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Can one ad work wonders?
Possibly. An effective ad or commercial can bring unexpected benefits.
Occasionally, ideas, headlines, copy, benefits and prices work together
to produce a winning ad that sparks much better traffic and sales than
usual.
Happy day if it's your ad. Your advertising investment finally has
paid off. Now, all you need to do is maintain inventory, run the good
ad once a week and count profits. It can happen, more often than you might
imagine.
Each ad can be a potential winner according to the ad-success pitches
you hear from media reps, ad agencies and business realtors. Every month
you can read true and helpful retailer success stories in this magazine.
They made ad winners sound easy. However, as you soon discover, the road
to the world of wonderful ads and great sales success may be longer and
filled with numerous potholes.
Your effective ad probably worked because it had the right elements—eye-stopping
illustration, a tempting headline, a special low-price offer, with simple
and easy-to-read copy in a well-designed layout. Also, the media or mailer
was obviously targeted to a specific and receptive audience.
CONTINUITY NEEDED
Advertising pros talk much about the parts needed to produce an effective
ad. I've written many articles about ad elements. Put these basics
together skillfully with some imagination and you will have a good usable
ad. Then, add tempting prices, insert the mix in the proper media to reach
your target audience and I can almost guarantee you'll have a winner.
Notice I said almost. Sadly, other variables can affect your final results.
The size, shape, day, page position—even the weather—can be
factors that impact results. Plus other unknown variables that pop up.
Still, use the basics and you can have good ads that should bring you
satisfaction. At least for one insertion, for a day.
But, no matter how good the ad is, you can't expect satisfactory
results if you don't repeat it at intervals. Continuity, or message
repetition, is another vital advertising element that I've mentioned
at times, but haven't stressed. When you schedule and repeat
advertising
messages over a set period of time you have an ad campaign.
CAMPAIGNS NEEDED
Regardless of size or kind of outlet, conducting an ongoing ad campaign
is difficult for most retailers. Naturally, cost is the primary reason.
Rerunning ads can be expensive, no question about that. But so are all
the other costs of operating a retail store or studio.
Marketing is a necessary and legitimate part of any business. Every retail
merchant understands that fact. They also know that customer communications,
in one form of advertising or another, is a basic and costly part of marketing.
Most retailers have some kind of an operating budget, actual or implied.
They set aside money for their regular business expenses including normal
selling costs. But then they often neglect to save the money they may
need for any display-type ads, let alone for a series of ads or an actual
campaign. They have basic concerns in addition to cost.
SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Here are some of the most-asked questions that retailers ask about ads
and media:
1. Why do ads cost so much to produce and run?
2. Why will an ad work well one time, then bring zilch when it runs again?
3. How many times do I have to run a lousy ad?
4. I spend a fortune on one ad and then it flops. Why?
Answers:
1. Why ask? Why do you charge so much for a curtain rod?
2. Good question. Wish I had a good answer.
3. If I knew the exact answer to this one, I wouldn't be working
to write this article. If you watch much TV, most commercials seem to
be run again and again and again. Forever.
4. Another good question. That same ad may be a winner next time you run
it. Or, it may never be worth what you paid for it. You won't know
until you repeat it enough to guarantee that it's a real loser. Then
you repeat another, better ad until it works satisfactorily most of the
time. The process is called research. It needs a separate account and
amount in your ad budget.
The definitive answers to the above questions involve more than cost or
production difficulties. They go back to the basic questions about the
value of any advertising. The old cliché, “I know that half
of my ad expenditures are wasted, but I don't know which half,”
is still valid today.
ADS NEEDED?
Many small business retailers, especially in our home decorating area
of workrooms, studios and specialists, decide that paid advertising is
not worth the cost and effort. So, they rely primarily on word-of-mouth
referrals and personal contacts, which may work fine to a degree for many
who accept a more limited sales volume.
Other retailers prefer to seek added growth and sales. They determine
that advertising is a necessary marketing expense well worth the effort.
They experiment constantly with the creative elements needed to produce
effective ads. They also realize that advertising is an ongoing process
that needs nourishment. So, they set aside budgets and prepare schedules
to maintain advertising continuity.
REPETITION PROBLEMS
The problem with much advertising isn't that it's poorly planned
or carried out, but that it's expected to work wonders. If it doesn't
produce as hoped, it seldom gets a second chance.
The unhappy retailer then complains, “I tried ads, they just don't
seem to work for my kind of outlet. It's a waste of my hard-earned
cash.” (If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that comment,
I would be playing much more golf.)
Another reason, just the opposite, is ad boredom. A satisfactory ad or
commercial is repeated a few times. It continues to get some results,
but the advertiser decides that the ad is boring. An employee or friend
has asked, “Aren't you ever going to run a new ad? I'm
tired of seeing that same old ad.” So out goes the old ad, even though
it may be working effectively.
Possibly, everyone has been bored with the old ad or commercial except
those all-important customers and prospects. Research reports repeatedly
verify that regular customers take much longer to become weary of an ad
than retailers might imagine. New and good prospects may just be seeing
it for the first time. Markets and audiences do change from time to time,
you know.
REPETITION AND REWARDS
The right ad or commercial repeated frequently can help your sales volume
grow. Like sales calls, ads need time to gain recognition and acceptance.
Repetition leads to other benefits, too. Here are some:
• Your message has a chance to take effect.
Response to an ad may be slower than you might imagine or hope. As noted
above, many good ads are abandoned before they make any impact in the
mind of potential prospects. No one really knows exactly how long this
process may take; how many times an ad or commercial must be seen or heard
to be absorbed by the mind.
Few advertisers have a “formula” for the length of time a message
should run. Arguments vary from, “A reasonable number of times,”
to, “Until I can't stand to see or hear the thing ever again.”
Mostly, they go by sales volume figures. If results remain dismal after
several insertions, they change to a different ad.
• One ad builds on another.
Some retailers alternate different ads to bring variety and interest to
their campaigns. They change the creative approach of new ads, but they
don't drastically alter its overall feeling. They prefer a “family”
look in their ads. They want readers to recognize their image at a glance,
same as their store logo. Readers may not read the ad, but they will recognize
the known store name and associate with it.
Eventually, as recognition grows, readers will check the headlines and
benefit offer. That's the way the reasoning goes. And that concept
has worked for years to build store image for retailers and brand name
recognition for manufacturers.
However, in recent decades, this old tried and true theory has been bashed
badly as retailers and manufacturers merge to form huge conglomerates.
In the process, famous and well-known brands are often downplayed, even
lost forever. Still, the theory continues to work. The larger company
then runs untold numbers of ads and commercials to build different images
and brand awareness for its new name.
• Campaigns build consumer confidence.
A purchasing decision, regardless of cost, can take time. Even a quick
impulse purchase may involve mental association from an old campaign.
A customer sees the package when shopping and decides to buy because of
an acquired need for the product created by past ads.
A major cost purchase may follow the same thought pattern. A final decision
may be sparked by an old, boring ad whose repeated message has been stored
deep in our mind. Who knows precisely, but that's the learned opinion
of varied “shrinks” and ad professionals.
• Campaigns can conserve your budget.
Creating new ads and campaigns costs money. Much mental effort and many
dollars can be wasted in the planning and production of a new ad or commercial
that may not be needed. Look around. Some retailers, maybe your competitors,
run their same image ad for years.
They then use prep costs saved to run their same old ad in more media
reaching more markets. They invest in related other merchandising aids,
such as point-of-purchase signs and displays, direct mail, Web sites and
related sales aids.
They prepare new ads only for:
• Special sales and store promotions.
• Meeting competitive promotions when absolutely necessary.
• When the old ad becomes a certain loser based on sales or other
marketing criteria.
• When you definitely can't stand to repeat the old, somewhat
effective ad ever again.
PLAN LONG TERM
Plan your advertising carefully as a basic and vital part of your marketing
operation. Create your store image and desired identity strategies for
long-range flexibility. Stay with a basic theme and format. Make changes
in price and headlines only when necessary. Think in terms of ad campaigns.
They can work for your present and future.
 John
J. Lichty is a consultant and senior editor for Draperies & Window
Coverings magazine. He has more than 30 years experience in the planning
and administration of various consumer, trade and retail advertising programs.
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