Too Much Hype

Michael McLaughlin, author of the Guerilla Marketing blog, provides good information on what does and doesn't work in ads in his Words Are Worth a Thousand Pictures post.

Key items worth noting:

• "I don’t doubt that people fail to read most of the advertising copy they come across, but that’s because of the hype that’s part of most ad copy, not people’s lack of time to read."
• Your clients are interested in reading about your services, but you must grab their attention. What’s new about your offering? What’s your story? Is there news?
• What’s most important is that the fluff be ruthlessly eliminated from your ad copy, web page or other marketing communication.
• Ten different studies have shown that when the bull is stripped from ads, consumer interest skyrockets.

This just goes to show that as consumers become more savvy, they're less tolerant of hyped up marketing messages. Looking at ad copy with the perspective of what’s new, what's the story and is there news reminds me a lot of pitching a news story to the media, and they too aren't isn't interested in the hype.

Filed In: Guerilla, Marketing, Advertising, Copy, Writing, Graphics,