Lesson Fifty-Three: I've Tried it and it Doesn't Work

"I've tried advertising and it doesn't work for my
business."

"I've tried sending out sales letters, but it doesn't work for my business."

"I've tried brochures, websites, sales packages, promotions, bus boards, flyers, handouts, and everything else under the sun, but it doesn't work for my business."

Are businesses so different that what works for one will not work for others? Because basically there are only two types of businesses:Those that sell to the general public, and those that sell to other businesses.

And there is only one kind of consumer, he universally asks the same question:What's in it for me?

Now, I've heard all sorts of excuses from business people telling me that advertising does not work for their businesses. "I tried it and it doesn't work," I'm often told.

I'm always reminded of a conversation I overheard in an Italian deli. Two stout men were sitting in a booth discussing weight loss. One said to the other, as he stuffed an enormous meat sandwich into his mouth: "I went to the gym once, but it didn't work for me."

One failed attempt does not prove anything except ease of defeat.

There are two factors that determine the success of any advertising or promotion: Audience and appeal.

You can say the wrong thing to the wrong people.

You can say the right thing to the wrong people.

You can say the wrong thing to the right people.

Any of these will fail. There is only one way to succeed:

Say the right thing (appeal) to the right person (audience).

Finding the right audience is much easier than finding the right appeal. Describe the person most likely to buy and go where they go.There's your audience.

On appeal, John Caples, a giant of the advertising business and 50 year veteran, writes "There is no element in an advertisement more important that the appeal."

Appeal is the subtle language of the heart. It speaks from the point of view of the buyer.

For the business that engages in random acts of advertising, it's no surprise that they fail. Failing has always been easier than succeeding. But the real tragedy is that they do not discover why they fail.

Learn from Thomas Edison. From 1878 to 1880 he worked on at least three thousand different ways of creating the light bulb. He experienced a lot of failure. But he only needed to succeed once to forever have light.