Want To Know How To Make Your Brand Seem Bigger Than It Is?

 

Wow that would be helpful, wouldn’t it?

Or perhaps instead:

 

Would You Like To See An Adorable Picture Of A Dog?

 

Of course you would.

Here’s a print ad we did for our business ten years ago, when we were newer and still getting established.

 

 

 

What a classic dog. JUST LOOK AT THOSE EYES.

The copy read:

You work harder when you’re not top dog. As the #2 AV company, Scene Change is almost pathetically easy to please. We’ll do you a deal. We run the newest equipment. We respond faster than you can throw a tennis ball. Everything we do has to be better, because we know you don’t have to use us unless you really like us. And when you give us your business, we’re so happy. You can see it in our motivated, responsive crew on site. Being #2 is a lot of extra work, and we love it. And we love you. Every time we see you. Woof!

 

Two points from that.

 

1. Animals Work

 

There’s a reason so many brands use animals. They just attract your eye.

If we’d used a picture of a successful business executive delivering a presentation – or even worse, AV technicians at a mixing desk – that ad would have sunk without trace.

Deservedly.

Think about that when you’re tempted to chuck a predictable stock photo into any sort of ad or pitch.

Animals are instant shorthand for all sorts of qualities. Trusty. Faithful. Enthusiastic.

You can say all those words, but they don’t say it nearly as well as a chocolate lab.

 

2. Swagger Early On Is A Long-Term Investment

 

As a new-ish business, we had no right to be running six months of full-page ads in industry media.

Anyone could tell you that was too expensive.

But we wanted to create a brand with a personality, in a category where every other company just talked up their enormous technical prowess.

Not just because it’s fun, but because it was an investment in our future margins.

A brand is all that saves you from having to be the cheapest of six quotes.

As global behavioral economics wizard Rory Sutherland points out, TV and full-page magazine advertising work because customers see you doing something they know to be expensive.

Their reptilian brains see this investment as a reliable signal of your faith in the futurity of their own product. So they feel they can rely on you.

It’s a long-term game, which we always knew, and we’re pretty happy with where it all ended up. We’re not the cheapest quote in the pile.

 

I Clicked On This Story For Hot Tips On Making My Brand Seem Bigger, Enough About Dogs Get To The Point Ian

 

 

Ah that’s right. Here I made you a video on that. Featuring the Wizard Of Oz, Muhammad Ali, and on-stage dance moves from both Bruno Mars and Bill Gates.

If you do nothing else, use the invoice number tip.

Hey look is that a chocolate Labrador in there?

 

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS LOOK BIGGER

 

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