Tuesday, July 11, 2017

A Critical Need Ignored

Many, many times while working with community newspaper advertising sales teams across America, I have preached the critical need to educate all locally controlled businesses about the art and science of advertising.

The position I took then and still hold now, is that an educated client makes smarter decisions and can therefore make better-informed judgements regarding your value proposition and the proposition of other media. The primary reason that locally owned businesses are not more educationally-equipped to make reasoned advertising marketing commitments, is that their advertising sales person was too invested in the myopic view of their own world. The sales person saw the client or prospect through a very narrow lens and they still do. The sales people failed to realize or were not taught that selling is not their primary function. Their primary function is to keep clients sold and advertising-educated clients do not just buy, they stay bought! When you sell clients without the client having a considerable base of knowledge about what they are buying, you give them permission to leave whenever they desire.

Digital media is aggressively challenging traditional media because digital can connect the dots, even though the dots connected may be few in number. Traditional media that delivers digital as part of a solution is also blinded by the glare of the shiny new toys. Traditional print is still very powerful but not enough people inside the circle or outside the circle know it. One traditional compliments the digital-other.

Rather than making a real effort to learn the art and science of advertising, community newspaper sales folks took the path of least resistance. They knew enough to be dangerous, but they really didn't know, what they didn't know.  Why would these traditional and trusted media choose the path of least resistance? The answer may be as simple as, business was too good to acknowledge the critical need.

A recent study by Borrell and Associated proves that traditional media is still where it has always been specific to teaching clients. Clients and prospect still do not know the art and science of advertising. Is is not too late to learn so you can learn and teach. Who is going to care enough to take the time to learn so they can teach? You?

NOTE: Some great science comes from The Persuaders by James Garvey.
On page 47 Garvey writes; ... the fact that a great deal of what we think about comes not from sound reflection and careful argument, but from our lifelong exposure to images and messages that serve the interest of those who pay for them.

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