Page 120 - Duct Tape Marketing

104 Part II: Sharpening Your Marketing Focus

So who is supposed to define the objective, set the strategy, and aim the cre-
ative process? Well, get ready, because that task falls to the person responsi-
ble for marketing, which is probably, well, you.

In blunt terms, the creation of good marketing materials begins with you.

Putting an end to shot-in-the-dark
marketing instructions

You can hit your marketing target almost every time if you take careful aim.
Read the following examples of creative instructions and note the differences:

Example 1: “We need to build sales. Let’s run some ads.”
Example 2: “We need to run ads to convince teenagers that by shopping
after school on weekdays they will enjoy our best prices in a club atmos-
phere because we feature live music, two-for-one café specials, and week-
day-only student discounts.”

Example 1 forces those creating the ad to guess what you want. It will likely
lead to a process that involves round after round of revisions as the creative
team tries to read your mind about your target market, promotional offer, cre-
ative concept, ad copy, and media schedule.

Example 2 tells the ad creators precisely which consumers you’re targeting,
what you want to say, the offer you want to make, and the action you’re
hoping to achieve. It allows development of an appropriate concept and
media plan — probably on the first try.

As the chief marketer for your business, it’s your job to give those who pro-
duce your ads the information they need to do the job right the first time.

Dodging the creative landmines

There’s an old saying among marketers that half of all ad dollars are wasted,
but no one knows which half. You can move the dividing line between what
works and what doesn’t by planning in advance to avoid three wasteful
errors:

ߜ Mistake #1: Producing marketing materials without first defining objec-
tives, leading to the production of materials that address neither the
target prospect nor the marketing objective