Avoiding Pitfalls

One pitfall for advertisers to avoid is talking about internal issues outside the company. An enormous number of companies want to talk about and advertise things that are irrelevant to outside audiences but big topics of discussion inside a company. For example, a client may want to advertise that it has this division and that division. Customers don’t care.

Second, many companies invest in the basics, spending a lot of money on stuff that is a basic premise of their business. For example, an Internet security company wants to tell the market it is in the security business. No kidding. Research shows that the market did not want to hear the company is in the security business; it already knew that. The market wanted to hear that by using these security services it could do things with IT systems it couldn’t do before. A lot of times advertisers say things that are obvious: what everyone expects them to say. It would be like the Boston Bruins doing an ad that says, “We play hockey.”

Third, avoid treating advertising like show business. A ludicrous amount of money is spent in the production and creation of materials. What clients spend on interesting techniques and devices borders on the irresponsible when you are using a company’s money to promote capitalist things with consumers.

And finally, always be cognizant of the language or lexicon used in messaging. Many companies use internal jargon and acronyms that mean nothing to potential customers, creating instant barriers to acceptance of their messages. It’s a basic premise: If they don’t know what you’re talking about, chances are they’re not going to buy it.