So, today we’re going to talk about getting prospective families to pay attention to your marketing and advertising.
As she often has recently, my wife sparked the idea for this post.
A couple of weeks ago she was telling me about an ad she saw on Facebook for an IPL product. IPL is an acronym for Intense pulsed light.
The device is a DIY hair removal tool, one of about 10 that my wife has checked out or seen ads for over the last few months. That’s a significant piece of the story so hang on to that bit.
The ad that Kat, my wife, was explaining to me basically took a super tongue-in-cheek approach to how men have all sorts of dignified names for their man parts, how women don’t, and why that needs to change.
You can see how that sort of ad might grab your attention right? But, why? Well, most importantly it’s not really an ad. At least it’s not the type of ad that you think of when you think of an ad right?
No wild claims, no useless generic ad copy, just… good storytelling.
See, no one reads ads for fun. No one is just walking around looking at billboards to get the latest in the pest control or auto accident lawyer world.
If you want people to read your ad, your website copy, or your marketing in general, one of the best ways to do it is to package your message into a story.
Back to the IPL ad.
As Kat finished telling me how funny this ad was I asked her if it was a video, half expecting the answer to be yes, but I was shocked when she told me that it was an all-text ad.
A LONG all-text ad. On Facebook no less. The place where everyone swears people’s attention spans are 2 seconds (or less).
This long, all-text advertisement was seen, read, remembered, and shared.
That’s about as successful as you can get. But get this. When I asked Kat about all the IPL machines she learned of (and she is an esthetician so she really knows about these products) if she’d consider buying this one, she said yes.
This product with the funny, relatable ad was the one that held that spot in her mind. Checkmate.
Now, your school does not have to do something this risky but, you get the point.
One of the best ways to get your prospective families to care about your marketing, and hear your message is to deliver that message in the form of a story.
If your ads are too generic they’ll just get glanced right over.
The few people that do actually read them will surely forget the point shortly after and you’ll occupy that space in their mind where that stuff they forgot about lives.
Take a look at your current ads. Take a look at your website, your emails, your direct mail, your downloadables, handouts, and pdfs.
Are you packaging your school’s benefits, claims, offers, and unique points of view in the form of a story?
If not, I bet doing so with just one of those platforms will get you more attention.
What do you think about this strategy? Send me a message on Linkedin to Instagram to keep the conversation going.
Until next time,
I’ve been Nick.
