Okay class, it is now September and school is in session. Your first assignment; write a 60-second advertisement for your business.
Take your time … I’ll wait. When you are done go ahead and continue reading. [Take a few extra minutes and write it down on paper. I’ll still wait …]
Great! If what you wrote takes a minute or less to say, then you pass! About a year ago I wrote about how important it is to be able to say what you do for a living in about a minute. Today lets go deeper and see if we can improve on our 60-second advertisement.
Almost all Ads can be categorized into one of four basic approaches. Let’s review each of these four techniques and while we do, evaluate your own 60-second promo and see which category yours falls under.
ASSERTION
The most common, easiest to create, is called the Assertion technique. This style of promo uses an enthusiastically presented statement of how good a product or service is. Nearly 90% of the “60-seconds” I hear from various business groups I’ve visited fall into this category. These are the typical "great price, great service, best produc"” variety of commercials.
If your 60-second commercial sounds like this style, be aware that it is the most difficult to get your audience to listen to. Because it is used so often, much of your audience is immune to it. People do not like to be marketed to and become cynical when they recognize the technique. To get your message through using the Assertion style, you have to be specific and provide material backing up your claims.
Far too often assertive commercials, while energetic, simply present grand claims as fact to be accepted without question. The listener needs to decide whether it is worth coaxing further details about the claims or simply ignore the message. Listeners are generally lazy and opt for the later.
If your commercial is relying on the assertive technique, it must include supporting backup evidence. Instead of saying "We at Company ABC provide better service and have a higher satisfaction rating than everyone else!!", this company would be better off saying "Why do we at Company ABC say we provide better service? Because our customers tell us we do. Call me or visit my website for references!!!"
PLAIN FOLKS
This style is common on TV ads and in politics. For a few examples of use in politics, remember George Bush Sr. hating broccoli and Bill Clinton stopping at McDonalds during a jog? The intent was to make them appear as just Regular Joes like the rest of us. On TV, these are the "Girl or Boy Next Door" commercials selling everything from cars to hemorrhoid creams. At its worst, the "Plain Folks" technique is used to portray a company, product, service, or politician as something it's not. At its best, this technique is used to show a business or person really does care.
For a 60-second promo, this technique can be very effective for businesses that rely on high-trust selling. These would be your CPAs, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, and those in any form of the health-care sector. Using examples of specific cases where a company's services helped someone out of a bad situation, or especially how the speaker assisted in helping is the key.
BANDWAGON
Ah, one of my favorites. We used to call this the "because all the cool kids are doing it" method. The bandwagon technique is very useful for marketing to younger audiences or to a very specific audience. If you can get the latest cultural icon to deliver the message, that's even better. My daughter will want just about anything pushed by "Hanna Montana". The Bandwagon approach is useful for businesses that are selling to a very narrow or specific market.
The basic approach here is to convince your audience that everyone else is doing it so don't get left behind. The really good ad writers make it seem like everyone in the targeted audience is buying it, and those that don't, well, don't matter and aren't welcome on the wagon.
The danger in this technique is if less of the targeted audience rushes to the "bandwagon" than the speaker led them to believe. In this case regaining the trust of the target audience may not be possible.
Types of small businesses that could use this method would be work out centers, spas, cosmetic sales, and other businesses with a clearly defined customer base. To be a truly effective the business needs to already have some momentum working for it. For example, a woman-only gym that is already experiencing phenomenal growth.
FEAR
Okay, I saved the most effective for last. If you tap into a Fear, and have a solution to alleviate that fear, you have a 60-second commercial that is almost guaranteed to work!
A 1991 study by Pratkanis and Aronson showed that "All other things being equal, the more frightened a person is by a communication, the more likely he or she is to take positive preventative action." The study also showed that Fear based commercials are less likely to be effective if the audience feels powerless to change the situation and more effective if given specific steps for reducing the threat.
What does this mean for our 60-second? If we are going to create a fear based appeal for generating business, don't make the fear too big to overcome and provide specifics for helping your audience overcome the threat.
This technique works well for talking about my computer services. For example, many big box store computer repair services usually look at the problem for a very short time before they simply wipe the hard drive clean and hand back a working computer that no longer has any of the customer's documents, photos, and other important files. I've had customers come to me after going to these stores asking if there is anything I can do to get the files back. Sometimes I can, but many times the files are beyond recovery.
One story I use in my 60-second is about the woman who lost her entire library of family digital photos because she brought her laptop back to the big box store for repairs. Her drive was wiped clean and the files were unsalvageable. The solution so this doesn't happen to you? First, back up all your important data. Second, bring your laptop or computer that needs repair to someone who cares about your data.
Need help with either of these? Call me.
These are just the basic advertisement techniques. New methods are always evolving. But for now, evaluate your 60-second commercial and see if it can be improved. If you used one technique, try writing another spot using one of the other techniques.
Class dismissed.

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