Social media has somewhat killed the way people everywhere indulge advertising. Some ads you’re forced to watch, others give you the option of skipping them so you can get back to what you were experiencing before, and on the business side, if you need a video or image ad created, you can easily do it yourself. What’s apparently pissing creatives of local advertising agencies off is that the remnant of those willing to pay for this service are now becoming disenchanted with the brainstorming aspect of the creative process and instead, more influenced by what the algorithm says they should do; and thus, begins the countdown to the demise of local ad agencies.
Local ad agencies—whether they’ll admit it or not, generally leach off creatives. How many times have you seen ads for creative positions that’s for two or three persons? How many times have you felt like you’re better off mixing concrete because the position is paying KFC cashier rates?
The last company I worked for understood the importance of empowering their creatives. The value they provided significantly improved when our creativity was adequately nurtured. But that’s seldom the case when you either don’t have the finances to invest in these areas, take building up others for granted, or all of the above. And the reason why in a creative meeting, there is no one to say…
“Hey, The Digital Age Has Put An END To Interruptive
Advertising.”
A more logical reason for why local ad agencies are on their last leg if you ask me!
Social media has asked the general public a different question.
“Do you want choice?” And the answer was, “Yes!”
People wanted the power to decide what’s entertaining to watch or listen to. The problem locally is, push or interruptive advertising has always been anything but, in Trinidad and Tobago. I recall the days of watching my favorite TV shows, only to be interrupted by some boring voice over ad about wood or banking, and I’ll ALWAYS turn the channel.
Translation? If you’re part of the remnant of those still designing for ad agencies in the Caribbean, or you’re freelancing (I’m not prejudiced), you need to think differently about what you put in front of people.
Storytelling Over Interruptions
The truth is, you don’t have the time to figure out “who a client is”, “what they stand for”, or “what creativity looks like for them”. That's branding not advertising. In other words, the client should be providing you with that information. I remember my agency days well – Coca-Cola is an example of a brand that knows who they are. In theory, those insights make your job super easy (more on that later). I understand not every client is Coca-Cola, but that’s exactly how you get into a situation of the client never being satisfied, or you’re hit with some cock n bull story about “waiting for the design to speak to them”. They don’t know who they are, maybe that’s why some local ad agencies try to give branding services. I get it, when someone needs design services from me for their business, there’s usually a branding problem that needs clarifying first. But, as I mentioned earlier, not all local ad agencies are positioned to do that, much less customize a story for a client’s brand.
Storytelling for a small service business is about leveraging the right experience that helps you communicate to your target audience why you understand the situation they are in and how you can help them accomplish whatever their goal is.
Take Cru Nonpareil’s Facebook ad for example. It’s not about the product, it’s about the story. His Tic Toc post had me in stiches: Tell genuine authentic stories and the right people will do business with you. This is where valuing creativity, and having fun executing a project can re-emerge if the thinking from both the client and the creative can change.
On that note, as creatives, we work in a country where slavery is justification for paying for that kind of work. What's sad is (without knowing it), we let it continue by selling our skills. Going back to the Coca-Cola project, despite the client knowing who they were, my boss kept scrapping everything they approved because she felt the design should be approached from a more ‘cosmetic angle’. Back and forth we went with the customer approving one thing and my boss changing it until I eventually gave up and just went with the flow because it was clear I wasn’t getting paid to think. In more evolved societies, no one cares about the product. The world has gotten too filled with the same stuff. So, if the argument for why we’re better is being ‘multi-skilled’, people will treat us like we don't have a brain or like a workhorse. And the same logic applies to doing creative work for a client. If their argument for why they’re better is that 'their soap has the most likes on social media', or that 'they’ve got the best range in car parts locally', they’ll attract people who can't see what they truly bring to the table.
Communication Tips For 1-3 Man Shows
I’m sure you’ve heard “it’s important to always ask yourself if the reason you’re selling something is the reason someone buys”. The reason it’s important is because without it, paying for a design (to the client) will be like paying someone to contact another person with a wrong number.
Here’s how I’ve seen 1-3 man shows drop the ball on communicating.
Their Business’s Central Idea: Quite a few local founders make the mistake of not reiterating the purpose of their services and the real value of their services becomes lost. If you’ve ever had a stranger buy from you, no questions asked, in the midst of an economic meltdown, you’ve experienced the power of establishing an emotional connection between your services and your ideal customer.
Their Social Media Presence: Drop irrelevant conversations. A window shopper isn’t necessarily looking to connect and become part of your community. They’re most likely looking for past projects, reviews from those past clients, and what it costs to possibly work with you. According to the stage of your ideal customer, in a skimmed milk type of way the stories shared although still needing to be tied back to the central idea of your business, must reflect an understanding of the interests and needs of someone at that stage of finding you.
Their Online Presence: Get to the point. Move away from the laundry list of services. When you're able to weave your brand throughout an authentic story, you’ll have a much better chance of convincing a possible customer that you’re the man or woman for the job.
Just as someone can ask you your name and you can tell them, or they can ask where you live and you can share it and they can find you, and if they ask for evidence you can present your national ID, your driver’s permit, or your passport to verify all the information, doubling down on the type of projects you do and the people who typically need those specific services have tremendous trust-building benefits as it helps someone to verify that you do what you say you do, believe who you say you are, and to identify if they need you.
The reason why some local founders can’t seem to come into the benefits of this way, though they might be telling stories, is because of their insincerity – They are trying to appeal to “de marish and de parish”. And they think their audience can’t peep the game. So, they dial their ideal clients over and over but they’re getting busy tone all the time – The receiver is off the hook!
No one likes to be taken for granted. So don’t take telling your story and doing it for the right reasons for granted, because it's key.
I am the Founder and Visual Brand Strategist at The BrandTUB **Put the service you provide online with The One-Page™ **Do the research on your own with The One-Page Workbook™ **Sign up to receive these weekly articles in your inbox if you’re not quite ready to work with me yet.
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