McDonald’s sells more burgers than any other fast food joint in the world.
It’s 2:00 a.m. and there’s a perfectly good pack of ground beef ready to defrost on your kitchen counter.
What is it about the golden arches that have us bending back for a Quarter Pounder with extra cheese or a Big Mac? Most likely, there are hundreds of other burger options that you might prefer. Even so, the other contenders can’t outsell McDonald’s even with their combined revenue. The fast-food behemoth’s strategic ad campaign plays a vital part in this- but there is something about McDonald’s that edges us closer to our fast food fix each time.
What does the well-known franchise get right?
Spoiler: the secret is not in the sauce.
Repeat After Us: Less is More
Simplicity is something McDonald’s excels in.
Their slogans are catchy and stark. Instead of assaulting viewers with excessive information in a single ad, they like to keep it “short and sweet” with memorable brand messages.
Need a good example? Think of Justin Timberlake’s “I’m lovin’ it” jingle.
If it sticks in your mind for the rest of the day, we apologize in advance.
An Unforgettable Brand Message
Imagine if ads from McDonald’s looked like this:
A scene opens in a verdant, grassy pasture. The sun dramatically rises in the east, throwing its amber light on cows mooing and grazing on the soft grass.
The team then carries them in a truck to the main processing plant. The cows are then shown being slaughtered to produce a delicious beef patty.
(We’d rather stop here.)
Obviously, no sane person would sit down to a commercial featuring raw slaughterhouse footage. People don’t want to know HOW a burger is made—they just want to bite into its scrumptiously juicy, hot beef patty.
The point is: that a successful campaign is not defined by how much content you’re able to fit in. Instead, consider how well it connects with your ideal market.
The Art of Creating Simple, Memorable Messages
At BoostYourCampaign, we’ve crafted thousands of ad messages for crowdfunding campaigns that made more than $1 million as well as ad campaigns for established brands and corporations. Throughout this journey, we’ve discovered a remarkable strategy that successful campaigns often use.
But before we talk about it in detail, here’s an important message for small businesses who like to connect better with their audiences through their content:
Most small businesses don’t have an official marketing specialist or department. In most cases, the owner guides the entire marketing strategy. Unaware of best practices in sales writing and marketing, they inadvertently cram lots of information in a single ad.
As the owner of the business, they deeply care about every tiny detail of the services, products, and journey of the establishment. Without recognizing that
their customers are not them, they start cramming every bit of information in their ads.
As a result, their messaging is all over the place. It then becomes a challenge for their customers to identify what the initial offer was. The whole picture just blurs and the message loses its effectiveness altogether.
If Everything Is Important, Nothing Is
People frequently throw around the term “too much information,” but they are so oblivious to it when creating ad campaigns.
In the case of McDonald’s, they stick to ads that are simple and entertaining. They get straight to the meat and potatoes of the offer, quite literally.
Telling the detailed process is not their objective. Rather, they aim to
engage,
entertain, and
ask.
These factors are present in almost every successful ad campaign. Forget the bun, and go straight for the core message.
Conclusion
Not every customer entering your crowdfunding campaign or online store will be your
ideal customer. Frankly, you don’t even need to convert them into one.
The internet is swarming with millions of ads, and there’s a huge chance that your ad could fall victim to the background noise. You need a way to concretize your brand’s message into the mind of the consumer. (We’re looking at you, Mcdonald’s).
That being said, instead of using your resources to create long, boring, and confusing ad campaigns, make your ads memorable and unique. You can achieve this by keeping your messages simple, engaging, and entertaining.
Don’t know how to start? We can help! Start with us
here.
