Human beings often hold advertising pitchmen in low regard.

Like the “fight or flight” response, that may be instinctive.

A zebra doesn't single himself out of the herd so that the lions will notice him.

A mouse doesn't run to the center of an open space to tease a cat.

It goes against nature for an animal not to duck and cover. Other than with their own species during mating season, most animals do not try to draw attention to themselves.

And any animal which would behave in such an odd fashion would be avoided by the rest of the herd. The herd's very survival may depend on not standing too close to anyone hogging center stage.

So, is it animal instinct that something is wrong and this one should be avoided when an advertiser thumps his chest proclaiming “We will not be undersold,” or points at the camera and says “I'll get you money for your pain and suffering?” Those particular animals, (genus boastasaurus adnauseaum), frequently make the rest of the herd uncomfortable.

They appear to have something wrong with them.

Either that, or they think it's mating season.

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Wal-Mart Superstores have the one stop shopping image nailed. And for many of the commonly desired items, it works. If you need socks, or frozen pizza, or a ream of copy paper you'll be in and out with exactly what you were looking for.

However, if you wander over to plumbing you won't find a stationary wall mount bracket for a hand shower. You won't find scent pads in with the hunting gear. And there will not be a 5/16 inch brake line tubing bender in automotive. Wal-Mart keeps costs down by only stocking goods with quick turnover.

If you think about it, this "stock only the most popular" philosophy has worked well for Disneyland since it opened in 1955. In order to keep families coming back next season Disney needs to add new attractions, but there's no space in Anaheim for more rides. Their solution? To add a new ride, Disney must remove an existing one. How do they choose? Like Wal-Mart, they remove the lowest attended ride from the previous season. Disney refers to this process as "lowest ride out."

So doesn't it make sense that one of the world's most popular musical groups keeps their popularity high using the same technique?

In this interview on Sixty Minutes, lead singer Chris Martin explains to CBS' Steve Kroft that the band always watches the exits to see which songs have people headed for the bathrooms. They eliminate those songs from future shows.

Instead of playing their personal favorites, they actually measure what fans want to hear, and then provide more of it.  How has that worked out for them?  Coldplay has sold seven million copies of their new album, Viva La Vida.  Their most recent tour sold out, even in the worst economy of recent years.

Could the "lowest ride out" philosophy work for your retail store? Which items in your inventory don't turn over all year, and are tying up working capital? How many more sales could you make if you stocked something which more people wanted to buy?

How many marginally profitable services does your service business offer?  Could you do more of the highly profitable jobs if you eliminated the marginal services? 

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There's a story that C.E.O. Fred Smith hung ten sketches of color designs for Federal Express cargo planes on a wall of his office, and then asked people to come look at them. Smith reportedly sat back and watched people's reactions. He noted that one particular drawing kept attracting and holding the attention of people. This design became the image of those planes we recognize as FedEx today.

Sometimes testing of advertising, or design, or other marketing elements can be this simple. And don't we all like simple tests?

The Title Test

They don't come much simpler than Cindy Cashman's Title Test. Cindy is a prolific author of such titles as Bedtime Stories for Dogs (as Leigh Anne Jasheway), The Book of Smiles, and Life Lessons for Couples (as Cindy Francis).  Her Everything Men Know About Women (as Dr. Alan Francis) has sold more than a million copies. Cashman tests book concepts by passing out lists of potential titles to people in her target market, and asking them which books they'd pay to purchase today. Any potential title which doesn't get an overwhelming response gets dumped.

The Six Year Old Test

For years I've recommended the “six-year-old” test of advertising copy. Read your ad to a six year old. Then, ask the child to explain to you what you just said. You won't be able to test the appeal of your offer this way, but if the concept comes back largely unaltered, you may safely conclude your ad is communicating well.

The Penetration Test

The late Rosser Reeves had an brilliantly simple test of the persuasive power of the ad campaigns he created for Ted Bates Advertising. He called 1,000 random people (or, more properly, had it done) and asked two questions. “Have you heard or seen our advertisements?” “Do you use our product?” Then he simply compared the penetration of the product into both the group which had been exposed to the ad and the group which had not. If the campaign was “working,” people who remembered the ads were purchasing more than those who didn't.

The Zip Code Test

Thinking of using radio to drive traffic to your web site, but you want a way to track radio's contribution to your “clicks?” Have your fulfillment people establish a baseline of shipments to the zip codes your market, then run your ads. Incremental shipments to your target zips must have come from the radio schedule.

The Keyed Ad Test

A simple test of which newspaper ad triggered the response is to use different contact information. Your ad in the Sun references "Department S," while the ad in the Daily Bugle references "Department D," for instance. If you're inviting people to phone, use different numbers, or different contact names. Requests for “Miss Jones” are leads generated by the ad in the Sun. People asking for “Miss Johnson” are obviously looking at the ad in the Daily Bugle. In addition of being a valid test of which medium is producing activity, consider that it could also become an important step in the sales process. Inviting people to call for a free report is a great way to capture contact information from potential customers.

The Imbedded Instruction Test

Giving someone the opportunity to do what they don't want to do will produce no results worth noting, but helping someone to make a measurable choice can sometimes be simple. Radio sales trainer Chris Lytle has for years told of running an ad which instructed shoppers to “wear soft soled shoes since you'll be shopping in our giant warehouse,” and then noticing the surprising number who actually followed the instructions. Is embedding a specific instruction in your advertising copy a valid test of whether people are shopping because they were exposed to your ad? Maybe. This one really depends on the action you're asking them to take. Done badly, it could also be a test of whether people are willing to risk ridicule.

The Isolated Offer Test

Using multiple media, and don't know if one of your choices is paying off? I once offered a book of coupons good at a flea market in ads for that flea market. The coupon books were available at the office, and were not mentioned in any other customer contact. (Bargain shoppers looking for extra bargains from vendors they'd have frequented anyway? Care to guess the outcome?) The number of coupon books picked up by customers was an excellent indicator of that media outlet's ability to reach customers.

Testing the Offer

Want to test your offer before investing big bucks in a television schedule? Use telemarketing to phone a couple of hundred prospects, and see what they're willing to pay for.

And finally, is testing even necessary?

Not everything needs to be tested.  There's multiple test evidence going back decades that targeted advertising outperforms untargeted advertising, that effective outdoor ads should have six or fewer words of copy, and that people will ignore ads which don't offer things they're interested in purchasing.  Instead of wasting time and effort proving these things yet again, you can safely assume nothing has changed and build upon that assumption.

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The only Chevrolet dealer in Smallburg, Texas, augments his local newspaper ads with a schedule on a regional radio station licensed to the adjacent community, Midville. He's been selling an average of 18-20 cars per month. At the end of his first month with the new radio station he has sold a total of 27.

In his next newsletter the station manger writes, “When you see Ned Vanderslice of Vanderslice Auto, ask him why he's grinning. He'll tell you sales are up 30 percent.”

The newsletter hits the mail. Within hours the manager receives an angry phone call from Vanderslice. “How DARE you claim my success?”

“Ned,” asks the manager, “other than advertising on my radio station, what other changes did you make last month in your advertising? Did you run any additional newspaper? Any additional television? Any additional direct mail?”

“No,” says Ned, “but you had nothing to do with my sales increase. Nobody drove from Midville to buy cars from me.”

Ned thinks advertising cause and effect is common sense.

Is it? Yeah. Most of the time it is.

In this case, I'd bet that Midville's regional radio station has listeners in Smallburg. How many? At least seven. At least seven that were ready to buy new cars. Since no other part of the advertising mix has changed, we can pretty well determine what drove the increase.

The key is to test only one change at a time.

Then watch the outcome. Sometimes it's not what anyone might expect, but it's usually still common sense.

An apartment complex which does a very credible job of tracking the source of each lead has just added radio ads to their marketing mix. I advised them to watch for an increase in ALL of their lead sources.

1.Realtors, hearing the ad, will naturally think of this complex more often. We can expect them to recommend it more than they might have without the reminder.

2.People hearing the ad are likely to look up the phone number of the complex in the Yellow Pages. We can expect Yellow Pages referrals to increase.

3.People keying the name of the complex into Google will, of course, drive up the on line referrals. But common sense will tell you there was only one change in the marketing mix.

My favorite advertisers intuitively know this. They change headlines, and record the response. They change insertion days, and record the response. They add the weekend edition, and record the response.

Roger de la Paz of Richie's Real American Diner in Victorville, California knows that this particular ad delivers a consistently predictable 118 percent increase in gross sales every day it runs.

How? Because he's already tested everything from ad size, to offer, to headline, to graphics, to the day of the week to run this ad in the Victorville, Ca. Daily Press.

Roger systematically changed only one element at a time, and kept careful records of each outcome. He compares the demand for specific food items before the ad runs, and again afterward. He is then able to calculate the increased demand for specific menu items against the cost of the ads.

There are no quick answers. Each test helped Roger to make each successive ad more profitable.  It took him three years to learn what he now knows about advertising his restaurant in the Daily Press.

But by carefully tracking the specifics of size, placement, and frequency of his newspaper ads, Roger can now predict to within a few dollars the ROI for each newspaper ad he runs for Richie's Real American Diner.

Persistence, it appears, is also a key element in testing your advertising.

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Things aren't what they seem. At least, not always.

For instance, the greeters at Wal-Mart aren't there to make you feel welcome. Their primary function is to keep shoplifters from carrying large items out the door without paying.

In Sam Walton's autobiography he explained that he walked into a Wal-Mart store in Alabama and observed the older gentleman employed in loss prevention welcoming people to “his” store.

Walton immediately saw the benefit, and made greeting a required function.

I predict a change in the way gasoline is sold.

You're about to see the return of attended gas stations. Not the old “full service,” which also checked fluids under the hood, but rather the appearance of service: someone pumping your gas.

Consumers who are shelling out $100 per tank for a fill-up are going to be drawn to these new “service” stations, telling themselves that at these prices they deserve to have someone else's fingers retaining the essence of petroleum. These new service stations will gain a competitive advantage in the only place it counts: the minds of customers.

But the stations won't be offering manned pumps to provide any competitive advantage. Their attendants will be pumping gas for the same reason Wal-Mart has greeters: loss prevention.

Every time prices rise, gasoline retailers report more "drive offs" - people who literally drive away without paying.  A single customer  who steals a $100 a tank of gas will cost the station as much as would a double shift of minimum wage attendants, whose job it will be to make sure he doesn't drive off.

That the attendant gives the gas station a competitive edge is just one of those serendipitous things that occasionally work to a retailer's advantage.

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Anne Stewart's HotCards.com blog is always worthwhile reading.  Her current analysis of the Obama campaign has derived advertising lessons we can all apply.

In her previous post, Anne stated: "Whether you’re engaged in the marketing of a product or service, or in a political campaign, the rules of good copy writing are essentially the same: be fresh and surprising, or expect the average consumer/voter to look right through your print collateral."

And in her current post, Writing Good Ad Copy, Stewart takes note of a fresh treatment of a throw-away attribution.

Listen up, people. Communication is changing again. And according to Stewart, "the Barack Obama Presidential campaign has begun to churn out some fresh copy that dares voters to pay attention."

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I came across an interesting statement last week: "Over the past 45 years, Consumer spending went up -- not down -- during each economic downturn." Source: DDB Needham Worldwide, “Advertising in Recessionary Times,” October 1990 updated subsequently.

Consumer spending goes up in uncertain economic times? That certainly runs contrary to conventional wisdom. However, Joel Libava offers an explanation in his blog post of January 23, 2008, “The R Word and Economic Woes — The World Will Go On”

He says: “It’s hard to deny that we’re in (or going in to) an economic downturn. During this economic downturn, the world won’t stop spinning, consumers won’t stop spending, and people will still go into businesses of their own.”

Joel provides an example of a real out-of-work couple, considering purchasing a franchise, and discussing their own feelings about downsizing, concluding “Once a great and meaningful service is provided to a consumer, it is really hard for that consumer to give that great and meaningful service up. Yes, consumers will tighten their belts, and back off from some extravagant spending. But when it comes to time saving products and services such as house cleaning, you will be hard pressed to find folks willing to give it up. Really.”

The reality is that people will continue to spend during a recession, but its more important than ever to persuade them to spend those dollars with you.  Where do you start?  "Great and meaningful service" sounds right to me. 

And, don't forget, any gains you make in market share while your competitors are hunkering down and waiting for things to get better, will be multiplied when the economy does improve.

Wouldn't you spend a few dollars more promoting your business for a bigger slice of a smaller pie now, when it will ensure a bigger slice of a bigger pie soon?

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A lot of marketing books assume that advertisers are already marketing their products and services, and advise changes in strategy and re-allocation of resources. Very few are written for businesses so small or so new that they have no marketing plans to modify.

Clay Campbell has gathered in one collection some of his best on-line columns into a a book for just such small companies – Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget.

Clay is a good-natured, plain-spoken country boy from Western Kentucky. He doesn't come off as the typical successful business person, let alone an accomplished marketing consultant. He's both. And he's very good at what he does.

I've mentioned that each of the chapters of Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget started as an article. This is a collection of Clay's well-thought-out advice – specific real issues for real businesses.

Some of his topics include:

1. If you're just starting out and you have no money.
2. A way to market if you have no money.
3. Five words to avoid in your ads.
4. Do you have a guarantee?
5. Things I learned from my visit to Sewell Cadillac in Dallas.

Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget draws from Clay's experiences as the owner of several successful small businesses, as well as his expertise in website development and search engine optimization.

You'll learn how to create positive word-of-mouth, and how to buy it.

You'll learn how to raise awareness and ranking of your web site.

And, you'll learn how to build a huge database of e-mail customers with a simple e-mail newsletter.

All in all, Clay offers over 100 ideas you can put to work immediately to grow your customer base and improve cash flow.

Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget is an audiobook. Pop it in the CD player and make your drive time productive. Want to verify something specific? Wizard Academy Press includes a written copy of the complete text in booklet format.

How good is Clay's advice?

He's my friend, and a generous man.  I have no doubt he would have sent me a complementary copy if I'd asked for it.  I paid full retail for mine. Its that good. 

At only $12.95, can you afford not to own a copy?
 

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I don't know that there's a person who owns a television set that doesn't get annoyed by some of the advertising shown on that set. 

But, how many of them started their own website? 

Nathan Alexander has made a study of bad advertising.  My favorite is his analysis of the classic Totino's Pizza Rolls ad:

Three or four kids sneak down to the kitchen
to grab a clandestine midnight snack.

The kid is like "Shhh, don't wake my parents... I've got Totino's..."

Yeah, so they're all makin' their hot little Totino's rolls and whatnot.
And as soon as they start eating, the kids start yelling.
That's right. Totino's Pizza Rolls are so good, they give you Tourettes.

The first one shouts, "Hey this tastes like a PIZZA!"
Then this one kid yells "MINE TASTES LIKE A TACO !!!"
I mean he screams it.

Yes, people. Scream at me and I'll buy whatever you're selling.

Suddenly the hallway light turns on.
Looks like our little brats have woken the parents.
How would you like to wake up to "Mine tastes like a taco"?

"Run!" scream the kids, and they flee the kitchen. Yelling.

Good one, kids. YELL A LOT and run away.
Now, they'll never know it was you who ate the Totino's rolls.

Perhaps you'll prefer his analysis of the Tide, or Visa, or Valtrex ads. If nothing more, this site is a great memory tickler.

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According to Seth Godin, there are only three primary emotions which people react to when your ad resonates within them. 

When stripped to its essentials, which does yours use?  (Hint: saving money is not even on the list).

If you're not using at least one of these motivators, can you be sure that your ads are effective with anyone? 

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