angry. I under- stood his anger was really about his company losing market share, but he was also a “control freak” who had built his business himself, and wasn’t accus- tomed to accepting advice from others. Needless to say, we did not do any busi- ness together. Sometime later, I heard he ended up selling his company to one of his competitors. The software company owner ’s problems seemed to stem from his pur- suit of publicity. When you use public re- lations as a marketing tool, you relinquish control of the message. Advertising is much more expensive, but you control the message and who sees it. Even though I didn’t get the job, I learned a lot about my ability to diagnose ads, which I was able to use in helping other companies. What adverse situa- tions have you encountered where the silver lining was the awesome lesson you learned from it? Robert Robert is an author, humorist, and innovation consultant. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert, visit www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com or contact him via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Wilson cont’d from page 7. 24 FEBRUARY 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Deadline for April issue! Space Reservation: February 25 th Display & Classified Ad Copy: March 1 st