Return To The Roots
Gravitational Marketing is about returning to the roots of what advertising is really all about.
But, the question is…What is real advertising?
Well, I can tell you with surety that it is not what they do on Madison Avenue these days. And for you, my small business marketing friends, it is not what most of your peers are doing either.
On Madison Ave they have lost all clarity about what advertising is and its real purpose. I was reading an article today by Denny Hatch, who is an amazing direct marketer, about the current Bud Lite “Real American Genesis” advertising campaign.
Denny was expressing his frustration regarding the campaign and how the entire concept is a mockery of the core customer that the campaign has been designed to serve.
So, where do you draw the line on cute and clever?
Is entertainment value at the expense of your core customer base a sound and acceptable practice in advertising today? Should it be?
I would have to say no.
And I think the forefathers of advertising would back me.
See, at the heart of all of the big Madison Avenue ad agencies there was at one time a true ad man, a real marketer who knew what the purpose of advertising is.
It’s not entertaining, it’s not alienating your core customer base, and it’s not being funny or cute or creative for the sake of being funny, cute, creative or entertaining.
But, these great ad men are gone and the new régime doesn’t get it.
It’s obvious they don’t get it. Look at the high client turnover in the agency business and the crap they are putting out on the streets.
I don’t expect you to take my word for it…here are some quotes from some of the great ad men of all time (courtesy of Denny Hatch’s Business Common Sense Newsletter.)
- "The object of advertising is to sell goods. It has no other justification worth mentioning." --Raymond Rubicam, Founder, Young & Rubicam
- "Your job is to sell, not entertain." --Jack Maxson, Freelance Copywriter
- "If it doesn't sell, it's not creative." --Benton & Bowles Credo in the 1930s and 1940s
- "I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information." --David Ogilvy
- "Advertising in the final analysis should be news. If it is not news it is worthless." --Adolph S. Ochs, American Newspaper Publisher
- "Advertising nourishes the consuming power of men. It sets up before a man the goal of a better home, better clothing, better food for himself and his family. It spurs individual exertion and greater production." --Winston Churchill
- "If I were starting life over again, I am inclined to think that I would go into the advertising business in preference to almost any other. The general raising of the standards of modern civilization among all groups of people during the past half century would have been impossible without the spreading of the knowledge of higher standards by means of advertising." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- "All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level." --William Bernbach, Founder, DDB
These men know what advertising is supposed to be about.
What it takes to be a good marketer and what it was when then started their agency. What they believed then is what we embrace today and what we teach in Gravitational Marketing.
So, let me tell you why this is so important for you to understand.
- Many small businesses emulate the national advertising and marketing they see on T.V., Radio and in Print. – That is the crap these new agency guys are putting out.
- The ad agencies in your area are wannabe Madison Avenue agencies and don’t even do the crappy advertising half as good as they do. So it will never work.
Don’t be fooled and fall in the trap of this mindlessness and lies. Read our Ten Tall Tales of Traditional Marketing for Small Businesses and Independent Sales Professionals in the FREE e-books section of this site.
How To Do Small Business Marketing Successfully
- Become a master of your own marketing.
- Learn to use the powerful strategies of Gravitational Marketing
- Put them in to action for your business.
Now, go out and market your small business successfully.
