This is some extreme advertising and you won’t believe the lengths to which some adverting companies are going, but this “initiative” is beating the crap out of viral marketing/advertising. Enjoy!

Apparently “No fly was harmed in making this video…” – I wonder about the people who tied the knots though…and the last screen of the video reveals the materail used for the mini-banners attached:
“The banner was attached with waxed string and dissolved after a few hours by itself”

Advertising on the traditional banner ad does not work anymore. Back in early 90’s, curiosity and novelty pushed people into clicking and hopefully into buying but those days will soon be over; or are they? 

Back in the “good ol’ days” of the internet advertising the click-through rates were around 50%; no-a-days they are closer to 1%. What is even more interesting is that people who stay more on line click less on ads. It’s almost as they have built special glasses designed to ignore any kind of banner, pop-up or gimmick that splashes on their screen asking them to click and buy. 

So the question is – What is the next big thing advertisers will have to come up with to entice people click and buy over the web? The old banner ad doesn’t work anymore no matter how distracting is designed. So what’s next?

Parallel with the development of websites and banner ads, humans have evolved into ad-ignoring web surfers and developed selective vision going for the stuff that only matters to them; immediate and in concentrated form.

Unless the advertising world is willing to open a value based proposition, consumers will just ignore, block or mute any form of advertising. Unless you can grab their attention in 5 seconds or less you’ll be kicked to the curb faster than you can say “pop-up”. Just look at the Super-Bowl commercial and understand what I am talking about. Look at the YouTube videos and I guarantee you you’ll be bored in about half a second by non-interesting deals offered by shady “money-makers”.

Advertisers have to understand, again, that it’s always about the consumer; it’s always about:”What’s in it for ME?”

Enter behavioral marketing. Consumers want to buy when they are ready to buy. The rest of the time they want to be left alone and not bothered with “in your face”, pushy banners or pop-ups. Unless that’s something in it for them, unless you offer some kind of incentive – don’t even bother talking design with your creative team. Instead grab your marketing director and simply ask: “What can we give away so we can engage the consumer?”

Maybe that’s where the solution might be – treat web surfers as advertising partners and gear them towards becoming willing participants in this marketer-consumer game.

If all advertising companies would share some of their profits with the consumers who are willing to promote on their behalf, both parties would have something to gain.

I am waiting for these programs to be available on line and I’ll signup as soon as some creative mind comes up with the right incentive in order for me to get a piece of the bounty. Until then – I’ll continue to ignore “Obama wants you to go back to school, Shoot the duck cartoon, Cash for clunkers, etc.” silly ads like that.

On December 1st, 2009 I was interviewd by Michael Surkan (www.surkan.com) about offline marketing; tips and tricks of the trade.

 You can listen to the entire interview here.

EPNW: Tradional off-line marketing can pay off for your web business

In this episode of “Entrepreneurs Northwest” Claudiu Geanta explains that marketing a business takes a lot more than social networking and search keyword advertisements on the Internet. Small businesses should consider some traditional marketing strategies like T-shirts and magnetic car signs, even if they are nation-wide. Marketing in your local community can be a great way to get exposure, and may have broader reach than you think.

You can check out more of Claudiu’s marketing ideas at http://www.defactomind.com/.

All ads you are planning on publishing MUST be about your potential clients. Not about you, your business, hobbies, likes and dislikes. This might come to your surprise but, besides you, nobody else cares about them.

Any prospective customer will always ask this: “WIIFM?” Translation: “What’s In It For Me?” The rest is just noise to them.

Advertising Mistake

So how should an advertisement look like?

1. Let Testimonials Speak for You
   If you make a direct claim, you better be prepared to back it up strongly. People don’t trust companies that make the claims themselves. Just look at Enron, Lehman Brothers and others alike. People want to hear other people; just like them what they have to say about you, your business, service or product.

   I even found myself many times, when shopping for a book or a laptop that I head directly to the customer reviews. Not that I am looking for the negative but after reading 1 or 2 glorious reviews I immediately move to the “thumbs down” section to see what others are saying.

   Also, whenever you construct an ad, stop with the clichés (i.e. “we are the best in business”, “we care about our customers”, etc.). If you have to say that it is obvious you are insecure about it and have to repeat it in an ad to convince yourself of its authenticity. Consumers don’t buy this approach anymore, plus you might sound just like another telemarketer and that’s plain naïve.Instead, ask others to give you testimonials. Coming from a third party that’s usually a bit more palatable and people would tend to believe that more than you tooting your own horn.

   People love stories and in a very compressed format, testimonials are just that. They are powerful and easily identifiable with your audience.Whenever allowed add a picture of the person who wrote the testimonial. That way the reader can put a face to what they are reading and become convinced of the authenticity of the testimonial. Also, if possible, include location and/or occupation of the testimonial author.

2. Body of Text
   Within the body of the ad text you should accomplish 2 things:
   • Emphasize what the testimonial already stated. In other words you will create an agreement between the reader and the text of the testimonial.
   • The text should indicate the benefits to why the reader would use your services or product over others. Again, this is about the client and not about you or your company, so pay special attention to this section. It will build the client base you always dreamed of.
3. Generate Urgency
   Engage the readers and through calls to action make them to act immediately. Include some kind of offer that will decisively convince the audience that the offer is too good to miss and would prompt them to respond as soon as possible.
4. Offer Several Ways for the Audience to Respond
   With any ad or piece of advertising you should include at least 3 ways for people to contact you:
   • By Phone – regular local phone number or a toll free number if you are national
   • By Email – create a generic email address you can use for this reason only. You can delete it after your ad has run its time otherwise you’ll be hit with a lot of spam.
   • Through Your Website – include a “contact us” form directly on your website or better use a custom made landing page where you can keep track of all the hits and you can also measure the success of your ad campaign.