Your world whirls around you like a top turning on a table.
Spinning, turning, splashing, twerving.
There's no time to get everything done.
No time to relax...
No time to enjoy...
No money...
No freedom...
You are surfing Facebook, scrolling through all the shiny happy people postings.
There's an ad between Charlene's new puppy post and Jared's selfie at the beach.
The ad is skipped, as is 99.3% of boosted ads on Facebook.
In the swirl of activity, how do you pay attention to things you seemingly don't care about?
The simple answer is you don't.
Trainers put blinders on racehorses to keep them focussed on the finish line.
Most of us do the same with our attention.
We've been told and taught to focus.
So focus you do. And when you don't have to focus, you dream. You relax, when you can.
You dream while watching television, while listening to music or podcasts. And you dream while doing menial tasks like scrolling the internet or driving.
It's an advertiser's job to communicate a message to a potential buyer that will encourage a future purchase.
97% of ad messages are noise.
In a noisy, busy world, there are two ways to drive results.
1. Make more noise than everyone else. Think of the screaming toddler at Walmart.
2. Say something that matters. Say it consistently. Say it from an angle that will surprise and delight the audience.
Both will get results.
The first will get immediate results just like that spoiled kid who gets the immediate satisfaction of the candy bar.
Be careful. Although much easier to do, there is a limit to your tolerance of screaming. You start to ignore the screaming brat although he raises his intensity. He becomes part of the noise. And advertising like this will expose the law of diminishing returns.
Working for a pizza franchise 20 years ago, franchisees saw an increase in sales every time we ran a price promotion, communicated by flyers. The answer to more sales was to run more flyers. Then the decision makers decided to run price discounts on their products year long. The flyers were used to communicate the sale price, although the product was always discounted. After 3 years working there, the marketing effort didn't grow sales anymore. We spent a lot of money marketing to a customer who learned the promotional price wasn't a special event.
Facturing the cost of marketing, we were losing money through this marketing effort.
The second option has no ceiling.
It starts out as noise like all other messages.
Until you pay attention.
It becomes the secret decoder ring.
Only meant for those who care.
You share with friends who also care.
As you participate in the messaging, you become a secret fan.
And when you're ready to buy, you don't need to hear the ad again
You are the ad.
You are the client.
You're life is made easier because you didn't have to make a choice.
There's only one choice.
You've been dating this company for months, through its advertising.
You didn't know it, but you're falling in love with them.
And as long as the sales process is as good as the advertising, you're a client for a long time.
One is really easy to do, and doesn't take a lot of effort. But it will stop working after 3 years.
The other is hard and takes a lot of work. But done well, will never stop working for you.
Which one should you do?
If you want instant gratification, one day the candy bar won't be there. Knowing that, you can decide for yourself.
