Smoking Marketing Campaigns
How a campaign designed to stop people from smoking can show you how to smoke your competitors
By Peter Montoya
If you ever wanted to see strong advertising at work, you should take a look at the California anti-tobacco campaign. In 1988, the state approved controversial Proposition 99, a 25-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes. Twenty percent of the tax collected was funneled directly into a comprehensive anti-tobacco advertising campaign.
If you lived in or visited California in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, you know what I’m talking about. You couldn’t pick up a newspaper, turn on your radio or television set, or step outside without bumping into the campaign. The ads personally attacked tobacco executives, showing them laughing at tobacco users and baiting children into smoking. The campaign massively impacted public opinion; statewide, the word “smoker” practically became a slur.
Even the most militant smokers had to admit the campaign worked. It was a Trojan Horse against Big Tobacco, leading to more legislation and heightening public discourse. Today, other states – and the World Health Organization – are using the same kind of billboards, commercials, and radio spots.
Analysts say the campaign succeeded because of the quality and impact of its ads, and from widespread, long-term exposure.
This full-bore advertising campaign offers some solid lessons for financial advisers. It teaches us that quality marketing, when used properly and consistently, can change peoples’ behavior and promote new habits. The best financial services marketing is Personal Marketing that emotionally encourages investors to change their behavior.
Imagine if you took a fraction of your workweek to invest in yourself through marketing. Many advisers view marketing as a real battle, to be fought when time permits. By sporadically using poor marketing materials, they never realize the extent of victory they can achieve by waging a full-time marketing campaign.
Whether you are an industry leader or a complete rookie, a strong personal marketing campaign will forever change the way you do business. But, in order to put that magic to work for you, you must make a commitment. Good marketing requires discipline. It takes time and money – two of your most valuable commodities. But in the end, like all well-considered investments, it will pay for itself in quantitative terms.
Now, these are some groundbreaking suggestions. But they can yield groundbreaking results. Most advisers can’t fathom the thought of reinvesting in themselves and dedicating time to their personal success through marketing. If you’re not afraid of your own success, change your ways! Invest a quarter of your earnings in a marketing campaign. Build a constant image of quality in the hearts and minds of your consumers. Pick an audience you want to work with most, and target your marketing towards their unique needs and goals. The more often and more consistently you use your marketing materials, the stronger the return you can expect.
You won’t be the only one spending marketing dollars to recharge your career. One successful adviser, who wishes to remain unnamed for fear his marketing techniques will be stolen by competitors, was previously having a hard time attracting clients. He was spending a lot of his time chasing high-end prospects, but nothing seemed to be working. Then, one day, he opened his mail and found a dynamic, four-color brochure from a competitor.
He got inspired – fast. His mind did a 180° turn, and he attended our personal marketing seminar. It changed his career. He started a consistent, full-color direct mail campaign targeting his wealthy niche. Within eight months, he had recouped his direct mail investment tenfold, and he budgeted 25% of his increased profit to a newspaper campaign sustaining the tone and message of his Personal Marketing campaign. Next he set up an informative website promoting the domain name in 100% of his ads. This attracted more clients.
After four years of consistent growth, and after hiring two personal assistants, the adviser found out how cheaply he could buy commercial airtime on local cable channels.
So he had a commercial written and produced for his target audience. The response was incredible. And if you ask him what the big secret to his campaign has been, he won’t immediately tell you. But he told us: “I never substituted quantity for quality. I wasn’t willing to cut corners. Every marketing piece I did was consistent. It had a consistent image.” And though a marketing campaign may seem like a major undertaking, it’s becoming common among financial services professionals like you. The advisors who are investing in their careers are the reps raising their production to a new level.
Peter Montoya is president of Millennium Advertising, the financial services advertising agency. For information on advertising services or the acclaimed book “The Brand Called You,” visit www.thebrandcalledyou.com, call 888-730-5300 or e-mail info@milladv.com.