Communications can be a challenge
You’ve heard it a 1,000 times over, you must advertise to keep your business afloat. For many businesses though, effective communication with consumers is one of their biggest challenges. You must try to think like your customer, put yourself in their shoes. That’s not always an easy task. Often advertisers are so caught up in the copy, the design, the music and the ‘call to action,’ that they forget to consider the surroundings and circumstances under which the ad will be seen consumers often end up seeing advertising which probably cost more money to create that it brings in. Not all mistakes are so big that they jump out at you, little ones happen too - but they can damage your image just as easily. Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or a big agency it can be easy to over-look mistakes when you are so closely involved in a project. Larger advertisers may have the time, money and resources to do A/B testing or focus groups. It’s my opinion though, that because humans like to make others happy the people being watched and/or tested will inherently try to figure out what the tester wants and give it to them. Testing, if possible, is an important and useful tool - just use the data you acquire carefully. Lastly, I strongly urge you to have someone without a vested interest in your advertisement, and who has never seen any version of it, look at it to make sure that it gives the intended message and does not make you look like a jack-ass. I hate to tie this back to lawyers, but much of what they quote is based on what a “reasonable person” would do. Put your ads to the same test - what would a reasonable person see, think and feel when they experience your ad? I offer a few samples I think should have a “reasonable person” test. more…