by Monica Ballard & Ray Seggern of The Brand Guys
“Chuck Norris built the hospital he was born in.”
Is that true? Of course not. But, just by reading that one sentence, you capture the bigger-than-life, legendary essence of Chuck Norris.
The same is true in marketing.
Character-driven-marketing campaigns will always outperform logic-driven campaigns. The secret is, you don’t have to lie. You can still tell your truth—just tell it with style.
A lot of The Brand Guys’ clients know by now that we like to clump this together in very manageable groups of three. It’s part of our effort to keep things simple: ABC, 1-2-3. For that reason, we want to point out three types of ad campaigns in hopes you’ll stick with the smartest one, and dropkick the others to the curb, Chuck Norris style.
Category-Specific
This type of advertising fits everyone without differentiation. Some ad agencies offer these types of ads to several companies in different markets. Unremarkable service guy shows up at the homeowner’s door. Service man puts on booties before entering. Service guy works on the furnace, or crawls into the cabinet under the sink, or makes notes on a clipboard after staring at your roof, or tweaks something inside the breaker box. You get the point. They’re generic ads where all they have to do is insert your name, logo, and website info—and voila! You’ve got yourself a great ad. But is it, really? If your company name can be lifted out and your competitor’s name inserted seamlessly, chances are this ad will be full of portable and pointless clichés. Is this sort of advertising really the highest and best use of your dollars?
Product-Specific
Product-specific campaigns are just as portable as category-specific, and useful for driving traffic. These campaigns generally advertise loss-leader prices. And once you start bragging about sales and low prices, you’re setting yourself up for a dangerous precedent. You pretty much know ahead of time what the customer is going to spend because you’ve set it up for them in advance. Many times, that loss-leader product or service is the only thing that customers are going to take advantage of, and now that they have that, thanks for everything, they’ll be on their way. If that’s all they want to spend, you have to prepare yourself for that inevitability. You also have to remind yourself that they may be making a note of this low-price product or service, and they won’t be back until you offer it again, or they’ll demand it even when it’s not being offered.
Client-Specific
Now you’re talking. Client-specific ads say things that only your company can say. Greater and more powerful than some Unique Selling Proposition, client-specific advertising starts with your origin story—a story only you can tell—and continues telling the tale of your development of the business, descriptions of your company culture, your successes, and yes, even recounting the rough patches along the way. You should be talking about core values and beliefs; company rituals and processes. Tell your story, not in a journalistic kind of way, but with your company’s essence, your style. Are you warm and fuzzy, or high-tech and polished? In this all-too-busy world, stand out by using entertainment as currency. Don’t just brand…BOND. Win the heart and the mind will naturally follow.
So, what kind of advertising have you been using, is it working for you, and are you ready to try something different? Be honest with yourself and change what you can.
Come on, it’s not like Chuck Norris is going to beat up on you or anything.
Until next time,
Onward & Upward!
Ray Seggern and Monica Ballard are partners in Roy Williams’ Wizard Of Ads Group and Ray is founder of The Brand Guys, a hand-picked crew of branding and advertising experts who are available for SGI members to hire by calling (512) 808-5775.