John McCafferty

Do you speak with your audience or at them? We all have a tendency to write for ourselves rather than our audience. This is especially true when it comes to writing marketing or advertising content. We want them to know our products' great features, how fast it is, how shiny it is and how it's the next great thing to come along. Before you start writing, try as best you can to stand in the shoes of the audience to whom you intend to market your products or services. Think about who they are, what are they likely to search for online, what do they want and need, and how can you meet them where they are rather than expecting them to move their thoughts and patterns to your position. To avoid having messages misperceived or misunderstood, choose language that will be understood by most (preferably all) of your recipients. Think of the individuals who comprise your audience before you communicate with them. Ask yourself: Who is the audience? Why am I ...

The guy who wrote the book about  results oriented marketing You may have heard about the new book, How to build marketing campaigns that get results and drive growth .  I wrote this book so you may learn from the experience of an advertising insider, I’m a 40-year marketing veteran and I’m ready to share what it really takes to make marketing work. I’m John McCafferty and I’m the guy with my name on the door at McCafferty Advertising. I thought I’d share a little background with you because you shouldn’t take marketing advice from just anyone, but I think you’ll agree the advice in this book is the real deal. I have more than 40 years of advertising agency experience under my belt. My work has earned well over 100 industry awards and I’m frequently asked to judge creative competitions around the country. I’ve been a part-time faculty member in the communications departments at both the University of Louisville and Spalding University. I have earned...

I was honored to serve as a judge for the ADDY awards in Topeka, Kansas I had a great time judging the ADDY awards in Topeka, Kansas recently. This market is deep in talent and is producing some really nice work. I’ve judged a lot of ADDY competitions and really enjoy it. You can learn more about that at www.mccaffertyadvertising.com/about-john  

Trends in Marketing for 2018 January is such a great time of year for businesses and their leadership. It represents a new year with a new start, where real focus is given to marketing efforts for 2018. It's always important to look back on the past year's performance, but you've also got to look ahead to major trends affecting your industry and seek out new opportunities. To help, here are six marketing trends that leaders should take into consideration moving into 2018: 1. The need for content marketing distribution has never been greater. As brands and marketers increasingly rely on content marketing as a major part of their marketing strategies and produce more content of their own, it's become harder to cut through the noise and grab your audience's attention before your competitors do. Creating content at a consistent pace is important. You also need to think about how you can distribute your content better than anyone else in your space. T...

Your list of New Year’s resolutions should include taking a look back at the performance of your marketing in 2017. This can be an affirming experience, or a rude awakening depending on what you find. In either case you should determine what is working well and what could be improved upon with an “out with the old and in with the new” attitude. Let me first say that if you started last year without a marketing plan or strategy, don't let that one get away from you this year. How will you know when you have arrived at either a positive or negative outcome from your marketing efforts if you have no plan or goals identified that you hope to reach as a result of your marketing work. Your plan should include both qualitative and quantitative goals. Qualitative goals address promotional advantages while quantitative goals deal with the numbers you measure. Your qualitative goals should be about customers' perception of your product and/or service. For example increasing t...