The Baltimore Business Journal just ran an ad titled, “Pattern your advertising after nature. How many times should you advertise? The answer may surprise you.” In the ad, they cite some advice given by London business man Thomas Smith and they say it is still applicable today:
The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
The second time, they don’t notice it.
The third time, they are aware that it is there.
The 4th time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
The 5th time, they actually read the ad.
The 6th time, they thumb their noses at it.
The 7th time, they start to get a little irritated with it
The 8th time, they start to think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
The 9th time, they start to wonder if they may be missing out on something.
The 10th time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
The 11th time, they start to wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
The 12th time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
The 13th time, they start to feel the product has value.
The 14th time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
The 15th time, they yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
The 16th time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
The 17th time, they make a note to buy the product.
The 18th time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
The 19th time, they count their money very carefully.
The 20th time prospects see the ad, they buy what it is offering.
How convenient for the Baltimore Business Journal – you’re going to have to run 20 ads before someone will buy the product you are advertising!
Do people really believe stuff like this?
Wake up local business people! It’s 2008 - the 1800’s were a long, long time ago. If any part of Thomas Smith’s quote resonate with you, you’ve got the wrong people running your advertising and marketing OR you need to re-think running ads in the local business journals. In the same issue, they have a (paid advertising) section called, “Ask the Experts.” For advertising, they feature Shawn Hyatt, Senior Marketing Consultant with The Baltimore Business Journal (shocking!). She’s asked, “How important is it to include advertising into my budget?”
She replies, “if you want to grow your business each year, advertising is a necessity. Even thought it’s not tangible, every successful company advertises in some form.”
How insightful…
With ads and experts like this, it’s no wonder articles are coming out titled: The Newspaper Death Watch (Also appeared in Advertising Age, Cover, April 2008)
I don’t who Thomas Smith was and I don’t know whether every successful business advertises (I can think of a few that do not use any traditional media). But I do know that if you give your precious advertising dollars to the advertising mediums that think like this and that employ (so called) experts that tell you that advertising is not tangible, you’re going to be wasting the majority of your money.
It’s 2008 and time to demand more from your advertising and your advertising partners. Put in place systems that make advertising tangible and make the advertising experts accountable for results!
Your future business success depends on it…
1 Comment
August 26, 2008 at 2:35 am
The problem for many small businesses is that they do not budget for marketing in their business plan. But virtually every business learns that marketing has to be a significant part of your budget. I agree you must evaluate where and how you advertise or you’ll waste a lot of money.
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