#2 Entry / 20500297

"Five words to NEVER use in AD"

Hi, Everyone. :) The second article I want to share with you guys is about 'advertising'. Advertising is not ALL about marketing, but we surely know that it takes an important role in marketing.

Think of advertising phrases for a moment. What kind of words comes to your mind? 'Free', 'easy', 'guarantee', 'no limitation', 'simple', 'save', etc. There would be tons of words used in advertisement. Why do people choose these words? They probably believe that they have sort of impacts on customers and attract customers' interest. Don't you and I like the products that are 'simple' and 'easy'?

In that content, the title of this article, 'Five words to never use in Ad', attracts my interest. I believe that this is quite helpful and useful information for us as we will work on selling project as a group. Let's go through with the words we'd better not to use when we advertise our product and remember them. (I paraphrase the article, so if you want, you can read the original article on; http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2006/sb20060607_197154.htm?chan=search by Steve McKee)

1. QUALITY
The article says that the word 'quality' is the most overused word in advertising. What the author points out is that 'every product worth buying is a quality product.' So as a marketer, you actually do not have to emphasize the quality of the product too much. Used too often, now the word 'quality' can't appeal to the customer.

2. VALUE
The reason why the word 'value' has been ruined by overuse is because value depends on the customer. Value, same with quality', is in the eye of the beholder, and every product that buyers pay money for has its own value. Therefore, - interestingly - "we provide the best value" is completely meaningless.

3. SERVICE
'We promise you the best service' is actually funny, the author says, because 'the companies that make the claim of good service the mos tend to be those that deliever it the least.' I don't get his point here, but I guess it sounds like providing good service itself doesn't mean that it offers something speical and different from other companies. It's just the way it should be.

4. CARING
This one is interesting. Those companies saying "we care more" are not actually selling tangible products. Plus, how can they prove that they care more than their competitors? This word is not only ruined by overuse, but also they're based on 'variables' simply because people can't be the same. Some people can be satisfied with a certain product, while others never do. That's the main reason why the words, 'quality', 'value', 'service', and 'caring', can hardly be the standard of distinguishing products.

5. INTEGRITY
Why the word 'integrity' should not be used in ad.? Every company should have integtiry! They do not neccessarily advertise that they have integrity. If they do, it means either that they are just trying to cover up their lack of integrity, or that they are implying they are better than their competitors, which is impolite.

* I agree with some parts of the article, but not all. However, in a way I got a lesson from it. Advertising something too obvious or too reasonably is of little appeal to customers. What you need to advertise is something that can differentiate your product from other companies. You can't satisfy every single customer, but at least you need to think of the UNIQUE way of giving impression to the customers by advertising.

Remember that just because you sell it, it doesn't mean that people will buy it, as the author says.

_ 20500297 * Entry 2