Your client wants you to help them maximize the return on their media investment.
Their perception in the marketplace may be positive, so your job is to enhance it. It may be negative, so your job is to improve it.
If the perception is worse than the reality, work on changing the perception. For example, if the audience believes that a kitchen remodel will return 60% of its cost at sale time, and your client knows that it will return 93%, then make that value prominent in your commercial. To make it more dramatic, tell the audience that it’s x% more valuable than a landscaping improvement, or roof rebuild, etc.
The content of what you say is important but the presentation may be more important. Perception is more powerful than reality. We are in the perception-altering business. You could say we “repackage” our clients for the audience.
Your clients are also in the repackaging business. They can become more successful by helping their customers change their perceptions.
How many times have you felt that your vehicle drives better after it has been washed? Your client works to help their customers feel better. Creating the expectation of those feelings in their commercials will attract more customers.
Is the price you pay for a membership for a diet/exercise plan a penalty for letting yourself go for too long, or is it a path to a new healthier you? Craft your message for the latter.
It’s how you repackage the facts that makes connecting with the advertiser more or less palatable. Don’t rely on logic to make your case. It’s the emotional idea that will make the sale.
As you work with your client, try to figure out how to maximize the perceived value of what they offer customers.
A service advertiser – plumber, electrician, HVAC company, tree trimmer, remodeler, or cleaning service can improve their appeal not simply by improving the quality of their work, but by giving their customers more control over the transaction (and hence their lives). One way is by constantly communicating when they’ll arrive, offering discounts or no charge for being late or missing appointments.
This is why telling a niche story – that repackages the business as one which specializes in one thing, sends a message to the audience that the advertiser must be very good at that one thing. This will help them stand out in a sea of similar advertisers who dilute their marketing by talking about the many other products and services they offer.
It’s why a gas station can improve its revenue by constantly cleaning their restrooms and advertising that fact by repackaging themselves as the station with the immaculate facilities. This can be more powerful than advertising their convenience and fuel prices.
This is why cause marketing – where a portion of the price for a product or service goes to a charity, can be very effective. The perception of an advertiser doing “the right thing” with your money can overcome objections about higher prices.
How is your client packaged now? How can you repackage him/her?
- Simple/fast food repackaged as gourmet.
- Expensive course repackaged as affordable.
- Complicated procedures repackaged as understandable, doable.
- Exclusive experiences repackaged as accessible.
Prepare the audience members for what they’ll experience. Immerse them in the experience before they visit, call, click, or research the advertiser.
Repackaging your client is one of the best ways you can help them.
Would you like to be part of an exclusive group of audio creators to share ideas and techniques to improve results for advertisers and broadcasters? Email me. Details to follow.
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