Have you ever noticed that most ads suck?

For example, you probably saw and heard about 400-600 ads yesterday. How many of them do you even remember?

Why do most ads suck? Because marketers and advertisers follow trends. If everyone's doing it, it must be right.

Tsk, tsk. I can just hear my mother saying; "And if your friends jumped off the bridge..."

Let's take "targeting" as a good example. We all know that targeted ads are better than untargeted ads, right?

Health4her.com disagrees. According to a Clickz.com release, Health4her.com president Louis Silberman finds untargeted advertising to be MUCH more cost effective.

We humans learn and remember through repetition. Targeted ads aren't pocket change to repeat.

Targeting also assumes we all live and shop in a vacuum.

Are we all hermits with no loved ones, family, friends or co-workers to tell us about something they have seen that's right up our alley? What a sad assumption!

What about value for the dollar? If a targeted ad costs twice as much, is it twice as effective? Not usually. Usually, the ad will still suck.

So, why DO most ads suck?
Because they fail to knock anyone's socks off. They're boring. They look and sound like ads.

Tatiana Velitchkov, owner of traffic-slam advertising sites Guaranteed-Hits.com and Guaranteed-Hits.net agrees.

"To get orders, you must be without hype" she cautions. "The ad must be appealing to get results."

The true secret of great advertising is to create an ad that will knock someone's socks off. Impress someone. Anyone! When you win the heart, the head will follow.

Send that message to as many people as you can afford to reach. Over and over again. Repetition, remember?

If your ad is good, REALLY good, word of mouth will take it from there.

Remember that old Breck ad, where the girl with the gorgeous hair says "I told two friends, and they told two friends, and THEY told two friends..."

That, in a nutshell, is the essence of advertising.

Of course, you don't have to believe a word of it. Go right ahead, jump off the bridge, nevermind what mother said.

If your ad sucks, you can target all you want - you're still going to miss the boat.

Author's Bio: 

Linda Caroll is a marketing consultant, writer, ghost writer, guest writer, columnist & website designer. She has two actresses as clients, a client in the Forbes Top50, has been quoted in The New York Times and has been published both offline and online. You can contact Linda at WebsiteMagic.tv & LindaCaroll.com