Read, read, read. And read some more.
You never know what you will discover. "If your dream is to BECOME a lawyer, we'll show you the way!" OR "If your dream is to BE a lawyer, we'll show you the way!" Customers may not be fans.
You may not turn fans into customers. But you can turn customers into fans. Facebook fans. I was reading the headline of this ad and thought it sounds weird.
Wonder if "GREAT FARES, GREAT MEMORIES" sounds better. Or "GREAT FARES, GREATER MEMORIES"? And they should indicate to book by which date instead of forcing readers to strain their eyes reading the fine lines. Saw this advertisement as something familiar that I like caught my eye.
If you've guessed it, it's the bean character, Mr Bean. A chain of stores selling soya bean drinks and related products. It's a character that's familiar with many people in Singapore. And for a moment, I thought this company has a new product related to egg. Maybe soya bean egg pudding. Ok, the ad successfully caught my attention. As I scan through the ad, I saw the word free and immediately realized that it's an ad for a brand of egg where you get a free drink from Mr Bean with every purchase. This is no ordinary egg. It's pasteurized egg. Below the ad was a pictorial description of the pasteurizing process. And that's when I found out that the process actually reduce the presence of Salmonella Enteritidis bacteria and Avian Influenza (Bird flu) virus inside and outside the eggs. Of course, I'm a little weird as I love looking at advertisements. But I'm wondering what if the ad emphasize on this instead of the bean character and Free drink. What about you? 1. Emphasizing wrong strength.
Would you choose a product or service to solve your problem because it is a best seller? Or the one most effective? 2. Does not state the benefit of your trial or what the trial is for Would you try a free trial without knowing what result to expect or what it will do to you? 3. Using testimonials and indicate they are satisfied customers Redundant. And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a HERO lies in you.. Is a dance, how will it sounds, feels and look?
Everyone of us is born with some special skills.
Maybe you think that you do not have any. But think about it more deeper. You may not realize it but there is definitely something that you do better than others. Perhaps you're more patient than most of us, better at baking, more organized than us, or simply smile more easily. Do not underestimate all these. Look at people who cannot control their temper, people cannot break an egg let alone bake a cake, the disorganized ones and those who simply cannot smile no matter what. I've discovered long ago that I'm very good with my sense of direction and finding my way around, even at unfamiliar places. I'm also good at recognizing people, even if I've only seen them once. I pick up languages easily and is gregarious. Although I do not know how I can put them to use in my life and business, they build my confidence. Go discover your strengths and astonish yourself with what you can do. And share with us if you've found yours. As the saying goes, "Everything that can go wrong in your business will go wrong." The big order you are expecting to come in this week is cancelled because the client has a change of mind. The equipment goes bonker on your busiest day. And your car has to break down when you are delivering an urgent order. But without all these challenges, wouldn't you feel bored? A little challenge along the way is fun. It keeps you alert and intellectually challenged. And it helps you to devise plans to prevent the same problems from happening again. Problems can be avoidable and unavoidable. For avoidable problems, you have control over them. For example, having your car serviced regularly so it does not break down. However, there's no way you can control a client from changing his mind. Two weekends back, my friend brought me to a new ice cream place located in an old housing estate. She had been there and was raving about their ice cream. When we arrived, we were greeted by an empty chiller. Our first thought were "SOLD OUT!" Then we found out that their chiller was not working and they've put them in the kitchen's fridge to freeze them before bringing out again. Of course, we were disappointed as we've made an effort to go down. As the staff was unable to tell us when the ice cream will be available again, we ordered coffee instead. Halfway through our drink, they started bringing out the ice cream. By then, we were no longer in the mood for ice cream. It was a Saturday and the shop was crowded. But given the size of the shop, there's no way that they can have an extra chiller on standby. It makes no sense too. Between the time we arrived and the staff bringing out the ice cream, there were many customers who came and left empty-handed. I'm not sure if these people will be coming back any soon but I won't be going back again. If you are the owner, do you have a contingency plan to get people to come back when something goes wrong? Especially for those who stay far away. Can you think of an industry that has a good reputation?
All of us do not have the luxury of being in an industry that has a good reputation to begin with. From property to renovation, hotel to restaurant, bank to insurance, you hear all kinds of horrendous stories of customers being deceived and exploited. But that's not important. What's more valuable is your reputation in the industry. So how does an industry's reputation affects you? It becomes harder for you to gain customers' trust. Customers may have bad experiences or heard of bad experiences from others about dealing with other companies. When they deal with you, they become skeptical of what you say, even if it's true. So you need to do a lot more convincing work. There was an article recently on complaints about the beauty industry (click here). This is not new. Even if you've never step into any beauty center, you have heard stories about pressurized sales tactics under disguise of free trial, ineffective treatments or worsening conditions and fly-by-night companies. In the past few years, there are cases of big beauty chains shutting down overnight leaving customers with pre-purchased packages helpless. So what can you learn from them? 1. Many beauty centers use low prices to attract customers into their shops and use pressure tactics to coerce them to sign up for more expensive packages or pay for additional treatments. Know that it costs you a lot to attract a prospect to walk into your shop. You are in business for the long term. Ultimately you want them to keep coming back to you. So honor your promise. If you need to charge for additional service for problems you uncover along the way, ask for customer's permission to go ahead. You also need to be able to differentiate those who are there for the cheap deal and those who genuinely want to try out your service and separate the two. 2. In a bid to gain customers in the very competitive market, beauty centers promise the sky without taking into consideration the differences of each customer's constitution. Know that your product or service is not for everyone, no matter how universal you think your product or service is. This is especially important if what you are selling will directly affects the health of a person. 3. Many beauty centers offer packages at highly discounted price and ended up with customers not being able to book appointment due to high customer base and the company unable to run profitably because of cash flow problems. Know that how your price your service has an impact on your operations and cash flow. If you price it cheaply, you may attract a lot of customers, but you also need more staff to provide the service. Will your pricing be enough to cover the additional costs and provide a healthy profit? Is this the business model that you want? And if you can ask more questions to challenge the norm, the better your chance of succeeding. Which post is the most helpful to your business?
Which post you do not understand? Which type of post do you want to read more about? More surprises!
1. Headline is misleading or requires at least two or more reading before understanding. Readers have different ways of interpreting your headlines. One : Shariah compliant banking (gives you innovative banking products with cash upfront). Two : Shariah complaint banking gives you innovative banking products (with cash upfront). Remember readers only read words that catch their interests. They may not read the whole headline and same words can mean different meanings to different readers. 2. Grammar mistake spotted again. - "CIMB Bank now offers" If it is a new product, they can just add a word "NEW" in the headline. Otherwise, there's no need to indicate "now" as no one bothers. - "allows you to collect your returns in the form of profit, upfront!" Isn't return the same as profit in this context? And there's no need to rephrase it to "allows you to collect your returns in the form of cash, upfront!" unless they offer other forms of profit (e.g. shares, etc). 3. Selling too many products. The bank is selling two products which does not fit in with the headline. Saw this interesting advertisement by CIMB.
So what's so interesting about this advertisement? 1. Asking prospective readers to sign up for a checking and savings account and their calls will be answered directly by a customer service officer without the need to go through the IVR (Interactive Voice Response), a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF tones input via keypad. How big an appeal do you think this "benefit" is to a reader? Customers do not call hotlines unless they have issues to resolve. 2. Redundant words in the copy. What is a real live person? A person is a person. And the bank definitely will not put a dead person to answer the calls. So there's no need to tell the readers it's a live person. And is there such a thing as real live? 3. Grammar errors. I've got a C6 for my English during my GCE 'O' Level examinations during my secondary school. So my English is not that fantastic. But "on the end of the phone" sounds so weird. 4. Customers don't call hotlines... To be pleasantly surprised. They call to solve a problem. |
AuthorOutrageous Marketing Archives
May 2020
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