I had a lovely holiday over Christmas. For me, it’s the best time of year to go far away because I do truly switch off. I know I’m not missing anything back at base and the children have got used to Santa Claus finding them wherever in the world we happen to be.
This year we took a week on the Disney Cruise over Christmas and then seven days down in Naples on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
It’s about a four-hour drive from the cruise port to Naples across I-4 and I-75 and it was on the latter of these American motorways, just as we were rounding Tampa, that I saw the big electronic traffic sign over the road saying ‘Don’t Hit the Car in Front of You’.
Now, in the car, at the time, we all thought this was hilarious. What a stupid sign. It is, after all, apparently stating the bleedin’ obvious.
A few miles later however, on the local radio station comes a feature about this new sign on the interstate and why it’s been put up there. Apparently, at peak times, there have been a high number of rear end collisions and having tried signs saying things like ‘Maintain Safe Distance’, etc. the government was now trying uncharacteristically clear communication!
And that got me thinking. You see, you’ve probably been in your field, and probably in your business, for quite a few years. And with anything, the longer you’re part of it, the more sophisticated your communication tends to become and the more knowledge you tend to assume and take for granted on the part of your customers. It’s where jargon comes from and it’s not helpful.
The longer you hang around the Entrepreneur’s Circle, as a serious student, the greater the distance gets between you and your customers. You’re getting smarter. They’re not. But your language and messages need to resonate with them. Not with you.
As advertising legend, David Ogilvy said: ‘We don’t write ads to win awards. We write to sell stuff.’
I remember Dan Kennedy and Gary Halbert collaborating at one particular event I was at several years ago on a presentation entitled ‘Clarity Trumps Cleverness’. It was all about effective copywriting. Good title that. Would be a fine message to have on the wall behind your computer screen!
It’s fine for creativity to be rewarded at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, but advertising and marketing is not art. It’s selling via media and if it doesn’t sell, then it’s crap (and if it can’t be measured then you’re bonkers and it’s bullshit).
With that in mind, I think those road sign writers in Florida were onto something. But they made one basic mistake – and it’s one that I see day in, day out here in the UK too.
The majority of marketing that comes across my desk completely omits the personal benefits.
‘What’s in it for me?’ That’s what motivates people to take action and do what you want them to do. Miss it out and your results will be much diminished.
That’s why I’d improve that Florida sign to say: ‘Don’t hit the car in front of you – your insurance costs will go through the roof.’ True, it’s alarm, not gain, but it is benefit by avoidance.
No matter what people say, they only ever act out of self-interest, which is why you need to assume no knowledge. Be direct. And present the personal benefit. Every time.
