It seems to be the season for me to get stuck into all sorts of adverts I reckon are a waste of money.
You see it’s my firm belief that, if you’re going to spend money on any form of advertising, you should get more money back than you spend on it.
Only John Wanamaker (or was it a Fleet Street publishing baron?) was foolish enough to say that he knew half of the money he spent on advertising was wasted but he didn’t know which half. Madness indeed! He would have soon got his answer if he’d applied the cardinal rule of “test and measure”.
However back to the current burr under my saddle.
The advertisement you see here occupied half-a-right hand, early general news page of the Melbourne Saturday Herald Sun recently. It would have cost a motza, a big motza!
But why did the boss spend the money to run it?
Would potential clients have searched the photos to find a face with whom they wanted to do business? Did the photo convey the impression they knew their stuff? Or was it just to make the team members feel good, give them something to show their family and friends?
Okay, okay! I have no quibble with the photo if perhaps they’d used the bottom half of the space more effectively.
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They could have given some serious, powerful reasons why this talented team were the real estate powerhouse of the country. Maybe, some great and genuine testimonials to prove how good they were. Perhaps a brief story of what they’d done, the hundreds of happy vendors, the huge dollars involved, the record breaking auction results beaten by no other competitor! Oh, so much more.
It could have been an advert that made their inbound communication channels go into meltdown with people anxious to do business with them.
Still, enough about them. This is a reminder for you when you’re pondering spending money on advertising.
Simply ask yourself, “If I’m going to spend this money what return must I get and how will I achieve it?”
Footnote: Maybe the powers that be thought it would be great PR! “Great PR” means they get a wonderful warm feeling but nobody notices! You can get that for nothing by wetting yourself in a dark suit!
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