Friday, September 11, 2009

Are you HYPER!!!???!!!

Years ago, 1986 to be exact, is when I made the switch from working on the air at a radio station to working in the advertising side of the radio business.

That was when I began my journey into authentic advertising which has evolved into relationship marketing.

If your advertising and marketing is filled with hype, you really should become real. In this age of social media, it is more important than ever.

This is from the Marketing Minute:

Hype is so 1990s

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 11:55 AM PDT

Shutterstock_36443764 One of the marketing trends that has been emerging for the past several years is the idea of authenticity. Consumers want to have real conversations, not be “sold” by over zealous ad copy.

The over the top style of copy triggers today’s consumers to be on guard. They feel manipulated, which, as you might imagine, does not lead to a spending frenzy. Need to check the hype level of your marketing pieces? Watch for these dead giveaways.

Over-promising: On the extreme side, these are the “I make $10,000 a month and only work 2 hours a day” ads that are prevalent today. But anytime you take an extreme result and position it as the norm, you are guilt of hype.

Big and BOLD!: If you’re using lots of all capped words or putting an exclamation point at the end of every other sentence, you might be working TOO HARD at making your point. You are also guilty of hype.

Two other variations of the Big and BOLD hype are the underlining all the important words, until practically every word is underlined or the colored text techniques. Both qualify as hype.

Exaggerations and hyperbole:
If I tell you I’m having the most incredible sale ever on this planet you know its hype. But that doesn’t stop many retailers from having “the biggest sale of the season with prices that cannot be beat!” Smaller scale, but same kind of hype.

It’s easy to dismiss these tactics as what “those” other businesses do, but if you take the time to look at your own printed pieces, website, and ads you may to be surprised. Hype has a way of creeping into your marketing materials. It’s time to clean house and get with the times!


Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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