Ad Man Adage On Your Message

“it’s not about the money you spend, it’s the message you send”

This is the strapline of an ad I heard on the airwaves. American former radio ad exec Tim Burt uses it to sell his advertising tips seminars.

I appreciated this tone straight away. I often find myself saying that you seldom fix a problem simply by throwing money at it. And cite the old tech adage, that the one surefire way to guarantee a software project will miss its delivery date is by adding several more programmers to it at a late stage (aka Brooks’ Law; my blog from 2007, and its wiki page).

The ad man’s slant can be applied to how we sell. You may be outgunned by competitors with deeper pockets. Or you may be without other departmental support. Or you may be expected to create all your collateral alone. Yet despite these potentially holding you back, what’s the message you aim to send?

I also wonder whether a mirror of this could be put in prospect’s minds. Something like, ‘it’s not the size of your budget, it’s the supplier’s fit’? Anyway, I note from time of posting, he’s recently deployed igtv. Ninety-second clips of random points. Here’s three worth noting that can shape a solution sell too;

• offer only one point of contact for initial registration
• it’s not about grabbing attention, it’s how you maintain attention
• ‘Facts tell, stories sell’, he reframes to add, strong transformational stories sell even better