CUT THROUGH THE CLUTTER
Be a Clutter Cutter. You have to take all the advertising clutter into consideration. You need to be the OPPOSITE of all the junk people are fed by most advertisements.
You’re standing in a crowded room at a networking event. There’s idle chit-chat all around you. You’re nodding and half-listening to the well-dressed professional directly 26 inches from your face. All of the sudden, you hear a guy behind you say, “So, there I was, buck naked in the middle of this girls-only college campus, covering up my privates with an iPad.” You totally whip a 180 (leaving your companion hanging mid-sentence), and all your attention is on this guy telling the most exciting story you’ve heard in a long time. THAT is cutting through the clutter.
A book to shed light on your local marketing efforts. Including Do’s, Don’ts, and a section of “extras”.
We’re bombarded with signage, advertising, and tons of other sales pitches every day. Even when we’re at our favorite steakhouse, there are ads pushed in our faces in the bathroom. We see them on buildings, in windows, in our mail, and on buses. We hear them on Radio, TV, guys with sandwich boards, and at ballgames. That is why your advertising can’t be like everyone else’s. You need to stand out. You need to get noticed. You need to say things in your ads that make people want to read or listen more. We’ve got much more interesting things to do than wait for your next run-of-the-mill ad. You need to say something that is more interesting than the thought currently taking up space in someone’s brain.
You won’t break through the clutter by just buying more ads and barraging the public with your logo, business name, and a cliché slogan that you think is what you’re all about. It’s annoying. Actually, it’s probably invisible. Use REAL language in your ads. Use words and phrases that your prospect thinks about, but never actually says out loud to anyone. When you are vivid and crystal clear with the words you use, and say things in your ads that push the envelope a bit, you’ll be a “clutter cutter”…and your ads will start attracting new people to you.
Please don’t be the business that uses a gorilla in your TV advertising just for the sake of being different. I’ve heard of businesses doing that, and they say, “It worked; we got a lot of comments.”
You may have even made a few extra sales from the gorilla ad or something just as dopey. But you don’t know about all the people who thought you were a joke, and would never consider doing business with a joke. If you’ve ever snagged a few extra customers due to an advertising gimmick, you could get a lot more if you would get their attention by addressing their real problem in a creative or exaggerated way, and then offer a real and honest solution.
You probably tried something like the gorilla ad because all the advertising you attempted in the past was pathetic and nothing has ever worked. Heck, you had nothing to lose, right? I applaud you for being different, but being “different” with your advertising doesn’t mean there aren’t any negative consequences you don’t know about.
Cut the clutter. But do it in a relevant way in which you can gain a long-term, profitable customer.
This is an excerpt from my book, Take a Bigger Slice. If you’d like to read the book, just click on the pic. You can get the digital copy from Amazon to read with your digital reader or get the hard copy mailed to you.
Thanks! Have a great day!
Duane Christensen
Non-Fat Advertising blog
I’m a marketing guy, ad writer, and business grower. I’m on a mission to help local businesses get more from their advertising bucks. I also wrote a a no-nonsense book about how to take a bigger slice of market share with better advertising. It’s called “Take a Bigger Slice”.
