The 11 occasionally immutable laws of advertising

What have you heard about advertising? Thought-leaders in the advertising industry understand advertising. Many of them have been doing it, at least in a digital marketing context, since the dawn of the internet. There are also countless smaller voices, airing their opinions about what works and what doesn’t (sometimes in opposition to what the thought-leaders claim). Everyone’s looking for a winning recipe, but many advertisers go into it with a dim idea of the actual reality of the advertising world. Here are 11 laws of advertising to remember while executing marketing and advertising campaigns:

People don’t really care about advertising

As advertisers, we get excited about new advertising techniques and trends. Consumers, however, don’t give a monkey’s rear end about advertising. They only care about what is being advertised, and it’s good to remember that. It keeps you focused on what is important.

It takes troubleshooting to get noticed

Overnight success does happen, but the chances of it happening are the same as your chances of becoming the president. People might not notice your advertising at first, and that’s okay. It might require A/B testing of advert layouts and formats to find the right mix.

Advertising requires a fair deal of faith

If stressing was an Olympic sport, business owners would likely take all three spots on the podium. This can lead to endless nitpicking at details. Pushing the big green button on an advertising campaign is scary (who knows if it’ll work or not), but it’s better to fight and lose than to never have fought at all.

More than just right place, right time

To the consumer, advertising happens in a moment. They see your advert, then decide on whether to click or scroll over to the next post. But advertising is so much more than just that moment, and advertisers at every level of the campaign should be proud of that.

Advertising ideas are pretty easy to kill

The advertising business is the ideas business. Graphic designers, copywriters, and PPC managers are always looking for innovative ways to grab people’s attention. We have hundreds of ideas, but many of these don’t get pursued, and once we find something wrong with an idea – we flush it.

Ideas survive when fewer people know

Still, on the topic of ideas, it’s good to remember that the fewer people who know about an idea – the better. More people discussing an idea leads to more suggestions, and more alterations, which leads to more work than you were ready to take on at the idea phase.

Quality and quantity: both are important

Some advertisers think that the secret to success is constant advertising, where others believe that one excellent advert is better than ten average ones. The truth is that both are important. Adverts need to rock in the aesthetics department and run on a carefully-planned schedule.

The truth will set you free

Truth is an extremely powerful tool in advertising. There are too many advertisers that slap lipstick on a pig, passing off a bad product as an excellent one. All this does is deceive people and set the brand up for a customer relations nightmare.

Industry jargon doesn’t make you look smart

People make use big words to sound intelligent, but even parrots can learn to say big words. Advertisers that over-utilise technical industry knowledge in an attempt to establish authority risk alienating large portions of target audiences; people who won’t understand your ad won’t click on it.

It’s about the product, not the advertisements

One thing advertisers can do well to remember is that the main objective of advertising and marketing is to improve the lives of consumers, with quality products and good customer service. Sometimes we forget that advertising is not about advertising, but rather about the beneficial service or product.

Pressure situations are where the best ideas come

Advertisers shouldn’t fear pressure situations. Interns across the advertising spectrum think that high-pressure situations will ruin them. Still, they might just be the opportunities advertisers need to improve their professional status with a great idea to save the day.

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