Do-it-yourself Pitfalls: How to Waste Money Quickly In
Advertising
1. Plant negative ideas into people's minds. The ad
headline Don't waste another dollar plants the idea of wasting
money into people's minds. The call to action Don't hesitate is
about hesitating. To cultivate more supportive thinking, focus
on the positive. Try Save money today and Call now.
2. Send a diffuse message to an overly-broad group. The
risk of an ad that addresses everybody: it appeals to nobody.
Even if you offer something for everybody, address the audience
so that each individual can easily discern whether you're
speaking to them.
3. Publish errors that hurt your credibility.
Inconsistent punctuation, run-on sentences, poor grammar, odd
syntax, and spelling errors in the print media get noticed. Make
sure that your ads are exempt from their ridicule. Proofing by a
sharp-eyed outside party can be invaluable reputation protection.
4. Act like a small-timer. Many individuals and small
organizations invest too little in their ads, run unprofessional
ads, or place too little faith in good ads. Some actually pay to
damage their reputation through ads that do more to repel
business than to attract it. So, project a tested, supportive
image consistently.
5. Do it all yourself. Often, businesspeople get exactly
what they want in their ads by doing it themselves or by getting
others to do it under their direction. This is the DIY approach.
Often the ads fail miserably. Your customer's perspective and an
expert's perspective can save you from this. Listen to your
customers attentively and pay for advertising expertise.
Otherwise, the illusion of thrift with the DIY approach might
yield to the reality of high cost.