Don’t spill all your candy in the lobby

Don’t spill all your candy in the lobby, is a phrase I use quite often.

Some time ago, a LinkedIn group for marketers posed a question; “What is your best marketing advice?” I replied, “Don’t spill all your candy in the lobby.” I did because, in my view, many marketers were making this fundamental mistake when marketing a product or service. They would spill all their candy, not only in the lobby, but some would spill their candy in the street on the way to the theater–and quite frankly it drives me crazy to witness this. It makes me even crazier to be dragged into this bad behavior by a colleague or client. But it happens, and when it does happen, I go into my spiel about "spilling your candy."

If committing this behavior is a fundamental marketing mistake, then following this “don’t spill all your candy in the lobby” philosophy is a “Marketing 101” no-brainer. It is at least for me, and I’ve managed to convert many along the way over the years. Let me explain what I mean about all this candy-spilling business. Quite a few years ago used to primarily design newspaper ads. One day, as I was designing an ad, I began complaining about the excessive amount of copy I had to deal with. I hated the lack of white space in that tiny two-column inch ad. Imagine that, a designer complaining about copy. A media buyer named Don was listening to my rant. I was saying that so much information was being divulged in the ad, it left nothing to the imagination. This to me was a colossal mistake.

Let the reader use their imagination

By leaving nothing to the imagination, or more specifically, providing all the information about the product, the potential buyer had no reason to call the number in the ad. He or she could decide to buy or not from the ad alone. This left the sales professional out of the equation. Why would you want an ad to close your deal when your sales department is eminently more qualified? Again, in my view, this was a big mistake. That's not the job of the ad. I mean the ad’s job was to provide just enough information to evoke the call to action in the ad. In those days, the web was not an option, so we had operators standing by to take your call. Well, sales professionals anyway.

That’s when Don said, “Don’t spill all your candy in the lobby.” I knew exactly what Don was saying the second those words were uttered from his lips. Don was a smart guy and he and I shared a lot of the same beliefs when it came to marketing. He knew exactly why providing every possible fact and figure about your product or service in your ad, direct mail piece, email blast, Facebook post – you name it, is not in your best interest. Each component has a job. In those days it was that ad’s job to make the phones ring. Today, it’s likely to make you visit a website or send that email. Perhaps it’s to share content or comment but rest assured there’s a specific call to action that must be carried out and that should be the only focus.

Let the ad do its job by taking these steps

Just as the ad, or any content for that matter, has an overall job, each element has a job as well. The hero shot needs to get your attention. The headline should make you want to read the copy, and the copy should make you want to take action. Every element has a mini job leading to the big job of taking action and causing a conversion of some kind. You must treat each element methodically and systematically. It should all lead up to the ultimate purpose of any marketing piece, without trying to cram as much information into each piece. Think of the steps involved and stop trying to make your ad be everything to everyone.

I use an advertisement as an example here, but this pertains to any form of communication, be it an ad or a website. This is the David Ogilvy school of thought, which I've adhered to for over 30 years. There are times when being as thorough as possible is the right thing to do, like when writing a manual or the documentation section of a website. But when you’re marketing a product or service, especially an advertisement, any marketing campaign, or even a Facebook post, please – Don’t spill all your candy in the lobby!