Dear advertisers, please click here.
As a consumer who IS willing to give your products a try… I have some insight.
(And I’m pretty sure I speak for a shitload of other potential consumers)
By Hermes! Let’s begin.
First of all, drop the shitty low-effort music to try and make your call to action grab my attention. Yes, it got my attention, but it lost it just as quickly — with bonus points for making me hate and blacklist your product. So if reverse advertising is your cup of tea, keep doing that. *Whispers* Well done for the sabotage. I won’t tell if you don’t tell. Shhhhh.
My special side-eye of the day is going to mental health apps that use this appalling strategy in their ads. I mean… really?! A product that claims to be based on the latest research in Psychology, failing a basic Psychological attention-grabbing trick? What am I supposed to learn from that? That your product sucks?
(I don’t know, by the way, I haven’t tried. But this is looking shaaaady, judging by the ad alone)
Jingles. Invest in jingles (hi there, Mc Donalds). Or even use some existing music from instantly recognisable musicians — they’re happy to do it for money, trust me, ads are a good gig for any musician. Better than sales on Spotify these days (hi there, perfumes using Bjork). These strategies work; Not because they’re “fresh”, but because there’s actual Science behind them. Contrary to what you might assume on first impression, shock value DOES NOT sell every kind of product. It can work on a rebellious customer base (and not everyone has those…), or if your “product” relies on people getting shocked to “buy” it (like donations to charity), but most of the time this won’t cut it. Forget doing what nobody is doing just for the shock value of it. That’s annoying. That drives people mad (and away from you).
The same rant goes for whispering announces, ASMR stuff, screaming voice actors (like some awful ads I’ve seen on TV, of all places), whatever the hell you came up with when you were high. Stop it. Get some help.
Sometimes, “boring” is best. Boring as in, tried-and-tested, not new at all, but recognisable and pleasant. Yes, it will sound ad-y. Yes, people are gonna know it’s an ad as soon as it starts. And? Tell me: why are you so afraid of that?
If your product is good, you can’t be afraid of letting us know your ad is an ad. We get it: you paid to promote the stuff. And? What’s wrong with that? Good stuff sells. The people who want it will buy. There’s no need to go above and beyond to confuse us — or worse, to annoy us, catch us by surprise, make us feel wronged and tricked (see the failed attempt at a psychological attention grab? The one I alluded to above? Good. Take notes).
Here’s the hard-to-swallow pill: consumers don’t always skip ads “because they’re ads”. Unless they’re in a hurry for some reason, the wide majority will see and remember what product was being advertised, and wouldn’t mind listening to an ad that isn’t annoying; leaving it as background noise; whatever (all of these actions contribute to remembering the product, by the way. Don’t be pedantic with how we “should” engage). The option to “skip” is always important. Leave it there. Amazing ads won’t get skipped, but YOU BET the button needs to be there. And this brings us to the next point: CALM THE FUCK DOWN with the pop-ups. Let us close them easily. Jesus Christ. We saw the product. We remember it. And we’ll like it more if there’s no need to wait, annoyed, hands tied, until it vanishes on its own.
Can you see THE HARM these strategies are doing to your campaigns? I swear to god, if Ryanair pulls that shit up in order to advertise my favourite destination in the entire world for irresistible prices, I still won’t click; Regardless of the fact I trust and have flown with them already; Regardless of the fact I actually want the goddamn offer. Simply because I’m annoyed, I’ll be a contrarian and let it slide. (But Ryanair won’t do it; they’re good at advertising. That was just an absurd example).
Another absurd is if some shop, some time in the future, decides to offer self-checkout with a “regular, conversational” voice. I don’t know about you, but I’d 100% be scared and start only using the cashiers on purpose. Too much “uncanny valley” for my liking, lol, just give me the obviously fake upbeat recordings I’m already used to.
My point is simple: there are many advertising strategies, more than I can count, and more than I’m aware of; But regardless of which one you use, you MUST remember the golden rule: *do not* make your potential consumer feel powerless. And in order to empower a consumer, you must allow them to decide to say no and close your ad, skip your ad, and/or reject your product.
That’s because, if circumstances change, the same exact person who once rejected your product will now accept it — as long as they don’t have a bitter memory of feeling manipulated or controlled by your ad in the past.
I have clicked plenty of ads I wasn’t looking for. My favourite serendipitous discovery was Farmer Gracy. They have the most standard, “boring” ads you can think of but they sell very well because they offer the product in a lot of places and let consumers decide if they’re interested or not. As it turns out, I love their plants. If you’re anywhere in the EU, feel free to use them, I recommend. I wouldn’t have known about this brand if it wasn’t for the ads — and exactly BECAUSE they weren’t too “extra” with the ads, (and I like gardening in the first place. There’s no need to manipulate me into it, I’m already the customer base) I gave it a try.
I’m sure the world is full of potential consumers who will deny clicking on ads if you ask them; but in actuality, they do, once in a while. Maybe they forgot about it, maybe they’re embarrassed to admit, but it happens. There’s no need for desperation. In fact, I can’t relate to it. Here’s a Sabrina Carpenter song for you:
And with that, I’m finishing the article. I hope you enjoyed my free advice, given entirely because I’m fed-up to the back teeth and wanna see some improvement in the ads that make their way to me — if not to buy the products, then at least to have some peace.
