Articles by Larry Chase - Internet Publisher, Speaker, Author and Consultant

Larry Chase - Internet Marketing Consulting

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Top Tips for Marketing in Tough Times

Most marketing and advertising campaigns running these days are irrelevant and not tuned in to current reality and values. If these campaigns were people, they would be communicating with programmed responses from the '90s or even the '70s.

Ads are suppose to attract attention and hold it, once there. But most radio, TV, DM, online and point of purchase messages are simply cardboard cut-outs or stick figures that mouth copy points. In many cases, I believe the recipients of these bogus messages could create better ads than the people who created them. Why? Because those recipients are in better touch with what they want than the people who are paid to cater to those desires and unlock them.

Irrelevant advertising can fake it in fat times. But in tough times, it's held more accountable and that's what it's all about. The old formulas aren't working so well. Many advertisers want their agencies to show salutary effects for the amount invested in ad campaigns. They often don't get what they want, so the advertiser starts agency-surfing.

Just coming up with "new creative" is not necessarily going to be the silver bullet now. Changing the words a carnival barker speaks isn't the issue, if people aren't in his vicinity to begin with, or if they're wearing Walkmans when they do walk near him.

With the new prevailing winds comes the creative destruction of what was, out of which come new perspectives, values and communications. Hereunder are my top tips for marketing in these tough times.

1. If you haven't already, learn and relearn the principles of direct marketing: This is where advertising budgets must show a return on investment. You must prove that the money you put into a certain campaign is better spent that way than another, such as investing in a CD, more equipment, or more staff. Yes, it is that tough a discipline. That discipline is what's needed now.

2. Online marketing is a steal: You can get extraordinary deals in any market niche now because the advertising market is very soft, especially online where many media buyers don't dabble. Online advertising doesn't necessarily mean banner ads either. I haven't sold banner ads at WDFM's website in years. The money and responsiveness are in email. Contact me to reach this audience at a rate you won't find anywhere else :)

3. Be a stranger to yourself: Make believe you are "Mr. Joe Target Audience." Now, look at all your company's advertising in the environment in which it is experienced. Would you now stop and read your company's headline? Or click on your banner? Does your commercial have enough pulling power to prevent you from surfing over to CNN?

4. Don't keep doing what you're doing just because you've always done it: just because you've always used TV, print, radio or online doesn't mean you should continue to do so. Force the ad campaign to answer for itself. It should give you three good reasons why it should continue to live. If it can't, reconsider. Don't let inertia be your marketing plan. A blank canvas could be very refreshing for you and your target audience. It may not be in your agency's best interest to offer new channels, as they might not have the appropriate expertise. That's when you bring in a hired gun like me who has no allegiances or political ties... contact me :)

5. Write a sales letter to your best friend, even if you're not a writer: David Ogilvy got some of his best headlines from the mouths of his clients. This exercise will force all the hyperbole out of your sales pitch, assuming you wouldn't talk to your best friend using hyperbole. You'll probably write a compelling, honest and factual account of why your product or service is worth considering. Guess what? That's what your target market wants to hear -- yes, "wants" to hear. If they're truly in the market for your stuff, they will want an accurate rundown of what your deal is and how it compares against the competition.

6. Change creative often... unless it's working, of course. When that Jaguar commercial I've been hearing every morning for weeks comes on again tomorrow morning, I will now habitually turn to another radio station. Even when the copy is changed, it has the same music, with the same predictable ironic twist of phrase that barely precedes a change in the music's tempo to upbeat. Snore. This one really wrangles me because I've been a copywriter for 16 years.

7. Start an email newsletter: why not? The money you spend on editorial will probably be only a fraction of what you'd spend in other people's media. As to what to write about, well, that's a subject of an upcoming ebook of mine due out in Q1...

8. Solicit feedback: seems obvious, doesn't it? But you have to wonder how much feedback is taken in from all the invisible advertising out there these days. I've spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of WDFM'ers over the years. I get great sites from them. Good formatting ideas, topics for special focus issues, and lots more. I've also gotten consulting and speaking gigs this way. Why? Because I listen. Clients, readers, prospects; everybody needs to be listened to.

9. Do something outrageous, tell the truth: come clean with your readers about the drawbacks of your product or services. This will establish credibility when you tell them about your upside.

10. Talk to your feet on the street, your sales force: When I wrote ads for clients like Xerox, GTE, and ATT, I insisted on talking to sales people and the engineers who created the products or services I was writing about. The engineers taught me the soul of the product. The sales force taught me the soul of the customers. My job was to connect the dots.

11. Answer "How do you make money?" This one's for consultants, many of whom can't answer this question for me. In fact, many sites don't answer this question on first or second blush, either. I believe people want to know how you make money, and they want to know it in a quick thumbnail kind of way so they can discern where you are coming from. Give it to them in a way they can easily digest. To not do so either comes across as unfocused, wishy-washy, or deceitful, as it seems you're not willing to tell what your true agenda is.

Nowadays, I often get hired for saying things that used to get me fired. If I thought a client shouldn't blow money on an ad campaign where a DM effort or an event was a better bet, I'd say so. Now, people seem to want that no-holds-barred, frank feedback. If you want an honest assessment of your current creative, or if you want new creative, get in touch with me by simply replying to this email. New creative may be your answer, but frankly, a new approach, a new strategy rooted in today's reality, may be the order of the day, in which case I would look forward to hearing from you, as it is that type of mission which holds the most interest for me.