Strategy or Copy: Which will show results?

Some of the best marketing advice isn’t from Steve Jobs or David Ogilvy, though both have plenty of wisdom in that department. The best marketing advice you will ever receive was spoken in 372 B.C. by Plato:

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”

Often, we do what we believe is the right thing and advertise, because we know we have to. But often the message falls short as we discuss being able to “meet your financial needs” or “offering great rates on auto loans.” Are those messages truly worth what you are spending to send them out? The secret of great advertising is that you must find something to say that your customer would be happy to hear.

Success in advertising is attributed to 80% strategy and only 20% percent copy. This makes it nearly impossible for “good copy” to compensate for weak strategy.

Failure happens when we pretend that a catchy idea can overcome the fact that we really have nothing to say to catch the attention of the consumer.