Change, or Reinforce
Do you know about the distinction – and it’s a useful one – between communication that tries to reinforce and communication that tries to get change?
If you follow politics you’ll already be familiar with this idea: Incumbents send messages that reinforce existing voter behavior, while challengers call for changes.
Any thoughtful marketing communication (and political communication is marketing communication) will be strongly influenced by this distinction, which affects not only the content, but also the presentation, and perhaps even the medium.
For example, suppose you own a bookstore and every couple of months you send a newsletter to all residences within a two mile radius.
Now, if you have good market share and you’re profitable, you won’t want to rock the boat. You’ll want to reinforce existing behaviors (which include buying at your store).
On the other hand, if you just opened a new bookstore and need to take market share from other bookstores, then you want change existing book buying behavior.
Another example: Suppose your employee safety program has worked well for the past year and you want to maintain the practices that led to this longest-ever period without an accident. Your communication would reinforce. On the other hand, if the safety record was unacceptable, you would try to get change through your communication.
In a change situation, we want to upset the status quo, to challenge existing beliefs and ways of doing things. That means the words and style could be somewhat inflammatory.
We can do this by making bold claims or allegations: Just listen to, or look at, advertising claims like these: “If you shop at Joe’s Bookstore, you may be paying too much!” or, “Drive a bit further and save a lot more at Jane’s Bookstore!”
Change also might be hurried by painting negative scenarios , as in “Unless we get more efficient, senior management will outsource the whole department.”
Tactically, change usually demands more communication, as in more often and more words or pages. As you can imagine, it takes more communication to drive change than to stay on the same course.
There are also tactics we can use to reinforce existing beliefs or actions.
To maintain the status quo we can stress a service record, as in, “Serving you with quality and service for 25 years.” or “Your performance has been very good over the past year, Betty. Keep up the good work.”
Reinforcement does not automatically rule out change; however, it emphasizes incremental and gradual change rather than major and abrupt change.
You can also appeal to shared values or experiences to reinforce. Nothing commits us to staying the course like emotional cues that link good times to the status quo. For example, consider the power of an advertising slogan that begins, “Remember when….” It connects a powerful, positive emotion with a product or service. By extension, the product or service offers an opportunity to relive that good time.
In summary, make a distinction in your communication between reinforcing and changing. Decide which way you want to go, and then choose the appropriate strategies, tactics, and tools.
Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott’s Communication Letter. Learn how you can use communication to help achieve your goals, by reading articles or subscribing to this ad-supported newsletter. An excellent resource for leaders and managers, at:
http://www.communication-newsletter.com
Printing – How Do I Buy It
Why should I care where I get my printed material from, I’ll just go for tenders and go with the low bidder. If you do this probably you won’t be in business for long or you’ll never really run a successful business. My company, Solutions Ink started from the premise that I don’t just sell printed products but rather I help businesses grow and prosper.
Being in the business for over 20 years I’ve seen how the industry and the market have changed. Gone are the days you could charge what you want and deliver any quality good’s. With global competition so great, the product must be perfect and your price must be competitive just for you to survive. That being said what should I look for in a printing company. First you should explain what you do and how you do it,to your printer. It is his job with his expertise to decide what product he should offer you. Today there are offset presses, digital presses, web presses and each one is appropriate for a different type of job.
Digital presses today have greatly improved their quality and are great for short runs (under 1000 quantity), variable data (inserting names into each letter), large format small quantity jobs (point of purchases, banners, posters, small direct mail jobs). Turnaround is key and digital jobs usually can be done in days if not hours.
Offset presses are good for jobs of greater than 1000 t’ill about 100,000 or if the absolute quality is essential for the job (brochures, fashion catalogues, price lists, letterheads, business cards, envelopes). These type of jobs usually takes days or a week or two, depending on the complexity of the job.
Web presses are great for large runs of magazines, newspaper flyers or large run business forms.
Suggestions by your printer should help your business grow. He should help in deciding paper stocks, colors, finishings and offer you different price options. New technology can save company’s great amounts of time by offering e-commerce ordering and proofing systems. New technology allows form/card combinations, form/label combinations and form/magnet combinations. These reduce the need to print 2 pieces. This can also cut your mailing costs. The idea is for your printer to help you market your business so that you can become more successful. Penny pinching on costs can be short sighted. For true long term growth you have to work in partnership with your printer so that both of you benefit. If you have only one winner, chances are you’ll be searching out a new partner pretty soon.
Steven Schneidman has an M.B.A., worked for a large bank, was a Finance Professor at University and has owned 2 Printing and Promotional Product companies.
If you need any help deciding what you should do for your next printing job drop me an email at steve@solutionsink4u.com or visit my website at www.solutionink4u.com.
Be Imaginative
What’s the easiest way to kill a great ad campaign before it even begins? Take it too
seriously. Advertising is not rocket science. You shouldn’t need a degree in the
physical sciences to create or understand an ad.
And you should never, ever, under any circumstances, kill an ad because it is not
literal enough. On the contrary, if you find your ads are too literal, you should
destroy them all and start fresh.
Are Volkswagens flawed pieces of junk? No, but an ad with the headline “Lemon”
gets your attention, doesn’t it? It makes you want to read the story, which goes on
to explain how the particular car shown in the ad would never be driven because VW
cares so much it weeds out the lemons so you never get a bad car. Think what an
opportunity would have been missed if the folks at Volkswagen had taken that
headline too literally.
Think about it from this angle. Why do people read an ad or watch a commercial?
The majority do so because they find them entertaining and informative. If your ads
are all information and no entertainment, you’ve wasted your budget.
This is not to say that an ad should be created purely for entertainment purposes.
Again, a great ad is both entertaining and informative. The entertainment value
should be derived from a feature of your product or brand. In other words, what
you’re selling should be the star of the show. Sounds simple enough, but it is often
hard to strike the right balance. That’s what makes advertising so fun.
How much information does your audience really need? What kind of story will they
find entertaining? These are questions that should be asked and answered early on
so that when you finally are presented with an ad or a campaign, you can judge the
work according to these preordained guidelines.
A good campaign will reach your target audience and talk to them on a personal
level. This has a valuable effect on your sales and reputation. A great advertising
campaign will do more than that. It will create a buzz outside of your target
audience.
Apple Computer’s “1984″ commercial ran only once. But it is still one of the most
talked about commercials because it was rebroadcast on every major news show
and written about in every major newspaper for weeks and months. And none of
this cost Apple anything more than a single TV buy.
It’s worth noting that Apple’s Super Bowl commercial helped make the company a
household name and created unbelievable demand for the new Macintosh
computer-yet the ad never showed the product or explained any details about it.
BMW’s Mini Cooper was one of the first cars to be introduced in the United States
with no TV advertising. Blasphemy! Instead, they bolted the Minis to the roofs of
SUVs and drove them around major cities. They created tongue-in-cheek billboards,
interactive print ads and great guerrilla promotions. Most importantly, they created
a waiting list of customers who couldn’t wait to get a Mini.
Companies that think bigger become bigger. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle. If you just
think like a local operation, you might miss the opportunity to expand regionally,
nationally, or even internationally. Your advertising campaign should reflect the
direction of your companyeven if you’re not yet there.
Challenge yourself and your agency to think bigger.
This article introduced the third of twelve steps. Challenge yourself, your staff and
your advertising agency to revolutionize your ad program. If you missed a previous
step, contact the author for a complimentary copy. And, remember, every revolution
begins with just one step.
Jeff Berney is a freelance idealist, brand evangelist and writer. He can be reached at
jeff@jberney.com.
© 2006
After more than a decade in the business, Jeff Berney offers more than a passion for
prose. Above all, he is a strategic thinker, an idealist, a brand evangelist. The articles
posted here are from his collection entitled, “Twelve Steps to Creating Breakthrough
Advertising Campaigns: A creative philosophy to help companies recover from years of
playing it safe.” You can view his work or read his blog at http://www.jberney.com