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Answer Upon - One Thing They Never Taught You Whilst Working In An Advertising Agency - Or A Marketing Department
Well… A bad boss is a universal phenomenon. All of us at some point of time or other have faced the monster from hell that just loves twisting you round his tiny li’l finger and takes pleasure in trashing your hard day’s work right into the bin without any compunction! Phew... it’s a tough little world we all live in. Here are a few practical pointers that will help you not only in dealing with that tough taskmaster of a boss, but also maybe help you win him over!Don’t judge him/her in haste. Call it the human tendency to gripe, but experience shows that people crib about their bosses just two days into their job! So if you are just into your job and are having problems coping with the Big B for inexplicable reasons, take a breather. Instead of rushing into conclusions, take time off to understand your boss and his/her working style. Giving yourself some time gives you some breathing space to settle into your job, get accustomed to the work environment and hit off a working relationship with your colleagues and more importantly, your boss. According to experts, 3 months is a good enough time. In an ideal world, by the end of the period you will end up realizing that your boss is not a bad soul after all!Understand his/ her psyche. Yes. Apart from discharging your duties, being on a job also entails taking on the role of a psychologist. It pays to observ
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? Th
Improving customer service starts at the top - with us owners and managers. We need to be living pictures of how we want our staff to treat customers. Having 10 plus years operating, owning and working in the food business and being a customer myself, I know what good customer service looks like. If I don’t place a high value on the best customer service possible, then my staff won’t make it a priority either.From the time a customer walks into our establishment until the time he or she leaves, we need to treat them as guests in a mature, professional manner, regardless of their demeanor or our good or bad day. We are there to serve them and meet their needs as best we can. They are buying our service. The following are some great tips I have picked up from different sources over the years.Atmosphere: This is the way your establishment looks and feels . Is your music too loud? If it is, it creates a confusing atmosphere where you and your customers could have problems hearing and understanding each other. The music needs to be tasteful and relaxing.Clean: There have been many surveys by market research companies revealing that customers place cleanliness at the top when deciding where to dine. We did a survey and seventy five percent said if the restaurant was not clean, they would leave. Having a clean kitchen is great, but the customer doesn’t usually see it.
If this had been taught and the lesson put into everyday practise then billions of pounds and dollars would never have been poured down the black hole of television advertising!
So let’s review that desire in terms of the marketing of products and, at the same time, hope that those people working in or with advertising agencies read this simple lesson and learn a little of what they should have already known and been doing on behalf of their clients.
All advertising is a form of learning whereby the advertiser is asking people to change their behaviour after learning the benefits of the products or services on offer. However, we all tend to filter out information, which we do not want to hear. This clearly alters the effectiveness of conventional advertising in quite a dramatic way.
The final purchase decision is invariably a compromise and this leads to a certain amount of anxiety; the worry that perhaps the decision was not the best or the right one. In order to minimise this anxiety the purchaser seeks to reinforce their choice and begins to take more notice of their chosen product’s marketing communications.
Due to a lack of understanding of the communication process we have created a media society during the past 40 or 50 years, where the whole process has been de-humanised.
There is now an extraordinary reduction in interaction because conventional advertising and marketing have become a one-way practice whereby information is disseminated in a passive form.
But, people still have this desire to be taken account of. To affect change, to learn and personalise their relationship with their environment. There are a phenomenal number of reasons that cause people to interact, going far beyond just giving them things.
When people agree to participate in truly interactive marketing programmes they are told that their efforts and feedback are of positive help to the advertisers.
And most important to the advertisers, by participating and becoming involved, they then learn and understand the advertising message and do so at their own pace and to fit in with their schedule.
Consequently, because they are being involved in the process of developing the product or service, it starts to re- personalise their relationship with the advertiser and their products.
This takes the consumer through the barrier of not wanting to address change and takes that compromise, the anxiety and worry that perhaps the decision was not the best or the right one, out of the equation. In other words, there is no reason why they should not change from their usual brand in favour of this alternative that they have now learned, fulfils their needs better.
And isn’t this the ultimate market the advertiser is after – the people who use his competitors’ products. Now the consumer can say, “Yes, I will change my behaviour and I have a very good reason or series of reasons why”.
They can adopt this position because they have a well-in-formed opinion or have developed an image of why that product is appropriate for their needs. Now the long silence – the industrial interruption of the human conversation is coming to an end.
With interactive communication every product you can think of, from fashion to office supplies, can be discussed, and argued over. Rather like the olden days when one went to the open-air market to do just that!
With one important exception, the manufacturer can now become involved with this give and take to every ones advantage!
People want to talk about value. But the value of a product and the company that sells them. Not just the price of something, reputation, position and every other quality that can be subject to an opinion!
It has always been that way. The most effective form of advertising that there has ever been is word of mouth, which is of course, nothing more than a conversation. But as we have examined, conventional advertising and marketing give little or no opportunity for the ‘audience’ to engage in any kind of conversation about the product or the company.
No opportunity to discuss value, reputation, position. It simply sends out a message of sorts, albeit a nice looking one with sublime attention to production values that in turn reflect the values of the brand.
But if it isn’t telling the audience the information they desire and seek to make a decision or reinforce a decision already made, then just who is listening and who is it for?
More dangerous for advertising-as-usual, is that one-way advertising doesn’t enable customers to learn the truth behind product claims. If true marketing is a conversation and there’s no allowance made for a return message, a feedback from the customer, then what does advertising-as-usual actually do?
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? The
How much experience do you really have? Many people work in a profession, scientific domain or industry for 30-35 years and feel they are experienced and consider themselves at the top of their fields and take that number of years and apply it to their credentials and strengths. I have only been in business 27 years, yet I am in my very early forties now.Should I be intimidated by a gentleman of 80 years with lots of experience? Or should I rather look straight across? Here is why I ponder to look up to an 80 year old with 35 or even 45 or 50 years of experience in my industry. You see although I only have 27 years experience, I feel my 27 years experience in business, 13 years in athletics, 8 years in politics, etc., etc. is similar in nature to a 60 year old retiree.Actually I feel since I was self-employed as an entrepreneur working 17 hours a day, seven days a week that in fact I should be able to double my 27 years because the average person works 8 hours per day only.Plus, since I took no days off I feel I should add 104 days per year times 2 for each year worked for that plus double that up for working the 17 hours instead of 8, which is 208. Thus I wish to add that to my now 54 years experience which would add another 18 years or 72 years more business experience. This goes for the business category of course. I therefore challenge others of any age or
There is now an extraordinary reduction in interaction because conventional advertising and marketing have become a one-way practice whereby information is disseminated in a passive form.
But, people still have this desire to be taken account of. To affect change, to learn and personalise their relationship with their environment. There are a phenomenal number of reasons that cause people to interact, going far beyond just giving them things.
When people agree to participate in truly interactive marketing programmes they are told that their efforts and feedback are of positive help to the advertisers.
And most important to the advertisers, by participating and becoming involved, they then learn and understand the advertising message and do so at their own pace and to fit in with their schedule.
Consequently, because they are being involved in the process of developing the product or service, it starts to re- personalise their relationship with the advertiser and their products.
This takes the consumer through the barrier of not wanting to address change and takes that compromise, the anxiety and worry that perhaps the decision was not the best or the right one, out of the equation. In other words, there is no reason why they should not change from their usual brand in favour of this alternative that they have now learned, fulfils their needs better.
And isn’t this the ultimate market the advertiser is after – the people who use his competitors’ products. Now the consumer can say, “Yes, I will change my behaviour and I have a very good reason or series of reasons why”.
They can adopt this position because they have a well-in-formed opinion or have developed an image of why that product is appropriate for their needs. Now the long silence – the industrial interruption of the human conversation is coming to an end.
With interactive communication every product you can think of, from fashion to office supplies, can be discussed, and argued over. Rather like the olden days when one went to the open-air market to do just that!
With one important exception, the manufacturer can now become involved with this give and take to every ones advantage!
People want to talk about value. But the value of a product and the company that sells them. Not just the price of something, reputation, position and every other quality that can be subject to an opinion!
It has always been that way. The most effective form of advertising that there has ever been is word of mouth, which is of course, nothing more than a conversation. But as we have examined, conventional advertising and marketing give little or no opportunity for the ‘audience’ to engage in any kind of conversation about the product or the company.
No opportunity to discuss value, reputation, position. It simply sends out a message of sorts, albeit a nice looking one with sublime attention to production values that in turn reflect the values of the brand.
But if it isn’t telling the audience the information they desire and seek to make a decision or reinforce a decision already made, then just who is listening and who is it for?
More dangerous for advertising-as-usual, is that one-way advertising doesn’t enable customers to learn the truth behind product claims. If true marketing is a conversation and there’s no allowance made for a return message, a feedback from the customer, then what does advertising-as-usual actually do?
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? Th
By 2012, recruiters will be as irrelevant as the Milkman, Blacksmith, and Phone Operators of yesteryear. Why? Simply put, the innovation of the age would have quietly and efficiently processed humanity out of the doldrums of administrivia and research; thereby eradicating an industry made up of recruiters, career job boards, career coaches, resume writers and internet researchers. An explanation of their extinction is seen in the day-to day work process of the average hiring manager.Sally Newyear is a Project Manager operating in a Fortune 500 company that produces widgets. She was assigned to control the production of 1,000,000 widgets by the end of the quarter; not a problem with sufficient help. Sally logs into her PC and clicks the “Recruiting” icon. A holographic window displays the status of a request made three days prior. Five candidates are scheduled for phone conversations with her on Friday. The top candidate meets 98% of her requirements (technical acumen, compatible career path, likelihood of success and references from inside her organization.) with the fifth best candidate meeting 86% of Sally’s necessities for the position.Pardon the pun, but Sally was a “happy” Newyear. A mere five years ago, such a recruiting feat would have been unlikely for the same position. It was then that the status quo would have been to expect a nine month turnaround; even us
And isn’t this the ultimate market the advertiser is after – the people who use his competitors’ products. Now the consumer can say, “Yes, I will change my behaviour and I have a very good reason or series of reasons why”.
They can adopt this position because they have a well-in-formed opinion or have developed an image of why that product is appropriate for their needs. Now the long silence – the industrial interruption of the human conversation is coming to an end.
With interactive communication every product you can think of, from fashion to office supplies, can be discussed, and argued over. Rather like the olden days when one went to the open-air market to do just that!
With one important exception, the manufacturer can now become involved with this give and take to every ones advantage!
People want to talk about value. But the value of a product and the company that sells them. Not just the price of something, reputation, position and every other quality that can be subject to an opinion!
It has always been that way. The most effective form of advertising that there has ever been is word of mouth, which is of course, nothing more than a conversation. But as we have examined, conventional advertising and marketing give little or no opportunity for the ‘audience’ to engage in any kind of conversation about the product or the company.
No opportunity to discuss value, reputation, position. It simply sends out a message of sorts, albeit a nice looking one with sublime attention to production values that in turn reflect the values of the brand.
But if it isn’t telling the audience the information they desire and seek to make a decision or reinforce a decision already made, then just who is listening and who is it for?
More dangerous for advertising-as-usual, is that one-way advertising doesn’t enable customers to learn the truth behind product claims. If true marketing is a conversation and there’s no allowance made for a return message, a feedback from the customer, then what does advertising-as-usual actually do?
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? Th
I want to say something quite clearly and emphatically, and ask you to repeat it to yourself a few times:MY COMPENSATION IS ENTIRELY ARBITRARY!For example, let’s say you write computer programs for a software company that packages your “code” into products that it sells to customers.You will probably be paid a salary, perhaps earn an annual bonus, and accrue some vacation time. You may also get some benefits, including a partially paid health plan.All of this seems so normal, so typical that you never question this menu of dollars and perks. Sure, you may want a greater helping of salary, but still, as long as there is a salary and a few other goodies, you’re set.But what if one of your software programs really takes off in the marketplace?Will you be entitled to receive royalties from it, have any ongoing equity interest in it, or ever be able to claim a bigger desk, a reserved parking space, or any material advantage from its performance?The short answer is “no.”If you ask your company about it, they may smirk or laugh or just look at you as if you’re nuts and say, in a conclusive, parental monotone: “We don’t do that.”They won’t say WHY they don’t do it, because they probably haven’t thought it through.In fact, paying you royalties or a residual income may be in their interest, it may spawn innovation, create
It has always been that way. The most effective form of advertising that there has ever been is word of mouth, which is of course, nothing more than a conversation. But as we have examined, conventional advertising and marketing give little or no opportunity for the ‘audience’ to engage in any kind of conversation about the product or the company.
No opportunity to discuss value, reputation, position. It simply sends out a message of sorts, albeit a nice looking one with sublime attention to production values that in turn reflect the values of the brand.
But if it isn’t telling the audience the information they desire and seek to make a decision or reinforce a decision already made, then just who is listening and who is it for?
More dangerous for advertising-as-usual, is that one-way advertising doesn’t enable customers to learn the truth behind product claims. If true marketing is a conversation and there’s no allowance made for a return message, a feedback from the customer, then what does advertising-as-usual actually do?
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? Th
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” Albert Schweitzer1.You set the standard: Work as hard, or harder, than your employees. Be a role model when managing people. Strive to know more than your best employee (or best sales rep) about your product line, industry, and their jobs. This doesn’t mean you have to know everything. Still, educate yourself. I frequently hear in my seminars, “My boss has no idea what I really do in my job. The challenges, the pressures I face, and the time constraints.”2. Be an effective communicator: Communicate the good, the bad, and the ugly at least weekly. In study after study, employees and business leaders overwhelmingly want a leader who is “straightforward.” I hear this over and over in my leadership seminars and workshops worldwide. Good interpersonal skills are crucial in managing people.3. Be authentic, be real: The #1 trait people want to see, to willingly follow their leader is honesty. How can you expect them to look up to you if they don’t trust you? Leadership is all about honesty and integrity.4. The top 5 things: Ask your people point blank, “What are the top 5 things I can do to help you succeed?” For example, if they are salespeople, what can you do to motivate them to be out in the field instead of in the office?5. MBWA: Management by walking around. Be accessible
We hold the strong view that advertising-as-usual in any form and for any subject, is pitiable. It’s not funny. It most certainly is not interesting and it doesn’t even know who we, the customers are, or seemingly care for that matter. All advertising-as-usual wants us to do is buy!
Without a doubt TV is the best medium ever created for advertising-as-usual. The trouble is it doesn’t actually sell a great deal of product! Why?
Consider this, you might well think that Marketing Departments and their Advertising Agencies talk about communication and sales. Put simply… they don’t!
As we have discussed, within an advertising agency scant attention, if any, is paid to the actual process of communication and as for an interest in sales, well that’s a joke, to put it bluntly.
They are concerned with crafting messages, But not to sell product, If they did surely they would be happy enough to be paid upon results. Actual changes in behaviour and actual sales increases resulting from the advertising they have created.
Are we alone in never having come across any agency willing to adopt this stance? The Creative Director loves to produce TV commercials smart enough to include on their show reel. And who knows, like some of his predecessors’ maybe they might get to direct a movie. The Account Director?
All he wants to do is keep the Client happy. Nobody, it seems, is really concerned with the actual job of selling a product, apart from, of course, the client. Sadly, however, they in turn are fed the belief that creativity is King.
They get sucked in to advertising-as-usual, because after all, doesn’t the agency know best? Isn’t that what he is paying them for? And don’t they have years of experience and expertise? Well yes they do but expertise in, yes, you’re getting there… advertising-as-usual.
So they happily carry on the usual treadmill of crafting messages. In the form of advertisements; press releases; TV commercials and many other forms of what they genuinely believe is ‘communication’.
Marketing departments, through their handmaiden advertising agency paint a happy picture but no one out there in the real world of family life, believe what they are delivering and trying to force on them.
The reality is, we all know better and have been taught by a lifetime of experience to turn down the volume when confronted with a TV commercial explaining that the product is the best and brightest available or failing that, even walk out of the room and do something else. But more of that little reality check, later.
The old way of advertising, pouring out vast amounts of information in the desperate hope that somebody somewhere will connect certainly had one effect, it depersonalised and dehumanised the whole process of communication.
Thus wasting even more millions of Client money!
Consider their model of reach and frequency, who does this really serve? Does it serve the consumer, or does it provide the revenue the advertiser seeks?
It was so easy in fact, that each adult person in this country, according to a client we were discussing this with, receives an average of 3,000 advertising messages a day. We call it commercial clutter. More appropriately, it should be called ‘meaningless noise’.
Just consider the ways in which your customer can enter into a dialogue with you? You may have an 0800 number, which would be a good start if they could speak to a real person. But in these days of automation and with luck, eventually getting through to a call centre, unless you tire with frustration or collapse with fatigue, where is the dialogue there?
Hey, they could go to the trouble of writing to you. But they are making the effort of putting pen to paper or more likely, tapping the keyboard keys these days. Then they have to buy a stamp unless freepost is provided. Then the letter has to be posted.
And finally, they sit and hope that it does indeed reach the right person and that their message is responded to. And sadly, it is often the case that the process takes so long that they have lost interest but more importantly lost FAITH in your company and your product.
And everyone in marketing is fully aware that it costs more to find a customer than it does to keep one. But so far there has not been much opportunity to easily talk to you!
One of the problems that Advertising has created is the process of dehumanising people. Advertising apparently, forgets that every customer and every prospective customer is a human being with a constantly evolving set of attitudes and opinions.
And if Advertising is aware, then it does so very little to cater for this all important human factor.
The other problem is advertising agencies don’t realise that customers don’t really like advertisements!
One agency had this statement on the briefing form for their creative brief, “The audience doesn’t like you, doesn’t trust you, and they can get rid of you immediately. Now go and create some advertising.”
Precisely summing up the essence of today’s adversarial relationship between the customer and advertising people. They really don’t like each other, customers tolerate advertisements but they don’t really like them in terms of the content.
However, when you create a dialogue out of your advertising it turns passive information into active, meaningful advertising and actually alters behaviour during the learning process. It cuts through the psychological barriers, which prevent the individual from changing their attitude and behaviour towards brands
Interactive Communication suits the New Consumer!
Interactive Communication, in whatever form reflects a shift from monologue to dialogue, in dealing with customers. The results are a reversal of traditional consumer and producer roles, with the consumer dictating exactly how he or she would l
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