a friend and customer of ours has such a good creative ad person that when her ads go in the paper other advertizers gripe to the paper that they want ads that good..
.all the web work and marketing paper is recognizable as her store and fits her and her ads are bringing in good buyers and the ads are just right for her customer base and apparantly fit her store very well....... the ad person knows her, knows her store, knows the community....and is really good....

...now thats the kind of creative ad person we all want!!!!


not sure if anything here helps all the web creative marketers out there.....

Have you asked her who she uses? Maybe she can refer you over to the person she uses?

What you describe is exactly what a good advertising/marketing person should do.

Unfortunately, there are people out there who want to sell cookie cutter ads and care more about their fee than they do about accurately representing your business. You'll find those types in almost any profession.

I'm not sure exactly what the purpose of the OP was, so I'll say this. When you are interviewing a potential marketing or advertising person, always ask to see that person's portfolio. Also, be prepared to answer a lot of questions about your business, and be worried if the person you are considering isn't asking those questions.

Thanks, Ann. The thing that seems to define this friend is that she has discovered the difference between blending in and standing out.

I usually use the phone book to illustrate this principle. Advertisers get a free "design" which ends up looking very much like all the rest in any category. Very few of these ads stand out. Although the design work was free because it is included with the advertising package, it lacks value. The production artist who creates these ads has no motivation to really put extra effort in for you because they're also doing the layouts for your competitors. Something's just not right about that.

I see this time and time again in my business. There are three things that make up a good ad campaign: 1. Saying the right thing 2:To the right people 3: Enough times to cause them to take action. You'd think saying the right thing (YOUR AD) would be at least 33% responsible for success.. I personally would argue that it's probably more important than the other two combined mayb 60% of the responsibility. So you'd think a business owner would invest at least 30% of their ad budget into looking and sounding good. But too many will settle for the "free production" of the media outlet they go with. I know first hand of several advertisers (thankfully not my clients) that spend well over $100,000 per year running an ad that cost less than $1,000 and then wonder why their response is only marginal. Whereas I've had the fortune to work with a client that actually spent more on their (TV commercial) than they did in airing it and were wildly successful because the ad was SUPERB.

th o.p. was about ads...and trying to give the buyers perspective....the ad guys are always giving us their perspective..

im hoping to get her person on board....at least for a billboard and some interior brochures and signage..she has been to our store...so that helps a lot...

I think another thing important to your advertising is to keep the overall look the same regardless of the message. We recently started using our web team for our print ads. Wow, what a difference! We can be advertising a cowboy hat, a dress hat or a cap and you'll know it's an ad for our store.

Just to clarify... I don't "Make" Ads nor do I profit directly from the production of them. My income is derived from my clients success.

I to was talking about Ads and pointing out that great ads with less exposure will outperform marginal ads with tons of exposure. Like anything in life... you get what you pay for.

I think it helps a lot. If I say something, I may be sharing my experience and trying to help, but it can still be taken as a sales technique. For others to share from the "client" end is better than any point I could make.