Just to prove I’m not hobby-horsing, here’s the flip side of my post of the other day.
The fact is, marketers are FAR more likely to omit vital information from their items than the other way around.
Especially in a down economy, consumers and potential clients become more picky. In fact, that’s almost the definition of a recession…. a period of time when people don’t spend as freely. Money doesn’t flow as freely and everything slows down.
It is more the job of the marketer and the PR to do something about it, than anyone else.
And how do you do that? It has to be a mixture of steak AND sizzle.
I’ve read two reports recently of surveys that found consumers feel advertising doesn’t give them enough information.
How many times have you seen an ad or gone to a website and ended up wondering what they were even selling? Let alone why you should be interested in buying it?
For years, Blimpy’s (a chain of sandwich shops) ran radio ads that didn’t even mention they sold sandwiches. We were already all supposed to know that?
Of course that is pretty extreme.
There is a whole strain of marketing that runs to very lengthy copy – “the sales letter.” You just keep reading and reading until you buy because they just keep giving you more and more reasons to buy. It’s very effective in direct mail and certain types of websites.
So, strike a balance. YES, in most marketing situations you need to leave important questions unanswered. NO that doesn’t mean you don’t tell the potential buyer as much as you can within the limits of space, budget and effective design.