Why Advertising Doesn't Work

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Advertising doesn't work any more.

Did I get your attention? I hope I did.

How can this be? "Advertise to succeed" has been the mantra in America for at least the last 100 years!

I am not going to say here that advertising is TOTALLY useless, because it does have its place, and direct marketing still works, both in mail and on television.

Now pay attention. Because you are about to learn the real secret of advertising, beyond that fact that it doesn't work.

Advertising will not change people's mind about your product.

Advertising will not convince them your product is great, if word of mouth of a review from an authoritative source has already taught them otherwise.

Advertising works only when it reinforces what people already believe to be true.

So, you may ask, how am I supposed to get my product out there?

How can I increase sales?

How can I build a big powerful brand?

You have to turn advertising on its head. Advertising is actually the last step of your marketing process, not the first.

People have access to more information now than at any time in history. This means several things. The first is that since news travels fast, so do product reviews and opinions from press and online media of all kinds. The second is that since people are also suffering from information overload, they turn to "filters" to do some sorting out of all the choices for them, which means those same press and online media carry a lot more weight than they ever did before.

You can't advertise your way past this. One of the easiest things to hide is 10 million dollars worth of advertising, especially if not spent wisely.

What's the best way to spend your money now?

It is actually quite simple, if you can get past the "broadcast" mentality of the old economy. In the old way of doing things, you got a "big idea" then manufactured your product, then advertised broadly and sold it. If you made a good product, you could also get some publicity for it which didn't affect sales much, but was useful because it gave you some added credibility.

Fast forward to today- Before you can even get your product out the verdict is already pronounced, and no amount of advertising can really change it.

The solution for our new information based economy is actually to reverse the process. Crazy as it seems, let the consumers create the product (or service)

This is actually far less costly and far more effective then the traditional forms of marketing.

So first, you do a thorough survey of your target market. Find out what they like or dislike about your new potential idea, and especially compared to the alternatives.

Take their input, and then use it to construct a product or service for them.

Once you have a couple prototypes contact them and others again and further refine what you have, and establish the correct price point that they would pay for such a product.

If you have done this right, you will make some sales just on word of mouth. Don't go into full scale production yet.

When you are convinced you have a winner, send free copies to the media you have identified as being most influential for your target market. How do you know? Because you asked your target market this in your first survey above! Ask people "Where would you turn to for a review of this product?", or "Who do you turn to for advice and information about _______?"

Depending on what you are trying to market this can be adjusted, but you get the idea.

Get your feedback from the media and fix any shortcomings that they have identified. With this feedback from both the media and your target market, present the first stable version of your product to the media as an official release.

If you listened carefully to the feedback and adjusted your product, you now will have good reviews in the most influential publications for that particular market niche. The most expensive advertising in the world cannot buy this credibility.

Now, in your advertising, take the most important benefits that people said they wanted out of your product or service, and use that in your advertising, along with testimonials from real people, and mention of your favorable reviews.

If you do this, you will be able now, to broadly advertise and your advertising will actually be profitable. If you try to do it the other way, you will launch a major advertising campaign, and both the media and "consumer advocates" will eat you for lunch.

Is this better than losing money in advertising? You bet!

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