Advertising doesn't work any more.

Did I get your attention? I hope I did.

How can this be? "Advertise to succeed" has been the mantra

in America for at least the last 100 years!

I am not going to say here that advertising is TOTALLY useless,

because it does have its place, and direct marketing

still works, both in mail and on television.

Now pay attention. Because you are about to learn the real

secret of advertising, beyond that fact that it doesn't work.

Advertising will not change people's mind about your product.

Advertising will not convince them your product is great, if

word of mouth of a review from an authoritative source has

already taught them otherwise.

Advertising works only when it reinforces what people already

believe to be true.

So, you may ask, how am I supposed to get my product out there?

How can I increase sales?

How can I build a big powerful brand?

You have to turn advertising on its head. Advertising is actually

the last step of your marketing process, not the first.

People have access to more information now than at any time

in history. This means several things. The first is that since

news travels fast, so do product reviews and opinions from

press and online media of all kinds. The second is that since

people are also suffering from information overload, they turn

to "filters" to do some sorting out of all the choices for them,

which means those same press and online media carry a lot more

weight than they ever did before.

You can't advertise your way past this. One of the easiest things

to hide is 10 million dollars worth of advertising, especially

if not spent wisely.

What's the best way to spend your money now?

It is actually quite simple, if you can get past the "broadcast"

mentality of the old economy. In the old way of doing things,

you got a "big idea" then manufactured your product, then

advertised broadly and sold it. If you made a good product,

you could also get some publicity for it which didn't affect

sales much, but was useful because it gave you some added credibility.

Fast forward to today- Before you can even get your product out

the verdict is already pronounced, and no amount of advertising

can really change it.

The solution for our new information based economy is actually

to reverse the process. Crazy as it seems, let the consumers

create the product (or service)

This is actually far less costly and far more effective then the

traditional forms of marketing.

So first, you do a thorough survey of your target market. Find

out what they like or dislike about your new potential idea, and

especially compared to the alternatives.

Take their input, and then use it to construct a product

or service for them.

Once you have a couple prototypes contact them and others again

and further refine what you have, and establish the correct price

point that they would pay for such a product.

If you have done this right, you will make some sales just on word

of mouth. Don't go into full scale production yet.

When you are convinced you have a winner, send free copies to the

media you have identified as being most influential for your target

market. How do you know? Because you asked your target market

this in your first survey above! Ask people "Where would you turn

to for a review of this product?", or "Who do you turn to for advice

and information about _______?"

Depending on what you are trying to market this can be adjusted,

but you get the idea.

Get your feedback from the media and fix any shortcomings that they

have identified. With this feedback from both the media and your target

market, present the first stable version of your product to the media

as an official release.

If you listened carefully to the feedback and adjusted your product,

you now will have good reviews in the most influential publications

for that particular market niche. The most expensive advertising in

the world cannot buy this credibility.

Now, in your advertising, take the most important benefits that people

said they wanted out of your product or service, and use that in your

advertising, along with testimonials from real people, and mention of

your favorable reviews.

If you do this, you will be able now, to broadly advertise and your

advertising will actually be profitable. If you try to do it the

other way, you will launch a major advertising campaign, and both

the media and "consumer advocates" will eat you for lunch.

Is this better than losing money in advertising? You bet!