29 Jul How Advertisers Can Benefit from Intentional Mistakes
When you work in advertising, making a mistake can be a terrifying experience. Something went wrong or something was shown too soon. Having things go right is usually wanted by brands to make sure that they don’t get criticized by their audience.
But did you know if mistakes are done right, they can actually be beneficial to the advertisers and the brand? Seems weird, we know. Using mistakes strategically can serve to bring more people to the brand and make the brand more successful in the long run.
Mistakes Create Buzz
People LOVE to point out mistakes that a brand makes. Whether it’s a typo in a social media post or a new product was “accidentally” posted, these mistakes will gain the attention of the public quickly.
With mistakes that are leaking a surprise or a product, this can create new hype for the brand. This can be seen with EA’s The Sims 4. Expansion packs have accidentally been leaked in the past as the sims community went wild with the possibilities of what they were about to get. This creates a huge buzz for a brand that can get you more customers and more hype.
Typos and other mistakes in a text announcement can be a funny experience for your audience and allows them an opportunity to communicate with you, even if that communication is “you mean (insert proper spelling of a word?)” These mistakes give the brand an opportunity to communicate back to their audience, fixing their mistake and restating their value for high-quality communication.
Mistakes Create Inside Jokes
While advertising, if you misspell a word in a particularly funny manner, that is something that not many people will end up forgetting. This small amount of communication between the audience and brand then becomes an inside joke for future reference. This makes customers feel that they are a part of something and are connected to the brand. When a connection is felt, trust is gained and then you have more loyal customers.
In today’s world, trust between brands and customers is so much more important so building that trust is a must, even if it’s through making mistakes.
Mistakes Make a Brand More Human
It is so easy to see brands and businesses as emotionless robots that care for nothing else but taking your money. When a mistake happens, that barrier between the brand and customers is broken for a while, shattering that robot view that people have.
Mistakes remind people that the people working at these brands are only people, that they are humans just like them. This then makes people remember that they have some sort of connection to the brand and the act of making and fixing mistakes builds trust.
These humanizing mistakes also give the chance for brands to break their professional wall for a second and communicate right to their customers. This will further help brands avoid being seen as robots who only want customers’ money.