1. Mike Slover www.whatsthemeat.com mikeslover@wizardofads.com 618-889-0674

2. 12 Causes Of Advertising Failure And How to Avoid Them

3. John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half."

4. A Harvard Study on Brand Loyalty Revealed Three Types of Customers: Type 1: Non-Switchable There is essentially nothing you can do or say to cause these customers to switch from the product/service they currently use. Type 2: Switchable These customers may be won, but only if you say the right thing and keep on saying it until the prospect is finally convinced. Type 3: Switchable for Reasons of Price Alone The study strongly recommended that you NOT pursue these customers. If you appeal to these customers, you will likely enjoy initial success, but your position will never be a strong one, because these customers will switch from you just as quickly as they switched to you, and for precisely the same reason.

5. 1: There is No Direct Correspondence between Dollars Invested and Results Gained: No mathematical formula can be devised to answer the advertisers question, If I spend this much on advertising, what can I expect to happen? How Advertising Works Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached:

6. 2: The Variable Which Prohibits a Mathematical Formula is The Power of the Message. Two advertisers can reach precisely the same audience with exactly the same repetition. One advertiser is successful, while the other fails miserably. The difference? The Message. How Advertising Works Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached:

7. How Advertising Works Wharton School of Business: A 2500 page report monitoring the impact of advertising on hundreds of small businesses over a period of 7 years. Only three conclusions were reached: 3: When a message has been uncovered that generates a positive response, a mathematical pattern does emerge. The benefit experience in year two will be twice the benefit experienced in year one, provided everything else remains equal and the core message does not change. The benefit in year three will be three times the benefit in year one.

8. SO WHAT THE HECK IS THE RIGHT MESSAGE?!?!

9. The Right Message is Derived From: A good business. A good business owner. A strong selling strategy. The right combination of words.

10. Good advertising cant fix a bad business, a bad business owner or a bad selling idea. - Roy H. Williams

11. #1. The desire for instant gratification.

12. Immediate response will be immediately forgotten.

13. The frequent and consistent use of a message that has salience will become stored in long term procedural memory, causing the customer to think of you first when they need your product or service but dont expect too much too soon, it takes a lot of patients to become a household name.

14. The chickening out period usually happens around the 3rd or 4th month of a campaign .

15. #2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget will allow.

16. Will you reach 100% of the people and convince them 10% of the way? Or will you reach 10% of the people and convince them 100% of the way? Own what the budget will allow with a frequent & consistent message. "There is more money wasted in advertising by under spending than by overspending. Under spending in advertising is like buying a ticket halfway to Europe." - Morris Hite #2. Attempting to reach more people than the budget will allow.

17. #3. Assuming the business owner knows best.

18. Its hard to read the label when youre inside the bottle. - Mike Webb Too much product knowledge causes the business owner to answer questions no one is asking. This makes for extremely ineffective advertising. What does the customer care about?

19. #4. Unsubstantiated claims such as highest quality at the lowest price.

20. #5. Improper use of passive media.

21. All media works if done right. Which is the highest and best use of your time and money? Print is a great 50 yard dash runner but intrusive electronic media is the champion marathon runner. With patience, the consistent use of intrusive media (such as radio and television) will win the heart of the customer before he is in the market for the product.

22. #6. Creating ads instead of campaigns.

23. Good ads make one point, like a rhinoceros. An advertiser with seventeen different things to say should commit to a campaign of at least seventeen different ads.

24. #7. Obedience to unwritten rules.

25. If You Put A Black Background Behind A Black Background

26. Youll Have A Black Background

27. For some insane reason, advertis ers want their ads to look and sound like ads. Why is this?

28. #8. Late week schedules.

29.

30. #9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting.

31. Saying The Wrong Thing has killed far more ad campaigns than Reaching The Wrong People. It is amazing how many people become the right people, when you are saying the right thing.

32. #10. Event driven Marketing.

33. If one percent of the people who hear your ad for a special event actually choose to come, you will be in desperate need of a traffic cop. Yet your real investment will be in the 99% who did not come to the event.

34. #11. Great production without great copy.

35. Too many ads today are creative without being persuasive. Slick, clever, funny, creative and different are poor substitutes for informative, authentic, humanistic, believable, me morable and persuasive.

36. #12. Confusing response with results.

37. The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of your company and its Unique Selling Proposition. When we confuse Response with Results we create attention getting ads which say absolutely nothing.

38. "If you have a good selling idea, your secretary can write your ad for you." - Morris Hite Concentration is the key to economical success - Peter Drucker Avoid The 12 Causes

39. Youll Know Which Half IS Working John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half."

40. Question & Break Time

41. How to Write Ads That Work

42. How The Brain Works

43. Left Hemisphere Analytical. Logical. Judgmental. Can only see the small picture. Searches for credibility.

44. Right Hemisphere Emotion. Art. Wakes when you sleep. Looks for connections. Can see the big picture. Subconscious. Searches for relevance.

45. Brocas Area Broca is the gatekeeper to the mind. Anything predictable is rejected by Broca. Surprise is the delight of Broca. Predictability is the enemy of advertising and broca. Youll need a different angle of approach. Replace common phrases with unexpected colorful ones.

46. Relevance & Credibility Relevance speaks to a felt need (right brain). Do I care? Credibility speaks to a belief (left brain). Do I believe? When you create ads that sound like ads you loose credibility. Ads need credibility and relevance to satisfy the mind.

47. Working Memory The thought youre having now.. Your imagination. Your conscious awareness. Without new information you can not have a new decision.

48. Declarative Memory The stuff that survives the night. Episodic. You remember an episode if any emotion is involved.

49. Procedural Memory Long term memory. Relevance Xs repetition produces long term procedural memory. The impact of a message will determine how long it takes for long term memory. Branding occurs in procedural memory. Only if you say something that matters.

50. You Detest Advertising

51. I Detest Advertising

52. But We Love

53. Your ads should be an ongoing story, novel or sitcom that the listener/view cant wait to see or hear next.

54. Credibility Left Brain Language

55. Facts? When the facts are on your side swing the facts at your competitor like a baseball bat. Slice the competition with a razor when the facts are on your side.

56. Authenticity Be what you say you are. The human voice is natural and uncontrived.

57. Transparency Show your dirty laundry. Admit a downside.

58. Clarity Can your product be differentiated? Can you point out that difference quickly? Can you explain why the difference matters?

59. 1. See it though the eyes of the public. (Insiders have too much knowledge.) 2. Ignore everything that doesnt matter. 3. Focus on what the public actually cares about. 4. Say it in the fewest possible words. 5. Close the loopholes by anticipating the customers unspoken questions.

60. Clichs Whack all clichs. For all your blankety blank needs, great customer service, 100 years of combined service, service and selection second to none..etc. Kill anything in the ad that sounds like an ad.

61. Close The Loopholes Substantiate every claim. Leave out any hype. Example; prices so low we cant say them on the air. If it cant be substantiated in the ad dont say it.

62. Relevance Right Brain Language

63. Always Start With The Benefit Talk to people about what they already care about. Get to the benefit early and often Most people bury the benefit 2/3rds down the page. Offer the public what the public already wants or prepare to be disappointed with the results. When you can drown your ad with benefits.

64. Emotion Use words to describe mood; dark, heavy cold. Never molest an emotional ad by entering ad speak. If you want to talk about zero percent financing do it in a different ad. Make sure the ad matches up with how you want the customer to feel. Win the heart and the mind will follow.

65. Your customers wont remember everything you said in your ads. But they will remember how your ad made them feel. Theyll remember how your business made them feel. Heck, they will even remember how your employees made them feel.

66. How are you making your customers feel?

67. Metaphors Metaphors relate the unknown to the known. When you choose a metaphor stick with the metaphor throughout the ad. Dont let the mental image of the metaphor swallow the clarity of the message.

68. Stories Tell stories in your ads. Plunge headfirst into the story. Twelve hours a week at five dollars an hour for a hunk of metal and four wheels. My heart buzzed like a bee when I handed over twenty six Benjamins and a year of my life. We lowered the flag at half staff. There wasnt a plane in the sky.

69. Bluff With Fluff When the facts arent on your side bluff with fluff. One sip of this coffee and youre a better dancer. Youll need to go so far to the right your left side will know youre just kidding.

70. The Message:

71. FMI

72. LMI Cause the listener to imagine taking the action you want them to take. Close Big: Words at the end of a list are easier to remember.

73. Full Circle Connect the FMI to the LMI When you go full circle make sure the FMI and the LMI are relevant.

74. Attention Getting Techniques

75. Verbs Verbs kick the door open to Broca. Open your ad with a verb. Drop the cat in the punchbowl. Fill your ads with verbs.

76. Word Flags Make customers mention your ad by planting a word flag. An unusual word or phrase that is likely to be commented on by the customer. The only reason a customer will mention your word flag is to make themselves look clever. Saying mention this ad is not a word flag.

77. Crazy Ivan Gives your ad a 3rd dimension. Never make your Crazy Ivan predictable. Dont let the listener know its coming. The voiceover shouldn't anticipate it. The listener will have anxiety waiting for your Crazy Ivan.

78. Car Dealer With A Story To Tell..And A Crazy Ivan

79. Chaotic Ad Writing Predictability is the enemy of effective writing. Open with a crazy line that would make someone say huh? Everything in the world is connected. Close by looping back to the opening line.

80. Seussing Creating words that do not exist but fit. Surprise Broca

81. Specifics are more believable than generalities. Specifics are easier to see in the mind. Example; countless steer isnt as vivid as seven steer.

82. Description Stack Used to deepen perception. Example; (Age), old, twilight, winter , dying, tired, cold, hang, crack, bones. Images that reinforce images.

83. Alliteration & Meter If you use a word that starts with A that ends a sentence or starts use another word that starts with an A in the same spot. Example: See a Sold Sign Sooner Another Example: Get it, Got it Good. The magic of alliteration and meter is recall. Positioning statements/taglines should have meter. DO NOT RHYME.

84. Rhythm You step foot on the forest floor. Its just you, camera and the world around you. Youre no Mickey Mouse toting, thumb sucking, pee shooting wannabe cameraman carrying a small, miniscule, girly handycam. Youre the elite. Youre the Jedi of your craft. Youre able to capture eyeball exploding, adrenaline convulsing, 1080i HD footage. Youre an outdoor producer. Your camera, the Canon XHA1S. You can find yours at Campbellcameras.com

85. Did You Notice The Verbs? You step foot on the forest floor. Its just you, camera and the world around you. Youre no Mickey Mouse toting, thumb sucking, pee shooting wannabe cameraman carrying a small, miniscule, girly handycam. Youre the elite. Youre the Jedi of your craft. Youre able to capture eyeball exploding, adrenaline convulsing, 1080i HD footage. Youre an outdoor producer. Your camera, the Canon XHA1S. You can find yours at Campbellcameras.com

86. What about the word YOU? You step foot on the forest floor. Its just you, camera and the world around you. Youre no Mickey Mouse toting, thumb sucking, pee shooting wannabe cameraman carrying a small, miniscule, girly handycam. Youre the elite. Youre the Jedi of your craft. Youre able to capture eyeball exploding, adrenaline convulsing, 1080i HD footage. Youre an outdoor producer. Your camera, the Canon XHA1S. You can find yours at Campbellcameras.com

87. Headlines Speak to the felt need in the headline.

88. Active vs Passive Use action words. Example; You can be becomes Youll be. Throw the person into the scene. Always involve the listener as an active participant.

89. Black Words The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson Black Words - Words not needed to get your point across. Remove black words, but, and, that, therefore, etc.

90. One Point, One Ad One message per ad. If you have more than one benefit write more than one ad. Remember, youre ads are an ongoing sitcom.

91. Consistency Keep the same style of the ad. Dont change spokespersons. Never use the station DJ. Use the owner, this person voice never changes.

92. The 3 Things Make them want it. Make them believe you. Surprise Broca.

93. Mike Slover www.whatsthemeat.com mikeslover@wizardofads.com 618-889-0674