Westin, too, has a single relevant and important promise: Late checkout on Sunday. No more calling the front desk to beg them to extend the checkout a couple of hours so that you can enjoy a bit of the city, have a leisurely lunch or not have to wait three hours at the airport.
No clue what the illustration means, but who needs it when the headline is so clear?
And, my favorite of the bunch, this ad from Prudential:
- Intriguing picture: What are all those people doing?
- Immediate payoff from the headline (I mean, the moment you see that headline you just know that those numbers are ages of people, right? I did.)
- A compelling way of presenting boring information (Yes we are living longer. and no one is saving for retirement. If you even glance at newspapers or news Websites today, you know that.)
- A clear – but not cliché – illustration of the main sales point
- Clear call to action: Talk to your financial adviser; most of their products are sold through them
Get Results
B2B, like any advertising, exists to do only one thing: persuade you – persuade you to fly Delta or to tell your assistant to book you in a Westin Hotel or to call your financial adviser and say,
Dude, what about these Prudential products?
If you are a small- or medium-sized business owner, chances are that you sell to other companies, be it technology, services, specialized products, etc. And chances are that you too might have fallen into the many traps that seem to derail B2B advertising. Learn from the three successful ads above. They deliver:
- A promise: single-minded, relevant and important
- Clean segmentation (If you fly, stay in hotels or are thinking about retirement, they clearly talk to you. If you don’t, then they don’t.)
- A clear illustration of the main promise or sales point (except for the Westin one)
- A reason to choose the company
- Response devices
There’s no reason you can’t apply these five factors and create compelling B2B advertising that gets results.
Other articles by Marcelo:
Can A Bad Ad Provide Good Small Business Lessons?
Apology marketing campaign fails to reach shoppers
In Marketing There are no Pros in Reaction
Guerrilla Marketing, Promotion and Social Media
Three Essential Marketing Campaign Components