Mitchel van Luit
Behavioral psychologist & digital strategist with 8 years of experience in digital marketing and strategy.
2 minutes
Video
Do you feel addressed, OR not?
Sometimes you hear or see an advertisement that completely appeals to you... but sometimes you don't. How is that possible? And what can your marketing learn from this?
Recently I heard a radio advertisement:
“Are you a (target group) with (problem 1)?
Do you notice that (problem 1) is holding you back from (dream result)
Or do you suffer from (problem 2)?
Or do you notice that (problem 3)?
Then… buy (solution)!”
This is a commonly used template for an advertisement. Perhaps you have created such an advertisement or post yourself.
And it's certainly not a bad template, but there is one thing that goes wrong.
Do you see which one?
See if you spot it again.
…
Did you see it?
It's about the word 'or ‘.
The word 'or' is used here to ensure that more people feel addressed.
This is not a crazy thought, because the more people you appeal to, the more people will buy, right?
Unfortunately, the opposite is achieved:
I felt addressed by problem 1, because I could relate to problem 1. But then came problem 2, which I could not relate to. So I felt less attracted by the advertisement. I didn't have any problems with problem 3 either. so I was no longer addressed.
What happened is this:
The solution that was promoted for my problem felt like the tailor-made solution for me. But as more problems were introduced, the solution was no longer made for me.
I thought this commercial was about me, but when it became about others, I lost interest.
The feeling of the specialist solution was replaced by the feeling of the generalist solution.
This is a classic case of trying to reach too many people at once. The message is tailored too broadly.
In other words, you affect everyone a little, but largely not.
How can you do this differently?
- Create separate statements per problem. So that your 100% is relevant to the person with that problem. Bonus points if you A/B test the expressions.
- Change 'or' to 'and' to make 100% relevant to people who suffer from all mentioned problems. Be careful, this can make you so specific that there are too few people to address.
Something to think about when creating your next ad.
(Of course we would like to think along with you ⬇️)
