In my first book, Life After the 30-Second Spot, I spoke about one of the major flaws of television advertising — specifically brand- (or is it bland?) awareness advertising. I called this flaw “lag” or “gap” analysis.
It works like this: It’s 9.25 p.m. You’re watching your favorite crime show on TV when you notice a commercial for a retail outlet (humor me by assuming you haven’t hit the fast forward button on your DVR, yet). The commercial is instantly recognizable by the gratuitous use of a Hollywood star cavorting around a white screen.
Now what?
Should you:
A. Hit the incline button on your power recliner and dash out to the retailer’s nearest store — which happens to be closed at 9:25 at night?
B. Live the staid dream of logging on to the retailer’s Web site to shop in your nightgown?
C. Do nothing?
If you elected C, you win — kind of.
A fundamental flaw of old marketing is that we assume we’re talking to people in the right place at the right time. But in reality, this just is not true. Human nature dictates that most likely we’ll forget we ever saw the commercial — that is, until we are reminded incessantly to take action. (Hence our need for so much frequency in media.)
When the need to act is so strong that it begs for action, we simply must make it easy for customers to request more information, order a catalog in the mail, do additional research and make the ultimate decision — purchase something.
Fact is, consumers will choose to do business with you on their terms. The best you can do is facilitate those choices by offering them a multitude of means to arrive at their desired end.
High-speed Internet connections mean consumers can shorten the lag between “exposure” (seeing a selling message) and “conversion” (doing something about it), lessening the likelihood that they will forget, get distracted or lose interest.
If you think about it, consumers become their own bridge between brand and direct marketing when they are motivated to take action to find out more. With the proper education and incentives (and, arguably, less pressure to make an immediate sale), we can instill a different set of values and expectations into our customers. They can better continue the conversation.
In doing so, the marketer’s proverbial “foot in the door” is replaced with an invitation to customers to “come on in” and engage in a mutually beneficial dialogue geared toward a relevant value exchange (in this case, our products for consumers’ money).
It’s a message that, unlike that ad put before TV viewers at 9:30 at night, will be hard to forget.
Joseph Jaffe is president and chief interruptor at crayon, a new marketing company. His second book, Join the Conversation, was released earlier this year.
Large Business, Medium Business, Opinion, Small Business
