“I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.” ~Roy Croft

Ok, ok, I used a love quote. Consumers experience what might be considered ‘love’, right? They love the stuff they buy, for awhile. Until another ad convinces them to buy something else. A good advertiser will get you to think, “I will be better in some way if I buy this product.”

There’s nothing wrong with that! It’s the essence of marketing. It may sound crass and no one wants to believe that they are going to buy it, but we all do.

Back to the Cloud.
I over heard this phrase from a recent ad campaign said in a casual way as in, “Get to the car,” and came out “To the cloud!” instead. That’s exactly what they want to happen. They want you to think of their product or idea automatically, naturally, subconsciously.

Owning the product RIGHT NOW is the end goal but the way to get there is through the brain first. Not a bad strategy. Advertisers brand brand brand brand our brains with their concepts and eventually, when it comes time to buy, we are – - for good or for bad – - influenced by this information.

To my cloud go the advertisers

I confess, I mulled over a new phone for awhile, a new platform, and one day I just went out and bought it, changed carriers, set it all up and was relieved to have finally made the switch to “that phone.” Now I will be more organized and in-touch with my clients and family, I will be a better me. It’s not that much better than any other phone, really. It was the essence of what the advertisers sold me that drew me in. Fair game. They won this time: I’ve had some real issues from changing carriers and some of the features that I thought came standard on the phone cost extra.

“They” made me do it.
Whose fault is that? Mine? or theirs? It is my responsibility as the consumer. Even so, I don’t think as highly of the company now (they cannot help me resolve some of my issues because I bought the phone from a partner store not corporate store, never mind that the stores look almost identical and no other brand of phone was sold at the location where I handled my transaction). I don’t speak very highly of the company. Without having to crusade against them openly I still take the chance when someone says, oooh – - cool phone, to say – - yea, it’s not all that great.

My testimonial is the aftershock of their good campaign. They can handle my disappointment because for every me there are hundreds of thousands of would-be customers still imagining that life will be better with one of their devices.

If you are a big name company perhaps you can absorb this disillusionment. If you are a small business or depend on referrals you absolutely cannot get away with promising one thing and delivering a product that is less than the stellar version of what you sold in your ads.

Write the truth. Point out any surprises. Always remember that sales turn into referrals or regrets, there is no in between.