Recruiting Session 6:

Hey guys, it’s Matt, and I don’t have to imagine. I actually drive a Buick, so I always eat my pancakes in luxury.

But we didn’t show that commercial just because I drive a Buick or like pancakes. Those things are both true, but the real reason we chose that ad is because it shows the main point of advertising. And that’s to create a vision. To appeal to our eyes and imaginations.

That’s true even for non-visual ads like radio commercials. They’re still trying to get us to visualize something. To picture how we’d be better off if we just had that... well, fill in the blank. And even when an ad is too short give us a big picture, it tries to give an enticing preview that leaves us wanting to see more.

So over the next several Recruiting Sessions, we’re going to look at driver job ads in terms of vision. In this first one, we’ll correct common vision problems of bad advertising, so that we give drivers something worth looking at. And then we’ll explore where to place ads for maximum visibility and how you can clearly view results.

As we look at these topics, it’s important that to the overall advertising goal in sight. That’s primarily to direct drivers to your landing pages so they can see and act on job opportunities. That’s why it’s so vital that we make, place, and measure ads effectively.

So first, let’s look at those problems. As someone who’s worked in marketing a long time, I’ve seen more than my fair share of poor advertisements, and I’ve observed they always cause one of three vision conditions. They either make your eyes sting, or strain, or shut. And if they’re really bad, they do all three like this one.

If you’ve watched the previous Recruiting Sessions, you recognize this ad comes from our fictional carrier, the Keep On Trucking Company. Although it’s fake, it resembles some real ads in the transportation industry. Let’s examine and correct all three problems so that by the end this looks great.

Ad Vision Problem #1: Stinging Eyes

A bad-looking ad just burns your eyes, and this one is truly an eye-sore, with unsightly and ill-matched images, text, and colors. We looked at these very same problems in our session on brand, so instead of repeating that discussion, I just want to point out two things:

First, an ugly ad is really no ad at all. The goal of advertising is to attract, but how can it do that if it’s unattractive? So we should strive for good design in everything, but most of all in advertising.

Second, someone who makes an ad like this doesn’t know how to make an ad. I hope that doesn’t come across as mean or critical. That’s truly not my intention. Rather, I’m simply saying that professional level work requires professionals.

Think about it this way: no one calls an ad agency when they have a transportation need. They call you, professional carriers. And trust me, that’s a good thing. The last thing you want is designers driving or delivering freight. But in the same way, no one calls a carrier when they have a design need. They turn to professionals.That’s what Keep On Trucking did, and that’s what I encourage you to do if you lack an in-house ad department.

So following the standards established in the Brand Sessions, we’ve now improved this ad design. It’s much easier to look at, but the amount and the arrangement of information still make it a chore to read. In other words, the sting is gone, but the strain remains, which brings us to problem number 2.

Ad Vision Problem #2: Strained Eyes

A busy ad can overload our eyes and brains kind of like ol’ Johnny Mnemonic. Put simply, it’s a bad ad that tries to say everything. A good one says as little as possible. It delivers a focused message in the fewest and best words. Simple and bold was how McDonald’s used to put it when I worked with them. And I don’t know if they still use those words, but they’ve definitely struck with that approach. They’re masters of the short ad. Just look at these.

Using only a few pictures and words - and sometimes no words at all - they get their message across loud and clear. That’s effective advertising. At this point, you might be thinking, “Yeah, that’s easy for McDonald’s. They can slap up a picture of a Big Mac, and it’ll pretty much sell itself. Persuading someone to take a job isn’t that simple.

And I completely agree. Getting someone into a drive-through line is a lot easier than getting them into a driving lane. You have to provide more information and answer more questions, but just remember, your ad isn’t the place to do it. That’s what a landing page is for. The ad is just a way to get drivers to it.

Since that’s the goal, the ad itself can say less. So here are some tips for cutting the word count and increasing effectiveness.

First, choose just one main message or headline. In this case, we’ll use this idea that drivers have many good reasons to choose a regional route with Keep On.

Next, remove everything except the most important points that support the main message. This will not only make the ad more concise; it’ll also create a hierarchy of information that’s easier to scan and understand.

So we’re starting with lots of bullet points, but all of them really fit into one of four categories: pay, home time, benefits, and equipment. These could all be considered good reasons to choose a route with Keep On, so we’re going to turn them into four main points under the headline like this.

With each, we’ve kept only the most important details. With pay, for instance, we’ve just noted the salaried pay, annual average earnings, and raises for longevity. The previous list included other points on pay like bonuses and referral rewards, but we narrowed the focus to just regular base pay because that’s what drivers are really living on and most interested in.

We also removed information like the company tagline that didn’t directly support the main message and the driver requirements that are spelled out on the landing page. As a result, our ad is looking and reading much better. Now that we’ve alleviated the sting and strain, our last is to add some energy. And that brings us to the final ad vision problem.

Ad Vision Problem #3: Shut Eyes

With the combined power of words and pictures at our disposal, we’ve got no excuse to serve up ads that taste like soda biscuits or work like sleep aids.

Typically, a good ad awakens our senses by both showing and telling, though it’ll usually favor one over the other. We’ve already seen good examples from McDonald’s that show more than tell. They lead with a big, bold image and support it with words. And generally, I recommend that approach because there’s a lot of truth in the old truism that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I’ve observed, though, that the trucking industry usually tells more than it shows. And I think it’s mainly because of that perceived need to say everything in the ad. So again, leaving the details to the landing page can free us up to for much more visually interesting ads.

Sometimes, though, you’ll still lead with words. Our example from Keep On does that, and it’s by design. I want us to spend a few minutes considering how to choose our words well and make even a text-based ad compelling.

First, we should try to always include some imagery. With an ad like this, doing something simple like pairing each reason with an icon works well. It adds just enough visual interest and emphasis.

Next, we need to say something fresh. You know, ads from different carriers often end up sounding alike because the the jobs themselves are a lot alike. And let’s face it, in any industry, there’s only so much variety. We’re limited to certain facts about the job, typically same ones we see here: pay, route and home time, benefits, and equipment. But even if you’re offering the exact same things as another carrier, you can say them in a different way.

That’s what Keep On has done. Actually, they already had fresh wording on their landing page, so we just used it here. For example, what previously said, “salaried pay” now says, “salary that’s stable, but also pays to stay.” That’s both an accurate and different way for them to describe the stability of their salaried pay, but also the chance for drivers to earn more if they stick around. And for each other point, they’ve used similar fresh wording.

But the biggest and best place to say something different is the main headline. Right now, this one is pretty stale, so let’s try out some different wordings to freshen it up.

To start, another way of saying that “drivers have many good reasons” is to say “they have more than one.”

That’s better, but let’s keep going. “To choose a regional route” sounds kind of boring. What if we changed it to “choose keep on.” But then we could shorten that to just: “Drivers have more than one good reason to keep on.”

I like that, but I’m not sure I want the actual company name in the headline, so what if we replace keep on with something like “stay.” I like that and think it’s close, but what if we gave it an unexpected twist by saying: "Our drivers don’t one good reason to stay." And then in fine print, we could add: "They have lots."

Now that’s a headline that could awaken interest, but we could take it one last step. What if we removed everything from the ad except the headline and the landing page address:

Our drivers don’t have one good reason to stay. Find out why at drivektc.com.

Now that’s bold. Risky even. It’s the sort of ad you’d probably want to test run in just a few places before completely rolling it out. But I suspect it would get people’s attention and make them curious enough to visit the page. They’d be asking, “Why in the world is this carrier saying their drivers don’t have a reason to stay? I have to know.”

Of course, this only works if you update your landing page. But like we explained in previous sessions, that’s the beauty of landing pages. You can easily change them to match your current ads. So we’d simply change this headline and be good to go.

And with that, I think this session is good to go, too. And so am I. I think I’ll take the Buick over to IHOP for some pancakes, but I’ll see you in our next session. It’ll focus on where to place ads so they’ll be seen and how you can view results. Until then, I’m Matt.