The Timeless Truths in Marketing

2020 is not the year we were expecting when we were making our resolutions a few months ago is it?

State after state has issued some form of stay-at-home order to protect their citizens from Covid-19.

While I just stated the obvious, I’m going to delve into the not so obvious.

The advertising and marketing principles that are timeless.

Some of you are wondering what to do with your ads.

Should I switch to a different medium?

Should I change up my message?

Should I just stop and wait until things return to normal?

Let’s take those three questions one at a time.

Should I switch to a different advertising medium?  If you are doing online marketing and it was working for you before then the answer is probably no, if it is working, continue.  If you were using billboards there are less cars on the roads so you are probably getting less viewers than you were promised.

Speaking of viewers, has TV viewing skyrocketed with everyone staying at home?  Yes, a month ago, at the end of March, both broadcast, over the air and cable viewing jumped 30%.  But then something else happened too that is still going on.  The TV series that were still in production for this season had to end their seasons early because the virus shut down the studios.  The real benefactor of all this extra screen time has been the streaming services like NetFlix and their competitors with little or no advertising.  That doesn’t help you out as an advertiser does it…

I will tell you that with the insider knowledge and data that I have access to, radio listenership is actually up.  Stations like mine, WOWO radio with their news and talk format have seen tremendous increases and a big portion of that increase is coming from the smart speakers we all got the past couple of years.  Alexa is becoming radio’s best friend.  Contact me and I can share with you the specifics on the increased listenership to WOWO radio and how we can get your business in front of thousands of consumers every week.

The next question is, Should I change up my message?  Probably but not in the way you are thinking.  If you think your ads need to say that your business has instituted safety measures, or you are now cleaning more than before, you are just like all the others advertising right now.  That is if it’s your main message.  You need a stronger message, one that tells consumers why they should give you their money and not give it to your competitor.

Here’s the Timeless Truth in Marketing that is really important right now. You need to follow Human Relationship Principles in your advertising.

Human Relationship Principles are the principles that we instinctively are drawn to because we are human.  We want to feel good about others, to trust others, to believe that the others are going to be honest and have a good heart.  Does your advertising and marketing reflect this type of message?  Or are your ads filled with gimmicks and cliches?

Four years ago I wrote about Human Relationship Principles in Marketing and I invite you to follow this link and read it again.  It’s timeless.

Now the last question. Should I just stop advertising and wait until things return to normal?  The answer is a qualified no. If you can afford to, keep advertising.  Many companies will stop.  This means your share of voice will increase, if you continue.  Here’s an example:  Six restaurants are all advertising and dividing up the audience 6 ways in proportion to the number of ads each place is airing.  What if 3 of those stop advertising?  Now instead of dividing the audience 6 ways, you are only carving it up into 3 and everyone who is still inviting listeners to eat their food, will win.  Meanwhile the ones that stopped advertising, have a good chance of going out of business since they stopped inviting people to spend their money with them.

These Timeless Truths about Marketing have been around not just for a few years or even decades.  They are centuries old and will be even more important as we adjust to what the rest of 2020 and this decade has in store for our way of life.