Creating Impactful Advertising in a World of Distractions

Terence Winter, the guy behind Boardwalk Empire, once said, “Any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.”

So why are we citing Mr. Winter? 

Mostly because it sounds cool. But it’s also true. And not just for gangsters. While the wild world of digital has opened multiple doors for marketers and advertisers, the countless distractions that are part and parcel with this medium have made it more difficult to create impactful advertising. 

Your Target Market Is Surrounded By Distractions 

Some studies suggest that the average consumer is exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages per day. And that’s today. As marketers have increasing numbers of channels to reach their customers, that number will keep climbing.

Add to that how often people switch between screens. That figure currently stands at around 21 times. No, not per day. Per hour. Short attention spans are seriously trending. #WaitWhat

And it turns out that the short attention span is the perfect petri dish for growing that marketing bacteria strain known as click bait. Honestly, click bait is gross. Like bacteria. Plus it rarely offers any real value. Like bacteria. It’s a desperate attempt to get attention and is devoid of anything of value to a potential customer.

So Consider What the Customer Needs Vs. What You Wish to Achieve

When marketers understand precisely who the customer is, they are better equipped to create attention-grabbing campaigns that also add value. A tall order these days.

To shoot through the distractions, companies need to create simpler messages. And they need to communicate them in a sharper way. But not in the repeated stabbing manner of click bait. Rather, companies should be sharpening their focus on what we’ll call the Three Es of Impactful Advertising: 

• Entertain
• Emote
• Engage

(Humor helps too. But the "Three Es and An H of Impactful Advertising" doesn’t deliver the same punch. So we’ll blend it in with Emote.)

That’s why it’s essential that your company understands its customers. For example, let’s say you run a funeral home. Most see this as a somber business. You don’t agree because, well, you went into the business. And it doesn’t seem all that dark to you. So in an effort to make things more light-hearted, you decide your advertising needs to be humorous. Put the “fun” back in funeral.  

Super bad idea. It would be akin to running a toy company

and employing a knife-wielding clown as your spokesperson. Or any clown. Because they’re just plain frightening. To nutshell it, marketing will have more impact if it elicits the right emotions for your target market. 

Once you’ve got some solid content that’s entertaining, emotional and/or engaging, consider this:

You Can Also Take Advantage of the Distractions

Though this applies across all forms of advertising, it’s particularly relevant to advertising on social. 

Once again, using distractions to your advantage requires you to know, first and foremost, the specific audience segment you wish to target. Of course, there will be multiple segments. But trying to go for all of them at once is a waste of resources. So focus on audience that’s most likely to be moved by your message and then blanket the social sites they frequent with advertising that doesn’t look or feel like advertising. This is also known as native advertising. 

Native advertising isn’t about earning clicks. Rather, it serves to provide value through the above-mentioned relevant content. Now, pay attention. Ask yourself, what’s catching your audience’s attention while they’re crawling around online with 13 tabs open at the same time? What, pray tell, is the buzz?

Know What’s Trending 

Get familiar with what’s relevant on every platform and channel your audience is reading. Then adjust your campaign to focus on what’s in demand. Most platforms offer some sort of tool that indicates what’s trending. Some can even give you measurements of the engagement levels of certain articles and topics. 

Check in with Reddit, who brand themselves “the front page of the internet.” Cuz they sorta are. You’re bound to get some juicy trending nuggets there. You can also use tools that are devoted specifically to scouring and sharing top headlines - some of which are free, while others charge a fee.

Streamline Your Execution

Trends happen fast. So forget about over-planning. You have to take action. 

That means if your spirit animal is a manatee or a sloth, then turn things over to those guided by the hummingbird or the ferret. Start streamlining that execution. Set some ground rules - like avoiding any topics of a political or traumatic nature. That’s just good practice. And be sure everyone’s on board with a brand persona that defines how your brand positions itself and why. Be clear about your values. 

Then get on it. While using trends to your advantage, it’s best to tweak timely campaigns in motion and learn as you go. Consider outsourcing the ad buy portion so you can keep

your focus on creative reworking as needed. And plan on having someone specifically monitoring your campaigns regularly so they can keep pace with trends rather than just analyzing the facts and watching your competitors grab your audience. 

The ultimate goal? Your company is trending. Or course, for all the right reasons… 

Is Your Content up to Snuff?

Whether you’re cutting through the distractions or using them to your advantage, it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing. And that swing is content.

Yes, you’ll need to fine-tune your strategy to find the most timely placement so you’ll be popping up multiple times. But what’s the point of getting premium real estate if you don’t have anything to to put on it? Or, even worse, populating it with false or misleading content. 

Know your audience. Know what they want and what they need. Know those important touch points so you - and NOTHING else - will be at the top of the their minds when the time comes to make a purchase. Distractions be damned.

Or just maybe, blessed. 

Advertising Question of the Week - What’s the Best Way to Use My Smartphone for Product Photos?

When trying to make the most of your marketing efforts, you may want to save a few bucks. Who doesn’t? 

And if you spent hundreds of dollars on the newest smartphone, you might be tempted to use it for your product photos. But is it a good idea? 

Some folks - i.e. professional photographers - would say no. They’d say that you CANNOT use your smartphone to get professional product photos. They’ll tell you that there are some pretty big things that you can’t control on a smartphone - such as lighting, exposure, aperture/depth of field and white balance.

They’d be right. Technically, photos from your smartphone won’t be professional grade. 

But You Can Still Take Great Product Photos with Your Smartphone

And frankly, if you’re just starting out, or if your product isn’t particularly photogenic (like orthopedic shoes), “great” photos are all you need. Then you can spend your advertising dollars on more needful things like effective website design, powerful writing for said website, and pastries or other bribes for the designer and writer.

But since you’re not just slapping these photos up on the community bulletin board or your FB page, there are some things you need to think about when using your smartphone for product photos.

Ponder these:

1. Proper Lighting 

Stick with natural light. Not the harshness of direct sunlight, but rather diffused window light. It will bathe your product in a large, yet soft illuminating light. Experiment with different angles and positions for your product. Keep the shadows to a minimum.

And unless you’re partial to the pallor of malaria, steer clear of fluorescent light. Most don’t give a full color spectrum so photos taken in this light have a green tinge. Incandescent lights aren’t much better. They’re as harsh as sunlight. Or a mouth full of nails. Which all translates into, “no good.”

2. Neutral Background

You’ll want to go with something soft, plain, neutral and free from clutter. You could remember this with the acronym SPNFFC. But that's unnecessarily complicated. So don’t do that.

Just stick with something simple that complements your product. To prevent distractions, white is recommended. You can use a sheet, cloth or board, for instance. 

If your product is on the smaller side, you could go with a piece of white paper on a flat surface. Or curve the farthest edge of that paper to create a small infinity cove.

3. Picking up Accessories 

These aren’t necessary. But they can help. 

If you have the less-than-steady hands of a non-surgeon,

consider a tripod for crisp and clear shots.  

Or you can attach different smartphone lenses to your

camera to get some seriously detailed macro shots. (In your free time, you can take way up-close photos of your eye. Or bugs.) 

And editing apps can make all the difference in post production. For example, you CAN get the effect of a high key image shot in your smartphone. You’ll just need to finish it in Lightroom or Photoshop. Rumor has it that the brush tool in Lightroom is pretty spiffy.

Ultimately, the thing to remember is this:

Keep Your Smartphone Product Photos Simple

Soft light. Simple background. Get everything you need in the frame, and nothing else. Consider a simple square format so you won’t need to crop the product or stretch the background.

The more you’re able to simplify the image, the less time you’ll spend in post production.

Then once your product takes off and starts establishing some visual street cred and the revenue starts flowing, maybe you’ll be able to hire a professional photographer for some real glamour shots. 

For your product, of course. 

4 (Relatively) Simple Ways to Boost Sales Conversions

If you have an eCommerce website merely because it’s amusing and “something to do when there’s nothing to watch on Netflix”, then you don’t need to read this.

But if you’re dramatically less unfettered by reality, you’re probably looking to expand your audience base, instill customer loyalty and, of course, generate more revenue from your eCommerce site. 

That means your focus should be on converting more sales. 

So How Does One Boost One’s Sales Conversions?

Well, for starters, “one” can do this by incorporating the following (relatively) simple methods.

1. Secure Your Site

People are freaking out these days about security. And with good reason. No one wants to be robbed. Especially of their identity. It’s so hard to find a new one.

At any rate, if you want people to spend money on your eCommerce site, they need to know that their information is safe and secure at all times.

Reassure your customers that you are doing everything you can to keep them safe.

Some of the simplest ways you can do this are to: 

• Get an SSL certificate
• Display credit card images/PayPal logo to demonstrate that you only accept trusted payment options
• Implement secure registration logins
• NEVER store your customer's credit card data in case there’s a data breach

Leaving your customers feeling nervous about pressing that “Confirm Purchase” button is no way to gain sales conversions. Assume they’ve got enough to worry about right now. They probably do.

2. Offer Coupons and/or Discounts

Especially to repeat customers. It’s a no-brainer. 

With a coupon, they’re more enticed to finalize their transaction. They get a deal and you get a sale. You also get their continued loyalty.

You can offer coupons in specific amounts off the total purchase price. Or maybe it’s a discounted percentage. Possibly a free bonus product. Just be sure it’s not a puppy. Or any other living creature. Except maybe a plant.

Consider having a dedicated section just for coupons and discounts. Much like a blog. Speaking of which…

3. Get A Blog Already

Seriously. 

Okay, so creating a blog might not sound all that simple. But with the right content and some regular contributions (whether you write them or you hire a blog writer), you can get it up and running in no time. 

Plus, giving your customers the option of extra reading material that will educate, entertain, or even enlighten is going to give you more click through traffic. And it infuses your eCommerce site with a more human element. 

Being able to inform your loyal customers about your business, services or products and special deals is effective in boosting those sales conversions.

4. Provide Live Chat Support

If your customer has an issue, do they have the option of live chat to get support? Yeah, this one might cost you some dough on the front end. But giving your customers access to live chat can easily pay for itself. 

It’s up to 30% cheaper than providing phone support. And those who are manning the desk can handle multiple chats - thereby increasing efficiency.

Plus, people like it. In our “instant gratification” culture, they get quick or even immediate response. No more hoping for return emails or waiting on the phone and listening to Mel Tormé’s cover of Michael Jackson’s Beat It, praying that you don’t get disconnected in spite of the musical torture.

You can collect data from those chat sessions to better understand your customers’ gripes and how to alleviate them. As such, live chat instills more trust in your brand and customers are 20% more likely to convert after a successful live chat session.

Live chat allows online stores to act more like brick-and-mortar retailers. 

Now, with all of that said, here’s the most important question to ask yourself:

How Solid Is My eCommerce Site’s Foundation? 

We’ll spare you the plethora of “the importance of a strong foundation” metaphors. They’re as played-out as that $1 Hall and Oates on scratched vinyl at the record store. 

But that’s not to say it isn’t so.

Your site can be secure, interesting and chock full of coupons and live chatters, but these methods are only going to work if you have a solid foundation at the beginning. 

And the foundation in the case of your eCommerce site is user experience (UX). So if you haven’t addressed that part, then you’re going to have to spend some time building that foundation.

1. Make sure it’s easy to navigate. 
2. Give it adequate (not over-the-top) branding.
3. Provide a smooth checkout process. 

Plus, the design should be in line with your brand and product base. And would it kill ya to throw in some great imagery? No. No, it wouldn’t. 

Finally, the search function should not require a search function to locate. Because that’s ludicrous.

But don’t stress.

There Are Many All-in-One eCommerce Platforms Available

Or if there is someone you know (or can bribe) who is more tech-savvy, you can have it built from scratch. You could also solicit the wisdom of advertising professionals. They can help you figure it all out.

Yet another option would be to just scrap the whole idea and binge watch Game of Thrones on Netflix for the third time. 

But that last option only applies if you don’t care about your eCommerce website. Or, really, life in general.

Question of the Week: What Is the Future of Interactive Advertising?

Remember the days before interactive advertising? Back when you knew your cola was enriched with coca leaves and snake oil was all the rage?

Okay, it wasn’t quite that long ago.

But Interactive Advertising Did Not Start with the Internet 

It was already around - at a decidedly more rudimentary level - in the form of things like customer surveys, focus groups and Ovaltine.

Yeah, Ovaltine. Back in the (not so) glorious days of radio programs, they encouraged listeners to save proofs-of-purchase from jars of (not so) delicious Ovaltine to obtain radio premiums. Radio premiums, in this case, were secret decoder rings, badges or pins that the lucky obtainers could use to decode messages during Little Orphan Annie or Captain Midnight. 

You can bet the good folks in Bern, Switzerland - where Ovaltine is still produced to this day - used that feedback to “analyze” how they could improve upon their advertising. 

Of course, the definition of “analyzing data” in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s was about as different from its current definition as “happy returns,” which once meant “vomiting.”

Even so, it was the internet that really got people excited about interactive advertising and, more specifically, analytical data that could be transformed into actionable insights. 

Analytical Data Was Groundbreaking Stuff 

Customer surveys and lukewarm chocolate beverages aside, advertisers soon discovered they had this new superpower at their fingertips. Rather than using this power for evil, they got to work tweaking ad approaches, changing up colors, swapping out content and then soliciting feedback from their target audiences. 

Savvy advertisers could now give their potential customers a chance to interact with companies and their advertising, as opposed to simply being recipients of the pitch. This gave them some savory feedback.

But as valuable as that feedback was, it still took a backseat to the analytical data that tracked how those changes affected the ad’s performance. And soon enough, the wild world of interactive advertising was going beyond simple clickthroughs and banners to branch out to social media, branded games and polls and a slew of other approaches. 

What’s the Next Phase of Interactive Advertising?

While advertisers grapple with how to best wrangle the powerful animal that is interactive advertising, they’re also curious about where this dynamic, volatile creature is heading next.

There are, of course, varying opinions on the matter. But two components seem to be taking center stage:

New Technology and Content

And they’re in cohoots.

Advertisers are discovering how combining street campaigns with social media, innovative technology and powerful storytelling are coming together to create lasting effects.   

So the future of interactive advertising seems to be facing the challenge of how to integrate this shiny new technology, the internet and - perhaps most importantly - entertainment and good storytelling into advertising campaigns which consumers feel compelled to connect with rather than block.

It’s a big order.

But here’s what could potentially happen:

The creation of engaging content will boost the cost of buying ad space. This will have a domino effect on the quality of ads - meaning that they’ll also have to be higher quality. That means fewer ads. But those that are birthed will demand attention. Like a child with a temper tantrum. But far more entertaining. And that’s the operative word. Entertaining.

It Is Advertising Posing As Entertainment

Interactive advertising may just evolve into content that is

indistinguishable from regular entertainment. Yet it’ll be just as effective in leaving a lasting impression on consumers.

Ads that create a dialogue between the consumer and advertiser will be those that make a difference. The future of interactive advertising could just create a world where ads are enjoyable and advertisers are paid good money for great content, not spin.

Imagine that.