What Factors Make Advertising Cost Effective?

Have you ever taken a trip and during a portion of an interstate freeway you have observed signs that capture your attention and alert you to upcoming services? Sometimes these services are gas stations, restaurants, hotels or motels, or any other service that seems to benefit from catching your attention while driving.

What is it that is effective about that advertising? Is it the pictures? Is it the words? Is it the location? What about the strategy? Can you call it strategy when the little signs are placed x number of miles or feet from the next sign with a progressively increasing sense of urgency that you take advantage of the service (or that you desperately need the service whether you do or your do not)?

Words Matter

It is true that words matter. If they didn’t, we would not have so many marketing case studies and so many students of the marketing “science” trying to figure out which words “sell.” There have been studies done at every level of education, including universities like Yale University. These studies include the analysis of words that we use in the English language and the results can sometimes be surprising.

The word NEW makes us stop and think. Psychologically, the word makes us think that we want something new and we start to get geared up to satisfy that want, or what may soon be sliding toward a “need.”

We have been hearing it since we were small children and hearing it in so many different contexts that it becomes second nature to us. Did you ever hear your mother say, “Don’t eat that cookie. You need to SAVE your appetite?”

Even if we were two and not able to speak for ourselves, we were incorporating the word, “SAVE” into our vocabulary and putting it into our mental Rolodex as an important word.

We could make this article all about the words that make us buy (or at least check out what is being advertised), but instead, we’ve compiled a list. You tell us. Do these words work on you, or at least pique your interest?

• PROVEN
• LOVE
• DISCOVER
• GUARANTEE
• YOU (Yes, believe it or not, bringing it back to the buyer..works…)

On that freeway or interstate, they (advertisers) have signs up every so often to entice you in. They try to convince you that if you don’t stop to experience this event, you will miss out on something and regret it.

We need words and once we understand the effect that words have on us and the effect that they have on others, we are that much further ahead in our marketing and advertising endeavors.

Cost Effectiveness and Words

There are so many more factors that go into effectiveness when it comes to advertising. And, when adding the topic of cost-effectiveness (in other words, saving money), our field of opportunity for analysis grows by leaps and bounds.

However, at the core of these, we need to understand these words. Why does that matter? If you are going to go out and spend $50,000 for a media campaign and the words that you use are not relevant to your product, service, or audience, then you are wasting your money. If your words are so far off the mark that you sound like a buffoon, then you might as well skip the media blitz and donate the $50k to a worthy cause.

If your words are so far off the mark that you sound like a buffoon, then you might as well skip the media blitz and donate the $50k to a worthy cause.

In comparison, if you are not spending any money (or very little), but you have a way with words and you know how to truly connect with your audience and how to build trust, you have “spent” your time, resources, and most importantly, your talent, well. In that case, you have used your words to connect with your audience and it has paid off, even if you didn’t spend a dime. This is where strategies like blogging, social media, video interviews, and the Internet as a whole, pay off in the long run. As Chuck Hester and I coined on a

In that case, you have used your words to connect with your audience and it has paid off, even if you didn’t spend a dime. This is where strategies like blogging, social media, video interviews, and the Internet as a whole, pay off in the long run. As Chuck Hester and I coined on a

In that case, you have used your words to connect with your audience and it has paid off – even if you didn’t spend a dime. This is where strategies like blogging, social media, video interviews, and the Internet as a whole, pay off in the long run. As Chuck Hester and I coined on a

As Chuck Hester and I coined on a Marketing Momentum episode, it is the benefit of Citizen Journalism.

Let’s Meet in the Middle

I mentioned “trust,” among other things, as a part of working with your audience. Now, let’s bring that full circle with a discussion on a unique, cost-saving advertising option that involves many of the things that we have been discussing.

First of all, you could sit down, right now, and make a list of all of the different advertising options that are available to you. Some are going to be free (like those we already mentioned) and some are going to be pricey (like sell-your-house pricey).

What do they have in common? Words. If words do not come easily for you, that is where a copywriter may be a valuable addition to your team. It is going to cost you a penny or two, but not the cost of your house (hopefully).

Speaking of saving money, here are some tips on how to advertise for “free.” While some of these techniques may be outdated, it is worth a shot if saving money is a needed strategy for your business.

But, what is your presentation? Sure, start with the tweet, the blog post, the LinkedIn status update, but then it is time to move on to creative options. Creative options that may not have been tried before, at least not recently and not by your next door neighbor.

Remember at the beginning when we talked about how those freeway signs catch your eyes and how the messages build on one another, convincing you that you need to stop and eat at the next town?

They are using words. They are using color. They are using psychology. And, they are using little signs to get your attention. After all, you are a bit of a captive audience while driving on the interstate.

After all, you are a bit of a captive audience while driving on the interstate. What if we took that a step further and used inflatable advertising? Instead of small signs (or large signs for that matter), use a familiar (or quirky, memorable) inflatable creature or object to get the attention.

This technique has been used and used very successfully. Remember the mention of the word, “trust?” When something (like an inflatable character) becomes familiar, there is a certain level of trust that is built. There is a recognition and a comfort level.

The buyer feels more comfortable with pulling out his or her wallet to spend money if he or she recognizes the inflatable character and it is accompanied by words that encourage the buyer that he or she needs what it is that is being advertised. Besides,

The buyer feels more comfortable with pulling out his or her wallet to spend money if he or she recognizes the inflatable character and it is accompanied by words that encourage the buyer that he or she needs what it is that is being advertised.

Besides, inflatable advertising is easier on the advertising budget than most methods of advertising presentation. Now, is this something that your competitor is doing? Is this something that is creative, that will help your clientele to recognize and remember you?

What about trust? I’m not suggesting that you go out and become known as the best used-car salesman in town (unless that is what you want to do). What we are suggesting is that you find something that fits for you, your brand, your pocketbook, and most importantly, your buyers! Then, come back and let us know what works and what worked for you!

What we are suggesting is that you find something that fits for you, your brand, your pocketbook, and most importantly, your buyers! Then, come back and let us know what works and what worked for you!

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Deborah Anderson

Deborah Anderson wears many hats in her addiction to acquiring knowledge. From professional training as a sound engineer at the Los Angeles Film School to graduating summa cum laude in software architecture, and then on to become the director of Information Technology at the high profile Bel Air Investment Advisors, she often comments that she is only just beginning. She enjoys sharing her knowledge discoveries with her readers and is always ready to offer a helping hand.

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