In the Advertising Performance Equation, there are two giant factors that will make the difference between a poor-to-middlin’ ad campaign and a campaign that will amaze you with its effectiveness.

Unfortunately, you cannot neccesarily count on your advertising reps or your agency for either of these.

First, is the Personal Experience Factor. Others call it the delight factor, or the wow factor or the f’in amazing things you do for your customers. In short, if the ACTUAL customer experience exceeds the expectation created by the campaign, you can likely expect repeat business and referrals. HOWEVER, if the experience delivered by you and your staff fall short of expectations, expect us to tune out your subsequent advertising and tell everyone we know that you’re "not all that."

Second, once you get your customer experience tuned up, the Impact Quotient of your message is what will cause us to perk up and pay attention. I’m not talking about the kind of schtick usually spouted by the average car dealer. You can yell to get my attention, but once I figure out it’s an ad (and a poorly written and executed ad at that) my B.S. filter kicks in and you never even get to whisper to my pre-frontal cortex where buying decisions are made. It’s not as simple as just getting my attention. You must keep it. Ah, now that’s the hard part.

If you can wrap your arms around both of these principles, your advertising will exceed your expectations. If you ignore one or the other (or both) the only way to compensate is to spend more money. Lots more. And be prepared to keep spending more, because over time your campaign will diminish in effectiveness as more consumers tune out your ads or figure out your poor experience.