Originally posted – Jul 31, 2013
“Advertising says to people, here’s what we’ve got. Here’s what it will do for you. Here’s how to get it.” – Leo Burnett, Advertising Pioneer
The late Leo Burnett was an advertising superstar.
Burnett is the guy who created such famous ad campaigns as “Charlie the Tuna,” “The Marlboro Man” and “The Pillsbury Doughboy” – as well as, interestingly enough, “The Lonely Maytag Repairman.”
He often said, “Before you can have a share of market, you must have a share of mind.” Leo knew his business. He understood people. And that’s the key.
The foundation of all customer relationships are the words we use in our advertising and how we use them. Advertising is applied psychology using the media.
Here’s the basic advertising formula:
Knowledge of Human Psychology + Very Effective Communication = Effective Salesmanship.
That’s it. Sounds simple, right?
It’s not. You’ve really got to work at it. It’s all about being psychologically technically correct in your ads. Unfortunately, many self-service laundry owners are not.
Numerous mistakes are made in laundry advertising by owners lacking the understanding of the psychology of advertising. That can cost you big time – and put you in a real bad mood as well.
As a result, I’m going to point out what I believe to be the five most common (and costly) mistakes for laundry operators, so you can avoid these pitfalls, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your advertising, and of course get more bang for your advertising buck:
1. Focusing on features, rather than benefits.
This is a classic advertising sin. It’s very common. It happens all the time with all small businesses.
The usual cause is not understanding that people (all people, including you) consistently listen to the same radio station. The call letters are WII-FM, which stands for “What’s In It For Me?”
Many business owners are preoccupied with the various “cool” (in their minds) features of their business because they paid to have them, and they want to talk about them. Unfortunately, they advertise them from their own personal perspective as a store owner – not from the viewpoint of a laundry customer.
Countless times I have walked into self-service laundries and noticed that the signs over the washers have said things like “Holds 40 Pounds,” “Holds 20 Pounds,” etc. Informing customer of your machine capacities in terms of pounds is a complete waste of time.
People don’t weigh their clothes. They just want to know how many loads a machine will hold. In other words, what’s in it for them?
Therefore, instead of indicating the poundage, your signs should say something like “Holds Up to 4 Loads” or “Holds Up to 2 Loads.” You get the idea.
In other words, drive home the benefit, not the feature. Although you may have been impressed with a technical feature when you bought a particular machine because that’s how the equipment salesperson likely sold it to you, the customer won’t be.
There are many other examples of emphasizing benefits over features, such as:
• Instead of saying you have a lot of machines, explain, for example, that you have 76 machines and, therefore, customers can get in and out of your store faster because they likely will not have to wait for a washer or a dryer. (WII-FM benefit: Saved time.)
• Instead of noting that you have large load machines, indicate that these bigger machines are ideal for washing large items, such as blankets and comforters, and are more economical to use. (WII-FM benefit: Cost savings.)
• Instead of ignoring the fact that your store has air conditioning, promote that very fact in your window signage during hot-weather months so that customers (and potential customers) know they will be comfortable in your laundry. Many stores simply don’t have air conditioning, or they just don’t use it. (WII-FM benefit: Comfort.)
2. Not using the A.I.D.A. advertising model.
These four simple letters – which stand for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action – should play vitally important roles in every type of advertisement you do.
Each and every ad you spend money to run must properly call attention to your product; it must cause interest to develop; it must create desire to buy your product; and it must cause the ad recipient to take the appropriate action to obtain your product.
Did you know that all successful infomercials contain these critical ingredients? They do. And that creates what infomercial experts call the “glue factor,” which simply means that you, the viewer, will remain “glued” to your chair to watch the full 30 minutes.
When I consult with clients on ad design, I always make sure that each and every ad contains these sections in appropriate order. For example, a typical generic coin laundry ad might read something like this:
“Are you constantly running short of time, and is your laundry always piling up? (Attention) Well, at Sudzy Dudzy Coin Laundry, we have plenty of machines, so you can do all of your laundry at once. (Interest) Why let your laundry pile up and back you into a corner? (Desire) So, just hop into your car and head over to Sudzy Dudzy – and you’ll be living the laundry dream.” (Action)
3. Not using visuals in your ads.
People are visual creatures, which is why so many of us watch television as opposed to listening to the radio. Radio is, as they used to say, “the theater of the mind,” which means the listener can envision anything he or she wants – correct or incorrect – when listening to an ad.
Here’s a great example: I do a lot of television commercials for my coin laundry in Detroit. Each of my TV spots shows the interior of the laundry from different locations.
Many people really don’t know what a modern self-service laundry looks like. Perhaps they are of an age where they haven’t visited a laundromat for years and have a “vintage view” of what today’s laundries are like.
Recently, a woman in her mid-60s approached me in my laundry and explained that if she had not seen how nice and modern my store was on television, she never would have even considered becoming a customer. She explained that this perspective was because she had not visited a laundry in decades and still thought they were unimaginative and contained only small machines in limited quantities.
The key point to take away here is to always utilize visuals in every ad; otherwise, the human theater of the mind tendency will always come back to bite you. For this reason, I suggest avoiding radio as an advertising option. Don’t let your ad recipients merely imagine what your laundry business is like – show them.
4. Not recognizing the great diversity of your marketplace.
We now live in a culturally- and age-diverse country.
The United States has changed significantly in terms of diversity. You are no longer advertising to just one type of customer. Your marketplace is extremely heterogeneous, and you must respect that.
In fact, each cultural and generational difference now represents a distinct market segment. And each market segment likes, dislikes and appreciates different things. This applies to your advertising and even to the ancillary vended products that you display and sell in your laundry. Everything!
Your advertisements now must appeal to all market-defined groups. You might even have to advertise in a number of languages and have multiple-language signage in your store.
Not doing so likely will be very costly. It’s now an intrinsic part of modern advertising. After all, the only truism constant in the business world is change – so embrace it.
5. Not knowing that, in advertising, repetition is more important than reach.
Muhammad Ali didn’t get to be arguably the greatest fighter in the history of boxing by hitting 300 people just once. He got there by hitting one person 300 times.
So, when allocating your advertising dollars, define your target audiences, and focus on them repetitively. Don’t advertise in every magazine and newspaper and on every television channel despite the fact that advertising salespeople will go to great lengths to convince you that their opportunity is clearly the best choice.
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Be like Ali and you can win championships, too.
In addition, it’s common for people to need to hear your ads multiple times before they respond. Carefully define your valid media choices and stick with them. Patience is the key, as long as there are no errors in your premise and your ads are structurally sound. Spreading yourself too thin will do nothing but make you invisible.
Cost-effective ads must focus on perceived customer benefits, incorporate the A.I.D.A. model, always include visuals, take diversity into consideration and be strategically repetitive.
Think of it this way and it will be your new energy drink – highly effective advertising should always have a price, but never a cost.
Do you need to advertise? Absolutely!
The only organization I can think of that can make money without advertising is the United States Mint.
#Article #BusinessManagement #Public #PlanetLaundry #TheBusinessMind #CustomerService
