Know Thy Customer
Effective advertising depends on understanding what your audience wants

Returning from vacation, I had a mountain of mail to mine. The first glint of paydirt came from a plea to support a candidate. But it was more than that, because it made some very astute observations of the political scene.

Another jewel was a catalog from America’s best direct marketer, Land’s End. As usual, it offered much more than "advertising." The issue not only shared valuable product information, but devoted two double-page spreads to a feature on a new book of rare photographs of Native Americans with commentary that dealt with the history, religion and economics of the Navajos, Hopis and Zunis. It was a keeper.

Closer to home, I found an effective letter from St. Joseph Hospital, which opened with "Dear Friend, You may not think much about your prostate, butÉ" In the next few ‘graphs, I was invited to a free seminar and told about the Saint Joseph Monday Medicine Lecture Series. A good piece. Well written. But it was signed by their PR director instead of a doctor. Too bad.

But the best mailer of all came from the advertiser with the smallest staff, lowest budget and least marketing help. It came from two people who know their business, know their market and know the most important thing of all about advertising: They know what their prospects want to hear.

The most important question

The Kamdars are a husband and wife real estate team working out of Rector Hayden in Lexington. The secret of their success is that they know the answer to the most important question in strategic communication.

What is it? We should first ask what it is not. Most marketers begin the hunt for an advertising idea by asking, "What do we really want to say?" The Kamdars begin with a much better question: "What do our prospects really want to know?"

Here’s the piece I received:a simple postcard with 11 pictures of local homes. Each home is bannered with a red violator that says things like, "Sold in X Days". This is exactly what prospective sellers want to know. The 12th pic is of the Kamdars. This serves the double whammy of declaring, "We work for you, personally," and, "This is NOT an ad for our broker".

There are two lessons to be learned from this piece. It’s specific, not general. It’s directed only at prospective sellers. It doesn’t fog the focus with any meaningless phrases like, "For all your real estate needs."

It’s not all-miraculous. (An overpromise can trash your credibility.) They note that one house took over a month to sell. Another isn’t sold yet.

So next time you sit down to think up an ad, don’t begin with what you want to say. Be as smart as the Kamdars. Think of what your prospects want to hear.

Dennis Altman is an advertising consultant and a UK Professor of Advertising and Public Relations.

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