“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half’ – John Wannamaker
That quote that makes one stop and think, doesn’t it?
I’m thinking, ‘Only half?’ Yes, really, ONLY half???!!! Only wasting half of a budget on advertising that failed could be construed as lucky, fortunate, and a really good result. I’ve seen lots and lots of drycleaners spend lots and lots of money on lots and lots of advertising, only to fall flat on their faces failing in the most spectacular ways wasting hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of dollars. And I’ll confess, I’ve done it too.
Yes, we all have made mistakes resulting in failure. Some have been colossal failures, some not so bad. Thankfully, most of us have been fortunate to have survived our mistakes. As John Wannamaker implies, it’s knowing which efforts are wasted that is the secret to producing successful advertising.
I’ve been out doing some shopping lately. I have been having issues with my eyes, and I need to buy some visual aids to assist me with my vision. There is a wide choice of optical devices being offered to me at various price points. The prices are up there, so you can be assured, I’m checking out everything carefully as any mistake could be very costly. But then I came across this:
Facebook invests a billion dollars in virtual reality head sets and smart glasses.
Wow, a multi-billion dollar company, investing a billion or more dollars into new products. I have to check this out.
So, I go to the local Best Buy store that sells the new Ray Ban Facebook developed smart glasses. When I walk into the shop, I’m immediately struck by a display complete with large screen TV playing a well-produced, slick, attention grabbing video featuring the new smart glasses. There is a sales person standing next to the display, ready to step in and answer questions. Product in boxes, behind glass, on the shelves.
The slick looping video on the big screen is displaying in super large Impact font: TRY ON THE GLASSES!
In fact, everywhere you look, you are bombarded with: TRY ON THE GLASSES! TRY ON THE GLASSES! TRY ON THE GLASSES
So, I walk over to the slick expensively produced display, and…
BOOM! Advertising fail!
A billion dollars plus invested. Millions more being spent advertising. A potential customer responds with expectations, interest, and a willingness to buy, and…despite all messaging instructing potential customers to TRY ON THE GLASSES….you can’t. They didn’t ship a demonstration pair.
OOOOOooooooffffff! What a punch in the gut.
The sales staff manning the display asked if he could get a pair out of the locked glass case for me. I said, yes, I’d love to try the glasses. He says, sorry, you can’t try them on, you can only purchase them. WHAT?! Yes, for purchase only. You can’t try them on.
But, the signs say, try the glasses. Ah, yeah, nope. Purchase only. I walked out with my money in my pocket. I didn’t buy them. If I can’t try on the glasses, I ain’t buying.
See, even the mega big boys, billion dollar companies, can make massive mistakes.
So, how about you? What mistakes are you making in your advertising? What mistakes are you making promoting your business? Do you even know where you are messing up? Do you know which half or more of your advertising efforts are going wrong and causing waste?
I’m starting a new series where I’m going to share some classic mistakes made in advertising along with solutions to fix the problem, correct the mistake, and get you back on track on the road to success.
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Darcy Moen opened his first drycleaning shop at the age nineteen. Over the next sixteen years, he built his first 600 square foot plant into a chain of 5 stores, creating and testing his own marketing programs along the way. Darcy is a multi-media marketer, working in digital signage, video, print, direct mail, web, e-mail and is a social media expert certified by Facebook for Pages, Insights and Ad Systems. Please visit www.drycleanersuniversity.com.
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