Regulation.

With the ever increasing regulation of advertising and marketing tools. We need to make sure that we remain current with the legal situation in our own countries, as well as in those countries we aim to sell into. 

- Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

Following a recent controversial decision made by the UK Advertising Standards Authority. Simply remaining within existing laws is no longer enough. Advertisers now have to take into account social responsibility and other guidelines such as health and safety issues.

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"It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit" 

- Noel Coward

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"Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make."

- Bill Bernbach 1911 – 1982 Creative Director. Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB)

Myths about advertising #01

As consumers we have all heard wild statements about advertising. Yet as business people we have to take a more pragmatic approach. So here are the first three popular myths to be debunked.

“All advertising is manipulative!”

Oh boy they really don't think much of consumers do they?

The modern consumer has been exposed to adverting from birth, the majority have become far to sophisticated for such trickery and recognise it for what it is.

We should look upon our advertising as helping our potential customers make a choice, "Why should they choose to purchase this product or service from me?" Give them a convincing argument and they will do so. Don’t and they will buy the same products or services elsewhere.

“Advertising in annoying!”

Sick of the repeated e-mails, flyers, unsolicited phone calls, that stupid ad on the box night after night.

Advertising is all about engagement. If your adverts are getting the responses above, you have got it seriously wrong. 

Advertising should be targeted and used strictly at the right time and in the right place. Advertising should engage, inform and entertain your target audience. If it does not you have missed your target, consider market research and test marketing before you make your adverts.

“Advertising is lies!”

Wonder what they have been exposed to. Adverting in the UK has been regulated by law for over 50 years!

Advertising is required by law to be honest decent lawful and truthful. Attempting to misleading your customers is an illegal activity. 

It is also a very foolish thing to do, it is perhaps one of the quickest ways to destroy a hard built reputation. The Advertising Standards authority (ASA) in the UK and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US, take a very dim view of such activity. So much so, that it takes only one complaint to launch an investigation. In 2011 the UK ASA’s remit was extended to cover all advertising media. This includes websites, social media and yes, even your blogs.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

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"for Advertising to be successful, it must be truthful or it ceases to be read or believed."

– William A Marsteller chairman, Marsteller Inc

Busting Bad Ad's

In 2013 Google 'Busted more than 350,000,000 bad adverts.

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That is three hundred and fifty million adverts removed and 270 thousand advertisiers blocked.

The message from this is quite simple. If you want your advertising seen, if you want to earn revenue from your investment, it pays to play by the rules.

Online advertising is not the equlivent of posting a card in your local corner stores window. It is a advertising platform that is goverened by the same national and international advertising laws as any other form of commercial advertising.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

Random marketing tip #405

I, like many businesses, receive hundreds of emails and newsletters every day. All trying to sell me something. The bulk of these go strait into the bin unread. 

Try to give your readers a reason why they should read your posts. What's in it for them? Try and target your posts to specific groups, don't fall foul of the one size fits all syndrome.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

Entering the luxury market.

Advertising, branding and packaging, can build a sense of delight and a pride in ownership. Yet it is so often the quality of the product therein that disappoints.

Strictly a promotion should match the quality of the product, or risk a charge of miss-selling. Yet how many return their iPhones as a substandard product, when compared to some of the alternatives? 

In 'Luxury Marketing' cost, value, quality is often considered as secondary to the conceptualisation and association. What is being sold is not the product, but the lifestyle choice. By buying this, you are associating yourself with...

This form of marketing can be very dangerous to budget level business. As they are often working on the very edge of acceptability and can easily slip from high-value marketing into the realm of the cheap and tawdry. This is not an area of marketing for an unresearched and untested marketing campaign.

If you are branding your product or service as a 'luxury' be sure that you can deliver. Do not try to reduce your overheads by cutting quality, this can rebound disastrously. It is more acceptable to raise your prices, making your brand even more exclusive.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

Understanding Your Target Market.

This obvious task is often overlooked. You should already know and understand your target market, yet things can and do change quite rapidly. When was the last time that you did any serious research into your target market?

A fatal mistake any business can make is assuming that your market remains static. The truth is the market is ever changing and you need to identify the section that wants to buy your products. The assumption that everyone is your target market, is false. Some will already have it, some will need it but can't afford it, others will have just bought it and not react very well if you are now supplying the same a less than they paid for it.

Your target market should be those who want, need and are able to buy what you offer. Little point advertising a corner shop nationally, nor advertising a global business in the local rag.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+

All geared up and ready to go?

All geared up and ready to go?

A new year with new challenges and we have already started working on promotions for the 2015 season.

“What! We've just started 2014 and you’re already talking about working on projects for 2015 “

It does work that way in advertising, we have to think ahead. Our customers want their adverts in this summers tourism brochures so that visitors to Scotland for the Homecoming and Commonwealth games can book their next years holidays in Scotland. Good practice, encouraging tourists to make a booking before they leave or are seduced by some other attraction pays dividends. Just beware that the deadlines for some of these publications are in March, a scant 2 months to get it done, for others it is already to late.

It is all about planning ahead and thinking like a business person. In September I published a blog on this site about getting christmas marketing ready. Most of the responses were along the lines of “I’ll worry about christmas in December not before.” A consumers answer, but not appropriate for a business. Before anybody can buy, they have to be informed about what there is available to buy. As businesses, we have to aware of what the deadlines are. Waiting till December to worry about you advertising is great for next Christmas, it is months to late to get anything done for this.

For example have you thought about tying your advertising to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games? Well, sorry to tell you this, some of the submissions closed in 2012. 

This is how the big companies make their money. They have entire marketing departments ensuring that they meet deadlines and take every opportunity to promote their companies. What do you have?

That is where we come in. Advertising agencies are your marketing dept, we work for you. We make sure that you have the right advertising in place at the right time. We choose the creatives that are right for your business, your service, your product. Freeing up your time, so that you can concentrate on running your business, not trying to do ours.

Yes, there are cheaper options, you can do it yourself, find a student or start-up desperate for the exposure. But how much time will you spend working for them? Preparing the content for them, writing the scripts and copy, getting the photographs and video shot, the Logos and designs made and in the right size and format, negotiating copyright and licence fee’s. Do you have the time for all this? Do you have the knowledge and experience?

If all this seems strange, confusing or raises questions you want answers to. It is time that we talked about your advertising and marketing requirements for the year(s) ahead.

Gavin Bryan-Tansley Owner Vid-FX+