Have you seen the new commercial and re-branding from Bill Ford and the Ford Motor Company? As you know Ford is in big trouble. So they seem to be changing their positioning and re-Branding. Here’s the brilliant re-positioning they came up with (and it pretty much includes everything):

1. American Auto Industry is facing new challenges and fierce competition: Ya think Bill? Maybe the writing has been on the wall for the last 15 years? Maybe Bill Ford was on a golf course somewhere counting his millions. You’re too late Mr. Ford! Telling us that you’re behind is like leaving the barn door open…we know it.

2. Ford is making new investments in R & D: Wow, Ford, you’re blazing a new trail…By the time you catch up to BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus, Toyota, Honda they’ll be out with their futuristic space age models that fly which will again put you 20 years behind. Face it Ford, we don’t buy your cars because of R & D. We use to buy your cars because they were American made and RELIABLE. Now they’re made everywhere and they are not RELIABLE (hmmm, am I hinting at the correct positioning Bill?). Since you can’t have the luxury, sports car markets why don’t you make your cars more RELIABLE.

3. Hybrids: Here’s what I think of Hybrids: It’s like when you go to a vending machine and look at the choices. You can pay an extra quarter and get some trendy healthy tastes bad power bar or you can reach in and grab old comfortable Snickers. Since we’ve branded a national vending company we already know the answer. Here it is; People say they want to eat healthy and they scream for it but when it comes time to buy they buy unhealthy. Same will apply to Hybrids (see Diesel cars).

4. Working with Volvo to find new safety innovations: Man oh man, why is it that company’s think they have to be everything to everyone. People who buy a Volvo buy it for the safety and for nothing else. What a great brand identity and brand image Volvo has. Kudos to Volvo for doing it right. But Ford, are people buying Ford’s for the safety aspect? I think not. Why is it anyone buys a Ford? That’s your secret weapon. Draw your line in the sand and then build your new Branding!

5. Retake the US roadways and as always innovation is leading the way: This coming from the worst innovative carmaker in the world. Here’s what Americans want from Ford. A good, RELIABLE car made in good old USA. Stop trying to be everything to everyone and your re-Branding will pay big dividends (wink, wink).

I wish Bill Ford would call me. I’ll set him straight lickedy split.

What do you think world? Let us know.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Keyword Concepts: factors that influence advertising

Advertising: Of all the promotional mix elements, advertising is the one with the greatest similarities worldwide. The reason is that most advertising everywhere is based on American practices. The trend towards global marketing and economies of scale have prompted many firms to stress the standardization of advertising procedures.

The factors that influence advertising are: the type of product, availability of media and the foreign environmental forces.

1) Type of product: buyers of industrial goods and luxury products act on the same way worldwide, thus the standardization approach may be applied in these cases. This enables manufacturers of capital goods to market these goods worldwide with very little modification in the various markets. Firms such as Coca-Cola, Avon, and Levi Strauss use this international approach successfully.

2) Availability of media: Even when the campaign message is standardized, advertisers may find they cannot use the same media mix in all countries.

3) Foreign environmental forces: Like variations in the media availability, the foreign environmental forces act as deterrents to international standardization. Amongst the most influential of these forces are the socio-cultural forces. A basic cultural decision for the marketer is whether to position the product as foreign or local, and which way to go depends on the country, the type of product, and the targeted market. Close to these forces are the legal constraints applied in the local country. There are laws affecting media availability and also limitations on the type of products that can be advertised. For example some countries apply a special tax on advertising on certain media.

Javier Cristobal

CEO

IOL Enterprises Inc.

http://www.iolenterprises.com

Branding, branding, branding. About every fifth newsletter or article I see online or in business journals has some spin on branding. How important it is. How it is a piece of intellectual property that must be leveraged and protected. How it must be invested in–this assertion (surprise) is from branding consultants who invite you to hire them to "do" you. I am so tired of hearing about how lofty and complex branding is.

This is one of the sacred cows of marketing that needs to be defrocked, at least as far as service firms are concerned. Branding is important, yes. It is essential for a product firm, especially one selling consumer products, where even the way the item is packaged is part of the brand. And it is also important for a service firm, but in this case it can be greatly simplified.

As a provider of intangibles, you need to pay attention to "proxies," those things that will convey the nature of your company’s services to your audiences in lieu of the services themselves. These proxies comprise your brand. Your company’s name, your logo, and your characteristic color palette all serve as proxies, and are all part of your brand. It is important to pay attention to these items and to take care in their creation. Once they are created, however, your activity is purely tactical: Make sure that they get used consistently and accurately in every audience-facing activity you take part in.

By far the most powerful and important proxy for your brand as a service firm, and one that must be regularly managed, is your "voice." By this I mean the quality and style of the content of your collaterals–the words in your web site, your brochures, your e-mails, and any other communication that comes from your company.

Review your web site, your brochures, white papers, articles, newsletters, or whatever else you make available to your clients and prospects. Do you have a consistent voice in all of your marketing collaterals? If so, is it the right voice for your company? Does it convey the personality and values of the firm as well as the quality of its offerings?

If your voice really is accurate and represents your firm’s personality, here is another key question: Do your audiences hear you correctly? The way you will know the answer to this question is to gauge the response. This might be through inquiries from your site, leads generated at events, or the ease (or difficulty) you experience in moving through the sales cycle. Find ways to measure the effectiveness of your words so that you can see if you are being heard correctly.

If your voice is attracting the right leads and greasing the wheels for your sales, you’ve got it right. If, however, you are not getting the kind of response you seek from your target market, perhaps you aren’t talking right. Review the words that represent your firm, wherever they reside, and consider making some changes to the way you "speak."

Your voice is the most powerful aspect of your service firm’s brand. Concentrate on getting it right, and then keeping it right, and your brand will be on the mark.

Trish Lambert, president of 4-R Marketing LLC (http://www.4rmarketing.com), is an experienced marketing consultant and creator of the 4-R Marketing Model™ for service businesses. Very much a "non-conformist" in the marketing world, Trish creates campaigns and programs that make sense for her clients, that can be clearly measured, and that produce the targeted results.

“Let me give you my card,” should be a staple in your networking conversations. If you have just started your own business and you do not have business cards, then you need to place it toward the top of your list. Business cards are a relatively inexpensive way to advertise your business effectively.

The cost of business cards can range from relatively inexpensive to high priced, but no matter what price range your business can afford, they are an essential. When you are networking with people it may be easy to tell them all about your business, and they may be very excited to work with you. However, most people have terrible memories, and they will probably be lucky to remember half of your business name by the time they are ready to give you a call. When you hand out business cards, your potential clients have a friendly reminder of what you discussed and an easy way to remember how to get a hold of you.

The reason business cards range greatly in prices depends on various factors. There are a multitude of paper types and print styles that go into making up business cards. If you are having a logo designed with your business cards, it will probably cost you more. Yet, if you are on a budget, simple business cards can be just as effective. There are a number of free templates available across the internet to get you started. However, you should make sure that your business cards have specific information before you start worrying about paper, layout, or design.

First, your business cars should always have your company name prominently displayed. Your business cards are a visual reminder of your company, so do not hide the company name. If your company has a slogan, you should definitely add it to your business cards. Your slogan will most likely remind the person why they wanted to do business with you. Then make sure you have your name, and possibly your job title listed. You want the people to whom you are giving your business cards to remember your name so they know whom to contact.

Another essential piece of information for your business cards is your phone number. You will want to give people more than one way to reach you, so it is usually a good idea to include your main line and then add your fax line or e-mail address on your business cards. The more ways a person has to get in touch with you the better. A final item you may want to put on your business cards is your address. For some businesses, their address is not applicable the work they do, so they should not put it on their business cards. Yet, if you are running a store or office, then you may want to add your physical address to your business cards so people can find you more easily.

The essentials to your business cards are important, but you should use a template that makes all that information easy to read and simple to follow. For most businesses, a simple business card is fine. However, adding some color, a logo, or a design can bring a little spice to your business cards, making them a little more prominent. You can even use various desktop publishing programs to create your own, unique business cards. However, if you do not feel so creative, you can also hire a designer or printer to create your business cards for you.

Read the rest of the article here: Business Cards.

Download the Home Based Business Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in showing people the fastest way to Starting a business.

One of the most important marketing tools is an effective logo. It provides an easily recognizable identity for your business or organization. It not only communicates who you are but what you are. Therefore, every business or organization contemplating adopting a logo should know the criteria that make for an effective logo.

The first characteristic of an effective logo is that it has immediate impact. Your logo should catch the viewer’s eye and hold the viewer’s attention. Consider the logo of Apple Computers; the graphic apple with a stylized bite taken out of it has immediate product and corporate identification with consumers. An effective logo "grabs" attention.

In addition to impact, a good logo must be good to look at. An effective logo should have the look and feel of "art", if a logo is not appealing to the eye it will defeat its purpose - attracting attention and providing effective identification.

Closely related to these first two characteristics of a good logo, is distinctiveness. A good logo must stand out from the crowd. A logo that is too similar to other logos is not only confusing but it could be embarrassing or even costly. In 2003, the Chicago Bears sued another professional football team over a logo that was too similar to the Bears’ logo!

This brings us to the next characteristic of an effective logo the logo must create or evoke a positive image. "Branding" is a common marketing principle based on product identification growing out of identifying a product with a positive image and a sense of goodwill.

Another characteristic of a good logo is that it accurately represents the organization or business. If a company or organization wants to project a serious, professional image, the logo must look professional. A humorous or whimsical logo would be counterproductive to projecting professionalism.

A good logo must also be straightforward. It has to be free from ambiguity. If the meaning of the logo is vague, if it creates doubt, or if it is indistinct, it cannot be effective.

An effective logo is also comprehensible. A logo must be legible and immediately recognizable from a distance. The meaning of a logo is so tied to its distinct visual form that recognition, a principle function of the logo, would be lost if it were not comprehensible.

The best logos are the most memorable logos. The Apple Computer "Apple" logo and the McDonald’s Hamburgers "golden arches" are great logos because they are memorable to the point of being iconic.

A logo must also be flexible enough to give the same impression yesterday, today, and tomorrow so the logo design survives changing fashion. Originally, Apple designed its logo as a monochrome apple with a bite taken out of it to symbolize the acquisition of knowledge. With the advent of the Apple II and its advantage of displaying color, however, Apple added multi-colored bands to its logo.

A good logo must also copy well. In any business or organization, the use of a logo becomes ubiquitous - it is ever-present on buildings, letterhead, signs, products, promotional items, etc. A good logo will be as effective on a business card as it is on a billboard - small scale and large scale uses. Will the logo still be recognizable printed on the barrel of a ballpoint pen?

A logo identifies a business or organization so it would be counterproductive to change it because it did not wear well over time. Do you remember what we said about "branding" earlier in this article? Companies that have invested vast amounts of money, time, and effort to establish their "brand" do not change it frequently for a reason. Make sure your logo will be "timeless" for the same reason.

Finally, the last criteria for a good logo it is a logo you will be proud to use it. If your logo meets all the criteria listed above, it will be an effective logo and one that you and your organization will be proud to use.

Vukan Karadzic is the main logo designer at E Logo Design. See the best logos they did.

Free advertising opportunities are limited only by your imagination and willingness to do a little work. There are many ways to promote your products with very little cost, it will literally blow your mind just to think of them.

Writing an article relating to your particular product or skill and submitting it to publications and media that distribute information is one very powerful tool you can use. This is simply a matter of becoming your own sales and publicity writer. Getting the word out and establishing yourself as an expert in your field is “news worthy”. Of course listing contact information with everything you write and offering more information is the key to getting free advertising.

Another great method is becoming a guest on radio and television interview programs. Some think this is difficult but it is really much easier to bring about than you may realize. Writing a letter to the producer of these programs and then following up with an in-person visit or phone call will open the door. Simply emphasize that your product or service is of interest to the commnuity, perhaps even saving them time and money.

Posting advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barber shops will garner great results. Handing out circulars to all the shoppers in a busy shopping mall, especially on a busy weekend will also bring in the customers. Hire some school students to hand out circulars for you or even send them door-to-door.

Here’s an idea that will cost you very little but work very well too. Have a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address. Everyone who handles those envelopes will be impacted by your add.

Check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Some mail order publications just getting started may offer low rates to first-time advertisers or a free insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run in three issues or more. Special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates will get your message out to. There are a number of publications that will give you a Per Inquiry (PI) deal where, as orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you.

Many publications will give you a contract for space. This arrangement allows you to send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, then at a price that’s always lower than the regular price for the space, insert your ad. Don’t forget to check in with the neighborhood newspapers.

If you publish a catalog or ad sheet, get in touch with other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. On the Internet this is called “exchanging links”. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for you running an ad for them.

Finally, get great exposure when you advertise a free offer. Run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people, invite the readers to send you a handling fee for more information. Asking for a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) is normal, and depending on the appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses, each with money in it and an SASE! Can it get any easier? The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses into sales. This is done via the “more information” you send back to them.

Unleashing your imagination gives you a powerful advantage, that can help you reach your advertising goals.

Fred specializes in thinking "outside the box". A number of years ago he was deeply affected by a sales manager who challenged him to think “past the pages” of the “how to” sales manual. The result was astonishing and his sales soared to top levels. He has created a Work at Home resource web site that offers simple but great opportunities for people who are willing to change the way they think about work. Check it out at http://workathomeop.com/.

You are a small business owner and you think that investing in getting a professional logo design for your company would be a waste of your limited budget. We at Logo Design Works believe that could be a costly mistake.

In this modern day and age, there are 1000s of companies in any given market. All these companies are competing to capture the attention of the target audience and gain the all important sale.

On the other side of the coin, individuals or potential customers are exposed to a bewlidering array of "brand noise" day in and dau out. From the time they get up in the moring, till they go to bed they come in contact with 100s of brand identities. To cope with this "brand noise", people have now evolved to effectively filter it out. This means that you need to have an identity that stands out from the rest and goes beyong just "noise".

The starting point of any core identity is a good visual image of your company in the form of your company logo. This visual image or logo is like you hand shake to the world. You might have 4 seconds to grab your potential customers attention and your company logo is the first point of contact. It can either create a positive or a negative impression on your customer.

Investing a little now in getting a decent professional company logo design would always more than pay for itself. Ignore it and you could be kicking yourself down the line.

Jeff Marsh is a lead designer with Logo Design Works. He has more than 8 years of experience in helping small businesses create their brands.

For a Professional Logo Design for your company contact Logo Design Works on 614 917 2177.

If you’re writing advertisements for your business follow these 23 principles to ensure you get maximum return for your advertising dollar.

These 23 advertising ‘rules’ are based on direct response advertising principles from books like ‘Tested Advertising Methods’ by John Caples and ‘Scientific Advertising’ by Claude Hopkins.

1. Have you clearly researched and defined your ideal target market?

2. Have you written your advertisement directed solely to your ‘ideal target market’?

3. Is the marketing piece being placed/sent/posted where your ideal target market will easily see it?

4. Have you calculated how many sales you need to make to make a profit on this advertisement?

5. Have you considered any other ways that you can reach your target market that may be more cost effective for you?

6. Have you made an offer that’s easy for your reader to understand, and irrisistable for them to refuse?

7. Does your headline ‘sing out’ your ‘ideal target market’ so that they know, that your advertisement is written especially for them?

8. Does your headline ‘grab’ your ideal target market’s attention and excite them?

9. Does your headline offer or describe to your target market a major benefit that’s important to them?

10. Have you written your advertisement so that your headline is approximately 5 sizes larger than the body copy font size?

11. Does the body copy of your advertisement naturally continue on from what the headline suggests/says?

12. Through out the body copy, have you continued on with the benefits suggested in your headline, and described more benefits to your target market of using/owning your product/service?

13. Have you focused your writing on what your product/service will do for your target market, rather than just mentioning how good your business is?

14. Have you used ‘sub-headings’ above some paragraphs to allow ‘skim readers’ to get the main thrust of your advertisement, just by reading the sub-headings?

15. If you have included a picture of a person, is the person (or people) positioned so that their shoulders are facing into the body of the advertisement?

16. Have you included a picture that shows the reader what the benefit(s) of buying and using your product/service will be?

17. Have you taken the ‘buying risk’ away from your ideal target market by letting people know that they are safe to buy from you by either including a guarantee and/or using testimonials?

18. Have you used specifics like 5, 7 and 11 in your copy, rather than using generalizations like large, limited or top quality?

19. Have specifically asked your ideal target market to call, buy, or in some way take action to contact you in a hurry?

20. Have you included your contact details on your advertisement so it’s clear and easy for readers to contact you, or take action effortlessly?

21. Have you communicated with your staff so that they know when, why and how the advertisement is being published?

22. Have you trained your staff so that they know how to handle incoming calls, e-mails and shoppers when they contact/visit your business?

23. Have you communicated with your staff on how they are to record the results of the advertisement so you can track whether it’s profitable or not?

The above 23 points are pretty comprehensive, and will help you make your advertisements comply with sound direct response advertising principles.

By following them, you can ensure you’ll be closer to creating profitable advertisements for your small business growth.

Casey Gollan, The Business Growth Specialist, the specialist who grows $1 Million p.a. small businesses into $2 to $5 Million p.a. businesses over a 2 to 3 year period. To learn more about Casey’s Business Growth Program, visit his site and sign up for ‘The 23 Secrets of Business Growth’ 2 hour audio program for FREE.

Is it possible to actually "own" a word in everyone’s mind? The short answer is "Yes!". (Or perhaps Yahoo!) You can own just about any word in any language, or even create new ones, if you undstand the dynamics behind branding. Take for example Amazon, Monster and Virgin. None of these names have any direct correlation to the companies they represent, but they have become so well known, that in some cases, they have surpassed the original meaning of the word. Google has become so ubiquitous that it’s often used as a verb, as in "I googled to find the best deal on a watch."

So what does it take to "own" a word? It comes down to four key criteria, at least one of which must be met, in order to pull off this feat. (And by "owning" I mean that consumers think of your company or product as much as, or more than, the original meaning of the word itself).

Rule 1: First in wins.

If you are the first in a category (or the perceived first in the category), you get to name the category. If you invent it, create it, revise it, or re-position it — you get to name it. And so you have Apple and Blackberry, as well Frisbee, Rollerblades and Slinky. You also have completely invented names such as Xerox and Kodak. When companies or products are new to market, they beg for mental "handles" to describe them. So the first company or product in a new category, if they are aware of this fact, can create a new name or invent a new noun, that can become the recognized name for the entire category.

When people ask for a "Coke", it often means whatever carbonated beverage is on hand. Same for a "Kleenex" or making a "Xerox". So first in gets the right to name itself. That’s what happened when we named PODS. There was an opportunity to create a new "handle" for a new product. One competitor went with the name "Door to Door Storage" which does not work well as a noun. It’s much harder to order a "Door to Door Storage unit" than a "POD".

If you are first in your category you have a tremendous opportunity. Before grabbing any name, see if it works as a noun and a verb. People "google" but they don’t "overture". It’s a subtle,but important, distinction. Some companies blow this tremendous opportunity to define a new category by creating forgettable names. The prototype name for the Blackberry was the descriptive and uninspired "pocketLink". Would you rather use a Blackberry or type on your pocketlink? As far as branding, they made the right choice.

Rule 2: Viruses spread.

If your idea is innovative, imaginative, or free, consumers will memorize your name no matter what you call it. The free music download sites are a good example. Napster, Limewire and Kazaa are not necessarily the best names ever created. But because they offered something for nothing, customers quickly sought out and learned these names. In any other situation, Kazaa, with two "a"s, would be a nightmare for an internet based company needng a good type-in name. But with the lure of free music, customers willing shouldered the burden of learning the quirky spelling and finding the site.

Another viral idea was the creation of WheresGeorge.com which tracks the former locations of a dollar bill by its serial number. The novel idea has people logging on by the tens of thousands to check where their money has traveled. The service is free and the site generates advertising income from the immense traffic.

These free (or ingenious) products and services generate attention because of their inherent benefits or novelty. So they succeed despite their naming not because of it. If you have a product that’s revolutionary, viral or free, you may name it anything you want. Otherwise it’s best to stick to good naming practices.

Rule :3 Size matters.

When 7-Eleven introduced the Slurpee, it could be argued that it didn’t fit their naming architecture at all. It had no tie-in to the company name (such as McDonald’s Big Mac). But when a company has thousands of stores that can instantly expose a new name to millions of customers, it’s enough to permanently tatoo any name on the cerebral cortex. So just because a huge company does something, it doesn’t mean a start up can imitate the strategy. When starting out small, it’s best to have a "naming architecture" that supports your primary brand or company name. Pointing everything towards one name will help you "own" a word faster than diversifying names across the board. Apple is beginning to acheive this in their product line with the letter "i", as in iPod, iTunes, iMac, iLife, etc.

Rule 4: Money. Money. Money.

Big budgets can imprint names. When GTE came out as Verizon, they put a .wav file on their site so people could hear how the name was supposed to be pronounced. (Was the emphasis on the first syllable like "Verify"? Or was it on the second syllable like "Horizon"?) If you had never heard the name before, would you be able to pronounce Cialis correctly? Or Wachovia? The point is that big money can make even awkward names seem like household words. So again, before emulating big companies, realize they have a big enough marketing hammer to drive lots of square pegs through round holes.

A good example of a company combining rules three and four is UPS. By using their their size and marketing might, they were arguably successful in owning the word "brown". Nexium has come close with their marketing of "the purple pill".

So can you "own" a word? That would be a qualified "yes"… if you are first in category, infectious (in a good way), a huge company with a big footprint or a profitable company with a lot of cash. Smaller companies and start ups are better off using strategies one and two. Otherwise, it’s best to stay with proven naming methods that offer a hint into what you do. From our portfolio, these would be names like…

• Park Place (a garage renovation company)
• SeaOfDiamonds.com (an internet based jeweler)
• Spruce (facilities management company)
• SupplyAmerica (tool sales and rental company)
• TeamLogic (an IT franchise for small businesses)

These types of names offer positive connotations while providing a sense of the industry to which they belong.

No matter if you are a small business, a hot new start up or a Fortune 500 company, there’s a naming startegy that’s right for you. You may not need to "own" a word, you may just need to communicate your message creatively and effectively. But if you’re first in your category, have a brilliant idea, have a big presence or deep pockets… then go for it! By owning a word, you can can grow into a "monster"!

Phillip Davis is a professional naming consultant with over twenty years experience in branding. More of his work, branding tips and naming strategies can be found at http://PureTungsten.com.

We’ve all encountered humor in advertising. TV ads showing smart dogs fetching their owners a beer. Radio spots with aliens purifying our drinking water. Print ads with famous people wearing milk mustaches. Many use dry wit. Others are just plain silly. A few are in bad taste. And some, heaven forbid, aren’t even funny.

Humor has its place

Does humor really work in advertising? Is it okay to get a few laughs when talking about your product or service? Does humor sell? There are no absolutes, no easy answers. What we do know is that, as in real life, humor has its place. In advertising, that place must always be clearly defined and understood. For humor used indiscriminately can be a disaster—for your product, your image and your sales. And that’s not funny.

Making human contact

The object of humor is to make human contact and break the boredom barrier. This invisible barrier goes up the second your audience is exposed to any advertising. It’s the result of tens of thousands of ads that confront us every year. For the human brain, it’s a matter of survival. It simply shuts out what it sees or hears and says, “I know a sales pitch is coming, I’ve been bored to death before, I’m tuning out.” Humor is one way to get through. Used correctly, humor leads your audience to a common ground of understanding. A feeling of "we’re all in this together." Just like a speaker who starts with a humorous anecdote to ‘break the ice,’ using a funny situation or character can make your audience more receptive as you segue into your selling message.

Tread lightly and cautiously

By the same token, an off-color joke or inappropriate comment about the audience or any individual member can be an instant turnoff and shoot that barrier right back up—maybe even permanently. The same holds true for humor that leaves a negative impression about your product or service. I remember hearing about one ad for a burial service with the headline: “We’re the last ones to let you down.” Sales didn’t exactly jump through the roof. Most professional comedians know that the best humor is broad and even handed, reflecting universal truths or situations that apply to us all. They set up a character we can all identify with, then put that character through actions we may have experienced. A comedian once gave me an example of what’s funny and what isn’t. "A guy slipping on a banana peel isn’t funny. A guy trying not to slip on a banana peel, now that can be funny.”

It’s not easy being funny, especially in print

Being funny in TV or even radio isn’t easy, but it’s even harder in print. There’s no motion, no special effects, no silly animal tricks or goofy character antics—just a static visual and headline. Print is one medium where creative writers really have to work hard for the right result: humor that sells. For, in just one snapshot, you’ve got to establish the character, set up the situation, and payoff the punch line. It’s like a comic strip with only one frame. It can be done, but it’s not easy. And once you’ve broken the boredom barrier, there’s still lots of work to be done.

Once the laughing stops, there’s still that pesky product to sell

Too many advertisers forget that the object of any ad, funny or not, is to get people to try the product being advertised. It’s okay for your audience to respond with, ‘’That’s a funny ad" as long as they also come away with, "That’s a great product!" Humor should accent or showcase your product’s identity or key features, not bury them in a laugh. Some really funny ads suffer from "generic identity." Your audience loves the ad, but confuses your product with your competitor’s. Not funny.

One final thing to keep in mind about humor: it’s not for amateurs. As any professional comedian will tell you, being funny is serious business. So even if you fancy yourself a master joke teller and life of the party, you should still leave creating funny ads to the pros.

About the Author

Alex Kecskes is a former ad agency Copy Chief who has created effective copy and concepts for a wide range of ad agencies, Fortune 500 companies and startups. As owner of ak creativeworks, Alex provides brand naming, as well as strategic copy for brochures, mailers, multimedia, articles, newsletters, PR and web content. He has published articles in a variety of publications about health, business and technology–this includes copy for over 130 different products and services. He has won such national awards as the Andy, Belding and One Show. For more information and samples, please visit http://www.akcreativeworks.com