Emotional Advertising to the Universal Human Desires

Today more than ever, we need to maximize the impact of our advertising dollar. So keep your message focused on solving one or more of the three universal human desires:

1. To be wealthy and powerful
2. To be attractive and desirable
3. To be youthful and healthy

Which two basic desires does this Brylcreem ad hope to provide?

Always be thinking of the basic human desires, needs and problems of your prospects or your buyer personas, and how your company can solve them.

Once you have an emotionally charged ad, think of ways you can make it super easy and convenient to do business with you. Think of Zappos Shoes, and their no hassle returns, with free shipping both ways. Remove as many barriers to the decision process as possible.

And finally, never underestimate the impact of frequency and repetition of your value proposition to drive brand recall and preference. 

Is Your Advertising Deep?

Is your advertising a mile-wide and an inch-deep?

Does your advertising reach a lot of people with very little repetition or frequency?

The idea behind effective advertising is to create a fjord in the mind of the target market, not a shallow lake. In other words:

• Focus your attack on a narrow market that is big enough to make you wealthy, but small enough to dominate.

• Reach that smaller and narrowly defined market with at least three impressions each and every week.

• Create an ad campaign that is totally unique and different from your competitors. Never allow your message to be confused with your competition.

• Create a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that offers a strong benefit or advantage over your competition. Give them a real reason to buy from you. A reason that allows them to justify and rationalize the decision.

• Create a slogan or tagline that builds and explains your USP. And one that people can remember easily. A slogan with rhyme and rhythm works well, and even better if it’s written to music.

• Emotion always outsells logic. What emotional strings can you pull? If your advertising message consists of price alone, you’ll always have to be the lowest. If you’re selling the solution to a problem, price is not the issue.

• If you want results from your ads, you need a response mechanism, a free offer and a reason to respond now built into every ad.

• Effective advertising is recognized for its consistency, continuity, focus and repetition. Don’t change it from one medium to another or from one week or month to another. Stay the course and etch an indelible impression on the minds of your target market. Maintain a look, theme and message that become uniquely yours.