Subscribe by Email

I saw an article that caught my eye today in Advertising Age. The subject was, essentially, “how to establish yourself and win your business category.” Find the online article here. The author is Al Reis, a very well-known marketing strategist. I’ve probably been aware of Mr. Reis for more than 30 years.

This time out, his point is that every brand, including yours, is associated with two names: the brand name and the name of its business category. In his view, too many marketing people spend all their money and effort on the brand, and yet over time, the name and description you give your category can have a tremendous impact on the success of your brand.

Case in point – diet versus light.

Only about 30% of carbonated drinks sold in America are of the diet variety. Conversely, about 60% of U.S. beer consumption is light beer. Light, it seems, means you can drink more of it and it’s less caloric – tastes great/less filling. Diet, on the other hand, seems to stand for less fattening/tastes lousy.

What could this possibly mean to us?

If you are a continuing care retirement community, how much emphasis do you think your independent living prospect puts on the category phrase “continuing care”? When prospects say “I’m just not ready for that yet,” what is it, do you think, they’re referring to? What is it they’re not ready for? Maybe it’s a smoke screen objection. Maybe it’s not.

For years, there has been a debate going on regarding whether or not the CCRC target audience objects to the label of “senior” because, the logic goes, so many of them believe it implies elderliness and frailty. Some communities don’t like to use the word “retirement,” because they believe their audience will associate it with a lack of activity.

But for some prospects, maybe it’s the label “continuing care” that has too much intuitive baggage for them to wrap their emotional selves around. After all, it does seem to say the primary idea here is care.

So what do you think? Do you think you should give your category a new name, and with it, a new definition? If not, why not? If so, how about – A Lifetime Retirement Community – where people like you enhance and protect all the possibilities for their future.

Let the debate begin.

I could give you 400 words on how each of us is in charge of our own attitude about life and how we choose to approach it. But this little girl does it in 49 seconds and so much more eloquently than I ever could.

Watch it. Share it. Get excited by it. Your world is a wonderful, exciting place full of opportunity and life because you have the chance to make it so every day.

If you watched a sporting event on television sometime over the past couple of years, you probably saw a commercial for Bud Light in their “Drinkability” campaign. In it, the brewer made a case that Bud Light had a straightforward, rational benefit – it was more ‘drinkable’ than other light beers.

This was a radical deviation from what has been an overwhelmingly successful run for Bud Light, from not even being in the category to leading the category in a few short years. And they did it through massive powers of distribution, and advertising aimed squarely at the young male consumer’s funny bone. No need to establish need. Humorous outreach from product to purchaser. Emotional connection made. Product sold.

Then came ‘Drinkability.’ An extremely well-researched, tangible, rational, real live difference between Bud Light and the other guys. That should make the suds flow and the cash register ring.

Hold it. According to Advertising Age, in 2009, shipments of Bud Light fell 2.5%, the first-ever negative sales year for the country’s number one brewer, Anheuser-Busch. First ever!

Read the article and you’ll find a fair amount of finger pointing and ducking for cover going on. But the point is, when Anheuser-Busch gave their customer a real, tangible reason to try the product, they sold less beer than when they made an emotional connection through their advertising so the customer just felt good about trying the product.

Remember, there are lots of reasons to try, or even buy a product or service – like senior living, for example. But when it comes to a prospect actually saying ‘yes’ – to actually remembering to be energized enough to take some action – the emotional outsells the rational every time.

I’ve been writing, producing and voicing radio and television commercials for more than 30 years. One issue that frequently comes up is whether or not to include a phone number in the announcer’s script. We want viewers and listeners to hear and understand and be persuaded by our message. And then we’d like them to call and ask for more information, make a reservation, or even better, make a personal appointment with a sales counselor. So it seems obvious – shouldn’t we tell them the phone number to call?

The answer is almost always no. Here’s why.

The most effective advertising executions are based on pretty simple ideas – one per ad. Have one really good point and make it well, and you’ll get more response than trying to throw together a bunch of points (we call it the kitchen sink approach) in an attempt to have something for everyone. The problem is, people simply can’t focus on or remember a collection of points. But they can remember one really good one.

And they can also remember where it came from.

The most important thing for anyone to remember from your broadcast ad is your name. If the one idea you presented persuasively in your ad is of interest to them, make sure they remember your name. People are really good at figuring out how to get what they want. So if they’re actually compelled by the idea you presented in your radio or TV spot, and what they want is to talk to you about it, they’ll figure out how to get in touch with you.

So take those 10 words you’d spend reciting your phone number in the script and use them instead to help your customer remember your idea . . . and your name.

Your advertising often provides the first exposure your audience has to your community. In fact, it’s probably the only exposure they have before actually calling for information or making an appointment.

For these people to think it might be a good idea to consider your community over another, they first need to be interested in who you are and why they should care. So your communication with them – your advertising – will work best when it’s presented in a truly interesting way that will stick with your audience.

How do you do that? Although it’s tempting to believe others are as interested in us as we are, the best way to get someone truly interested in you is to show you’re sincerely interested in them, and what’s important to them.

People respond most positively to advertising that approaches them in a sincere, genuine fashion. Advertising that uses the same kind of language they do with their friends. Advertising that shows you understand them and are interested in them by talking about them and their concerns, their hopes, their needs – not just about yourself.

Look at your advertising as if it were a real person representing you out there in the community. You’d probably want that person to be smart, truthful, friendly, approachable – maybe even funny. You’d want them delivering the message that shows you understand what is important to your audience, and suggests you can help them achieve whatever it is they want to achieve. And maybe – just maybe – it leaves them with something to smile about.

So if you want people to remember your community, make sure your community is interesting to them by creating advertising that shows you’re interested in them. For example, here are a couple ads that present a message in a truly interesting way:

• “City You’ve Grown to Love” Ad  

• “Countless Ways to Express Yourself” Ad