Seducing Strangers

1. Advertising's purpose: Make people happy by setting and meeting expectations

Happiness occurs when expectations are met or exceeded by reality.

Setting expectations is key. Advertisers play a crucial role in helping companies set appropriate expectations for their products or services. This involves crafting messages that motivate, sell, and seduce, while ensuring the promises made can be kept by the actions, products, or services of the company.

Balancing act of persuasion. Effective advertising requires a delicate balance:

• Persuading: Getting someone to do your will
• Selling: Making your proposition attractive, visible, and well-priced
• Seducing: Understanding customers' feelings, wants, needs, and motives

Creating happy customers. The ultimate goal is to create happy customers by:

• Setting expectations at a level products and services can meet or exceed
• Using insight, words, pictures, stories, and music to evoke emotions
• Motivating people for the benefit of companies that may not know how to do so themselves

2. The truth is more compelling than lies in effective advertising

The truth is far more compelling than a good lie.

Honesty in advertising. Contrary to popular belief, successful advertisers don't lie. There are three main reasons for this:

1. Bad for business: Lying can lead to customer disappointment and rapid business implosion, especially in the age of social media.
2. Truth's power: Discovering and leveraging genuine consumer insights is far more effective than fabricating false claims.
3. Self-interest: Dishonesty about what motivates consumers leads to ineffective ads, which is bad for advertisers' careers.

Consumer insights drive success. The most important element in developing effective communication is understanding what truly motivates consumers. This involves:

• Being curious and insightful rather than purely creative
• Discovering the one thing that makes customers tick that no one else has figured out
• Leveraging people's inherent beliefs rather than trying to change or control them

3. Four types of ads: Introductory, trial, differentiating, and mutual-love-and-respect

Answering these questions intriguingly, economically, truthfully, and memorably is the art of advertising.

Four fundamental questions. Every persuasive message needs to answer one of these questions:

1. What is it? (Introductory ads)
2. Why do I need it now? (Trial ads)
3. What makes it different from other things? (Differentiating ads)
4. Who else thinks it's good? (Mutual-love-and-respect ads)

Progression of messaging. These four types of ads provide a natural progression for building a brand:

• Introductory: Increase inquiries by arousing curiosity
• Trial: Boost sales through limited-time offers
• Differentiating: Improve market share by highlighting unique benefits
• Mutual-love-and-respect: Build/defend profit margins by aligning with customer values

Tailoring the message. Each type of ad requires a different approach:

• Introductory: Leave something out to generate curiosity
• Trial: Create a sense of urgency with limited-time offers
• Differentiating: Find new ways to illustrate the brand promise
• Mutual-love-and-respect: Celebrate what makes your customers unique

4. Successful campaigns align business goals, messaging, and media strategy

Choose a single business goal for every message.

Three key elements. Successful advertising campaigns require alignment of:

1. Business goals
2. Messaging
3. Media strategy

Choosing the right goal. Advertisers must decide whether they're focusing on:

• Bottom line (profits): Favored by more solitary, cerebral types
• Top line (sales/happy customers): Preferred by those who enjoy connecting with people

Aligning the message. Different goals lead to different types of communication:

• Bottom-line messages: Focus on driving measurable results, filled with facts and urgency
• Top-line messages: Aim to create emotional connections and fill businesses with personality

Selecting appropriate media. Traditional media had intrinsic effects suited to specific goals:

• Outdoor posters/billboards: Increase inquiries by inciting curiosity
• Local newspaper/radio/TV: Create urgency for limited-time offers
• National magazines: Highlight product differences to increase market share
• National TV: Build profit margins by aligning sponsor and viewer values

5. Presenting ideas: Show how they'll impact the client's world

Your task is to show people that you see and understand their story and where they want to be.

Visualization is key. When presenting ideas, it's crucial to show clients how your concept will impact their world:

• Use visuals to illustrate the potential future state
• Help clients see beyond their day-to-day challenges
• Demonstrate how your idea furthers their story and goals

The power of the setup. The most important part of a presentation is the setup:

• Get people nodding in agreement about a general concept before showing specific ideas
• Enter into a "conspiracy" with clients by aligning on shared principles
• Use stories, insights, or observations that resonate with the audience

Embracing the downside. Sometimes, highlighting potential negative outcomes can be persuasive:

• Make clients aware of the cost of inaction or maintaining the status quo
• Help them imagine a world where they no longer have the opportunity to implement your idea
• Use fear of missing out or being outpaced by competitors as motivation

6. Online advertising: Understanding the medium's unique message

The personal, self-programmed nature of the Internet means that its inherent effect goes beyond what is possible to sell.

The Internet's unique nature. Unlike traditional media, the Internet is:

• Owned and operated by users for their personal benefits
• Built and paid for by individuals, creating a sense of ownership
• A platform where users actively participate in building their networks

Implications for advertisers. This unique nature means:

• The intrinsic effect of online media is different for every user
• Traditional advertising principles may not directly apply
• Advertisers must understand how and why people interact with online media

The Internet's message. The unique message of the Internet is:

• Possibilities are limitless
• Users are in control of their own networks
• Personal journeys and individual growth are central themes

7. Techno Trekkers: How people navigate their online journey to an ideal self

People buy products and services and use media that help them close the gap, and get them closer to who they want to be.

The online journey. Internet users, or "Techno Trekkers," are on a personal journey from their current self to their ideal self. This journey involves:

• Constantly changing and evolving
• Seeking products, services, and media that help close the gap to their ideal self
• Actively building and expanding their personal networks

Four types of stories. Techno Trekkers engage with four kinds of stories during their journey:

1. Need-to-know: Define the ideal self by revealing what's possible
2. Nice-to-know: Provide information about probabilities and opportunities
3. Nice-to-say: Allow users to update others on their progress
4. Need-to-say: Help users shed baggage from their old selves

Implications for advertisers. In the online world:

• Customers are the heroes of their own stories
• Products and services should support and advance the user's personal narrative
• Messages are appreciated only to the extent that they help users on their journey

Last updated: July 29, 2024