My Advertising Doesn’t Work And People Hate My Company

Authored by Roger L. Firestien, Ph.D.

Erik Eustice is CEO and founder of the marketing and branding firm Of the Sea, based in Buffalo, New York. Here he shares common challenges within the advertising and branding industry.

When people come to an advertising agency, they want to grow their business. They usually want to get more leads, more traffic to their location, more phone calls, or more website visits.

Advertising clients will judge an advertising agency on their ability to deliver those things. In my experience, dissatisfaction with advertising results comes from two primary reasons.

Scenario One: Sometimes the desired results do not materialize as quickly as clients would like. And because there is a substantial upfront investment for advertising, clients often have certain upfront expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations, while understandable, do not align with how advertising actually functions.

Some businesses expect that when they start advertising, people will encounter their advertising and immediately want to do business with them. It just doesn’t happen that way most of the time. Let’s call this the “the laws of advertising physics.” 

If the advertising is being done properly and the agency is following the laws of physics of advertising, it should always work.
But patience is key.

It could take years to get full effect, particularly if your business has a long product purchase cycle. A product purchase cycle is the period of time it takes someone to go from not needing your product or service to the time when they are choosing to purchase your product, either from you or a competitor.

Long product purchase cycles are things like engagement rings, mattresses, a roof, heating and cooling, or an automobile. Products that people don’t buy frequently. Groceries. Gasoline. Clothing. Tacos. Those have short product purchase cycles.

Scenario two. Advertising that makes a great promise that people love, can sometimes backfire. 

This usually happens when a client says something like “give me advertising that works and I’ll take care of the rest.” Sometimes, because they are relying on the advertising, the business owner fails to look at their company and consider the big picture – the entire process. They might skip over customer service or the sales process. When things go awry with sales, folks often look to advertising as the problem, not realizing that they might have a sales problem, a service delivery problem, or a customer service problem that is obvious to customers but not to them.

Their advertising has over-promised, potential customers have fallen in love with their product or service and then the company under-delivered.

Think of a car dealership with an unreliable service department, or a plumber who didn’t return your calls, a restaurant with lousy service, or an online business that took days to respond.

The advertising worked, but some other part of the company dropped the ball. This makes people angry. Now, every time they hear that company’s advertisements, that advertising is having the opposite effect. The advertiser is now paying money to advertise to people to remind them of what a lousy business they are. All because they did not live up to the promises in their advertising. They just didn’t see the big picture. 

I think most of us can relate to what Erik is telling us. I can. Several years ago, I bought a very expensive mattress from a company with absolutely beautiful advertising. That advertising told me that this mattress was so amazing that you never had to turn it over. It was the ultimate in comfort, I was told by the charming salesperson. 

Sadly, the mattress was one of the worst I’ve ever slept on. 

Now, when the company’s ad comes on, I groan. I won’t ever step foot in that store again.  

What is the lesson here?

Look at your entire business system. It may be tempting to focus on only one or two aspects of your business. Focusing on one area of your business, like advertising that is actually bringing customers to you, is useless if other parts of your business are not working.

Your business will be in trouble if not all parts of the business are working. A restaurant that attracts lots of customers when it first opens because it is a novelty, will not survive if the service or food is bad. 

Deliberately look at the big picture when it comes to your business, because your customers will. 

***This article is an adapted excerpt from Dr. Firestien’s latest book, Solve the Real Problem.

Roger L. Firestien, PhD, has presented programs on innovation to over 600 organizations around the world including Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, universities, associations, and religious institutions. His nine-part series on innovation is available on the OpenSesame e-learning platform. His latest books include Solve The Real Problem, Why Didn’t I Think Of That? and Create In A Flash. He is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Center for Applied Imagination at Buffalo State University, President of Innovation Resources, Inc., a founding member of the Buffalo Society for Creativity in Medical Education, and guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, NY.