Creativity Is The Key To Marketing That Sells

By the time I graduated from college, I had gone through enough
classes and internships to gain a better perspective on the world
of marketing. I even started seeing a relationship between
ordinary, non-marketing related information, and began using
those ideas to develop my marketing plans.

In Aristotle's Ethics, the great philosopher ponders the depths
of human nature and concludes that we, as humans, naturally
desire what is good. Of course, with this desire comes what
Aristotle believes is the "highest faculty" of humans-- that we
have the ability to reason.

Let's say that your prospective customer sits down to a cup of
coffee and the morning paper, and comes across your ad on the
third page of the business section. He does have an interest in
whatever it is you are selling, but he knows that there are
plenty of manufacturers of this particular product. According to
Aristotle's philosophy, your prospect would naturally want the
best manufacturer's product, and he will then go through certain
degrees of reasoning before he concludes where he will take his
business.

If you want your prospect to even notice your ad, the first thing
to do is tap into your creative flow. There is a simple plan that
can be followed to ensure that you will find a creative strategy
that is right for you.

Pretend you have a business that makes tortilla chips. Figure out
the purpose of your commercial and who your target audience will
be:

The purpose of Tiny Tortilla's Chips is to convince a target
audience, women between the ages of 18 and 45, that Tiny's Fat
Free Baked Tortilla Chips are the best tasting, healthiest
tortilla chips on the market. (This is the purpose of your
creative message.) This will be accomplished by showing random
blind fold taste tests throughout malls in America. (This is how
you will achieve your purpose.) The tone of the commercial will
be enthusiastic, happy, and fun. (This hints at the personality
of the actual product.)

This is a great start for a commercial, but where do you go from
here? First find the inherent drama involved with your product.
I'm not talking daytime television here, more along the lines of
interesting. Lots of people like tortilla chips, and with today's
emphasis on fitness and healthful eating, great taste without the
fat is a great stress point.

People buy benefits, not products-- the nick free silky
smoothness of a twenty dollar disposable razor, or the
convenience of never, ever having to miss a call with call
waiting, caller ID, and call forwarding packages are a few
examples. These benefits have to be believable, however, or
people will not be convinced. You could say, "Tiny's Fat Free
Tortilla Chips offer all the taste and half the fat of the
leading competitor, and we're willing to back that with a no
questions asked money back guarantee."

Having the advertisement captivate the audience is crucial, but
only in a certain way. If your ad is more interesting than the
product, you've failed, but if the advertisement doesn't live up
to the excitement of the product, it won't entice viewers or
readers to pay attention. You can make your ad interesting enough
to pay attention to by motivating your audience to do something.
Tell them exactly what to do-- go to the store, call my hotline,
buy my chips, or ask for my product by name.

Above all, communicate clearly. Make sure you make sense, because
even if you know what you're talking about, not everyone will. If
you gain understand your strategy, and begin to appeal to
people's innate longing for good, you will probably come up with
a great commercial or ad to kick start your sales.