I try not to look at the ads that pop up on web pages, mostly because the big ones seem to be targeting stupid demographic, or at least people with no concept of logic.
Progressive Insurance has a whole ad campaign based around people not thinking. They say, “People who switched from [other insurance company] saved so much money.” No Duh, they wouldn’t have switched if it was more expensive. So absolutely any insurance company can make the claim that people that switched saved money, not just Progressive Insurance.
Since I’m slamming Progressive Insurance by name in order to get their ad to pop up on adwords I might as well rant about adwords for a while.
It’s well known that if a customer has a bad experience with a company they are more likely to share that experience with people than if they had a good experience. This blog is no exception. In an unscientific survey, I tried to remember the posts I did that were praising a company vs. slamming them and I can only remember one positive shopping experience that I talked about, that was K-Mart and that letter had such an impact on sales that they closed down the store near me.
On the other hand the companies I slammed are numerous, National City Bank (bankrupt), Bank of America, Genpact Services, BP.
Large companies should know this and think about the fact that their ad is far more likely to appear on a site slamming them and make their ad so it appeals to dissatisfied customers, rather than displaying their generic ads.
Soon I’m sure google will program a way for their bots to determine positive reviews from negative ones and web advertising will change again.
But for now I can just enjoy the fact that most likely you will see a Progressive Insurance ad at the bottom of this page telling you how much people who switched saved.
BTW: If you have written a book check out this post if you want free advertising for your book.
By Darrell B. Nelson author of Invasive Thoughts
