Gentle persuasion

Having been exposed to the ‘behind the scenes’ side of advertising for years and having studied the persuasive techniques marketing companies use, I guess I am a little more cautious when it comes to advertising than most people. I analyse advertising and try to decipher what the advertiser was trying to achieve and what techniques they have used to do this, rather than just absorb it passively. To a degree I assumed this is what most people must do but after a discussion with some friends the other day I was proven
very wrong.

The friends in question were a small group of professional females in their late 20’s. They are all very intelligent ladies and well respected in their respective jobs – none of which are marketing. We were chatting about winter and how all of us were feeling less like getting outside and doing our regular exercise and more like sitting at home on the couch, with the fire on and a glass of red wine and some chocolate nearby. Then the subject of Tim Tams came up.

All three ladies suddenly remembered that recently they had all felt an unusual craving for Tim Tams. One of the girls actually admitted that her craving had been so strong that she had taken a trip to the supermarket just to get a packet of Tim Tams. When she walked in she was confronted with a large display, dedicated solely to Tim Tams, on the aisle end. Thinking this was just a coincidence she purchased three packets and went home
to indulge.

Whilst this conversation was taking place I sat quietly, somewhat amazed, by what I had just heard. I knew that around the time the girls had their Tim Tam cravings there had been a high concentration of Tim Tam ads on commercial TV in the evening. What the girls hadn’t realised is that as they sat back to relax for the night and watch their favourite TV shows they were being exposed to advertisements that had been strategically placed in these time slots to target people just like them.

The supermarket displays were no coincidence either. Arnott’s (who make Tim Tams) would have paid premium fees to use this supermarket space and they would have deliberately done it to coincide with their TV advertising. I would almost guarantee at the same time they would have been utilising other media tools such as, out of home advertising and press advertising in magazines that would have been chosen to appeal to people like my friends. This clever approach is a strategically driven media campaign and from the example above it is quite clear that this smart marketing really does work.

I often hear businesses complaining that advertising is a waste of money and that it doesn’t get results, and unfortunately if you are advertising on an ad-hoc basis with no objectives in mind, this really is the case. You might as well throw your money away. In order to make your marketing budget work for you as hard as it can, you need to have a promotional plan in place that is strategically driven, has objectives to achieve and is based on sound knowledge of the target market and the mediums you are using.

If you are wasting your money on marketing why not give us a call to discuss your options? We have created media campaigns and promotional plans for clients of all sizes that get results. You might be surprised how cost effective some of our solutions can be.