Twist Your Head Around for Better Ads

To appeal to people different from yourself, you use your own reasoning at your peril. I've seen this obstacle raise its head in the wording of marketing materials and pricing as well as ad images. How can you think your way into the mindset of others?

Not long ago, I visited North Dakota for the first time and had some free time to explore. I thought I'd sightsee, but had a hard time finding charm in its fields, fields and more fields. A native North Dakotan told me she'd had a hard time feeling comfortable amidst the crowded-in, built-up environs of Boston, my home. "I need to be able to see to the horizon," she said. "Seeing nothing between here and the horizon bothers me," I said. We laughed.



This ad in the magazine Business 2.0 was attempting to lure non-Dakotans to uproot themselves and move to the hinterlands. Unfortunately, though, the ad pictured the very emptiness that appealed only to those who'd already grown accustomed to it. The image thus sabotaged the admaker's goal.


If the admaker had put himself in the place of the target market, he could have come up with a wealth of other reasons non-Dakotans might have moved to work for Great Plains software: affordable homes and land, a great place to raise a family, classic American values. Indeed, buried in the ad copy was the news that Fortune magazine had named Great Plains software one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, two years running. Surely Fortune's reasons would appeal more than the landscape.


The lesson: To appeal to people different from yourself, you use your own reasoning at your peril. I've seen this obstacle raise its head in the wording of marketing materials and pricing as well as ad images. How can you think your way into the mindset of others?


Traditionally, marketers seeking to understand what motivates buyers run focus groups, in which a facilitator gets people in the target audience talking about the factors that matter to them in a buying decision. But you can get similar input prior to a marketing campaign in some more cost-effective ways.


Just find people in the target market, ask them open-ended questions and listen.


If I worked for Great Plains, I would look for technical people visiting from other parts of the country, ask them how they felt about Fargo and their hometown, and what might persuade them to move elsewhere. Then I'd shut up.


Or, I'd go online and find a forum of software professionals and ask them what kind of location they'd look for if they were going to relocate, what criteria would influence them. Then I'd look for patterns in the answers.


Remember, people whom you're trying to persuade may have quite divergent values from yours. Appealing to your own motivators can boomerang!