It’s long been said that one of the most effective words you can use in an ad is “free.” The idea is that people love getting stuff for free, so offering them something for free will get a big response. It’s a rule a lot of companies still follow. How many TV ads do see that say “buy one, get one free” or offer something like a “free credit report”? How many online ads say “download our free white paper” or “get your free sample” just for giving them your email? And that’s the problem – these days it seems like virtually everyone is offering something for free, so “free” isn’t considered as powerful as it once was.
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Thoughts On Advertising: What To Do When Your Subject’s Taboo
If you make a product that solves a problem, you need to advertise to reach the people who have that problem and make them aware of your solution. But what if it’s a problem that people don’t like to talk – or hear – about? This has always been an issue for companies that make such products. A century ago, when advertising was done in newspapers and magazines, mixed among the ads for new shoes and automobiles would be discreet ads for products that cured embarrassing medical problems, all very serious and discreet.
Randy’s Handy Copywriting Tips: Solving A Comma Problem
If you want to start a rowdy debate among writers, proofreaders or a bunch of English professors, bring up the Oxford comma. The Oxford comma is the comma that appears after the last item in a list, such as:
Harvey brought hot dogs, buns, chips, dip, and drinks to the party.
Thoughts On Advertising: If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Don’t Start The Fire
The whole point of advertising is to get noticed. If your ads don’t get noticed, then no one gets your message, so what’s the point? But how do you get noticed? One surefire way is to be controversial. The thing is, if you court controversy, you must be prepared to deal with the consequences. Let’s look at two examples of small businesses that ran controversial ads, one on purpose and one by mistake, and what happened as a result. (more…)
Thoughts On Advertising: Of Frogs And Legs
Occasionally we like to get philosophical here at Reuben Rink. This is one of a series of posts we label Thoughts on Advertising that address our, well, thoughts on advertising. In this post we look at an iconic ad campaign from the 1990s. In future posts we’ll look at other aspects of our industry, including some contemporary ad campaigns and marketing techniques.
I consider the Budweiser Frogs TV ad, introduced in the 1995 Super Bowl, to be the best single TV ad of all time. If you’re not familiar with it, here it is: http://bit.ly/2e7bsZo
The Four P’s of Social Media
In the world of marketing, the 4 P’s are a well-known way to define the elements used to create a strategic marketing plan. They are:
- Product – The thing or service being sold and what makes it unique, which determines the marketing message.
- Price – How much the thing or service will cost, which determines the target audience (e.g. a $20,000 car and a $70,000 car are marketed to very different audiences).
- Promotion – How people can made aware of the thing or service, which determines the choice of marketing tactics (e.g. shampoo can be promoted through a free sample; a computer monitor can’t).
- Place – Where the thing of service is available (e.g. in person, online, locally, nationally, etc.), which determines the marketing reach and media choices.
Is Being Hated Ever Good For Your Brand?
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
We live in a world where Oscar Wilde’s aphorism has become a personal philosophy for a lot of people. These are folks who – through social media, online videos, reality television and every other way they can think of – clamor to be famous for no other reason than to be famous. They just want to be talked about, and most don’t really care if what’s being said is good or bad.
Mistakes Are Funny (Unless They’re Yours)
On the Late Show with David Letterman, one of his longest running bits was Small Town News, where he would read submissions by viewers from their local papers, usually either an odd news item or a typographical error. I was a fan of the show, so when I saw my chance to submit an item from my local paper, The Stokes News, I went for it. The item I submitted was a classified ad with a typo, about a community yard sale scheduled for Saturday, May 32. Long story short, my submission was chosen and appeared on the show in July of 2014.