Before working as a consultant, I worked for many years as an in-house marketing professional in several companies, including Wells Fargo, Teleperformance, and Pearson Education.
The work I did for those companies wasn’t my best.
I could say that I just couldn’t summon the passion for financial products, telecommunications or even educational software that anything related to aviation evokes for me. I could also say that a couple of years of experience of hunting down paychecks (rather than having them handed to me automatically twice a month) has added a spring to my step and quickness to my mind that wasn’t there before.
But there are really two reasons that are much more basic and fundamental, even though they are harder to admit:
1) In-house writers think like employees, rather than thinking like customers.
Even though every trained marketing professional is taught to put himself in the customers shoes, your “customer viewpoint” can get a bit dull when you go to work every day at the company you work for, sit in an office at the company, go to lunch with company people, and spend a lot of time in meetings with company people.
Independent marketing professionals, especially those who live and work in the aviation industry, look at your product as if they were going to buy it. They live and work in a consumer’s mind set, and can communicate and resonate with consumers much more easily.
I fly an airplane. I own an airplane and I pay taxes and insurance and hangar rent. My husband leases airplanes to flight schools. One of our kids is a charter pilot for executives and celebrities. Another is a flight student. When we get together we talk flying and about airplanes and about the perks and challenges of business and general aviation. The people we talk to every day are flight directors and aviation professionals and owners of companies who sell stuff to these people.
My first thought when investigating a new potential client runs to “Would I buy this?” or “Would I advise our kids to land there?” or “Should I check out this service?” Employees don’t think that way.
2) In-house ad writers are motivated to make the boss happy, not to make the cash register ring.
Sales may be the topic of every conversation you have as an in-house ad writer. They may be the topic of every meeting. They may be consciously and forcefully brought the front of your disciplined mind. But the back of your mind, the part that you don’t have as much control over, is thinking:
- “The boss hates blue. Don’t use blue in this ad.”
- “The boss wants the product referred to this way, even though that’s not the way the customer thinks about the product.”
- “The boss will disagree with me about this. Is it worth fighting about?”
- “How’s this going to be reflected on my review? Am I going to get a raise? Am I going to get fired?”
No matter how noble, independent and stubborn a marketing professional thinks she is, these thoughts do intrude on the creative process.
So, what’s the solution? You may have in-house marketing professionals that do fabulous work. You’ve invested a lot in their training and they have product knowledge that comes from years of experience. How do you overcome these obstacles and get the best work from them?
- Team with independent consultants on certain initiatives. Pick a marketing consultant that has a great track record in large and small organizations. The independent’s job will be to bring fresh eyes, tools, research and ideas to the table. New ideas “bounced off” each other will bring new synergy. The natural friendly competition between ad people will bring out the best performance in everyone, and compensate for any knowledge gaps.
- Use objective metrics. Whether you like an ad or not isn’t relevant to whether it makes sales. Does it represent the brand well? Does it comply with basic marketing principles? Is the concept sound? Is the delivery method appropriate? Will the headline get attention? Is the copy persuasive and compelling? Is the ad believable by your target customer? Does it address their primary concerns?
- At a minimum, get an independent review of each ad. You are free to do what you choose with the feedback you get, but an “outside” set of eyes might see a small change that could make a big difference in the outcome of an ad.
ABCI offers a quick, thorough, cost-effective independent review. We call it our Ad Preflight Service. You purchase coupons with cover sheets, answer a couple of questions about the audience, purpose and delivery method of an ad, and fax or email the cover sheet and the ad to us. This works for any single-page ad, whether it will be used as a print ad in a periodical, as a direct mail piece, or for online delivery. Within two business days (often sooner if you call us and verify availability) you’ll have an objective, ruthless checklist and review that lets you know what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve it.
Through Friday, November 19, you can purchase Ad Preflights for $73.50 and use them anytime you like. They don’t expire for a year, so you might want to stock up while they’re half price.
Regular priced Ad Preflights will be available for $147 starting November 20.
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