It’s interesting how, on Monday a client will tell you how they are not marketing experts and on Tuesday they are rewriting the ad that the marketing experts wrote for them.

The real kicker is that when the ad does not work, it is the fingers point to the ad agency and the expert copy writer they did not listen to. It is no coincidence that my most successful clients are the ones who focus on their business and trust ad writing to us.

It used to baffle me as to why there were so many awful ads. Just turn on the TV and watch for a while. Most of the ads, I figure 80% of them are the outcome of years of beatings. To be profitable the Madison Ave agencies write ads they know will get the nod of the client the first time around.

Why must the client get in the way? I have figured it out. Everyone has an opinion of marketing. So the wife of the business owner, the marketing manager of the company or the executive panel feels the need to put their stamp on each ad. After all, advertising is something that everyone sees, so if you have your stamp on an ad, you have added to your worth right? It is this stinking thinking that makes it easy for untouched copy from a real advertising professional to stand out.

While the intentions are good, the advice from your spouse or successful brother-in-law can be damaging. Here is why. They are afraid to offend. Yes, that’s it, they are afraid to offend anyone. So the result is an ad that appeals to no one.

Since the Greek physician Hippocrates first wrote about it in 370 BC, I have found 32 different books about the 4 different personality types and how they differ from one another. After reading at least 5 of them, I have concluded that you can’t please everyone with the same approach. In fact, if you are going to appeal strongly to one persona, you will proportionately offend another. In other words you must risk offending one persona if you want to appeal to another.

The strongest ads I have written, the ones with the best results, are the ones that also received the most complaints. It has come to the point that if the ad does not solicit some complaints, I get worried that it might not work.

If you want to grow your business, let a true ad agency, not the graphic designer that thinks they know advertising, but a go for results ad agency, the ad agency that has the guts to be accountable for the results.

Yes, when a client gets in the way of their success, it can be frustrating. Especially when your success depends on there’s. Learn from their mistakes, focus on what you know and trust what you don’t to the ones that do.