Advertising "Mistakes"

We generally understand the theory that advertisements are necessary to facilitate increased awareness and to help consumers understand the product or service being showcased. Some firms believe that making an advertisement is an “end all” solution to their problems, and that the sales and profits of the organization will be sustained with the creation of flashy and “winded” advertisements, with no purpose and no “push” statements to drive consumers to action. In this post, “MarketingNotesJA” will be looking at some of the mistakes that organizations make when developing their advertisements and the things that you should avoid when creating your own masterpiece.

1. Bad Targeting: One of the worst mistakes to make as an organization, is to target the wrong audience with your message. Targeting the wrong audience could result in advertising ineffectiveness, profit loss and even worse…. “your job”. Any organization or individual that wishes to maximise the returns on their advertising dollar, must ensure that they conduct proper market research and understand their audience to the point where they can provide the solutions necessary to move people to action. An expensive advertisement that is targeted to the wrong people, will never be remembered, but an under-budgeted advertisement, properly targeted will (even though critiqued for its “under-appearance”) almost always move people to action.

2. Touting Features and not Benefits: Another mistake that some companies make when advertising, is paying too much attention to the features of the product and not necessarily its benefits. The “cell phone” you may be advertising may have dozens of features, but how will it benefit “me” the consumer, how will it make my life easier and how will it add value to what I currently do now? These are the questions that consumers ask themselves when viewing an advertisement, and answering them correctly i.e. identifying how the product will benefit the consumer, will see these individuals clamouring to buy or get more information about what you have to offer.

3. Lack of Emotions: As human beings we are very emotional creatures, and we like the feeling of being able to  connect with a particular event  or happening on a higher, more visceral level. Advertisements containing a tinge of emotion, especially when it hits close to home, is exactly what we need to move us to action. When an advertisement seamlessly integrates the use of emotions, while touting the products’ “benefits”, the likelihood of moving your target audience to action is increased.

4. No Creativity: This form of ineffective advertising is almost self explanatory, as consumers will not waste their time to watch, listen, or  even read an advertisement that does not stand out, or is in any way unoriginal or  predictable. An ad that fails to creatively break through the clutter, will simply be tossed aside and is mentally stamped by the consumer as an ad “they don’t ever want to see again.” Try being creative and smart with your advertisements and see how responsive your target audience will be to the product, service or idea you may be selling.

5. No Call to Action: You may have done everything right with your advertisement by incorporating creativity, touting benefits or using emotions, but without calling your consumers to action you will never reap the returns on your  well spent advertising dollar. Always leave consumers with your contact information whether it be your email address, facebook fan-page, twitter username etc; thereby giving consumers all the avenues through which they may contact you for more information. By doing this, you may be able to measure how successful your campaign was, as well as gain valuable information which could help you to shape the way you design and develop future advertisements.

Whether your a small business or a large organization, advertising matters. Therefore the type of advertisements you put out should be creative, targeted effectively, focus on the benefits of the product and should be able to call consumers to action. A perfect mixture of these attributes will not only allow your ads to be more effective and well placed, but will also allow you to increase the sales, profits and the subsequent loyalty levels of the organizations’ consumers.