Tag Archives: Advertising

A Divorcee, a Dentist and a Marketing Wonk Walk Into a Bar*

Don’t you just love stock images?

True story: One man marries and divorces 6 wives in 10 years.

True story: A woman tells 7 different dentists over 5 years that none of them know how to make good dentures.

True story: A business owner hires 5 marketing consultants in 7 years, yet the business continues to decline.

Question: What do the man, the woman, and the business owner have in common?

Are they unlucky in love, periodontal disease and commerce?

Or, are they willingly unwilling to find success?

The man in the first story is a terrible husband.

The woman in the second story is a lousy patient.

The business owner in the third story….well, you get the picure.

Moral: As you navigate the stormy waters of life, spend some time in self-examination. Failure isn’t a bad thing, as long as you can learn from it and apply what you’ve learned in the future.

The Flip Side

Question: What do the 6 wives, 7 dentists and 5 marketing consultants have in common?

Each of them likely ignored many warning signs that they were about to be engaged by an asshole.

Moral: As you strive for love and success, find a way to steer clear of people who refuse to be happy. This often involves trusting your gut feelings as well as your closest advisors. Sometimes that’s hard to do.

*In Ad-Writing 101 we learn that the purpose of the headline is to get you to read the next line. Did it work?

The Recessionary "Share of Voice" Bonus

[UPDATE: This was first published in 2009. I thought I’d update it for 2020, but it’s perfectly timely again. Didn’t change a thing.]

You hear a lot of people talking about how stupid it is to stop advertising during a recession. They recount how so many businesses stayed the course and came out the other side with increased market share.

Question: Were they just better equipped to weather the storm, or did their advertising work better during the downturn?

Share of Voice: The percentage of total ad messages in your business category that are YOURS.

If your competitors are cutting back (or belly up) you can actually get a boost in the effectiveness of your advertising because your Share of Voice just got bigger.

The Advertising Performance Equation accounts for how your market share relates back to the Share of Voice that you’ve purchased through your advertising. All things being equal, if you have fewer competitors barking on the airwaves, your ad will do a better job of “branding” your business in the minds of consumers as the first place they think of and feel best about, when the need for your product or service arises.

Share of Voice

You see, Share of Mind, is the result of your Share of Voice times the Impact Quotient, or level of effectiveness of your message. Couple a powerful message with an increased Share of Voice and something magical starts to happen. If you don’t fritter away this advantage by delivering a below-average customer experience, increased market share is sure to follow. It’s all in the math.

It’s not simply that your competitors have left a void in the market, but they’ve left a void in the minds of their customers.

Will you step up and fill that void?