Tip #4 ∞ It's Not About You ∞

This is the fourth tip in a 21-tip series of "how to get more from your ad agency." This tip is about messaging. Here's the tip: It's not about you!

That may seem counter-intuitive when you're the one footing the bill, paying for the agency personnel, ad space or printing or time to deliver your message. You may think this is my space, therefore I'm going to

a - show my employees
b - show my building
c - show my products
d - all of the above.

But guess what? No one really cares about you.

People just care about themselves. They're thinking "What's in it for me?"

They're thinking, "How will this product make my life easier, make me better, smarter, more profitable?"

How Successful Companies Do It

As an example, look at the big, national (think most successful!) advertisers in the world.

When The Coca-cola Company prepares an ad to run during the Superbowl, they are not showing the bottling company, or the truck drivers who work day and night delivering the product to 7-11s nationwide, or the packaging firm where the packages are painstakingly designed and produced, or the corporate headquarters in Atlanta.

Coca-cola ads show how a nice cold Coke refreshes ME. They're showing that with a Coke, I'll have more friends and more fun. It's not about Coke, it's about Coke's customers: It's about ME.

The Old Way

So many B2B marketers are still using the old "Show the building, show the employees," mantra with the thought that if someone sees my building, they'll know I'm really in business and buy more from me. If they see I have employees, they'll understand we have good people working here, so they'll buy from me.

Folks, that's not the way to build a brand. You might create more awareness, but so what. Every company has employees and buildings.

A Sad Case Set To Fail

I've seen billboards recently for a tire company. This company has been around a long time but I don't recall seeing ads from them before. The company's ads are featuring their employees and talking about their many locations in the Chicago area. I live not far from a location and I have driven past it a thousand times, but for some reason, I've never once thought about going there for a tire.

Now that I've seen their ads, I've realized that the company wants me to know about them, and I do. But I still am not motivated to buy a tire from them. Even though this company has spent thousands of dollars advertising, I'll probably go to my regular mechanic when I need a tire: He knows my car and gets me tires really quick, then he puts them on, checks the oil, and gives me a sense of confidence that I'm going to be able to get from point A to point B safely.

This is really sad for this tire company because they are going to think that advertising doesn't work. They are going to blame their ad agency. The truth is I AM more aware of this tire company's existence because of their advertising, but just because they have buildings and employees, I'm not motivated enough to go there for a tire: Their messaging is off. Their ads are all about THEM and not enough about ME.

Your Messaging Should Be About THEM

Your mar/com projects should address the problems your customers face and demonstrate in a split second how your products or services solve their problems. Your ads should be about THEM.

Sounds simple enough, right?

If you understand this basic tenet of advertising philosophy, then you may better appreciate the strategies that your ad agency is trying to implement for you, even if they haven't given you a layout featuring a photo of your building.

If your advertising goal is to create awareness of your existence, then go ahead and show your building. It's probably a very nice building! But don't expect a windfall of new customers to come pouring in just because you have a building.