I came back from my holiday break to find two interesting items on my desk.
One was a comment from one of our customers that they would not be advertising for the moment because “schools seemed to have stopped buying”.
The other was the news that two email campaigns that we had run during my time away had hit new highs in terms of click throughs and enquiries.
So how can both comments be true?
They are both true for a complex array of reasons – and that makes it harder to explain (although I will try).
First there’s the fact that schools now have greater freedom over where and how they spend their money. So some schools are making redundancies, and this is being interpreted by some as “no money”. But actually it means that more money is available because staffing is taking up less cost.
Second, because some advertisers have sadly gone to the wall, while others are pulling out of advertising, there are fewer emails and direct mail pieces going out, so less competition and more responses.
Thirdly, (and most complexly) advertising has changed. Firms that are doing ads that worked two years ago, are finding they don’t work now, but are sometimes interpreting that as a lack of interest from schools, rather than a need to write different adverts.
I touched on this the other day with my note about problems, issues, and solutions. It is complicated and time-consuming, but also true.
For one of these adverts that really worked last week I had been asked to look at advertising campaigns that were clearly not working. The solutions I felt were to do with how teachers were perceiving the product. By changing the nature of the way in which the product was being visualised it was possible to overcome blocks to the selling process.
So in that case we did not just re-write the text a little, we also changed the whole reason why schools should buy this service.
Now many people do take the view that this is not a viable approach for them – that they sell furniture (or whatever) and that’s that. “A school desk is a school desk” they say. But normally it is possible to find a new angle – although I will always admit that some experimentation is needed in most cases to get it just right.
I am more than happy to undertake such an analysis for any product or service that is not selling, without cost or obligation. Just give me a call and we can talk it through or email me a copy of your most recent advert, and I will call you back.
Do give me a call on 01536 399 000 – or if you would like to see the sort of email lists we used to create these hit adverts, there are details on www.emails.gs
Tony Attwood
Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB. Phone 01536 399 000.
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