Please Read this Blog if You Have Time
,A common advertising myth is that you “must include a strong call to action.” And I’m all for connecting the brand narrative to exactly what you want people to do with your brand narrative. However, I’m always surprised, especially on the web, how fast we go from “I’m an organization” to “Donate now.” It’s lightning quick, but we all know the sales process rarely is that fast. Take a look at our Moves Management of Marketing pyramid. There is a long way from Oblivious to Engagement or Name Recognition to Call to Action. 
Research reported on in the Wall Street Journal shows that the “buy now, donate now, like us now” overly assertive language may be hurting your brand. The research by Yael Zemack-Rugar, of the University of Central Florida (published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology) found that consumers don’t like to be told what to do.
We like to make our own choices, or feel like we are making choices. The research found that loyal consumers get more annoyed than anyone else if you tell them what to do.
The study found that even the phrase “like us on Facebook” puts negative pressure on the consumer and after the person reads it, their “liking” quotient goes down. The “best results came from ads that were informative and hint at action.” So, just the opposite of a local car dealer ad.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.