In many ways, the following tweet can be seen to represent solid advertising advice:
Note though, that this advice is more innovative and entrepreneurial in nature. The tweet is telling you how to introduce a new product or service to the market.
And her advice is to focus on WIIFM — What’s In It For Me — where “Me” means the prospective customer base.
Here’s how my new product or service will make YOUR life better.
In her opinion, this is a better messaging than “Here’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
The contrasting advice can be seen in the imagery for this fantastic ad for agency, Crispin & Porter:
One sign is undoubtedly more persuasive than the other. But why?
The right-hand sign certainly doesn’t rely on WIIFM for its appeal.
Instead, it relies on bonding.
Because, yes, people DO care about other humans that they’re able to connect with on a human level.
And you’d be well advised to bake that appeal into your advertising as well.
Reconciling This Advice for Maximum Effectiveness
The way to get the best of both worlds is to indeed appeal to customers’ self interest while also providing them with your emotional compulsions for making that offer.
Because a compelling offer made by a company or person you don’t quite trust is an offer that you’ll pretty much never consider, let alone take.
You, as the buyer, need to understand “what’s in it for them, the business owner.”
You also need to know “why can I trust you.”
And the better the offer, the more these other factors come into play.
This is what makes telling your origin story so powerful, as it establishes the WHY behind the WHAT.
“I’m making this amazing offer because it’s a manifestation of my core values and mission.”
The more your offer reinforces your core identity, and the more your identity and offer matches with the customer’s identity, the more powerful the response.
Adding a Third Leg to Your Advertising Stool
While an ad campaign with both reason-why and bonding appeals is enough to generate massive response, it’s not the best you can do.
You can also add in differentiation through brand codes.
Bonding is about your inner identity.
Differentiation is about your outer, sensible identity — looking and sounding distinctively different from the competition, so that anyone seeing or hearing your ads instantly recognizes them as uniquely your ads.
This is mainly done through the intelligent and persistent use of Brand Codes:
- Brandable Chunks
- Ear-wormy sonic cues
- Logos
- Distinct and recognizable characters and mascots
- Music
- Packaging, uniforms, truck wraps, etc.
And you can visualize the three major factors of advertising success like this:
What’s In YOUR Ad Campaign?
So what about your advertising?
Do you make use of WIIFM appeals and Bonding and Brand Codes?
If not, you’re missing out on one or two key factors and undermining the effectiveness of your efforts.
Want to change that?
Jeff Sexton
Businesses either sell $5 haircuts, or fix $5 haircuts. I’m your guy if your company fixes $5 haircuts. Working together, we'll de-commodify your business, make pricing pressure a thing of the past, and grab the lion’s share of customers willing to pay a premium for your service or product.
Share this:
.webp)
.webp)
Nothing to see here!
Nothing to see here!