written by Greg Brown |  

This is a step-by-step guide to getting strong results from your advertising .

Part 1. Gathering

The blank screen

You have an advertising assignment of some sort. If you’re sitting with a blank computer screen and struggling about what to do, stop. There’s a better way.

To start with, forget that daunting assignment for a while. Instead, gather facts that will interest and inform your audience. And hey, take it easy. This gathering process won’t stress you at all. Rather than grappling for the right words, you can turn the radio on, muse about good things, and — oh, yeah — collect information.

Best of all, fact-finding is the right thing to do at this stage. Ultimately, delivering advantages to the audience will produce more than pulling everything out of your head…or somewhere else.

FYI: Gathering is seen as a low-level chore, but that’s not true. Getting the nitty-gritty…

∗ Makes you knowledgeable, and this is essential to success

∗ Could give you the right strategy, appeal, idea — everything

The makings of a wonder worker

You’re probably told to generate stunning results on a small budget. And do it instantly.

It’s tempting to quit before you start. You think, “Nobody else has been able to advertise this product right. And now they want me to pull off a miracle in two months!”

On the contrary: You can put everything on the right course. You can deliver solid advertising that pulls in more responses, builds the image, and does more over the long term. But there are few miracles in the process. You have to mastermind and follow a creative advertising program that changes with necessity.

Where you are gathering from

In the dream world, you have researchers giving you jaw-dropping data about whatever you want. Needless to say, you can forget that. In the real world, it’s you, a pile of old product literature, some Websites, and a five-day deadline. But that’s fine. You’re a resourceful person, so you’ll rapidly uncover useful points that will help you create spellbinding ads.

Look through past company materials

This is the pile just mentioned, and it’s a tiptop source for product specifics. Cut and paste crazy. Place “features” into one group, “specifications” into another, “company background” into yet another, etc. Put together similar items, and if that group gets large, it will be worth considering. You’ll think of a category name for it.

In short, you tear apart the old, examine it, and reconstruct it the right way.

Notable: There are content experts in your organization. Don’t ask them to tell you everything you need, because they are too busy and valuable for that. Rather, ask them if they have any documentation you can read. They will say, “Sure!” and pile you up.

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