Ok, so we said that your job is to be the salesman of your Customer - using your LED screen properly.

You must create ads that will help him to sell more of what he offers: if you fail to do that, on the long run your Customer will realize that he could spend his advertising money on another medium or just use them to go out with friends.

Now, this is not an easy task: if it was easy, anyone would do it - that's why you are paid good money from your Customers.

There are many things you should do to create effective advertising (and in case you didn’t notice it yet, investigating such techniques is the main aim of this blog), but the very first thing you should do is identify your (Customer's) target, the final user.

This isn’t easy either because most of your advertisers don’t know who their "target Customer" is... so if even they don’t know, then why should you care?

Because if you don’t find it out, your advertising won’t be effective, your Customers won’t renew their contracts and you'll have to spend resources finding new Customers rather than milking those you already have.

How to identify the "target user" will be the topic of a few posts to come, but here are some hints you may want to consider:

• Advertising messages should be created for, and directed at, the Heavy Using Customers in your category (please, order the The Ad Contrarian book. It's free - see the Resources Section).
• Women make [almost all] the financial decisions and they buy [almost] everything—commercial as well as consumer goods.
• People over 50 comprise 29% of the population and they control 77% of financial assets (and they are the target for 10% of all advertising!!!)

Now, I know that the profile of your target Customer must be way more accurate and that these are general facts that not necessarily describe your final user... but you can not ignore them either.

Too often I happen to see on LED screens (yes, even on ours) some ads that were objectively terrible: transition effects, cluttered text, horrible color combination, unclear promotion, lack of contacts like phone or website…

And sometime I get potential Customers who saw that particular screen, complaining about the “image quality”.

How do I explain to them it does not depend on the screen, without looking biased? And most important, how can this advertising agency get paid from its Customers?!

Next time you create an ad for your screen, please remember to simplify and specify: I‘ve seen thousands of ads that were too complicated or too generic. I’ve never seen one that was too simple or too specific.

Remember that you’re a salesman, not an artist: if you want to be an artist, god bless you and good luck. But first you probably need to quit your day job.

To make good advertising you must be able to sell something with the ad you create. And that's important, not just for the sake of creating "good advertising", but because is the only way to make sure your advertisers renew their contract next month.

Here's the second round of our virtual match between, on the right coner, the LED Screen manufacturers from China and, on the left corner, the potential Customers from the rest of the word. Today I'm publishing a second message I got from Tom (see the first email here) and another message I received from Asia (and Edwin seems to be more a Customer than a Vendor).

Following the suggestion of a friend, I removed the comments I initially posted.
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Following the post series about the LED Screen from China, I received another very interesting letter from one of you.

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Dear Fabio, I represent a company specialized in electronic components, I live in China and I deal with chinese manufacturers on a daily basis. Even if we are not focused on LED Screens, after reading your blog I would like to give some advices to anyone who is considering buying anything from China.

1- Do not take too seriously any offer they make, any quotation they send and anything they promise, even if in written form - they often take back their words as soon as they need it.

2- Do not blindly trust any Chinese company (don't put all your eggs in one basket).
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Recently I'm receiving many feedbacks about your approach to the Chinese LED Screens, in response to this article.

The most interesting and noteworthy is the letter from a start-up company the middle of a feasibility study, with all its related considerations and doubts.

I found the letter so interesting when I first received it, that I decided to publish it after a few lines, long before I read the last paragraph. And I'd like to join Frederic in his final request: Any and all comments to this letter are strongly encouraged!!!

LETTER STARTS HERE:

Did You Buy A Chinese LED Screen?

No, I haven't. I am seriously looking at my options, however.

Chinese manufacturers offer various degrees of quality and price that are surely something any start-ups will consider prior to making a purchasing decision.

Sure, most European or North American manufacturers will usually offer the greater quality, coupled with a true customer service, but is the price difference really worth it?

The other day, I had an impromptu visit from [Big Multinational Name] quoting me a 12.5 sq. meter screen for 145,000 Euros for the screen, 15,000 Euros for the frame and another 30,000 Euros for the servicing and other "Benefits" totaling close to 200,000 Euros "before" all other related expenses (placing the screen on the street, running costs etc); another Bulgarian manufacturer quoted me about 5,000 Euros per square meter...

Chinese manufacturers (CE certified etc) that I have shortlisted after a couple of months investigating would offer the same size for circa $40,000 without installation and/or frame...

As my concluding words with the [Big Multinational Name] guys, I said: "Should your prices be 2 to 3 times more than the Chinese', I would think about it; at close to 5 times and above of the Chinese' (prices), you need to think about it"...
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