I freely confess that I have a love-hate relationship with marketing.
I love branding, great advertising, effective communications. I find it immensely gratifying to sit with a client or partner and distill down their offerings to a core message and strategy. Wonderful stuff. However...


I hate shyster pitches on the radio or TV. Like the services that want to extract money from your well-intentioned but naive wallet so that they can "clean" your PC. I want to throttle those marketers.
But sometimes, there's grudging admiration. Like when my 7-year old comes to me with a scribbled URL he's heard on an advertisement, wondering if we need to clean our PC with said "service" provider.
Now our family PC is getting somewhat long in the tooth, and admittedly is a bit slow. It certainly doesn't need the virtual snake oil these crooks are selling. But the message made sense to a 7-year old. It got through, to the point of him taking action in the only way he could. Advising Dad to visit this website to get a PC cleanup!
They're not getting my money, of course, but they did teach a valuable lesson. Does my marketing message make sense to a 7-year old? Can people easily repeat back my value proposition? Is my message so clear, so compelling, that those listening know exactly what they're supposed to do?
If the shysters can effectively get the point across, we who have legitimate offerings need to do them one better. When somebody's kid recommends you, you know you've won...!
What are some of the best, clearest, most memorable "take action" messages you've encountered? Share in the comments!