We all need advertising to promote or sell products and services. Advertising can be the greatest thing for your business or it can be an absolute bust. It all depends on the campaign and how and who is delivering it. Both scenarios happen every day. Even advertising agencies need to advertise,  because just like all other businesses, it’s essential for them to attract potential customers. As you have read on this website (hopefully) or heard in one of our seminars, one of the critical pieces of America’s Customer Service Disaster is the ‘Disconnect’ in advertising claims today.

Simply put, the ‘Disconnect’ is the gap between the claims service providers make in ads, versus the way those products and services are delivered. It is not difficult to find the ‘Disconnect’ —– it’s EVERYWHERE! There are disconnects in advertising for air travel, fast food, hospitality, banking, insurance, cable services and cellular phone service and just about every other category of business.

I have a theory about the comprehensive state of the ‘Disconnect.’ Simply put, I think it happens because the company likes a ‘jingle’ or ‘pitch’ from the ad agency, and because the pitch is kind of cute and snappy it’s chosen to represent the company even though the ad does not accurately portray they way the company actually does business.

Recently we had a problem with our cable provider, Spectrum. The same Spectrum whose ads all but claim they invented cable television and the Internet. They could not be more self-laudatory. But with all their technology, all their weaponry, all their brains and machinery, at the end of the day all they really have done is build a WALL between the customer and what they provide—-especially when the customer needs HELP.

You have to ask yourself, wouldn’t they be better served if they took the tact that Domino’s Pizza took? Something along the lines of  “we’ve listened to YOU, the customer, and here’s what we are going to do about it!” Domino’s turned their company and their image around in one fell swoop by listening to their customers. If you need an edgy, shrewd ad campaign, then just send out some customer service evaluations to your customer base and they’ll write the best ad campaign you’ll ever find. You’re not going to fool your customers with a catchy, clever ad. They already know exactly what kind of job you do.

As said in the fantastic book Speak Human:

“Let’s suppose that your goal is to get people to love your brand. Consider some of the players and what their objectives might be. You, as the owner of the company (assuming you are this person) likely care the most about succeeding. Of all those involved, you have the most to gain but you’re likely distracted by a number of things. Perhaps you’re concerned about not going over budget. Maybe you have doubts about the ideas presented and want to hold on to the idea your husband suggested.  Alternately, you could be fighting with a supplier and finding it difficult to concentrate on any of this.”

Instead of trying to digest all the complexities, like the issue above, the answer to how to ‘pitch’ your company is right outside your door. There are two groups out there that can tell you EXACTLY what you need to say to the customers you want to attract:

1. Your Customers
2. Your Employees

The best ad people in the world.