So, you’re getting negative feedback on your advertising?
People are making fun of you?
Criticizing?
Saying you should stop or give up?
Are they even using cuss words?
Perhaps that’s not the worst thing that could happen to your business.
Perhaps it’s one of the best.
Here’s a screenshot of a tweet about one of our client’s ads.
The remarks in red are common knee-jerk reactions that a company (paying an ad agency) might have towards this negative feedback.
It was Edmund Wilson who said, “No two people ever read the same book.”
The same applies for feedback on advertising.
Below are the same tweets read through the lens of an advertising agency.
From an ad agency perspective, this translates to, “The opposite of love is not negative feedback, it’s being ignored.”
Isn’t that a dreaded fear of all business owners and marketers?
Negative feedback is a signpost down the long trail towards building your brand.
It lets you know they’re actually listening. Keep your courage high as you traverse down the trail.
Self-induced frequency is whenever someone hears your ad and then ponders about it after the ad is over.
This happens when you sing a jingle, bring up a funny commercial to a friend, or wonder how that cliffhanger was going to end.
In this case, Brandon is teasing about a previous ad, but he’s also still thinking about that ad, too.
That’s self-induced frequency, and best of all, it doesn’t cost you a single penny more.
Our brain is trained to ignore advertising.
When someone can tell you about the specifics of your ad, it means that you managed to bypass Broca’s Area (the bouncer of your brain).
Create something boring and predictable, and Broca will never let it in.
“A word flag is an unusual word or phrase that is likely to be commented on by your customer.”
We’re taking a cue from Roy Williams on this one and introducing some word flags into the ad.
We use an unusual word such as “highfalutin” to describe the product Attic Quilt.
Thank you @coolrobc for letting us know #ourwordflagisworking
Still concerned all this “negative” attention is bad for business?
It’s September and the Rott’s have already beat their best year ever (and not by a little bit).
Not too shabby considering they’ve been in business since 1909.
A lot of things went into making it happen and their advertising strategy was one of them.
So, do you have anyone picking on you for your advertising?
No?
That’s not a good sign.
If you’re curious to hear what a horrible ad sounds like, give a listen below.
North Dakota
Snuggles
We’ll take the good feedback too!
We decided to spin these negative tweets into a “Mean Tweets” video.
This video ended up getting viewed over 10,000 times on Facebook.
People appreciate humility and a sense of humor 🙂
Advertising has a lot to do with understanding the mind and the way people process information.
When you read this earlier…
“Ut oh at least 16 people think we’re trolls!”
… did you find it to be a strange spelling?
Did you think, “I would spell that uh-oh“?
If you did, that’s because your brain is processing and interpreting incredible amounts of information all the time.
A single commercial is a drop of water in a typhoon of data hitting your prospects’ brain each day.
If you want your commercial to sink in, you’re going to need all the help you can get.
Contact us if you are in need of help advertising your business.