Advertising STRATEGY – the foundation of getting results

Advertising STRATEGY – the foundation of getting results

By Duane Christensen

Strategy is one of those words in advertising that is rarely understood.  I'm attempting to give you an easy-to-understand explanation.  Hope it helps.  Let me know if it does. 

An advertising strategy is formed by evaluating your current market situation.  You must know your competitors.  You should know who in your industry is #1 and #2.  Maybe you're one of them.  If you are…rock on!  You always need to defend your position on the rung of the market share ladder.  There's always someone farther down the ladder that is trying to take over your position.  And for most businesses, they'd like to be a position or two higher…but they don't know how to get there.

In order to gain market share and a consistent flow of new customers you need to position yourself as "something" people will find favorable.  Something that makes them think, "Hmm, that's important to me."  Usually, it shouldn't be something that another business already claims.  Unless it's someone farther down the "ladder" and you can do it much better.

I'm going to clarify with some examples.  If you are an auto dealer…with a behemoth competitor that claims and SHOUTS the "best price" because of the volume they do…you want to stay away from Price as your main strategy.  You can talk some "price" so people know you're competitive (which you are) and they're not making a huge financial blunder if they do business with you…but it's not how you want people to remember you.  You can't win that battle.  The Big Guys have too much money and pound PRICE into everyone's head.

So WHO should you be?  Well, you have to go above and beyond in other areas.  Like service and "non-pressure" sales tactics on your lot, for example.  Not everyone wants to do business with the puky price pushers and pressure sales dudes.  Take me for example.  I wanted to buy a Nissan quite a few years back.  And the Big Guy was the only Nissan dealer in town.  I talked to a rude sales jerk for about 10 minutes and decided I wasn't buying from him or his company.  I drove 180 miles and bought the same exact Nissan.

Maybe you're in the floral business.  There seems to be a floral shop on almost every street in my town.  You have to know your competitors.  Buy flowers from every one of them.  Rate them on flower quality, design, helpfulness, etc.  When you know as much as possible about your competitors, then you can begin to create a strategy for your ad campaign.  If nobody is toting that their flowers will last an average of one day longer, why not BE that florist?  All you have to do is figure out how to make your flowers last an average of a day longer.  Piece of cake, right?  J  Why is that a good strategy?  Because flowers tend to be a short-lived investment that makes people question the purchase anyway.  But if you honestly and creatively tell people that your flowers will last an average of a day longer than most other floral shops' flowers…now you've got their attention.  Especially, if your pricing is close to the average.  Florists will probably say phphphtttt! to me about that.  Ok…if that's not possible…come up with something else.  Think out of the box, think like Einstein, think like a true entrepreneur, whatever it takes to give yourself a true edge up on your competition.

PRICE is a bad strategy.  Very few businesses can get away with it.  Like Wal-Mart.  Their business model is based on low price.  But it couldn't have been done without a lot of thinking, strategizing, and hard work by Sam Walton.  Take ME again as an example.  I rarely shop at Wal-Mart.  I'd rather do business with the local biz if possible.  But sometimes the local store falters and gives me a very bad customer service experience.  That makes me sad because I do not want to be a Wal-Mart shopper.

Small business owners have to be on their toes at all times.  All your customers are gold.  Your customers are doing business with you because you have convinced them that you're BETTER.  And they're willing to pay a little extra for that.  Do NOT take your customer for granted.

You can have a much more intelligent and profitable advertising strategy than Wal-Mart.  You just need to THINK about what your customer wants.  Trust me it's not just about price.  It's about VALUE.  You can add value to a sale that doesn't cost you anything at all.  Or very little anyway.  Here's a cheap value adding tip…make your customer feel special.  C'mon…you can do better than just having a "greeter" at the front door, can't you?  Think about how you can add value and make your customer feel special…then do it.  Or train your employees to recognize and take advantage of circumstances to make a customer feel like they matter.  A lot of times that might cost a little bit too.  But it's way worth it in the long-run with the positive word-of-mouth.

What if you're a siding company?  Who are your competitors?  Vinyl siders.  Cement board siders.  Cut-it-on-site siders.  Cheap-ass siders.  Which one are you?  What's the benefit of what you offer?  Maybe your strategy could encompass what you are NOT.  If you're NOT the cheap-ass sider…tell people you're not.  Here's a couple of samples of ad copy that might get people's attention…  "Hey, if you want your siding to last longer than 7 to 10 years, you'll probably like what we have to offer."  OR… "When you go to sell your house in 8 years…is your potential buyer going to be warned by her inspector or realtor that she may have to think about re-siding within the next year or two?  Probably."  

There are lots of strategies you could use.  The main thing is to be a business of value…but don't try to copycat the "#1" in town.  Find a strategy that fits you and only you.  Then, start pounding "who you are" into people's brains.  If it's a strategy that people care about (if it hits "hot buttons"), then you'll start grabbing a bigger piece of the pie and moving up the ladder a bit.  Slowly at first…but surely.  Be patient.

Remember that your strategy can't be a lie.  You'll go out of business faster than you thought possible if your ad messages and STRATEGY doesn't match your "in-store" reality.  In my experience, bad word of mouth travels eleventeen times faster than good word of mouth.

Start doing your research on your competitors.  The more you know, the faster you can start taking a few customers from them here and there.