Liz Craig, Writer

Sock monkey and his friends take a fun-filled road trip from Las Vegas to NYC in a new Kia Sorento. Love the sock monkey riding a mechanical bull and getting a tatto sewn on. Music is by The Heavy, “How You LIke Me Now.” The spot’s humor drives home the selling message: Hey, you can cut loose and have a ball when you have a 2011 Kia Sorento! Imagine it targets older teens or early 20s, though almost anyone this side of 70 would enjoy the fun these toys are having.

Another 2011 Sorento ad features a family traveling through a forest mysteriously furnished with framed family photographs, furniture and fixtures. Tag line: “Feel at home wherever you go.” It’s okay but much more laid-back than the monkeyshines spot. Aimed at families with kids, apparently.

What about the sock monkey spot? How you like it now?

So it’s up to you to create compelling advertising for a product. All the information you have to go on is a list of product features in a brochure. It does this, it looks like this, it costs this much. Really basic stuff. But you want to get prospective customers excited enough about your product to buy it. Just describing its features the way Mr. Spock would — from intellectual observation — won’t do the trick. You have to find a benefit in the product that will show prospects they need, want or desire it.

So how do you turn features into benefits? By following the WIIFM method. “What’s in it for me?” is the first question the prospect will ask. And it’s the crucial question you must answer. A fact sheet for a banana might list features like “attractive yellow hue,” “soft texture,” “delicious flavor,” etc. But does that make you want to buy a banana? If you’ve never heard of it before? No. Only if it has a benefit for you. In selling, WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) applies to bananas and every other thing under the sun.

“What do I need a banana for?” your prospect asks.

You reply, “Well, bananas are delicious and handy to take on a trip, ’cause they have their own wrapper. They’re great for snacks or sliced on cereal. Each banana has only 100 calories and no fat. They provide the potassium you need every day to stay healthy. And they’re natural and unprocessed, with no food additives. Oh, and by the way, kids love ‘em.”

“Okay, sounds pretty good, but I’m looking for new menu ideas. Got any?”

“You can make fantastic banana nut bread with it, or ring a fruit salad with alternating slices of banana and kiwi, or — well, here — here’s our new banana cookery booklet, ‘Go Bananas With Bananas!’ There are literally hundreds of ways you can use bananas in salads and desserts!”

“All right — I’m sold!”

What’s the difference between a feature and a benefit? A feature is a “so what?”, while a benefit is the “what’s in it for me?”, the sizzle of the steak, the one thing that makes prospective customers sit up and take notice.

The old AIDA formula still holds:

• Attention

You must get the prospect’s attention so they’ll listen to your message. A great visual, a compelling headline, or on TV or radio, a curious sound (or silence)…

• Interest

You must tell him or her something that interests him or her in your product. Some way to use it to solve a problem, some way the product enhances their life, makes them look more attractive, saves them money…

• Desire

What would make your targeted prospect desire the product? (Better health, wealth, quality of life, convenience, deliciousness, fun?)

• Action

You’ve hit the prospect with the benefits that should appeal to them. If they have a need that your product can fill, then they may go out and buy it.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is, but often, advertisers present a list of features, thinking surely the prospect can figure out how the features are beneficial to them. It’s best not to count on their taking the time to connect the dots.

So as an advertiser creating a campaign, always ask, “What does my prospective customer need this (product or service) for?” If you can’t think of an answer, well… think harder.

It always makes me feel warm and safe when I send out invoices at the end of the month or at the end of a project. But I get a cold chill when I realize that most clients don’t pay me for another month.

Is there a way around this time-lag between billing and receiving the money?

Some smaller clients who have control of their checkbooks will write a check sooner. But big companies with Accounts Payable people seem to drag their big corporate feet. Either that, or it takes that long to go through the maze of corporate bookkeeping.

The bills I get are due within a week or two. Like for utilities, insurance, mortgage payments and other things. At the Quik-Trip, it’s pay right then or go home hungry. So why do big companies get the big breaks?

If anybody has devised a system for being paid sooner than 30 days later, please share.

Y’see, I have an interest-bearing checking account. And for every day my receivables are delayed, I’m forfeiting interest! Actually losing money! So what should I do, charge clients my unearned interest for 30 days?

What do you do? I’d really love to know.

So I’m sitting in a chair across the desk from a harried boss/owner or manager, and he’s telling me business is sluggish, so there are certain things he wants to do with his website: change the wording on this page; take out this paragraph and put in something about _____; add our mission statement on the homepage; add all these keywords; et cetera.

The expression, “Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” comes to mind. I’m happy to do Web copy, but if your business is going south, you don’t fix it by tinkering with the wording on your website. You start by stepping back a few hundred yards and assessing your situation objectively.

You need to ask yourself what’s really causing your business to dwindle.

• A new competitor in town?
• Someone offering what you do for lower prices?
• Are your customer service people surly?
• Is your location hurting you?
• Are your products worth buying?
• Do you have a unique selling proposition, or are you just a me-too?
• Do you keep in touch with your best customers and ask for referrals?
• Are you advertising and marketing or just hoping people will notice you?

Whether you’re experiencing a business slump or going great guns, it’s necessary periodically to take an objective look at your company, your competitors, your customers and potential customers, assess the total picture. Then you need to establish some goals, and to achieve them, do that bothersome thing called “strategizing.”

See, without an overall strategy guiding everything you do, you’re like a ship captain without a map or a destination. Your vessel is simply drifting anywhere the winds and tides take it. You happen upon another ship and shout out for directions. “To where?” the other captain shouts. “Anywhere!” you yell. The other captain hollers, “What are you seeking?” “Anything!” you answer. The captain yells back, “Well, then go any direction you please!” He walks back to the wheelhouse shaking his head.

Enough of the seagoing analogy. Point is, you need to plot out a destination and some goals for your company, for at least the coming year. The best way to do it is by creating a strategic plan. Here’s an excellent article I found about various types of analysis you can use to come up with one.

I know, busy people don’t like to fool with this kind of thing, but it’s absolutely vital. A strategic plan is a map that will guide your ship (or dinghy) safely through the rocky shoals of commerce and on to your goals, no matter which way the winds blow. Because, you see, you’ve included contingencies for their changeability in your plan. Smart, huh?

Guess I wasn’t done with that seagoing analogy after all.

In summary, to succeed in any business, large or small, you need a strategic business plan. You can work on it yourself, call on a business consultant to help you, go to a seminar about it, or ask a friend who’s done one how s/he did it. One way or another, you gotta have a plan.

If you’re in certain counties in Kansas, you can get help developing your plan from a good business consultant for free at the JCCC Small Business Development Center. I recommend them strongly.

Once you’ve gotten your business strategy done, you’ll want to develop a marketing plan and a creative plan. I have a sure-fire process (which you can learn more about here) for developing them. When you’re ready to get the word out about your business in the most cost-effective, effective way, give me a call, and I’ll be happy to help.

You’re a freelance creative looking for projects. You’ve been knocking on doors and calling prospects for months without snagging much work. What’s wrong? Is it the economy? The time of year? The weather? Are you talking to the wrong prospects? Is it your breath?

Maybe, but could it be the way you position yourself in your own mind that’s tripping you up? If so, making these three simple mental adjustments could improve your prospecting results.

1. Know What It Is You’re Really Selling

If you’re a freelance writer or designer, you’re obviously not just selling your ability to type or make pictures on your computer. But by calling yourself a “writer” or “designer,” maybe you’re selling yourself short. What your prospect really needs is someone who can help think through his or her business challenges and devise effective ways to meet them.

Make this mental adjustment: You’re not just a writer or designer. You’re a strategic thinker who can help your prospect win more business. Show results you’ve achieved for other clients, if you have them. If you’ve been spending most of your presentation time talking about yourself up until now, cut it short and start asking questions about what the prospect needs. Take notes. Follow up regularly (but not so often you bug the prospect), and share a good idea or two. Which brings us to the second mental adjustment.

2. Make It Your Mission to Help Others

People like people who help them unselfishly. So how can you help prospects? Let them know that your primary objective is helping them and their business. Maybe they don’t need your creative services at the moment. But you can still help, even if it’s by referring the prospect to a good chiropractor, veterinarian, business resource or fitness club.

“Shine the spotlight on the other person,” not on you. Send your prospects articles they may find helpful, and ask about their business and their family, if you are that well acquainted. Someday, when they realize they need creative, strategic thinking, you’ll be top of mind. By the way, helping others is a good idea in general, even if you don’t see how it will benefit you. Or especially then.

3. Ditch the Success/Failure Model

So you met with a prospect, and s/he seemed uninterested, kept looking at the clock, ended the meeting after 10 minutes and said no encouraging words. Do not beat yourself up for not having gotten new business at that meeting. Do not press the “FAIL” button.

We creatives are often overly sensitive. We tend to take things personally and interpret lack of enthusiasm as rejection. But please realize that the prospect’s behavior may have had nothing to do with you. Maybe s/he was eyeball-deep in work, carved out a few minutes for you, and then had to get back at it. Or perhaps there was a death or illness in the family. Or it could be s/he just didn’t need your wonderful work at the moment.

Timing is all-important. As Jethro Tull once said, “Life’s a long song.” There could be a time in the future when that prospect will need your services and will call you. Just keep in touch, try to help when appropriate, and bide your time. Be sure to ask if it’s okay if you check back in a few weeks or a month. And award yourself a gold “SUCCESS” star for being proactive and requesting the meeting.

• Summing Up

To improve your prospecting approach, adjust your mental attitude in these three ways:

• You’re not just a “Your Label Here.” You’re a strategic thinker who can help prospects meet their business challenges.

• Your mission is to help prospects in any way you can, whether what they need at the moment is related to your services or not.

• You never fail at prospecting unless you quit. Keep in touch, help when you can, and be patient. Your time may come.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

My goal in my early years in advertising was to build a portfolio, win creative awards, and make more money. Today, my goal is to do work that helps my clients, and thereby, to make a good, honest living. I would call that going where there is no path, and I hope, leaving a trail for younger creatives to follow.

I always felt there was something narcissistic about winning creative awards, but it seemed the best way to get ahead. At least, that’s what the CDs told us. After awhile, I began to question the whole value system around creative award shows.

In a sense, creative awards shows are a scam. Agencies think awards enhance their reputation, and thus, their chances of winning new clients (And in the past, surveys of clients bore this out; they would hire agencies based on creative. But how many listened to creative advice thereafter? Not many.)

So agencies or individuals pay major fees to enter their work in local, national or international creative shows. Then, a judge (or, if you’re lucky, at least one art director and one writer), suffering jet lag and recovering from a late night being entertained by the show personnel, scans hundreds of entries in dozens of categories. Anything that leaps out because of color, outrageousness or size catches the judge’s or judges’ eye. And it generally wins.

I’m not saying good creative work doesn’t win awards. Often, it does. But other than the Effies, which are awarded for creating positive results for clients, measured by actual numbers, I don’t know what those awards mean.

I do not speak these words as an embittered creative who has been spurned by awards shows. About 15 years ago, I stopped listing my awards on a sheet of paper when the type size had to be shrunk to 7-point to fit. Later, I realized that good work means work that brings the client business. Revelation!

At some stage in a creative career, you feel secure enough to stop building a “killer book” and start doing what’s right for the client. Younger creatives can’t be blamed for doing outrageous creative, any more than puppies can be blamed for teething on bedroom slippers. It’s what they’re bound to do. I only wish these creative puppies paid attention to who they’re talking to, what that audience really needs to hear, and in what voice.

Once I saw a magazine ad produced by a famed, “cool” Kansas City agency in Ingram’s Magazine. The product or service (can’t remember what) was obviously meant to appeal to upper-level corporate executives. The style of the full-page ad was arresting: the copy was done in red 9-point type on a black background. And the visual was unclear, since for some reason, it was obscured by thin red scribbles over it.

Now, think of the age of most upper-level CEOs. Not Silicon Valley types, but Kansas City types. Most are over the age of 40 or even 50. They’re presbyopic; they can’t easily read 9-point red type on a black background. And they don’t have time to decipher an obscure message conveyed in a graphic style more suited to a punk band flyer than to Ingram’s.

I wonder, how did this ad do with its target audience? I’m willing to bet it failed miserably. How the heck could the target audience read it? But because many clients and agencies don’t bother to build in a response mechanism or any way to track results from their advertising, do they even know? Did the agency just take the money, do whatever they wanted to do, and let it fly?

This ad was published a number of years ago. Maybe back then, companies had money to burn and didn’t give a rat’s posterior about results. “Image advertising” was hot. Or sometimes, even these days, company advertising managers want to work with a “cool” agency so the stardust will rub off on them. They like telling friends at the Club that they’re doing an ad with such-and-such “cool” agency. It’s a sign of your coolness, like letting it drop that you and Brad and Angelina lounged around your backyard pool last weekend sipping Mojitos.

Now, every company is cutting expenses to the bone, and generally, advertising is the first “frill” that gets cut. Wrong move. If you quit competing for “room in the box,” the customer’s memory banks, the other guy wins. No one should quit advertising unless they are in danger of having their lights and phone cut off. I hope, though, that this new frugality may prevent companies from throwing away money they can’t afford on ads that don’t pay them back.

“Cool” advertising, whose style and language are aimed at the wrong audience, isn’t cool at all. ‘Cause it just won’t pay the bills.

Once upon a time, there was a little island called Nowhere. On this island, there was just one of each kind of store. A grocery store, a car dealership, an insurance agency, a bank, and so on. It had been that way for 40 years. When visitors arrived, the first thing they noticed was the absence of advertising. No newspaper ads (No newspaper, actually), no store banners screaming “50% Off Sale!” No Grand Openings. No billboards. No radio or TV commercials. How weird.

Actually, it was quite natural, since none of these businesses had any competitors. If you wanted groceries, there was only one place to go. Same with all the other Nowhere businesses. So nobody needed to bother their heads with a thing called “positioning.” That is, explaining to customers and prospects what you offer that’s better than what your competitor offers. No competition, no advertising. Simple.

Everything was toodling along on in its friendly, non-competitive way on Nowhere, until one day, a second grocery store opened on the other side of the island. Steve, the manager of Grocery Store A, the original store, went into panic mode. The new store, Store B, was drawing away some of A’s customers with a newer look, bigger produce section, wider aisles and discounted prices. They’ve been posting handbills all over town inviting people to come in for a free hot dog and fries and a tour of the new store. How you gonna keep ‘em down in Store A, after they’ve seen Store B? Good question. The answer is positioning Store A as a better choice than Store B in the minds of customers.

Steve thinks of some meaningful benefits Store A offers versus Store B:

• We’ve been in business for 40 years, so we know what Nowhere residents want and need.
• We’re family-owned, whereas Store B is part of an impersonal international chain.
• We know you, your parents, and their parents by name.
• We’re not the cheapest, but we’re the best.
• Our store personnel are experienced. When you ask them a question about produce or meat, they know the answer.
• We’re closer to the main highway, so easier to get to.
• We support the Nowhere women’s softball team, AIDS walk, and various community service organizations.
• We offer bagging, carrying bags to your car, and drive-up service.

Whereas, Store B:

• Is staffed with young, inexperienced people.
• Has department managers who are from Somewhere island, where customers have very different tastes and lifestyles.
• Is a longer drive for most Nowhere residents.
• Offers cheaper prices because their stock is mostly off-brands from overseas.
• Is staffed with strangers who don’t know you.
• Is managed by a company executive from Belgium, who is unfamiliar with Nowhere’s environment.
• Carries items that Store A found Nowhere residents didn’t like.
• Has a long learning curve to know the community the way Store A does.
• Doesn’t sponsor community events.
• Keeps half the lights turned off to save on utilities, so you can’t see very well.
• Makes you bag your own groceries.
• Offers no carryout or drive-up conveniences.

Some positioning statements begin to emerge. Store A is “the one you know, and the one that knows you.” It’s the store where you find the things YOU want. A place that delivers exceptional expertise and service versus Store B.

Basically, “If you like a convenient store with an experienced staff that has known and taken care of you and your family for two generations, come to Store A. (As opposed to an impersonal, inconvenient new store with inexperienced help where you’re on your own, that is, Store B.)”

The positioning statement will have to be focused into a brief, memorable advertising tagline Store A can use in its advertising flyers (Steve realizes now he needs to start advertising to counter his competitor’s advertising, and probably to offer some discounted items and special events.).

Store B will probably position itself as the lower-cost alternative. Some people will always go for lower price. Nothing to be done about it. But many more people make purchases based on emotional connections or habit. That’s why “Tradition” is a big plus for many shoppers. And Store A has that going for it in spades.

So if any business has competitors — and outside of Nowhere, all businesses do — they must position themselves versus competition. And whether it’s in print, radio, TV, web messages, flyers or social media marketing, they must target and deliver their positioning messages to prospects and customers through some form of advertising.

So how do you begin to develop an effective positioning? By identifying your main competitor and making your strongest case for your business versus that competitor. Give it your best shot. With a strong strategy and focused messages targeted to the right audience, your communication campaign will, given enough time and an adequate media budget, yield positive business results for you.

Before you say it, I know, times are tough. Some businesses are laying off employees and putting off advertising and promotion. Buying “room in the box,” or space in the customer’s mind, is not cheap. But if you don’t do it, you leave a vacuum where your competitor can stake out territory. Then you’ll spend a lot more later trying to vacate the squatter from your former space.

Could you use help devising your most effective positioning, marketing strategy and creative strategy? Call me at 913-236-7595. Let me put my 20 years of ad agency experience to work for you. Together, we can position your business against your competition — to win.

‘Cause there’s no place like Nowhere.

Imagine a gaily colored pinata swinging over the head of a blindfolded birthday girl or boy. Excited kids are ringed around the child who’s swinging a stick to break it open, giggling in anticipation of a cascade of delicious sweets. But what if the pinata turns out to be empty? Que lastima! Party over.

So imagine the same disappointment over an advertising campaign that cost a lot of money and time but didn’t work. The effort was all por nada. Why? Because even though the advertising looked appealing, it wasn’t based on a well-thought-out strategy. Like the empty pinata, it promised something but didn’t deliver. So I say –

Creativity without strategy is an empty pinata.

A creative execution without a sound strategy behind it won’t earn the best results for a client. It might win the creative team an ad show award, but if that’s the goal, is the advertising doing what the client needs? Or is it only designed to break through an out-of-town Associate Creative Director’s early-morning stupor on judging day, so s/he will notice a clever, cute, or outrageous piece?

There’s nothing wrong with awards, of course. I’m proud of the handsome Omni Best of Show award (bookend) on my office shelf. But I’m much prouder of the great results I’ve gotten for clients with strategic marketing and advertising. Like the following:

• A manufacturing company client whose multi-media campaign earned them a 1400% return on their investment

• An insurance company client whose three-part direct mail campaign went 400% over goal — after the first mailing

• A full-page newspaper ad that drew 150 applications for 12 positions with a KC company opening a new office in Jefferson City, MO

I can help you achieve your business goals — via the strategic application of creativity.

Call me now, and let’s get started. ‘Cause nobody wants an empty pinata.

Phone: 913-236-7595
Email: liz@lizcraigwriter.com