We Have Become Numb To Advertising
Back to: Sparking Word-of-Mouth from Customers To Boost Your Bottom Line
Consumers (you, me, and our potential customers) have become numb to advertising. For two key reasons:
Too many ads. Too much noise.
Ads and offers bombard us non-stop. Some time, just for interest, count how many ads you see on the way to work. Just today you may have been exposed to:
- a flyer stuck under your windshield wiper,
- a slew of billboards,
- transit ads,
- ads on the sides of vehicles,
- offers sent to your email and
- ads within the apps on your smartphone.
Because they are always ‘in our face,’ we have learned to try our best to ignore advertising.
False promises.
Too often, when we have listened to the ads and made a purchase we have been disappointed. The product and services didn’t deliver on the claims promoted in the ads. We have learned, through the bad experience, that advertisers will say what they want to try to get our money. In general, we have learned we can’t trust brands.
The term “snake oil salesman” came from advertising claims like in this ad.
As a result, we rely on advice about brands, products, and services delivered directly from people we know and trust. Our family, friends, co-workers, and experts we trust. We trust word-of-mouth.
