Lesson Sixteen: Ray Said...

Ray said it. (I wish I had said it, but Ray told me, and that’s almost as good.)

Ray is an account rep for a local radio station.

“Advertising doesn’t drive people through my door,” one of Ray’s clients lamented to him. Ray’s sharp. He knows when he’s being baited, so without hesitation he quipped back, “You’re right. Need drives people. Advertising just tells them which door to knock on.”

Ray’s point is that advertising doesn’t generate need for a product. Advertising takes the pre-existing need and channels it to the advertiser. If you’re asking your advertising to create demand for your product or service, you’ll be disappointed. Demand must already exist.

A few years ago, a woman called me with a new product she wanted help marketing. “It’s new, and there are no competitors,” she told me.

“What is it?” I asked.

After a long, dramatic pause she said: “Baby perfume and baby cosmetics.” It was my turn to pause. I have a toddler, and am about to have another baby and I can’t imagine a product I’d be less likely to buy.

“Ahh, have you done any market research?” I asked politely, trying to turn her off the idea.

“There is a market for any product,” she said confidently.

She is wrong, of course. I turned down the account and have yet to see baby Chanel on the store shelves.

There is a reason she had no competitors. All the advertising in the world would not create demand for her product. It’s a bad idea.

Back to Ray.The way to win at advertising is to be the door that is most frequently knocked on. The only way to accomplish that is to dominate your category. And the only way to dominate is through repetition, consistency, and speaking to the heart of need.

What do your customers need? Answer that and I’ll bet more of them will walk through your door.



Principles of Persuassion by Shane Spark