11 Social Media Marketing Tips From The King of Advertising
posted by Anna Mar, December 19, 2012It's no exaggeration to say that David Ogilvy made advertising what it is today.
In a way, he was a social media marketing pioneer. He was also a hell of a smart guy and a real character.
In his early years (1930s), Ogilvy had a number of careers that included apprentice chef at the Majestic Hotel in Paris.
His first marketing related job was as a door to door salesman of Aga cooking stoves. His boss asked him to write a sales guide for other salesmen.
The manual he wrote, "Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA cooker" is considered one of the masterpieces of modern marketing. The guide shows he was a contrarian right from start:
Go to the back door (most salesmen go to the front door) ...Ogilvy worked for the British Intelligence Service in WWII.
~ David Ogilvy, Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA cooker
After the war, he ran a farm for three years amongst the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He wasn't very good at farming ... so he went into advertising.
Ogilvy is largely credited with revolutionizing the advertising industry.
One of his secret weapons was research and data. He didn't have access to the big data capabilities we have today ... but he used the data he had effectively.
What advice would Ogilvy have for modern social media marketers?
1. Avoid the hype
Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.People get a little too excited about new tools such as big data and social media. It's more important to chase your customers than to chase popular tools.
~ David Ogilvy
2. Respect the intelligence of your customers
The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife.Big data pundits may claim that you can know your customer better than they know themselves.
~ David Ogilvy
This approach is flawed because it doesn't respect the dynamic nature of humans. Your customer is intelligent. They want to make their own choices.
3. Data isn't a substitute for using your brain
I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.Big data driven by social media has generated a great deal of excitement about data. It's easy to forget that data is there to support your judgment not replace it.
~ David Ogilvy
4. Core marketing skills are still important
Advertising is a business of words, but advertising agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write. They cannot write advertisements, and they cannot write plans. They are helpless as deaf mutes on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.Marketing is always going to be about connecting with humans. Yes, your customers are humans. They're not predicable based on historical data. They want to be approached as humans .... you need to be able to write.
~ David Ogilvy
5. A good product sells itself
Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot.The old adage that a good product sells itself has never been more true. If people are enchanted by your product you'll get all the social media love you've ever dreamed of.
~ David Ogilvy
6. The message matters
What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.Ogilvy wasn't a big believer in meaningless product slogans. He believed in communicating valuable product information to the customer.
~ David Ogilvy
7. Social media is the perfect platform to test products and campaigns
The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.Social media gives us tools to test products and campaigns that David Ogilvy could only have dreamed of.
~ David Ogilvy
8. Ethics matter
It is flagrantly dishonest for an advertising agent to urge consumers to buy a product which he would not allow his own wife to buy.David Ogilvy was very interested in the topic of advertising ethics.
~ David Ogilvy
He rose to the pinnacle of the tough, ultra-competitive advertising industry of the 1960s without compromising his values. It's very likely that his ethical approach was part of what made him successful.
The short history of social media marketing is filled with examples of customer backlashes fueled by perceived ethical violations (usually perceived privacy violations).
9. Content is king
There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers.David Ogilvy was doing content marketing 25 years before anyone had heard of the Internet. Amazingly, many social media marketers today still don't get that content is king.
~ David Ogilvy
10. Creativity is crushed by groupthink
Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.Ogilvy was an individualist who warned of the innovation-crushing effects of groupthink.
~ David Ogilvy
11. Data is important as a tool
Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.Ogilvy began his advertising career in the research department and was a innovative researcher.
~ David Ogilvy
He credited data as a big part of his success.
David Ogilvy died in 1999 at the age of 88. Before that he enjoyed a long retirement at his French castle named Chateau de Touffou. It's considered one of the finest private homes in Europe.
He revolutionized a major industry and retired like a king ... he must have got something right.
|
Management by exception frees you to focus on strategic goals. |
|
Strategy is your ability to focus your creative energy to achieve results. |
|
Publicity for something you might do. |
|
You may not be interested in strategy but strategy is interested in you. The need-to-know marketing strategies for any business. |
Recently on Simplicable
|
| Brand Recognition Explainedposted by Anna MarCustomers are more likely to purchase brands that they recognize — even when they have no other information about the brand. |
| Strategic Planning Explainedposted by Anna MarEverything you wanted to know about strategic planning but were afraid to ask. |
|
