From ~ Alastair Crompton, in The Craft of Copywriting, 1979
Decide whether your product has anything to say. If it has, say it. If it hasn’t, don’t waste fruitless hours trying to dig out some obscure fact that you hope will give you a campaign. Use showmanship. Look well outside the product itself to the people, the times, the places and the ways the product is used. Above all, be interesting.
Wisdom From Advertising Greats
Success Stories
In A Nutshell
What clients & colleagues say ...
If you think I may be able to help ...
There are many ways …
A long-term client was retiring and his son was taking over the business. The father was a big fan of print advertising; his son had a strong preference for personal networking. “I’ll tell my son he has to work with you,” my client said. “No way!”, I instantly replied. “He gets to do what he thinks is right.” There are many good ways to get the word out. It’s okay to use ones you like!
Getting the word out …
A metrowest Boston law firm with two specialties traditionally depended on referrals. But business was way down! No surprise - they did no active outreach and had a rudimentary web site. We put together a local newspaper advertising program that got them in front of potential clients at a reasonable cost, and created a simple, modern web site. Things turned around. They even started getting business from out-of-state attorneys who found them on the Web!
They actually thought my ideas were just what they needed …
Meeting with a local financial services company, we got talking about what a medium-sized local business actually needed for marketing and advertising today. Some of the strategy-moving-forward ideas I brought up really connected with what they were thinking about too. Especially when it came to the importance of finding sensible and consistent ways to keep in touch regularly with people who are likely to buy soon. It’s not flashy ‘magic’ – it’s a process that works.
No wonder they weren’t seeing much *bang* for their advertising buck!
A local bank called, concerned that they were spending $300,000 a year on advertising and “not getting anything from it.” We started looking at what that number was made up of and it turned out to be everything but the kitchen sink - coffee in the branches, seminars for staff, rebuilding an ATM, a flat-screen TV. All kinds of branch operation expenses. The bottom line? They were barely spending anything on actual advertising at all!
Local newspaper delivers better results than the Web
A bank client called. They’d been advertising on Monster.com for part-time tellers. But they were overwhelmed by the flood of responses from faraway applicants who were never going to move thousands of miles for these jobs. I suggested they forget about Monster and put a display ad - not classified! - in the local paper. The ad was created, it ran and within a week they had five terrific local candidates. They ultimately hired two.
There are so many good ways to get the word out …
A “Top 25” metrowest insurance agency heard I helped a client use local newspaper to find employees. They wanted to try that too. They also mentioned a popular insurance industry web site where they could post help wanted positions free. “Let’s run our listings there first,” I told them. “We may not even need to run an ad!” The industry listings worked like a charm - they never did run a newspaper ad after all!
Accomplishing a big project … step-by-step-by-step
Having an e-newsletter to send to customers & prospects had been a client’s dream for years. But it kept getting left on the back burner. Finally it was green-lighted. Putting the whole thing together was A Big Job. In weekly phone meetings, my client and I took it step-by-step-by-step. And we made it happen. From no e-newsletter to one she loves (and understands completely). She’s delighted! And they’re already getting new business calls from it!
A Charitable Giving Policy that makes sense for the giver …
A local insurance agency client was tired of being asked for charitable contributions. The individually-small amounts were really adding up but he felt the money he gave made no difference at all! Working together, we came up with a Charitable Giving Policy focusing on his passion for music. Especially jazz. Now he gives meaningful amounts to several non-profits that support jazz education. And he has an established, clear, objective basis for turning down other requests.
A media rep puts my client’s best interest last …
A media rep called with an interesting opportunity for one of my clients. “How much?”, I asked. $50,000 for the year, he said. I was flabbergasted – that was 5 times what they were spending with him. I asked what made him think they’d go for that. “Can’t hurt to start at the top,” he said. But that was “the top” for him, not for my client. We passed without even asking about less expensive options.
Order from chaos …
A recent client called because they wanted to do a mailing to their contact list, but they needed help creating the letter and the list was in shambles. We wrote a letter they loved and turned their mailing list into an organized, easily-reusable Excel spreadsheet. They were delighted with the response ... many phone calls, emails and even an eventual merger offer from a former colleague who got back in touch because of the mailing.
Helping a client explore a new idea …
A local cable TV sales rep approached a client to see if they’d be interested in advertising on TV. The cable company’s first proposal was way too expensive – my client was curious but not *that* curious. They brought me in to negotiate a “test the waters” schedule … at one-third the cost of the original proposal! Now they feel good about experimenting, and – if TV proves to be successful - there’s plenty of room to grow.
Sometimes the simpler answer really is the best one
A client was invited to be a regular guest blogger for an industry leader. A fantastic opportunity! When they wanted a brochure from him to hand out at an event, we realized that a color copy of his most recent blog would be even better – quick, inexpensive, easy to produce. And it worked. Attendees mostly ignored the brochure table. But many could be seen reading his blog reprint that had been left on their chairs!
Sometimes it takes a while for advertising to work
Just before their first campaign started running, I told a new client they’d be tempted to pull it before they started seeing measurable results ... but I wouldn’t let them. That’s exactly what happened. They called about two months in and said they weren’t seeing anything. “Remember,” I replied, “We’re staying the course.” About a month later, serious prospects started responding. Amazed, the client asked how I knew that’d happen. Because it so often does!
Making good use of *being stuck* at a trade show
A bank client wanted to support a local home show and they suspected that chatting with a banker might not be high-priority for the attendees. So we came up with an idea giving them a reason to go and talk with the other local business people there ... an “exhibitor only” drawing. It worked! They had good conversations. They had fun. And connections they made at that show led directly to several new commercial loans.
Marching (reluctantly!) to the beat of a different drummer leads to success
When a client kept seeing color ads in their local paper, they wanted their ads in color too. But the paper charged a 25% premium for color. And their ads would have to be significantly redesigned to make good use of it. In the end, they decided to stick with black & white. The happy result? On a page packed with 4-color ads canceling each other out, their simple, clean ad totally dominated the page!
What does Google know about advertising anyway?!
If someone did a poll asking which two ways to advertise were *Most Likely To Be Dead As A Doornail,” chances are phone calling and direct mail would come in right at the top. So how come Google – the company that 99.999% owns online advertising! – uses both of those so heavily? Because Google knows *the old ways* still deliver … and they aren’t one little bit shy about using whatever works to build their business.
When *life* happens …
Clients often work with me for 10 to 15 years and more. So they benefit from having the consistent message, keep-in-touch marketing that helps “Trusted Advisor”/professional service firms connect with good prospects. Having an established marketing relationship also helps when “life happens.” One winter, a long-term client fell, shattering her leg. She was out for weeks. But because we had worked together so long, her projects moved forward seamlessly. Not one ball was dropped!
Somebody’s reading that stuff … we have the numbers to prove it!
A client sends a monthly e-newsletter to customers. They’ve been getting a very positive direct response. And they’ve been encouraged to see the post-send reports of how many customers actually open the e-newsletter and presumably, at the least, scan through. Talking about their experience at a seminar, a panelist challenged them: “E-newsletters?! Nobody reads that stuff!” My client stood their ground. “Our customers do,” he said. “And we have our own numbers to prove it.”
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