Advertising for Results

by

G.F. Brown

Legal notice

Advertising for Results is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance between any people, things, places or entities in this book and actual people (living or dead), things, places, or entities, is purely coincidental.  There is no connection whatsoever at all.

In reading any part of this book, you agree to take no action against this book’s author or any party.  You are completely and solely responsible for anything you do, and you will not attempt to link your actions to this book in any way.  Advertising for Results is written for entertainment purposes only, so disregard everything in this book, including the so-called advice, recommendations, and statements that something will happen.  No part of Advertising for Results may be sold by anyone except the author.  You agree to never be compensated for it in any way.  If you do not agree with all this, stop reading Advertising for Results now.

All copyrights and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Copyright © 2003 by G.F. Brown from Richmond Heights.  All rights are reserved.

For my wife.

“It is the dry and irksome labor of organizing precincts and getting out the voters that determines elections.”

Abraham Lincoln

Acknowledgments

Thanking everyone would almost be a book in itself.  It would fill lots of pages, and many excellent people would still be missed.

If you have a question about who should be thanked for what, please e-mail gf_brown@yahoo.com.  You’ll receive a response, and – depending on the circumstances – the answer will probably be posted on the book’s Website: http://www.geocities.com/ad4results.  The Website is a timely source of information about Advertising for Results.

Introduction

Introduction

Since introductions are full of unimportant details, this one was ditched.  We’re going to jump right into this step-by-step guide to creating effective ads, because you need to get big results fast.  Let’s go.

Chapter 1.  Gathering

The blank screen

You have an advertising assignment of some sort.  If you’re sitting with a blank computer screen and struggling about what to do, stop.  There’s a better way.

To start with, forget that daunting assignment for a while.  Instead, gather facts that will interest and inform your audience.  And hey, take it easy.  This gathering process won’t stress you at all.  Rather than grappling for the right words, you can turn the radio on, muse about good things, and – oh, yeah – collect information.

Best of all, fact-finding is the right thing to do at this stage.  Ultimately, delivering advantages to the audience will produce more than pulling everything out of your head...or somewhere else.

FYI:  Gathering is seen as a low-level chore, but that’s not true.  Getting the nitty- gritty...

?  Makes you knowledgeable, and this is essential to success

?  Could give you the right strategy, appeal, idea – everything

The makings of a wonder worker

You’re probably told to generate stunning results on a small budget.  And do it instantly.

It’s tempting to quit before you start.  You think, “Nobody else has been able to advertise this product right.  And now they want me to pull off a miracle in two months!”

On the contrary:  You can put everything on the right course.  You can deliver solid advertising that pulls in more responses, builds the image, and does more over the long term.  But there are few miracles in the process.  You have to mastermind and follow a creative advertising program that changes with necessity.

Where you are gathering from

In the dream world, you have researchers giving you jaw-dropping data about whatever you want.  Needless to say, you can forget that.  In the real world, it’s you, a pile of old product literature, some Websites, and a five-day deadline.  But that’s fine. You’re a resourceful person, so you’ll rapidly uncover useful points that will help you create spellbinding ads.

Look through past company materials

This is the pile just mentioned, and it’s a tiptop source for product specifics.

Cut and paste like crazy.  Place “features” into one group, “specifications” into another, “company background” into yet another, etc.  Put together similar items, and if that group gets large, it will be worth considering.  You’ll think of a category name for it.

In short, you tear apart the old, examine it, and reconstruct it the right way.

Notable:  There are content experts in your organization.  Don’t ask them to tell you everything you need, because they are too busy and valuable for that. Rather, ask them if they have any documentation you can read.  They will say, “Sure!” and pile you up.

History of past campaigns

Your company’s previous marketing campaigns will help you a lot.  Dig into the files of every significant marketing effort that took place within the last couple of years.  Also, talk with those who were there.  You can even contact former employees, because everyone remembers how well a campaign performed.  They will be happy to help you, and they can lead you through the minefields.

When you look at an old campaign, you’re interested in the main points. For examples:  Who was getting it?  What was the message?  What was the outcome?  Campaigns rise or fall for profound reasons, not small ones.

What are you looking for?

You want anything interesting.  This includes stuff that is relevant to the...

? Product’s

 Value?

? Features

? Benefits

? Market’s

 Needs?

? Characteristics

Keep theorizing as you go

Don’t reserve your judgment until the end of the collecting process.  Keep thinking about what ad to create (this is what you’re ultimately doing, by the way) as you sift through the piles of everythings.  Modify your assessments as you learn more.

Understanding the ununderstandable

Let’s say you’re reading gobbledygook technical literature, and you have

to get features and benefits out of it.  If the text is in English (as opposed to chemical formulas, numeric tables or other confusifiers), there has to be something you can glean.

 Go word? by word if you must.

 Go into? your online dictionary and look up words.

There’s always a process, and it’s usually logical.  Here are two examples of procedures you can look for:

1.   Something goes into the product.  That something is changed.  And something else comes out.

2.   The service they provide has a beginning, middle, and end to it.

You won’t figure everything out, but you’ll advance in the assignment. Then, when you talk with a content expert, you can say, “I learned the product does ABC.  What I don’t get is XYZ.  Could you explain XYZ to me?”  It’s likely she’ll respond, “That’s a good question,” or, “We ask that question ourselves.”  You arrived!

Also:  When you learn many complex particulars, be happy.  Few others will want to get as far as you.

Competitive materials

Your competition will give you a treasure trove of information, so invest a lot of time at their public Websites.  To the smallest detail, you want to know what their product has and yours hasn’t, and vice versa.  Put together side-by-side comparisons of features and benefits.

There is more in the “Competition” section on page 53.  But right now, let’s talk about their public marketing materials.  Review them, and you’ll start learning about what you should and shouldn’t advertise.  It gets down to the basics:  If the competing product has more standard features than yours, you won’t say, “We have the most standard features.”

Try out the product

Use it.  You’ll add a new dimension to your thinking, and that could make all the difference.

Research

Embrace any advertising research you get, because you can learn a ton.  It’s hard to say enough about the importance of research, since it can tell you all kinds of things that otherwise might never occur to you.

Statistics reveal the future

Statistics can be a tremendous help to you, because they clue you in on what is going to happen (maybe).  Pay little attention to those who pay little attention to statistics.  View the data and get the drift.

This means we need to look at data in big-picture ways.

 Example? 1:  There is not much difference between a 40% result and 50% result.  For your purposes, they are about equal.

 Example? 2:  If the statistic says 10% of people do something, the real amount is probably not far off from that.  Like, it’s not 80%.  So, you know more than you did without the statistic.

Surveying surveys

You uncovered a survey.  That’s cool, because it will tell you a lot!  Now you can learn something.  You should check out...

1. Who is giving the survey?  That is least crucial.

2. Who is being surveyed?  That is more crucial.

3. What are they surveyed about?  That is most crucial. More on each of these:

1.   Who is giving the survey?  Don’t get sidelined by this.  Thousands of studies are conducted by industry publications – not by independent testing labs in Iowa.  Most publication surveys are ultimately geared to promote their magazine or Web-based information source, but be happy.  Their reports are straightforward.  Also, you’re examining narrow slices of your market, and there probably won’t be other free data.  Also, their reports are 99% straightforward.  You should learn the market’s...

? Characteristics

? Interest

 Trends? in the market

 Trends?

 Size?

You can easily spot the questions put in to hype the publication.  For example:  “If you had a daily news e-mail that delivered immediate news about hot topics critical to your success, would you read it?” And 92% said yes!

2.   Who is being surveyed is basic.  You would like people who match your market’s profile, or have some relation to what you’re doing.

3.   What they are surveyed about is what you care about!  As long as the questions don’t raise their defenses, people will give introspective answers.  And you’ll be clued in.

Judgment over research

Unfortunately, coworker Notman Agingit gloms onto data because it’s data.  “It’s obvious what we should do,” he says.  “Because the research tells us.”  He turns his mind off and lets a study manage the campaign.

Don’t do this!  The research data should only be your assistant.  The real star is...(drum roll)...Your Insightful Mind.

What’s in your head is almost always best.  For example, if your product is sold in extended care facilities, imagine being in an extended care facility. How would it be to live there?  To work there?  Rely on what you think up far more than what the research tells you.  Read more on this in “The Jump-In method” on page 38.

It’s not easy to make your case

When you put the most trust in your insights (that’s what we did in the last subsection), some people won’t understand.  And it can be a trialing experience.

Attorney:  In your ad, why did you tell the market what you did?

You:  It was a feeling I had.

Attorney:  A feeling.  So, none of your potential customers said this is what they wanted?

You:  No one, no.

Attorney:  Indeed, according to this focus group report, prospects were telling you something completely different from what you decided to do. Isn’t that true?

You:  Yes, but I didn’t think the people in the focus group were expressing their true feelings.  I still don’t.

Loud court murmur.

In short, your job isn’t to rubber stamp “OK” to what the research says.  Factor that data into your perceptive decision.

Reference:  “Latch on illogically,” on page 97.

cLet’s say you’re assigned to market fabric to consumers, and you

know little about cloth.  You can at least think, “Lots more women will buy this fabric than men.”  It’s beyond dispute.

Despite this, coworker Solex Ample says, “My Uncle Lircaw buys a lot of fabric, so I think we should market to men as well.”  Hmph.  Lex, your uncle is an exception, and you shouldn’t let his situation dominate your judgment.

If Solex presses the issue, ask him this:  “What do you think is the percentage of men who buy fabric?”  Solex might respond, “I have no

idea.  Maybe we should do a study.  Sol, there’s no time for that!  The fact is:  You’re paid to make strong assessments when you have scant information.  So, please: Use some common sense now.

Above all, don’t let screwball opinions stop your progress.  It’s serious.  If you follow people who have zero marketing sense, the advertising will fail.

Market research vs. time

Performing lots of research can put you into a difficult situation, because three critical months are spent studying, and there are no responses (a.k.a. leads, replies, orders, inquiries) coming in.  You can’t say you have the answer because you don’t.  Instead, you need to let the market begin telling you the answers.  Learn more about this in “Trialing reigns,” on page 19.

Reference:  “Can’t keep gathering,” on page 18.

Inside

Talk with coworkers

They’re all around you and they know a lot.  It’s time to get some sage advice from them.

Be humble in your pursuit

A detective doesn’t claim to have the case solved before she comes on the scene, and you shouldn’t either.  So, never act like the #1 Advertising Guru. Say this instead:  “I don’t have all the answers now.  I only have questions. We won’t know for a while.”

Relatedly, it may be tempting to isolate yourself in this process…to give this impression:  “I’m the brooding genius – don’t bother me.”  However, it’s a smarter genius who brings coworkers into the process.  Two reasons (aside from the usual ones):

1.   Coworkers help you cut through the bull.

2.   Coworkers get complaints about marketing off their chests.  You’ll hear them say, “If you ask me, we don’t do enough...”  And, “We’ve been doing that the wrong way.”  Take their thoughts seriously.

Setup for the interview

Who, what, when, where, why and how

Also known as 5Ws&H, these question words put you on the fast track to getting information.  You want to know who the market is, what the product does, when people buy, etc.

5Ws&H help you every time.  Let’s say one of the content experts has time to answer your questions...but you haven’t written any.  No panic. Simply jot on your yellow notepad, “who, what, etc.”  The questions will start jumping out of you:  “Who, in your view, is this product for?”  Then enjoy the learning experience.

Lotsa notes

When your content expert dives deep into the subject, you could space out (OK, you will space out) and lose track of the discussion.  Taking voluminous notes won’t keep your mind from wandering, but it gives you something to reference when the expert finishes and awaits the next question.  “Oh!” you awaken and exclaim.  You glance look at your notes, then read-and-repeat what he last said.  Simultaneously, another question comes to you.  You’re saved.

Short point:  Learn how to write quickly/illegibly, because you’ll pick up more facts.  Type up your notes right after the meeting, and your memory will fill in the unreadable spots.

Ask dumb questions.  Really

A content expert will speak about something for 30 minutes.  Then you’ll ask, “I’m sure I should know this, but what is that [basic item] you spoke about?”  Watch his mouth drop to the floor.  He says with his eyes, “We all know that!  How could you be in this organization and not know that?”

Oh, well.  Some believe you have to know everything before you can learn anything.  This is wrong, of course.  You’re putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and you’ll start to get the picture before some essential sections are together. You ask basic questions to help complete the image.

Relatedly, if you spend your time trying to impress the experts, 1) you won’t learn anything, 2) you won’t impress them, and 3) you won’t turn out valuable ads.  Ask whatever you think will shed light, and let people wonder how a confused marketer gets such awesome results.

Still, you should not say, “I never understand what they’re talking about around here!”  That’s inviting trouble, because you’re really saying, “I’m ignorant and I think it’s funny.”  This won’t help you.  Instead, when cornered on the “how much do you know?” question, here is your reply:  “I’m always learning around here.”  Nobody would respond, “I’m not learning.  I know everything already.”

Question obscure terms

Oodles of terms used within an industry (a.k.a. lingo) find their way into the marketing literature, but you don’t know if your market knows them.  So, for example, you ask coworkers:  “Is our audience familiar with Luddism?”  About 20% of the time you’ll discover that your market isn’t familiar, and it’s good you checked.

Managing the interview

You’ll learn bunches from your interviews with content experts.

However, unless you’re steering the conversation correctly, it can bog down with discussions that have little to do with your goal.

Oh, and here is the goal:  To discover pertinent details – stuff that will attract the market.

This is what you do:  While the expert is speaking, filter it silently.  Ask yourself, “Does my market care about what this expert is saying?”  If the answer is no, think:  “What would my market care about?”  Then steer the conversation in that direction.  In other words, ask questions that help you understand how and why this product is right for the market.

What understanding did you get?

Well?

The hidden drama

A heckuva lot goes into your product.  There are little-known

fascinatingnesses in the...

 Thought? behind it

 Battle? for it

 Design? of it

? Components in it

? Manufacture of it

 Quality? control with it

Content experts know the tiny details.  Therefore, inquire of the expert: “What are some interesting things that few people know about the product?”

Talk with salespeople

Many inside scoops come from the sales department.  These folks work on the front lines every day, and they will give you mind-boggling information about what moves buyers.

For example:  A statistic tells you that 35% of your product purchases are in California.  That’s fine...but why so much?  You ask a salesperson and she replies, “There’s a lot of military in California.”  Interesting.  Maybe you could do something with this in the advertising.

Learning outside the company

Talk with prospects

To learn about the prospects, speak to them.  Sounds obvious?  Sure, but some marketers find it too bothersome to talk with prospects.  They’d rather draw conclusions from inane TV shows that satirize, romanticize, or characterize the prospects.  (As a rule of thumb, TV presents the wrong perspective of every group.)  In short, some creative people don’t want to learn what is beyond their remote controls.

There is no reason for this, because interviewing prospects is easy. Contact a potential customer and ask open-ended questions, like, “What are you looking for?”  Write down his words verbatim.  He will give you new perspectives, and it will only cost some e-mails and phone calls.

Reference:  “prospect as a friend,” on page 37.

Contact experts from your past

Let’s say you have a new writing assignment, and you need to know a lot about the chemical elements...like Au and the H and O from H2O.  Since you barely got through chemistry in high school, you aren’t going to rely on your own knowledge.

Solution:  Go out to Websites pertaining to your subject (not the corporate sites, but the “I’m so wild about chemistry I built this site” sites).  Send out five "can you help me?" e-mails to the sites’ gurus and you should get two replies.  You’ll learn what you need to know without rummaging through piles of research books.  And you'll make a great new online friend.

Reference excellent work

The CIA’s tactics are secret, making it difficult for competing intelligence operations to learn them.  However, you can see terrific advertising tactics by looking at magazines, Websites, TV commercials, and direct mail pieces.  Let that outstanding output inspire you.

Challenge:  Be at least as good as the best.

Also:  If you were expecting a little ha-ha line about the CIA, sorry.  This book is too chicken.

Can’t keep gathering

Gathering is splendid.  But it has to end now, because everyone is waiting for you to make accomplishments.  Solutions need to fly out of you, because...

 Long? research hours aren’t budgeted

 The? deadline is approaching

 The? facts you collect become repetitive

 There? are other assignments

Everything will fall apart if you hesitate at any point in this process.  The responses won’t come in, the salespeople won’t have materials, and the organization will lose confidence in you.  Yu dunt wunt this.

Advice:  Work so fast that coworkers say you hit the ground running on the advertising assignment, and it’s well on the way.  This will avoid doubts and other unhappinesses.

Profiling those who delay

For gosh sake, don’t be like those who walk around the project.  They drag their feet, and then blame everyone else when deadlines are missed.

 Don’t? call meetings two weeks out and wait to act until then.  Instead, set up a quick teleconference.

 Don’t? say you must hold on ad creation until the new product is complete. Get started and fill in the blanks later.

 Don’t? set up on-site research at some remote place.  Wing it.

In a word, charge!

Here are two reasons some advertisers lollygag:

1.   They don’t trust their own judgment enough to act on it.  But your judgment is excellent, so worry not.  If you have uncertainties, don’t fret. Experimenting with different approaches (something we're going to do) should resolve everything.  You’ll let the market determine what it wants, and you’ll earn responses in the meantime.  Reference:  “Trialing reigns,” on page 19.

2.   They are unwilling to put in the extra hours necessary to make early accomplishments.  It’s a well-known fact that ad creation consumes a lot of time, so they need to adjust.

Yours is better by three months

Coworker Ignor Dudate says, “I guess it’s good you got the ads out there when you did, but you should have performed more research first.”

Your reply:  “Nev, our ads are getting the ultimate research:  The market is judging them, and we’re learning by counting the responses that come in. In other words, we’re determining what the market wants, and we’re generating leads while we're at it.  All this beats the traditional notion of research.”

In short, it’s called:  “Earn while you learn.”

Experimenting

The spectacular failure

Advertiser Cap Tainsmith decides to put a titanic effort behind one new concept.  He declares:   “This will be the largest campaign we’ve ever done!”  Developing it takes months longer than anticipated.  Sales leads aren't coming in.  Opportunities are missed.  Still, Cap is certain this enormous new campaign will float.  It has to.

Nevertheless, it sinks.  This is because Cappy didn't...

 Quickly? get the advertising into the market

 Let the? market tell him what it wanted

 Make? adjustments accordingly

Bad campaign?  Don’t count on repetition

Some advertisers believe that a strong budget can force a weak ad onto the market.  This wasteful strategy fails way too often.

Of course, repetition can make a strong ad sink in.  You pound the message lots of times, the audience finally understands, and responds. Reference:  “Lather, rinse, repeat,” on page 127.

Rule of thumb:  A sensational ad with a poor budget does better than a poor ad with a sensational budget.

Trialing reigns

Instead of risking a major disaster, trial.  When you trial, you run different types of advertising, measure the replies, and determine your next course of action.  This way, the market tells you what to do.

Here is a simple way to trial.  It’s called a “split run test.”  You...

 Come up? with three different approaches

 Turn? them into three direct response pieces

 Put a? different response code number onto each piece

 Mail? them to similar groups

 Count? the responses

 Make? future moves based upon what you learn

Testing continues as you expand and sharpen your efforts.

You can also perform split runs with broadcast e-mail campaigns, Internet vehicles and many print magazines.

Bottom line:  Ultimately, it all comes down to trial and error.

Select response-oriented media

A key to all this is measuring responses.  You’re seeing how you’re doing as you move along.  In order to accomplish this, you need to advertise in places that deliver quantifiable data about the results. Otherwise, the advertising will always be seen as an expense – one that can be cut when times get tough.

You’re purchasing leads and customers

You want to say, “We’re not spending money on advertising.  We’re purchasing sales leads and new customers.”  Here is a way to tabulate these purchases.  It is a comparison of three different mailers.

As you see what works the best (“Bolts” is a real winner), you can ramp it up.  Send the mailer to more people, and buy more customers for less money.

Advancing before all the results are in

Typical trialing (like the kind you just read about) isn’t practical in

most cases, probably because:

 You’re? advertising in a medium that doesn’t allow split runs.

 You’re? moving swiftly, and you can’t wait for indicators.

The solution is to leapfrog.

Leapfrogging

The best way to explain leapfrogging is with an example.  Let’s say it’s November 20, and you have to place magazine insertions.  You decide to create three distinct ads, and run...

? Approach 1 in the January issue

? Approach 2 in the February issue

? Approach 3 in the March issue

Now it’s February 12, so you’re counting responses from the January and February insertions.  Also, you’ve already committed Approach 3 for March.  The question is:  What should you run in April?

You thought the January approach would deliver loads of responses (that’s why you ran it first), but it brought in only a handful.  However, your February ad is showing promise.

For April, and you decide to rerun Approach 2.  Therefore, that promising February ad is leapfrogging over March and going into April. Also, it will probably become the basis for your long-term campaign.  But the March ad could still become your best performer.

Some points about leapfrogging:

 Rather? than running one approach for three months and risking having a three-time loser, you’re giving yourself three opportunities to succeed.

 This? method gives you more time to work up those ads.  The March ad didn’t have to be completed until two months after the January ad

– thank goodness.  If you did a split-run and produced three ads at the same time, that would have been a triple burden.  Also, if a person is unhappy with the tone in the January ad, you can reply, “I'll make sure our next ad doesn't come across that way.”

Jumpstarting a comprehensive campaign

It would be wonderful if we had time to experiment with approaches.

However, throughout life you’ll have few opportunities to trial.  Maybe you’ll need a new image for an upcoming trade show.  Maybe you’ll only have three weeks to launch a campaign for the crucial selling season. Whatever.  Most times, you have one chance, and it has to produce.

You can pull this off, and here is how.  You run different ads that…

 Promote? different appeals

 Keep a? similar visual theme

For example, you decide upon an auto-racing theme.  You create three ads with one overall visual (racecars) and three different messages:

1.   Power.  Show racecar being fueled.

2.   Speed.  Show one car overtaking another.

3.   Control.  Show hand on a gearshift.

Run the ads, count the responses from each, and figure that one of these messages will outpace the others.  Then, shift the direction of your campaign toward that message.  Also, if one of the three ads has a weak response, don’t fret.  It still contributed to your overall racing theme.

Reference:  “Let’s build a campaign,” on page 84.

The world’s fastest pretest

Before you finalize those three ads, e-mail them to prospective customers and ask, “What do you think of these?”  People enjoy being asked, and you’ll learn a lot.

Assessing responsibility for success or failure

You run ads and send out direct mailers, and you achieve success.  All right!  The question is:  What made the campaign a winner – the ads or the mailers...or the PR...or the word of mouth?

When there are several factors, it’s difficult to pinpoint what is responsible for what.  Did the championship team win because of their tremendous offense or their amazing defense?  Sometimes that’s easy to figure out, and sometimes it’s not.  You’ll hear plenty of opinions, though. No matter what people say, know that life is complicated.

Take the semi-long view

Regarding making progress:  You want to make periodic gains that increase the average return over time.  That’s a mouthful, so let’s divvy it up.

? Periodic gains:  Don’t talk about making ever-increasing improvements (“every month we’ll see an increase”).  That is too optimistic.  You get more breathing room by talking about making periodic gains:  “We’re moving in the right direction.”

 Average? return:  It’s better to look back after a length of time and take averages.

 Over? time:  Someone will ask, “How long will it take for this campaign to be successful?”  Rule of thumb:  Assess how long it will take prospects to see your message four times.  This is a very shaky thumb – many factors come into play.

Looking in the window of opportunity

For example:  Your product has new features and you need to promote them.

The competition has similar new features, so there is a race to the market.

It takes you three weeks to launch a benefits-driven campaign, and three months for the competition to launch a super-slick campaign.  Who won?  You did.  Reason:  The market wants benefits more than slickness.

Advice:  Make high-speed progress, because then nobody can catch you.

Working with zipola

You might not have any time to gather, and you can still come up with an outstanding strategy.  How?  You put your head back, close your eyes, and think: “The competitors seem to be going [these ways].  The prospects want it [this other way].  Let’s advertise [this other way] and sell the heck out of this stuff.”  And you do.

“Hold it!” someone says.  “If I can do that, why should I read the whole Strategy section in this book?”

We must never ask that question.

Chapter 2.  Objectives

Things to know before embarking

First, we need to consider some considerations...then we’ll get to the objectives.

What is advertising?

Without looking in the dictionary, let’s cook up a definition.  Here goes:

“There’s this entity – the promoter.  He, she, or it wants to communicate a message in order to achieve something.  The word advertising covers this whole matter.”

Put everything through the wringer

You may have read on page 10, “History of past campaigns,” that when you’re pursuing sellable facts, you should disregard the small points.  Forget that stupidity.  Instead, leave no stone unturned.  Consider the product from every angle.  For example, fill in these blanks:

This product is a         .  Its purpose is to         .  The person who needs it is a         .  The product helps him by         .  It ends an ordeal with         .  The prospects should care because         .

When you’re marketing a product, every part of it is “the potential Eureka,” because something you didn’t assess might jump out at you.

“Um...about those strict orders you gave me?”

You won’t lead your company to the goals by following every smart person’s advice.  You’ll probably find their directives don’t match.  Follow them all and you’ll only run around in circles, water down your ad, bark up the wrong tree, or some other metaphor.  Rather, let their advices (new word) enhance and modify your judgment.

Scatter

If you try to take in the whole project in one sitting, it will be too overwhelming and you’ll avoid the assignment.  So, take it a piece at a time. When you come up with a solution in one sub-area, it will help you in some of the others.

Getting to the objectives

What are the goals for this ad, anyway?  Here are some questions that can help you find the answers.

Questions about you...

 Why are? you advertising?

 What? kind of results do you want?

Questions about the ad...

 What is? this ad trying to do?

 What? are the priorities for it?

 What is? it trying to say?

 What? kind of tree would it be?

Questions about the audience

 What? are we asking the audience to believe?

 How do? you want the audience to be changed after seeing the ad?

 What is? the audience supposed to come away with?

Making notable progress over time

When asked to predict how well your campaign will perform, say this:  “I know our organization wants a complete turnaround in a matter of weeks, but this is like an exercise program.  We’re going to make notable progress over time.  That’s a more realistic goal.”

Don’t have too many goals for an ad

You’ve already been given many objectives for one little ad.  Like these:

 “Get? lots of responses”

 “Say? our product the most convenient”

? “Improve our company image”

? “Introduce a new feature”

? “Respond to a competitor’s bogus claim”

Coworker Cram Jammitz says, “You need to add another objective, and this is critical.  We need to emphasize that ours is the most durable.  Don’t you think it’s necessary to say this?”

That’s a trick question.  The answer is:  It’s time to reexamine what this ad is supposed to do, because it’s too full of objectives already.  Some points need to go into other places, like the direct mail piece.

Reference:  “Staking out territory,” on page 84.

Satisfying the criteria

You come up with a superexcellent concept, and you fall in love with it immediately.  For example, you write this headline:  “Are your records stored in Uranus?”  Then you realize it has a fatal shortcoming.

The mistake is to go forward with the flawed ad and hope nobody will notice or care.  Most often, the defection will grow, and it will damage the campaign.  The idea wasn’t worth all those troubles.  Change “Uranus” to “Mars” now – before it becomes something you don't want.

Face it:  You’re selling!

One way or another, you have to sell to people.  Enjoy it.

Don’t believe a successful copywriter who says, “I don’t know, I don’t try to sell anything.  I lie in my garden and make little sketches of the gooseberries, and the words flow out.”

Correction:  He is selling, because he is successful.  It’s just that he knows how to slice the “Aw shucks” baloney and make it his self-package.

Watch politicians most “sincere” politicians and you’ll see the same mechanics in motion.  The winners sell almost all the time.  The top-top winners act as if they aren’t selling...when of course they are.

You don’t just create ads, you create responses

Here’s some cold water in the face:  If you produce ads, you’re an expense.

And expenses get cut.  If you produce results, you’re a revenue source.  And you don’t get cut.  Hopefully.

Chapter 3.  Strategy

It’s it

Strategy is figuring out what you’re going to do.  And as the copywriter, developing the right strategy is the most necessary work you’ll perform.

“Come on!” someone declares.  “Choosing which direction to go is more important than creating content?”

Yes, because your copy is an implementation of your strategy.  If your strategy is good but your creative is inferior, you’ll probably succeed.  However, if your creative is good but your strategy is inferior, you’ll probably fail.

Also, your strategizing never stops, even when you’re deciding how to arrange your final copy blocks.  So, wherever you are in the process, understand that you can’t be a la-la copywriter who lets everyone else handle the strategy.  You have to think...and think...all the way through.

Building the framework

The framework is at the core of your strategy.  It’s a simple structure your whole team should agree to before going forward.  It consists of five parts, and it forms the basic basicnesses of your campaign.  Here they are:

We’ll learn about these parts starting in a few pages, but there’s some other stuff first.  Afterwards, you’ll assemble a phenomenal framework.

No planning is wrong…

…and over-planning is wrong.  It’s foolish to throw ads out there without putting lots of thought behind them.  However, it’s also bad to waste valuable months erecting a giant plan that collapses under its own weight.  You need to strike a balance.  Immediately.

Out with the old

Some of the smart old methods have to be tossed away.  For example, the old way is to put an ad through 15 revisions before putting it out there.  Please reconsider doing this, because we’re in the digital communication world.  It’s better to get the ad out there in 21 days, generate responses, and keep improving everything.  Three points:

1.   This is what your smartest competitors are doing.

2.   Minor improvements probably won’t increase the response.

3.   You can’t say, “I took the normal amount of time to create this ad,” when the feeling is, “We’re in the digital age.  You can get a great ad done in a very short time.”

Be zippy

Here is the familiar (slow) game plan for resultful advertising:

The product gains awareness in the market…

...then the prospects begin thinking favorably about it…

...and the prospects respond.

This plan makes sense on paper, but it usually falls apart in the real world. It takes too long to get responses, and the advertiser runs out of money, time, and patience.

Here is the less familiar (speedy) way:  Do everything at once.  In one ad, tell prospects why they should be aware of the product, why they should use it, and why they should respond now.  As a result, many prospects should reply now.  A respondent will say afterwards, “I never heard of that product before.  I still can’t remember the name.  But I contacted them, and they’re sending me a sample.”

The point:  You don’t have the funds or time to build awareness first.  So, take the big leap and get responses now.  The person who buys your product will be aware of you, and – given your circumstances – this is enough.

The vacuum

The vacuum is a place someone puts himself in when he can’t see the realities of the...

? Audience’s needs.  “Vac, few people are going to accept this.”

? Competitive situation.  “Vac, our product is getting killed out there!”

? Product’s limitations.  “Vac, face it:  Ours is slower.”

Vac needs to get out in the world and see that he is not the market’s dictator.  He is another servant to it.

Product

Introduction to the product

Now we’re getting to the bottom of everything, because that’s where the product is.  Most of what you’re going to do depends on the kind of product or service you have.  For example, if you’re advertising for a jewelry store, don’t show jewelry thieves.

It’s impossible to know what product you have, so this book spends little time in this vital area.  Instead, let’s overdo it and say, “Wow, it’s necessary for you to know everything about the product.”  And, “Boy, it’s invaluable to study the product.”

What is this product supposed to do?

You’re reading about the product.  Ask yourself, “What is this product supposed to do?”  Don’t settle on easy answers.  Get creative.

Let’s you’re advertising a bucket.  “Yes, it holds water,” you think.  “And water saves lives.”  Now it’s more than a bucket.  It’s something that saves lives.

Note:  This kind of thinking is a basic fundamental foundation in advertising – and a core to it.

Are you convinced?

Would you buy your product?  No copping out with, “Since the product isn’t meant for me, of course I wouldn’t.”  You must answer.  Would you buy your product?

If yes, why?  Use your answer to help construct your ad message.

If no, what is holding you back?  This could lead to soul searching about the value of the product.

Hopefully:  Your product is developed to the point you can say, “Of course people will choose it, because it’s a lot better.”

Regarding price

We’re going to look at price two ways:

? Investing (details are coming right up):  You are convincing the prospects they are getting a strong Return on Investment, so the product doesn’t cost them anything.  It saves and earns them money.

? Paying (starts on page 31):  You’re stating that the product does indeed cost money.

Investing

Demonstrate to the audience that they aren’t spending money to get your product.  They are receiving a major solution to a major problem, and more solutions to other problems.  Therefore, your product is saving them in dozens of ways.  They even generate income from it.

Try not to talk about how the audience is parting with dollars, because that isn’t the whole story.  Talk about ways your product saves them money.  Tell them it can help them make more money.  Show them the time and effort they will save translates into dollars for them.

Two side points:

1.   Promoting investment doesn’t fit every situation.  For example, it probably won’t sell a cup of coffee.

2.   Often, you do need to talk cost.  For example, “It’s 20% less price than our nearest competitor.  And it’s an excellent investment.”

However, you should always consider shifting the message to saving/earning, partly because it could help your audience justify the purchase.

3XROI

Before you advertise, you must reach a three-time Return on Investment (3XROI) with your product.  That is, if someone spends $10 to own your product, he gets at least $30 back.  To accomplish this, list what your prospects receive in return for their money.  Factor in the value from increased productivity, saved time, reduced effort, and improved multi- tasking.  Following are some selling points you can give to the prospects:

? Time:  You’ll save hours and days.  You can invest that time more productively.

 Money? earned:  The product helps you make more money.

 Future? spending:  You’ll need to buy less – next week and next year.

? Appearance:  This is one sharp product, and looks can make all the difference in your job, relationships, etc.

? Effort:  The struggle is over.  You’re no longer bogged down.

Once you’ve tallied a 3XROI from the product, go forth and advertise! You’ll have so much eye-opening stuff, you won’t be able to fit it all in.

Tying ROI to product features

ROI alone can’t form a convincing ad, because the prospects need to know what the product does for them.  So, tie features and ROI together. For example:  “It works instantly, and that saves you valuable time.” Works instantly is the feature, and saves valuable time is the ROI.

Also, ROI won’t turn the trick for some low-cost and negligible purchases.  If you sell thumbtacks, don’t try to convince the prospects they will get an ROI from them.  However, you should still think about the ROI, because it will lead you to consider new benefits.

Basic objective:  Give people lots in return for the money they pay...and lots more than the competition offers.

Paying

Fess up

It’s wonderful to talk about investment, but don’t be evasive about price.

Your prospects have been advertised to hundreds of thousands of times, and they want to know what the product costs.

Do you put the price into the ad?  Here is a cop out answer:  Advertisers in your industry segment have probably already made this decision, because – by tradition – they either talk price or they don’t.  Think twice before breaking with long-held practices.

“It costs much less…when you see what you’re getting”

If your product costs more, turn the whole matter on its head.  Show the audience how your product is the better value.  For example:  “We give you a five-year guarantee – something the competition is afraid to offer.”  There should be good reasons your product is more expensive, and you should tell them.

Don’t push the general product

It’s a waste of time to tell the restaurant owner why he should buy seafood.  Why should he buy your brand of seafood?

Prospect

Goodness gracious – all this effort for one person.  (This odd statement will be cleared up on page 33.)

Going step-by-step to get the prospect

We’re going to talk more about each of the following.  Here is the order:

Scope, coming right up

Choose, on page 36

Reach, on page 38

Grab, on page 42

Pull, on page 43

Scope

Defining the market

The market is everyone who might buy your product.

You want to know who the market is, and we’ll get to that on page 33. Right now, we’ll talk about how many people there are in your market.

If a wise source says your total market comprises 100,000 people, that means 10% of a million humans could purchase your product.  OK:  The how many question is settled.  Now, the question is:  What percentage of the 100,000 makes up the active market?  This requires a new subsection.

The active market

Most people in the total market (that 100,000) aren’t going to buy your product at – least not this year.  So, the active market becomes key.  This is everyone who might buy your product now or in the near future.

What percentage of the total market can be considered the active market?  That depends on a lot, including the economy, season, and price.

For example, take price.  Let’s say you’re selling an expensive product.  In our case:

 The? total market is 100,000 people.

 The? active market is 1% of that total.

 So,? there are 1,000 people in the active market.

The point:  If you advertise in such a way that you reach all 100,000 people (you won’t be able to – this is an academic discussion), then 1,000 people will have an active interest in responding to your ad.

This doesn’t mean 1,000 people will respond to your ad.  It does mean:

 You? have to put out a kickin’ ad – one that gets many of those 1,000 to reply.

 You? want the ad to be so good that plenty of those 99,000 others…

 Wake up?

? Instantly turn themselves into active prospects

 Respond? to your ad

Getting back to the price issue, if it’s an inexpensive product, the active market might be 5% of the market (not 1%, as we saw with the expensive product).

If all this sounds muddled and inexact, you get the idea.  Now, let’s get more confusing and talk about who the market is.  The reason: Smart advertising doesn’t speak to the whole market, but one person.

Who is this one person?

The prospect!  See, you’re never addressing all the people in your audience.  You’re only talking to one person:  the prospect.  The reason: All that matters is how your message is received, and that is done one person at a time.  Case in point:  You aren’t reading these words as a multi-headed being, but as an individual.  All by yourself.

Side story

Agora Fobia is petrified, because she has never advertised to a million people before.  She decides to formalize her style…write stiff copy...make it appropriate for all those people.

Agor should calm herself.  If she had read the last section, Ag would know she is only talking to one person:  the prospect.  The multiplication of that number is inconsequential.

One-on-one communication

Be glad that ad communication is handled one-on-one, because you’re already wonderful at this kind of exchange.  Friends always depend on you for help...you’ve given family members smart advice...and less than a month ago, your words improved the spirits of a coworker.

Don’t let a nonexistent thing called The Mass Audience keep you from using your mesmerizing powers of encouragement.  In conversation, you can lead a friend to go the right way.  Just do it the same way in your advertising.

Semi-relatedly, if the audience is full of VIPs, the informal style could work even better.  Two reasons:

1.   It projects confidence.  You show you belong there.

2.   It’s more daring.  How could you communicate so casually with these powerful readers?  You’re doing a high wire act. People innately recognize that, and they enjoy seeing it.

Putting all this another way (one that has been related by many): The prospect is no different from an e-mail companion who has a mess you can solve.  You write to your friend in the style you determine, given who that person is – cousin, former manager, childhood friend, etc.  You say that you...

? Understand her conundrum

 Have? the right solution

 Know a? special way to get that solution now (such as a sale)

? Encourage her to try the solution

And that’s about it!

Universalism

How can you select the one prospect?  This requires a shift in thinking.

Since our society emphasizes the individual over the group, it’s easy to believe we’re all different.  However, it ain’t so.  There are enormous masses of people who are – for an advertiser’s purposes – the same.  When you’re in a crowd, look around.  Are those other people familiar?  They’re you!  They have the same basic things you do.  And, since things are what advertisers sell, the issue is settled.

Advertisements are rife with irony here.  You see ads with these messages:  “You’re one of a kind!  You go your own way.”  Yet they’re selling, what – a million of these products?  Advertisers speak to what an individual believes, and then they expand it to the masses.

Universalism leads to consistency

How can you see social consistency firsthand?  Perhaps you have something that people always get wrong.  They always pronounce your last name wrong.  They think you’re the younger one, but you’re actually older.  That is social consistency, and you can do wonders with it.

For example, if you send a message to 1,000 people and it delivers a 3% response, you can ramp up.  Mail that same piece to 15,000 similar people and get, um, probably not a 3% response.  It might be 2% or 1%, because things don’t operate that cleanly. However, it’s unlikely you’ll get a 0.01% response, and that’s key. You can score many successes with this range of consistency.

Overall thinking:  If you understand the continuity in people, you’ll enjoy a wonderful career in advertising.

Collective consciousness

This is what a market communally feels.  To shed more light on this, let’s make you a car dealer (though that will only be noteworthy near the end).  You’re on your lunch break.  You go into the quick shop, and you hear two people talking about a major rock concert that’s rolling into town.  Then you stop at a fast food place and you hear someone else talking about the same concert. You surmise there is a collective consciousness of this concert. That is, a vigorous percentage of the community is talking about it and thinking about it.  There is a buzz.

OK, you car dealer:  You’re creating a radio commercial, and it starts running this Thursday.  You toss out your traditional script and say this:  “Everyone’s talking about the concert event of the year.  That’s right.  This Saturday, my brother Rich will play his electric guitar in our showroom.  And we have free admission.”

In sum, you’re playing off the concert – something that has a collective consciousness.  You’re redirecting some of the buzz to you.

Know your prospect’s personality

Study what it is and find your own insightful insights.  For example, you might say this: “She’s a fickle person.  But that means she’ll also be loyal, because she probably won’t find other solutions that satisfy her.  We should invest more to get her as a customer, because she’ll stay with us longer.”

Mind of the market

With market behavior, nothing is simple.  The prospect can act irrationally.  Nostalgically.  Territorially.  Loyally.  Emotionally. You’ll invest a career trying to understand what the prospect wants, and if you can gain more knowledge each year, you’re ahead.

Physical profile

Many like the idea of naming the prospect and writing up a description.  For example:  “Our prospect is Rhonda, a 38-year-old accountant who lives in a St. Louis suburb.  She worries about her

five-year-old collie, because...”  This write-up is effective if coworker Nocon Trol is feeling flighty.  It helps prevent him from saying, “Let’s advertise to interplanetary beings.  There’s an untapped audience.”

Otherwise, whether you need to write a profile depends on what you’re selling.  For example, if men and women use your product equally, it doesn’t help to say the prospect is a man.  In most cases, your prospect can be The Prospect, a person who could have this or that title, and might be employed in this or that department.

Only one thing is really necessary:  Everyone must share the same problem.  Go to “Problem,” on page 43.

When the prospect isn’t just self

Your prospect might act on behalf of someone else.  For example, the man becomes sick.  His wife does everything she can to resolve his condition.  You might advertise to his wife.

Jaded

Few will admit it, but the prospect relies on advertising more than any other source for product knowledge.  (Now, that’s power.) However, learning what is out there is wearisome for him.  He has to sift through piles of BS, and this has made him as jaded as you are. Maybe more.

So, you have a choice:  You can either give him more of the same crud he’ll brush off, or give him something innovative and helpful.

Choose

Journey to the center of the world

Bert says, “Our prospect knows he’s insignificant.  He sees himself as the little guy.  Let’s begin from there.”

And Bert can end there, too.  Because every person is a center, and the world revolves him or her.  Take you, for example.  While you put family, friends, and workplace before yourself, on a minute-by-minute basis your life belongs to you – you’re number one.  Advertising catches you in those minutes, and smart advertisers direct their messages to you – the center of the universe.

Question:  Does your ad put your prospect first, eighth, or 3,792,453,327th?

Get into the prospect’s life

Contemplate everything related to your prospect.  What are her likes and dislikes, and hopes and fears?  You’re going to find somethings that put you in hot pursuit of a concept.

For example, you think:  “Our prospect is the kind of lady who puts a holiday wreath on the front grill of her car.  Hmm.  What can I do with that?”

2-d to 3-d

Some advertisers have superficial views of their potential

customers.  They say their customers...

 “Drink? beer all day”

 “Only? care about their golf games”

 “Are? single minded.  It’s all music at that age”

All this misses the boat.  Rather than putting up cardboard cutouts of people, discover the three-dimensional world inside them.  Then you’ll connect with them.

A preachy moment

The advertiser should fade from the process if he would not want to have...

 The? prospect as a friend

 Dinner? in the prospect’s neighborhood

Reasons:

 The? advertiser can’t make genuine appeals to the prospect.

 The? prospect deserves advertising from someone who

respects her.  Advertising con artists need to be identified and banished to remote islands.

How hip is your prospect?

That is going to determine how much lingo, humor and irony you can use.

The powerful have less time

If you sat in an airport all day and watched travelers read publications, how many people would tear out ads, or call a phone number in an ad?  Probably zero.  It shows how hard your ad has to work.

The more decision-making power the prospect has, the less time she has.  She is busy with other matters, so don’t tell her everything you want to.  Instead, give your choicest points, relate them to solutions she needs, and make a powerful limited-time offer.  That’s it! That’s really it.

Seeing how people see

Without looking like a creep, glance at the way other people read magazines.  Comm Uter scans the ads with little concern.  If the visual or headline doesn’t get him, he moves on to the next page.

However, if an ad does catch his attention, he’ll give it 10 more seconds of his time.  Will he continue to be drawn in?  It mostly depends on whether the ad’s worker creator tried to make that happen.

The observer

As an advertising person, you should have to have an overwhelming, lifelong interest in what people are doing – what they are carrying, holding, eating, etc.  Also, you should want to know what kinds of people they are in relation to what they are doing.

Reach

The Jump-In method

Amazing but true:  Inside you is almost everything you need to sell the prospect.  This is best shown with the Jump-In method.  Here, you keep your own mind, and you hop into the body of your prospect.

For example:  Our hopper-inner is Bob.  He is advertising lifesaving climbing equipment.  Bob thinks, “As a mountain climber, I’d be worried about getting paralyzed.  But I wouldn’t be worried about falling and dying, even though that’s what I’m supposed to be addressing.  I think I’ll talk about preventing paralysis in the next ad.”

So, with the Jump-In method, you apply your own sensibilities to the prospect’s situation, and you advertise accordingly.

Kant Dewit says, “But my prospect is a 76-year-old grandmother, and I’m not.”  So what?  You and she have lots in common.  Imagine how you’d feel in her position, and you’ll gain access to her mind and world. And this is where you need to be.

Also, you’ll eliminate inconsequentialities in your advertising. Reason:  If you wouldn’t care about it, you wouldn’t ask your prospect to care about it.  This consolidates your copy – power-packs it.

A happy statement:  Use the Jump-In method, and you and the prospect will enjoy from a long and trusting relationship.

Get in line with the prospect’s thinking

If you can say what the prospect is thinking, you’re close to getting a response from him.  Because...how can he resist?  You’re on his wavelength.  You’ve hit the nail on the head.  You and he are partners in a single thought.

Tracking with the prospect means you’re not behind him, ahead of him, too far to the left or right, or on his bad side.  You’re with him.

Unfortunately, some advertisers cannot act as the prospect does.  They want to bring the prospect around to the company’s way of thinking.  And this will likely fail.

Who is trying to reach you?

In the last week, did any advertisers really try to reach you, or were they taking comfort saying to themselves, “We’re out here, and we look as good as the other ads.”  Don’t take this attitude in your advertising.  Reach the prospect.

Insights over benefits

What is commonly known:  Smart advertising talks about benefits more than features.  What is less known:  Smarter advertising talk about insights more than benefits.  For examples:

? Good...show a feature:  “This car solidly built.”

? Smart...provide a benefit:  “This car saves you from repairs.”

? Smarter...give an insight:  “Tired of wasting money on repairs?  This car is the answer.”

Insights put you where you need to be:

 Reading? the prospect’s mind

? Striking a chord

 Making? a connection

When you're connecting, the prospect trusts you enough (not much, but enough) that you can lead him through the advertisement and to the response zone.

Side note:  When you’re on track, you can take the prospect to extreme places.  For instance, you say, “That could take a week, and in your business, that’s an eternity.”  The prospect thinks, “You can say that again.”

Front and back of mind

If people only did what the fronts of their minds told them to, there would be no donut shops.  Therefore, the back of the mind is active. Advertise to it.

Driven by reason or emotion?

That is a key question, because those two choices (reason and emotion) take you in different directions.

1.   A reasonable path.  It’s easiest to understand the reasoned mind.  This person wants to hear that you have a significant solution for her, and then she’ll choose you.

2.   An emotional winding road.  There are endless paths in the emotional mind.  They’re complex and always changing. All respect is given to advertisers who have successfully navigated these routes over many years.

Catch the prospect by surprise

Your prospect keeps his emotional system under heavy guard.

You’re the thief...trying to break in.  Don’t make an overt play to the emotions – that’s like seeing if the front door is open.  It won’t be.

What is the perfect way to gain access?  Catch him when and where he is not well guarded.  And that occurs when he is expecting something else.

For example, you’re running a corporate businessy type ad. Toward the end of the ad, you switch to a heartwarming message, and it makes the prospect smile.  You got past his guards.

Communicate the same way he does

Listen to how your prospect talks when he is relaxing with friends.  It’s different from his professional behavior.  Without question, your prospect prefers to speak casually.  So, why communicate with him in a stuffy professional way?

Extra point 1:  Say it as he would say it and you will move into his inner circle.

Extra point 2:  Look at a business magazine and notice all the dry ads in there.  Worse are the ones that try to be exciting but only inch toward it.  They’re all Snoresville.  Liven things up and you’ll get more responses.

Address groups when it’s meaningful

For example, declare this:  “Attention handball players!”  By flagging down people from this relatively small group, you make them more likely to respond.

Now, don’t cheat on this.  Don’t say, “Hey world!” and expect millions of people to leap up and respond.  Indeed, your prospects are proud world citizens, but they won’t be pulled into that wide net.

Prospect’s advocate

Throughout your career, you serve managers, clients, coworkers...and the prospect.  Some advertisers put the prospect in last place or no place on their “whom I serve” list, but get this:  The prospect should be first or a close second on your list.  You must serve the prospect.

To be sure, many advertisers say they please the prospect first.  But you need to actually do it.  Following is a long example:

Coworker Misreed Buyers says, “We’re going to start manufacturing togas for business people, and if they don’t sell I’m blaming you.”  If you simply go along with Misreed, you’re only putting off a bad situation 10 months from now...when no one buys your business togas.

So, you have a responsibility to let Mis know how you think the prospect will respond.  You say, “Togas, hm.  We’ve worked hard to market profitable products in this company.  We even turned people on to new types of clothes – ones they didn’t know they wanted.  But in this case, I fear that business people won’t wear togas...even if we ask them to 1,000 times.”

The point:  You go on the record with your assessment.  However, if Mis is still toga ga-ga, you start the marketing effort, and you give your all...times two.  Maybe you can talk Misreed into marketing the togas in spas and health clubs.

One more thought:  Being overly agreeable will make you friends in the company, because you aren’t “causing trouble.”  But it will ultimately harm the company and you, because you won’t invent successful advertising.  Coworker Res Ponsibilities is raising kids and paying a mortgage, so you must introduce him to better methods.

You aren’t an interruption (even though you are)

Don’t feel guilty about taking the prospect’s time with your advertising.  Why, you’re giving her an opportunity to cut her budget, reduce her workload, make more money, and so on.  You’re providing a public service.

End the secret boredom

All people say they are busy, but here is the truth:  They’re bored.

Boredy bored bored.  Give them ads that are more interesting than their everyday lives, and they will stop and look.

Question:  Can your ad pull a person’s mind away from wherever it is?

Grab

The heart of the matter

Often, the prospect says he does something – “I recycle!” – but then he quietly doesn’t.  If you’re only advertising to what he says about himself, you’ll have mooshy results.  To succeed spectacularly, advertise to what is in his heart and on his mind.  Your work is cut out for you.

For inspiration, watch the funniest standup comedians.  They say what the audience is thinking and get a laugh.  The audience’s underlying reaction is, “How did that comedian know how I really feel?”

Likewise, you’ll say what the prospect is thinking and make a connection.  The prospect’s underlying reaction is, “How did this ad know how I really feel?”

Once you can understand people with reasonable accuracy, you can lead thousands to the right answers.

Reference:  “It’s not easy to make your case,” on page 13.

Go to the hopes and dreams

Appeal to your prospect’s imagination – not his mundane existence.

For example, if you’re advertising snack food to men, show Greek gods sitting in recliners enjoying the chips.

Mercury:  Hey Zeus, these chips are food of the gods! Zeus:  Yeah, whatever.  Where’s the remote? [Mercury zips around the room looking for it.]

In short:  The prospect might have a rotten job, and he would enjoy identifying himself with the mythologicals.  (New word.)

Pull

Creating energy

You already grabbed the prospect, because that was in the last section.

Now it’s time to energize him...

 Get him? marching toward a response

 Give? him stuff that convinces him to reply now

Let the prospect put two and two together…sometimes

Most often, you’ll want to hand the prospect everything – like he’s a bloated rock star.  However, sometimes it’s better to get his mental wheels turning by letting him form a conclusion.  For example:  “Ask yourself: What can your department do with a full-color printer?”

When he forms a positive answer, he becomes more committed to getting the product.

Value isn’t just money

Talking about saving money is great, but you should branch out.  Consider giving the prospect other valuable things, like a richer family life...a prized opportunity...a golden memory...a priceless experience...and some pearls of wisdom.

Unlikely to compare

People say that advertising is only good in the first part of the sale (raising awareness and interest), but you have tremendous influence in the final purchase.  This is partly because your prospect compares less than you would think.  If you get to him first with big advantages, you’ll lock out the competition and get the sale.

Four reasons the prospect doesn't compare:

1.   He’s running out of time.

2.   You seem to have what he’s looking for.

3.   He figures other providers will be the same or worse.

4.   He’s tired of the whole thing.

Quick notes:  Faster is better than better.  Say it before they do.

Problem

Here is a criteria thing you can use to identify the problem.  It is a combination of two factors:

1.   The prospect’s best possible dilemma

2.   The product’s best possible characteristic

Each is dependent upon and affected by the other.

For example—you’re advertising gum

You’re about to launch a campaign for a new sugarless chewing gum.  Your budget is tiny, so it’s impossible to wage full war against the major gum manufacturers.  Instead, you’re going to carve out a niche – a small segment of the market – for yourself.  (More about niching in “The giants” on page 55.)

Tooth decay is a problem you could address.  However, you’ll get beaten soundly, because the mega-enormous gum makers already proclaim, “Helps prevent tooth decay!”  So, tooth decay is...

1.   Not the best possible dilemma for the prospect

2.   Not the best possible characteristic of your product

Here is why you got all that information in the “Gathering” chapter.  You found out that this gum has enzymes that assist in the digestion process.  OK! Poor digestion is indeed...

1.   A complaint for some percentage of the market

2.   A great characteristic of your product, because competitors aren’t there

Now you have something you can use.  Start advertising “helps digestion” and grab your niche.

Radical thinking:  Marketing to problems

Hold on to your hat (if you’re wearing one).  Instead of marketing to people, you could market to a problem.  Here’s an example...

The old way, marketing to a person:  “As CFO, you’re under pressure to cut costs.”

The new way, marketing to a problem:  “Under pressure to cut costs?”

By addressing the problem instead of the person, you scoop up more people who have the problem.  That’s wonderful, because narrowing your message to the CFO is unnecessary and limiting.  You’re happy if responses come from, say, the director of accounting, company president, etc.

So, you...

 Don’t? take a vertical slice of the human category (CFOs)

 Swoop? across all who have this problem (needing to reduce costs)

It will get you more responses.

If marketing to problems is so great, why does this book get into “who is the prospect,” and so forth?  Because there isn’t one best way to advertise. You’ll want to select from many different options.

There should be more written on marketing to problems.  However, it’s also simple, so that’s that.

Motivation

Here’s an informal definition:  Motivations are those somethings that drive people to do something else.

In life, there are all kinds of motivations.  These include…

1.   Bettering oneself

2.   Saving the world

3.   Bringing more enjoyment into life

Ouch!

The three motivations just listed aren’t strong enough for effective advertising.  They’re too friendly.  Instead, you need to rethink everything.  In short, you need to embrace the world’s strongest motivator:  solving a problem.

The best ads solve problems.  If someone has a genuine problem, such as a chest pain, he’ll fix it before he concerns himself with saving the world.

Sorry, earth – it’s true.

Of course, millions of ads say, “It’s a wonderful opportunity.”  But landing an opportunity is a tougher sell than solving a problem.  “Making life better” is something the prospect wants to do, but resolving a crisis is something she has to do.

Turn positive motivations into problems

To show how it can be done, let’s rephrase our three pleasant motivations in the previous subsection.

1.   “Bettering oneself” should become, “Reducing the fear of dying young or poor”

2.   “Saving the world” should become, “Battling an intolerable disgust with the world”

3.   “Bringing more enjoyment to life” should become, “Fighting an aching sameness that’s causing personal atrophy”

Put yourself in problematic zones like these, and you’ll touch on problems that motivate the prospect to act.

Hard or soft...that depends

Should you make that nasty problem prominent in your ad...or have it lurking in the background?  It depends on what you’re advertising.

For example, it’s unlikely your ad will ask, “Are you fighting an aching sameness that’s causing personal atrophy?”  You would need to soften it...or come across positive, like:  “The change will do you good.” But the problem is still there.

Whatever the situation, the problem should be ever-present in your mind, and conveyed in your ad.

Uno problemo

You need to present one problem to the prospect.  One!  This single quandary is somehow discombobulating his life.  Why not two problems? Because then you’re asking this passive prospect to absorb too much.  It’s hard enough getting him to identify with one problem, much less a bunch.

When you centralize the problem and solution, it’s easy to launch an effective campaign.  For example:  “If you have tropical head lice [problem], get the only shampoo that treats it overnight [solution].”

Combining and consolidating problems

If you have a group of problems, you can still turn them into one problem.

The answer is to pack them together.  Here are two ways you can do that:

1. Combining

You fit several problems under one theme.  For example, you’re advertising the Skrpetz Tire Center.  You can’t identify one giant problem Skrpetz is solving (like, your prices aren’t 50% less).  So, you examine other problems that annoy the prospect, such as...

 Not? having enough selection

 Slow? service

? Misleading pricing

? Inexperienced slobs doing the “work”

You combine them into one problem.  Here is your slogan:  “At Skrpetz Tire Centers, everything’s rolling your way.”  Then you address all four problems in your advertising.  Visually, you could link four tires to the four points, but keep it from being hokey.

2. Consolidating

Take the problems and meld them together.  Turn them into one almighty problem.  Think:  What do all these problems mean together? What is central to all these problems?  What is the real problem?

Find an insight so powerful it almost strikes you dead.  Exclaim, “This is what we’re talking about!  Nobody has approached it this way.”  Jump out the bathtub and run down the street.

For example, you’re selling a tool.  Your primary competitor dominates the field, but their product causes several problems.  It...

 doesn’t? have necessary features

 needs? someone with a doctorate to use it

 is? incompatible with other systems

 looks? crummy

All of these problems can boil down to “lack of empowerment for the user.”  So, you call your product “The Power Tool.”  And you explain why it is this way.

Deep thought:  A rock becomes a diamond through consolidation. Likewise, you crystallize your message by consolidating it.

Use these methods for multiple products

If you need to display several products in one ad, use combining or consolidating to pull this off.

Your best fend

These methods also help you ward off coworker Andsee Whatsticks.  He wants you to emphasize every possible point in the ad. You say:  “Don’t worry, What – we are talking about all these points. They fall under this theme.”

Only replies because of a problem

Getting right down to it, the prospect only cares about your product because it could solve her problem.  If your ad isn’t converging on that problem, what is it doing?  Little or nothing – the copy is worthless.  Get a mandolin, climb a tree, and sing that copy.

Q:  What about successful ads that only entertain?  After all, people do respond to them.

A:  They have to be put in perspective.  The creative presentation is a tremendous part of the ad, and it could easily become the biggest part.  However, don’t make it the only part.  That’s too risky.

Instead...

 Address? a relevant problem

 Show? how your product solves it better than anything else

 Present? all this in a breakthrough creative way

 Give a? strong limited time offer

And you should be in fine shape.

Acting on the problem

Piles of dilemmas sit at the bottom of the prospect’s to-do list.  If a problem can be put off for a while, it will be.  Therefore, it’s not enough to identify the problem.  You have to get the prospect to act on it.  More about this in, “Chapter 12.  Urge,” on page 137.

A problem to one isn’t to another

Let’s say your product has a reputation for high repair bills.  To be sure, you can’t emphasize low repair bills in your advertising.  However, your product is the quickest on the market, so you decide to emphasize this.  And that’s smart.

The good news is:  The people who respond are more likely to care about speed more than high repair bills.  You’ve succeeded in giving your segment of the market what it wanted.  For an example of this, look ads for international sports cars.

How much of a problem to make out of it?

You’re selling Ywekaqol Staples.  Let’s say your claim is that the “teeth” – points, ends, whatever they are – on Ywekaqol Staples are sharper.  They pierce the pile of papers cleanly...unlike the inferior brands.

How much of a problem should you make out of this?  Following are two choices, and either could hit the jackpot.

1.   Reasonable approach:  Make as much a problem as possible while keeping your credibility.  Your copy:  “Staples aren’t the biggest concern in your life, but small annoyances add up.  Ywekaqol binds your documents cleanly the first time, so ugly staple holes aren’t a worry.”

Rationale for the reasonable approach:  Credibility is key.  When the prospect sees the “sharp teeth” promise in a believable presentation, he is more likely to trust Ywekaqol and try the staples.

2.   Extreme approach:  Make a huge deal out of the problem – no matter how small it is.  Your copy:  “Tired of weak staples that collapse on the job? Ywekaqol Staples have the sharpest points, so they penetrate the thickest stacks!”

Rationale for the extreme approach:  Sure, Ywekaqol looks nutty about staples, but that makes Ywekaqol even more attractive.  It becomes a given that Ywekaqol has the best staples.

How aware is your prospect?

If you have a significant problem to talk about, be glad when the prospect isn’t too aware of it.  You’ll get a one-two punch.  For example, your ad says, “Bad news:  Your home could be rotting at the foundation.”  The prospect thinks:

1.    “I didn’t know that.”

2.   “Hey!  My home could be rotting at the foundation!”

How concerned is your prospect?

The more the better.  If you’re solving a problem the prospect doesn’t or wouldn’t care about, then it’s not a problem.  The ad is solving nothing.

Difference between perceived needs and actual use

For example:  You’re selling an upscale car.  Is the prospect going to use all those “bells and whistles” on it?  No.  However, if he feels these are things he’ll need, you have to go with them.  As an advertiser, you work with perceived need and actual use.

Concentrate the problem

For example:  Gertrude advertises long-lasting men’s socks.  It’s hard to get the prospect interested in them, because he wears out socks only occasionally.  Previously, Gerty’s company ran an ad showing a toe coming through a sock, and it stank.

To get any kind of attention from the prospect, Gerta needs to condense occurrences of the problem.  Here is Gertrudy’s new ad:  Close-up of a guy with five bad socks in front of him.  Headline:  “Darn these socks!”

By compounding the problem, Gertruda gets the reader to think, “That’s me.  I’m in that same wretched situation.”  He resolves to do something about his sock problem, and he takes advantage of Trudy’s limited-time offer.

More on this:  Ger woke the prospect up by getting him to put together those annoying “there’s a hole in my sock” moments.  That made him more inclined to take action.  If G-lady did what some advertisers do - show the problem normally - the ad wouldn’t affect anyone.

Moral:  There is a direct ratio between how much impact you deliver and how many responses you receive.

They are dissatisfied

Your coworker Ney Sayer wants to discourage you.  He says, “People are happy with what they have.  They’re not going to respond.”  Most of the time, Ney is wrong.

Your prospect is discontented – but she may not know it.  If you can show her significant reasons to use your product, she’ll almost certainly contemplate getting it.  If you get her to act on that contemplation, you’ve done your job.

In fact, the prospect would be delighted to have you solve a humongous problem for her.  So, don’t feel like you’re begging for her time.  Instead, be excited that you have something she’ll want to know about.  If you don’t have something, keep thinking until you do.

This doesn’t mean you should support a lousy idea.  For example, if you’re assigned to convince vegetarians to eat meat, you can either…

1.   Talk the advertiser into trying something less boneheaded

2.   Run screaming in the opposite direction

Extra point 1:  You can enjoy success in this business simply by avoiding the oafish schemes you’ll hear.

Extra point 2:  Forget pessimists like Ney Sayer.  They continually miss the market, and spreading gloom makes them feel less like losers.

Don’t lay in every fact

Sayev Rything doesn’t want you to hone the message.  “We need to attract as many people as possible!” declares Sayev.  “I have bills to pay.”

The issue isn’t what Sayev wants but what the prospect wants.  Sayev...

? Obsesses about making money for himself

 Junks? up his ads with every desperate point

Obviously, Sayev...

 Doesn’t? want to help the prospect

 Will say? anything he thinks can help him it.

The prospect will see right all through this, and she will instantly disregard

Take the prospect’s lead, then lead the prospect

The prospect won’t say it, but he wants you to understand his needs...then lead him to the right solution.  He’ll listen to the case you make for your product, judge for himself, and then decide your way.  Hopefully.

Uncovering a problem

For example:  You’re advertising a nose spray that eliminates foul nostril breath.  Very little has been marketed on this condition, but you think some percentage of people could worry about halitosis of the nose.  The key word is could, because “nose breath” is nowhere right now.  You want to...

1.   Raise awareness of the problem

2.   Tell your prospect why he should worry about it

3.   Let him try out the product

Show the problem over the solution

Thousands of ads show people with their happy solutions.  Most of those ads would be more successful if they showed the problem instead.  Because if you do that, the prospect can...

1.   Identify with the problem

2.   Automatically conclude that you have the answer.  After all, you only show the problem if you have the solution

You’ll get resistance from Nicity Nice.  He is afraid, and says so thus: “Negative images will upset people and cast a bad light on our product.” Nicity, the prospect has zero interest in our product unless it’s solving his problem.  This isn’t a question of us casting a bad light, but of us not paying the light bill.

Moral:  If your sole objective is to show pleasing images to the world, run those cheerful ads.  But if you want to get results, show problems.

Rethink the problem

If the problem is hard to get across, put it into another context.  For example:  “That’s like giving your competition a thousand dollars.”

The true need

Someone gives you a wrapped gift, and you open it.  Notice the difference in your feeling when you get something nice vs. something you truly need. "Hey," you say, "How did you know?  I can really use this."  Give that same kind of gift to your prospect.

Relatedly/significantly:  People don’t care about your product until they need it.  This knowledge should shape all your advertising.

Don’t address problems many competitors solve

There’s no reason to.

Turning three feelings into effective advertising

Many successful ads make use of three feelings:  insecurity, worry, and guilt.

In most ads, these feelings are veiled, but the following subsections address them plainly.  At times, you may need to look away.

Before we launch into this, note that it takes effort to get results from insecurity, worry, and guilt.  The copywriter walks a fine line:  Will the prospect identify with this message or scoff at it?

Insecurity

Insecurity is a feeling of inadequacy, inability, unpreparedness – ah, you know what it is.  However, what’s less known is this:  An impressive ad may not say so, but it could solve insecurity problems.  If you want to see page after page of insecurity-based communications, read a fashion magazine.

The scoop is:  We all compete in games – work, social acceptance, status, power, love – and lots of us don’t think we’re winning.  Marketers are there to fix everything.

To give yourself an instant picture of insecurity, think back to high school. Plenty of us had our inner anxieties right on display.  We identified ourselves only by our groups, in part because our self-confidence was lacking.  As adults, self-confidence may still be lacking.  Maybe it’s less so.  Or maybe we’re better at hiding it.

To identify the “insecurity foundation” in your product, work backwards. Go from what your product does...to why the prospect needs it...to why the prospect really needs it.  You might find insecurity there.

Notable:  The more you understand insecurity, the more you’ll understand your prospect.

Everything isn’t insecurity

Someone could paint with a broad brush and say, “All high-profile purchases have insecurity at the foundation.”  But that’s not right.  There are many other reasons to buy fine-looking stuff.  The prospect can want to...

 Show? his individualism

 Keep up? appearances for the job

 Suppose? he is superior to others

 Imagine? he is someone he isn’t

 Get? something he can finally afford

Worry

To help the prospect, you may need to activate, address, or increase his worry.  A story follows:

Bliss Fohl is advertising insurance.  She doesn’t want to disturb anyone, so her ad shows a couple running on a beach.  The friendly text talks about...

 What a? nice policy it is

 What a? pleasant world this would be if people had this insurance

While this may not sell many policies, at least it won’t shake anyone up. Roscoe is the prospect, and he glances at this beach insurance ad and instantly turns the page.  It’s too bad Roscoe didn’t respond to the ad and buy the insurance, because we fast-forward six months, and tragedy strikes Roscoe.  Now Roscoe is saddled with big problems.  And it’s partly because Bliss preferred to show waves rather than make them.

Some copywriters forget their responsibility to the prospect.  These writers see projects as ads in their portfolios.  However, an ad could make all the difference to the prospect.  That’s why you should go for it!  Get serious and strong.

Also, don’t let your “ad that raises alarm” get tamed down as one that only “raises concern.”  That probably won’t go far enough, because Roscoe has tons of concerns he doesn’t act upon.  However, if he becomes worried, he takes action.  And his life improves.

Moral:  The prospect may be taken aback by your powerful communications, but he may thank you later (however one thanks an unknown copywriter).

Guilt

If you can’t raise a warning with the prospect, toss around guilt.  For example:  “You just did three tough projects for your job.  Here’s an easy one for your family.”

Competition

They’re out there, so let’s get to know them.

About the competition

Don’t think they’re unbeatable

Rarely should you, the marketing communications person, fear the competition.  The sales department will be in pitched battle with the competitors, but you have much more maneuverability.  You can always find ways to outdo the competition.

Stop it!

Don’t feel stopped by your competition’s strengths.  Rather, point to their weaknesses.  Every department in your organization should understand what their “competitive counterparts” are doing (from publicly available sources, of course), then they should communicate this to the company leadership and to you.

Once you know how the competition does things, you’ll understand their weaknesses, and you’ll give the prospect excellent alternatives.

In our history, millions of companies have been reduced because they couldn’t solve a problem, and another company did.

Cheerleading isn’t the way

You won’t win campaigns with rah-rah-around-the-water-cooler statements like, “We’re gonna whip those guys!  Yes!”  However, smart and serious thinking can win.

Don’t go in to lose

It’s a shame to hear an advertiser say, “We know we’re going to lose.”

As a pathetic result, he will probably run advertising that says, “We’re out here, doing our best effort.  Will you buy us?”  Indeed, that will lose.

Instead, while there is still time, talk about far-fetched ways you can win.  As a happy result, you’ll probably develop breakthrough advertising.

Also, winning needs redefining.  In the next six months, if you can succeed enough to pay all the bills, that is winning.  Reason:  You’re claiming a piece of the market.  You’re a player.  And you’ll win even more in the following six months.

Another point:  Reject all those intelligent strategies that aren’t aimed at winning.  People will give you lots of advice.  Listen to them, and then ask yourself, “In my situation, would that strategy win?”  Sometimes the answer is no.

Better than they know themselves

Learn about your competitors to the point that you can sort-of predict their behavior.

You have to be as good

At a minimum, your advertising must be the same level of quality as your competition.  Since their advertising is clearly visible (in magazines, on the Web, etc.), you have no excuses.

Kinds of competitors

Your competitors come in all shapes and sizes.  Here are some types (and this list is far from all types):

The giants

Gargantuan companies have gargantuan weaknesses.  They have obstacles they can’t knock down.  Many things prevent them from acting quickly.  Choose niches where you can provide the alternatives, and be happy.

This isn’t to say you’ll knock a giant over with a slingshot.  You won’t.  However, you can secure a little part of a market and live well. Also, depending on your situation, the colossal company might work with your company on projects.

Also:  Certainly, the giant’s multimillion dollar advertising budget is a wondrous thing for them.  They are going to enjoy successes you can only dream about.  However, that is no reason for you to pre-claim defeat. While your successes won’t be 500 times more than your budget, if you aim right, you can probably get who you expect to...and more.

The sleepy

Some competitors are lethargic.  They’ve settled into their rut, and they wouldn’t think of doing anything else.  They keep avoiding opportunities that would bring them big jackpots.  Your options here are wide open.  Do whatever you think is right.

The fickle

These competitors change campaigns more than their underwear.  The usual reason:  They have a high fickle capacity.  Since it’s relatively easy to launch new advertising, they have to.  If it were as easy to change their office address, they’d move the company every six months.

Develop a better long-term campaign than them, and watch the tide start going your way.

86.

Reference:  “And when they want to scrap the campaign...” on page

The intelligent

If you have smart competitors, the knee-jerk answer is, “Get smarter than them.”  However, this presumes you’re taking those companies head- on – matching wits and stamina.  However, the advertising field is wide open, so you can set your own course to the prospect and not worry about the smart folks.

Oddly, these intelligent companies probably won’t try to stop you on your path.  Seeing your campaign doesn’t make them say, “We have to do better than this.”  Perhaps they are too busy with their own strategy, or their egos stand in the way.  They may even scoff at your campaign. Maybe they’re not so smart after all.

The surprising

Become more surprising than them.

The slow

These companies will only try something “new” when it has already

become tired in the market.  Increase your speed and run circles around them.

The creepy

Maybe there aren’t any of these competitors, but it’s fun to say.

The equals

Raise your product above the pack.  Differentiate.

The lucky

Some companies do everything they can to fail, yet they still succeed spectacularly.  Don’t get in a quandary about it.  Tell yourself, “I don’t have their luck.  Their guardian angel works overtime, and mine is a drunkard.  I simply have to do more.”

The friendly

You’re in a sticky situation, because coworker Nambee Pambi says,

“We shouldn’t upset our competitors.  I don’t like us saying we’re topnotch, because that’s a comparison.  Let’s tell what we have to offer, show our phone number, and that will be fine.”

If Nambee holds you to this, you can still make an impact.  Use promotional words that aren’t comparative, like “breathtaking,” “wonderful,” “dazzling,” etc.

The underhanded

Don’t take the low road with them.  And stay wary:  They’re sneaky jerks, and they’re not going to change.  Also, they will slither in every possible way, because it’s in their character.

Make your company the polar opposite of theirs.  Enough prospects know what those snakes are up to, because anyone who’s nasty has built a bad reputation.  The prospect will respect your high integrity, and he should respond to it.

How to beat the competition

First, commit yourself to winning against competitors.

OK, you’ve done that.  Following are several ways you can win.

Move at a good pace

If you advance in hurried and logical steps, count on passing your competition in several areas.  One reason:  Your opponents probably aren’t organized – not with marketing, at least.

Differentiation

In other words, how is your product different from other solutions?

If you’re going to outdo your competitors, you need to say things they can’t or won’t say.  If their product name could be dropped into your ad, then your ad doesn’t set your product apart.  Why should the prospect choose yours?  Emphasize what distinguishes you from your competitors, and leave out the features competitors already promote.

Luckily, you can probably put your product’s name into your competitors’ ads.  These competitors are happy to make pleasing statements that could be said about any similar product.  Good for them. In a small way, they are promoting your product.  Meanwhile, set yours apart.

The comparison antenna is up

The prospect knows a lot about competitive advantages.

Comparing is second nature to her.  She does it almost unconsciously. Therefore, show how your product compares favorably, and she’ll absorb this information.

Raise the bar

This is all obvious:  If you can beat the competition in areas the prospect considers important, go for it.  For example:  Your competitors talk speed, but your product is supersonic.  Announce this fact gleefully, and make it the cornerstone of your campaign.

Differentiating between similar competing products

In this case, promote the most subjective features that you can.  For example, you can say, “Feel the difference.”  There is always a difference that can be felt.

Stop looking like others

Why would you want your advertising to be like your three competitors’ ads?  You’ll only have 1 out of 4 chances of succeeding. However, differentiate yourself, and you’ll have a 1 out of 1 chance of succeeding.  Maybe that’s stretching it.

Question:  Why is bad advertising perpetually perpetuated? Usually it’s because these advertisers aren’t measuring results.  The advertisers can get away with being safe and narcoleptic, because nobody is noticing them.  Nobody.

This is the reason so much corporate advertising is lofty, frothy, and fluffy.  Someone high up is saying, “We want to look classy.”  To him, being classy is the goal - not getting results.  Too bad he doesn’t want responses, because he could get them.

Deliver the different

The reader looks at an ad and says, “Oh, that’s different.”  She says it with a note of appreciation.  Would she say this about your ad?

Bumped at what’s different

Scan your eyes across a picket fence.  You’ll get visually jarred at the one board that’s out of place.  Does your ad give the reader a bump like that, or is it another ad in a lllllllllllllllong line?

“Unlike other products, ours can

.”  Fill in the blank.

Turf building

If you’re going to produce results, they will probably come at the expense of your competition.  So, you can run ads that...

 Don’t? stir things up, and hope business falls your way or

 Make a? visible difference in the market, and pick up new biz

Two notes:

1.   The prospect is glad that you’re outdoing the competition, because he’s always ready for a better deal.

2.   You should wonder about ads that say, “We’ll match the competition!”  Who cares?  They should beat the other guys.

Stay off the competition’s favorite strength

You have few resources, so don’t waste them by getting into areas where your competitors are ultra-strong.  Promote benefits the competitors can’t or won’t talk about.

Interesting:  The preceding paragraph is contradicted in “Redirecting their power,” on page 59.

Everyone can’t have the same right answer

For example:  Two major competitors are already using the ‘trust us’ approach.  Coworker Rex Earch says, “This study shows that people want the ‘trust’ message.”  Your response:  “Yeah, and it’s already taken by two massive competitors.  What message came in second in the study?  Maybe we can use that.”

Don’t compete where the opponents can exaggerate

Wes:  We need to talk about our exceptional service.  We’re much better than the competition.

Stan:  OK, but the competition can still say they have outstanding service.  What’s preventing them?

Wes:  C’mon, they’re horrible at service!

Stan:  In truth, yes.  However, they can say whatever they want in their advertising.  We need to promote advantages the competition can’t say.

In other words:  Present hard advantages the competition can’t promote, rather than mooshy ones anyone can.

Lock out the competition

Promote benefits the competition has but doesn’t advertise.

They probably won’t get around to it.

Redirecting their power

In jujitsu, you take the opponent’s strength and use it against him.

The same method can work in advertising, but give it a lot of thought first.

In advertising jujitsu, you take the energy generated by the competition’s powerful campaigns and – with little effort – redirect it toward your product.

For example, you’re advertising Wazxousne medical supplies. Your competitor is Kaiwoner, and they enjoy an 80% market share.

As big as you can, make your headline: “Choose Wazxousne supplies, because we’re not the biggest.”

Why can this work?  Kaiwoner is huge and powerful, so either...

? Kaiwoner is dictating to the market (though Kaiwoner spends $millions to refute this)

 Parts? of the market believe Kaiwoner is dictating to them

Whichever one doesn’t matter.  The fact is, there is negative energy surrounding Kaiwoner.  You can redirect that into positive energy with your product.

When there is a gigantic #1, you can slice the market’s feelings into thirds.

 One? third is happy with #1:  “Kaiwoner is the biggest and the best.  We like them!”

 One? third is ambivalent:  “We buy Kaiwoner’s products because there’s nothing else available.”  (Nothing else?  What about us at Wazxousne?)

 One? third is ticked off:  “There needs to be more competition!” This group will pay attention to your advertising.

Redirecting power isn’t automatically the best move, but it’s an option.

Another example

Let’s say you’re the smallest player in a sector full of mega– mega advertisers, and they have big money campaigns.  Say this: “They have the flash.  But we have the facts.”

Yet another example

Let’s say the competitor has an admirable reputation for service after the sale.  Naturally, they talk about it at every chance.

In response, you get this across:  “Our product is so durable that service isn’t an issue.”

The point:  Look closely at the competition’s greatest strength. Sometimes it’s also that’s where they are vulnerable.  (But not often.)

Talk about the competition’s drawbacks

One of your primary responsibilities is to alert the prospect that the competition has some, um, issues.

Doing this quietly:  You might choose to say it without saying it.  You talk up your advantages, and you infer that the competition doesn’t have them.

Doing this noisily:  You might want to show clear advantages over “the other cleansers” (but only if you're selling cleansers).  Note that the competing products aren’t named, because that will cause confusion and rioting.

Onhis Hihorse is angry about all this.  Says he:  “This ‘alerting the prospect to the competition’s problems’ is outrageous – and immoral.  I would never talk about those things.”  Hiho, you should go live by yourself on a mountain, because real life is full of comparisons.

How provocative to be

One extreme:  If you and the competitors are being respectful with each other, be a little bit aggressive.  For example, your ad would say: “We hope you’ll compare, because the difference is clear.”  That will probably pass by the competitors.

The other extreme:  If you and your competitors are engaged in all- out war, escalate it.  A headline could declare:  “What are they talking about?!?”

No attack ads

You don’t want to start battering the competition, because it will only tee them off.

However, be glad when your straight-up advertising angers the competition.  It’s an indication you’re making a positive impact with the prospect.

Don’t ridicule

Never make fun of your competitors.  That is a dangerous game, because they could blast your product in print.  Then you have to redirect resources toward responding – too many re’s.

Also, if you keep pounding on the competition, your product looks weak.  If Luwdzijop’s bank is so much better, why does Luwdzijop always talk about the competition?  And what kind of a name is Luwdzijop?

Few long-running campaigns rip away at the competition.  Reason: It’s hard to hold a long-term image based on a negative.  Since you’re in it for the long term, differentiate in upbeat ways.

No names, please

Naming competitors is a mistake, because it could open a can of worms.  The competitors will yell, “Look at what they’re saying about us!  These are total lies.  Oh man, we’re going to get back at them.”  It’s not worth it.  You would rather have your opponents sleeping on the job.

Also, naming competitors confuses the prospect.  He can’t remember what company is saying what about whom.  This creates an enormous baffler and few responses.

Responding

If the competitors are messing with you and it’s thwarting your success, respond by being serious and accurate.

For example, your headline would read, “An important message to freight engineers.”  Your message:  “A competing company is making erroneous accusations about Kwoufged repeaters.  Here is the truth.”

In one fell swoop, you’ve...

? Attracted the prospect  (because he loves reading about conflicts)

? Discredited a competitor

? Differentiated your product

 Taken? the argument from the competitor

The competition isn’t your prospect

The Stjjwoxm Company decides to send messages to the competition:  “You lying scam artists!” says their ad.  “Your products are vile.”  The prospect will be entertained by this fistfight, but she won’t feel driven to purchase Stjjwoxm’s products.  That is because Stjjwoxm isn’t talking to her.  If you want to sell the prospect, you have to speak to her - not your competitor.

Appeal

What is the definition of the appeal?  Four responses:

1.   It’s the reason your prospect is drawn to your product.

2.   It’s your overall message to the prospect, and it may be verbal, visual, or ephemeral (if that’s the right word).

3.   It should be expressed as one sentence.  For example:  “It’s a watertight backpack.”  You might not use those exact words in your ads, but it gives you the foundation.

4.   The importance of the appeal cannot be underestimated.  It’s centrally central to your advertising.

Now that you’ve gathered and strategized, the correct appeal is probably jumping off the page.  You’ve seen the world through your prospect’s eyes, and you feel strongly that…

1.  This is what she is looking for

2.   The competition isn’t helping her here

Is it a strategy or an appeal?

The strategy is your game plan.  The appeal is part of the strategy, and it is the “why” part.  Why is someone attracted to your product?

Back to the framework

You’ll recall that on page 27, our goal was to hammer out a framework.  Now you’re ready to write a sentence for each component (if you feel like it).  After that, you come up with the appeal:

Product + Prospect + Problem – Competition = Appeal.  “This product gets past the competition and helps this prospect solve this problem.”

The organization has to agree with this framework.  Nilly will say, “I don’t know about this framework thing, but if you say so...OK.”  Put him in a headlock until he gives full approval.

You must, because Nilly wants to have it both ways.  If the campaign doesn’t bring home the bacon, he can sing out, “I never thought this was the right plan.” And if it succeeds, he won’t mention his early hesitancy.  Oh, that Nilly.

Important to prospect

If you’re not making everything mandatory for the prospect, forget it.

You need to give her powerful reasons to switch.

So what?

If your prospect is paying some attention to your ad, her unspoken question is, “So what?”  You need to have an excellent answer.

Stick with what the market wants

Conar Tist will point to the surprise success of a whimsical product being sold and proclaim, “The stupid public will buy anything as long as it’s marketed right.  We’ll produce some junk thing, put together catchy ads, and make millions.”

Too bad, Tisto.  It doesn’t work that way.  For every weird product the market accepts, there are hundreds the market rejects.  Rather than taking those odds, sell a solution the market can use.  Chances are good the prospect will appreciate it and respond.

Increase the appeal

Consider increasing your promise to the prospect.  For example, here is a list of appeals, and 1. is the strongest.

5. Bring us along.

4. We’ll help you.

3. With us, you can do it.

2. We’ll do it for you.

1. Consider it done.

Determine what level your product is advertised on now, and take your appeal up a couple of notches.

Giving not taking

Most ads have this underlying message:  “We want your money.

C’mon, hand it over.”  How unwise this is.

Alternatively, think of everything you’re doing as giving to the prospect.  You’re giving him...

? Valuable features

 The? product to try out

? Something worth lots more than he’s paying

Taking is not an issue, because once everything is factored in, you’re taking nothing at all.  You’re giving.

You’ll be a breath of fresh air, because the prospect knows he’s being fleeced all the time.  Give him things instead, and make him happy.

To reiterate:  When it comes right down to it, some advertisers can’t get beyond what they are taking.  Once you do, you’ll get the big responses.

Reference:  “3XROI,” on page 30.

To be equally brilliant is to fail

Enough said there.

Make realistic promises

Des Perrate is a frantic copywriter, so he over-promises in his ads.  Perrate advertises:  “Be a star tomorrow!”  That approach may sound OK, but there are thousands of other frantic copywriters – and they’re all out there over- promising.  To the prospect, this becomes forgettable background chatter.

Unlike Des, the prospect is not frantic.  She understands where she is in life and her near-term potential.  Therefore, she knows she won’t be a star tomorrow.  However, she could be convinced to get on a path to stardom, and that is what Des should communicate.

In other words, Des needs to level with the prospect.  He should offer her benefits she can believe and respond to.  He should say, in effect:  “We’ll help you take a good step up from where you are.”

In fact, Des might want to jujitsu off the overstatements in other ads.  For example:  “Forget the hype.  Here’s the help you really need.”

Loose analogy:  The cake bakes at 300 degrees for one hour...not 900 degrees for 20 minutes.

Anticipate the objections

Think about which complaints the prospect will have – ones that keep him from purchasing your product.  Answer them in your ad.  You should care as much as he cares.

Take objections head on

Don’t run away from objections – manage them.  For example:  If your brand has a reputation as "difficult to use," tell the real story.

Considerations with strategy

Here are somethings to think about.

Succeeding by following

This is a short subsection on an important topic.  Note that it contradicts most of the strategic talk in this book.

Thousands of companies decide to mimic one of their competitors, and they succeed wonderfully.  They say the same basic message as their competitor, but they do it better.  (Or, maybe they don’t do it better.  Perhaps they succeed with lots of advertising or luck.)

Do you want to do this?  The key is to weigh your options.  Consider highlighting a different aspect of your product...finding a different audience...addressing a different problem.  If you come around to believe that a particular competitor has it right, you might want to play their game and win.

Cross into other territories

Forget all those worn-out strategies that are used with the products in your category.  Rather, look at the strategies being applied in completely separate industries, and move them to yours.

For example:  You sell industrial wire.  You and your competitors always talk about strength and longevity, and it’s getting boring.  One night, you’re watching a commercial for a cruise ship, and they use “revitalization” as an appeal.  Hmm.  You realize that properties in your wire last longer the more they get used, so your wire does indeed revitalize.  You make this your appeal, and you outdo your ho-hum competitors.  And you thank a cruise ship ad for everything.

Extra:  The above shows why the world can teach you to compose terrific ads.  Still, go for the “interesting all.”  Avoid the average muck.

The prospect has limited alternatives

Figure out...

 Which? options your prospect has

 What is? the likelihood of her choosing each

An example follows.

Of the potential customers...

15% do nothing about the problem.

20% look into various offerings and delay forever.

30% get their old one fixed.

30% choose one of the competitors.

 05% ultimately select your product.

100% Total

Regarding that “ultimately select your product” group:  It's at 5%.  If you’re trying to increase that to 7%, where will that extra 2% come from? That will affect the kind of advertising you do.

By the way:  You can make a tally like the one above just by pulling everything out of your head.  Rely on your experience with the product.

In addition, this example shows the importance of getting your message out clearly to the prospect.  It’s tough to sell new customers, and obfuscating the message only hurts you.  So, don’t use words like “obfuscating.”

The power of only

The most important word in advertising is only.  When you can find that exclusivity, that singularity, then you have something to tell the world.  Only, only, only.

Journey to the unknown

It goes without saying:  If you have a fact to tell, be glad your competitors haven’t used it before.

The secret is:  You’re a leader, so you take people into new areas.

Advance the thinking

Someone is going to move the game to a new level.  Prove that it’s you.

Oh, those delayed benefits...

All respect is given to the advertiser who can sell a delayed benefit – one that won’t help the prospect for a year or more.  It’s very difficult to attract the prospect to something that delivers later rather than sooner.

For example, the “excellent service after the sale” appeal is a chancy one. Let’s say your transformer costs $400 more than the Qgkerls transformer. However, you have outstanding post-sale service and Qgkerls doesn’t. Qgkerls could do well advertising, “We’re $400 less.  Wow!”  The prospect – always watching his money – will probably buy the cheaper transformer and take his chances on service.  Ouch.

Erasing bad feelings

People like to see repentance, reform, renewal, and redemption.  If you need to deliver one or more of them, do it clearly and without excuses or blames.

Go for the head and heart

In advertising, there is a debate about which is stronger…

 An? appeal to the heart

 An? appeal to the head

There should be no argument, because you should use either or both whenever you see fit.  Some factors to consider are:

 What? will affect the prospect the most?  That is a fundamental one.

 What is? the best approach you came up with?  For example, if you have a picture of a dog helping a child and it makes everyone say, “Awwh,” go with that.  In this case, you went with “heart” because that’s the most popular picture you had.

Overall thought:  Move the prospect any constructive way you can, and you’re doing more than most other ads.

Before following the crowd...

Just because all advertisers are doing something that doesn’t make it right.

Before following the pack, think:  What is the perfect way to do this? When you apply a lot of thought, you’ll probably discover that you can...

 Improve? upon the standard methods

 Find a? fresh solution

Consider:  If all the advertisers are going one way, they aren’t looking for better alternatives to it.

Big question:  In your situation, are the universally held views right or wrong?

Learning about strategy

Watch TV

Obviously, TV advertisers compete furiously to get your business, and you can learn a lot by observing them.  Stay attentive to what is happening in the ads.  (You’ll need to lay almost catatonic on the couch in order to conserve your mental energy.)  Watch a commercial and ask yourself...

 “Who is? the advertiser going after?”

 “Is? this their new campaign...and did they drop their recent one?”

 “Did? their ad stick in my head?”

 “Would? I respond?”

Objective:  Gather wisdom for whatever ad you’re producing.

Let radio commercials jump out at you

When there’s a radio on in the background, notice which commercials break through the jumble and grab your attention.  What was at the core of their success in reaching you?  Maybe they got you with excitement, humor, or a shift in tone.  Pocket that knowledge, and let it inspire you in a future campaign.

Follow those who follow numbers

Thousands of companies rely on facts and numbers – not smoke and mirrors.  They run response-centric advertising, and they monitor how well those ads are performing.  When you see one of their long-running campaigns, ask yourself:  Why is it producing results?

Watch for clever new strategies

Be a student of strategy your entire life.  Become intrigued by new advertising approaches, and interested in how they are received by the market. Also, don’t let your ever-growing experience hold you back.  Fresh thinking is always emerging, and it pays to pay attention.

Listen to losers

If a loser gives you advice, do the opposite.  You’ll probably succeed.

Reason:  A winner will be right much of the time, but a loser will be wrong more of the time.  Bank on it.

Store of education

When you enter a retail store, your mind should be popping.  Look at products and ask yourself, “Why are they selling this?  Who would want that?  Oh, look here.  Where did they get that?  Hmm, this is interesting.  I wouldn’t have thought of doing that.  Are people buying these now?  Look at this display.  Will it attract people?”

Note 1:  Retail stores are like college classes to advertising people, because they teach so much.

Note 2:  If all these questions are automatically jumping into your head, rest assured you enjoy marketing.  This puts you far ahead of the crowd.

Chapter 4.  Image

Intro to image

Like a gothic romance novel that suddenly shifts to a supporting character’s life story, we now turn to image.

Defining image

Is that product you’re advertising one product?  No, it’s two:  the real product and its image.  The image is…

 How? your product is seen by the outside world

 What? you’re trying to project to the outside world

The image is also a can of worms, because dozens of things comprise it.

These include PR, product quality, word of mouth, and sheer luck.  Still, we’ll try to open the part we’re responsible for:  advertising.

Why have an image?

If your product is viewed in some positive way, it can separate you from the competition and smooth the path to a response.  Done right, your ads don’t just generate results.  They take on a life of their own in the prospect’s mind.

However, even if you succeed, your prospect isn’t thinking about this image living inside her head.  The image floats between her ears as a non-visual, non- verbal entity - a pre-thought.  However, it leaps into her consciousness when she has a need, and that gives you a jump on the competition.

Product hitches onto the feel-good ride

Often, the prospect is more interested in the image he summons than the composition of your product.  Perhaps you can think of a consumer product where the competing brands are ultra-similar, and each has a different image. (But don’t accuse the soft drink, running shoe and beer companies of doing this.)

We allow ourselves

We let products mean more to us than their basic makeup.  This has been written about endlessly, and a dissertation here won’t add anything. Instead, let’s see how you can form an image for your product.

Aspects of image

Here they come.

Image is mostly visual

Unsubstantiated thought:  People internalize visual images more than slogans and messages.  The product’s image is usually derived from the visuals in the advertising.  Therefore, it’s easier to establish a product image if you use many visuals in your ads.

Interestingly, radio commercials form superb visual images, because the prospect shapes the pictures.

Stick

Your image needs to have sticking power.  If it’s weak, like a US map or a red dot, nobody will remember it.

Likewise, most background designs don’t create images.  Let’s say your ad layout uses a lot of rectangles and 90-degree angles.  While this can look fabulo, don’t expect the prospect to carry it as an image.  However, it can help generate excitement, and that can be effective.  Reference:  “Exciting,” on page 100.

Paper stock doesn’t create an image

Id Ealess says, “We’re going to put this mailer on expensive stock, because that’ll help our image.”  Save your money, Id.  Magnificent paper is impressive for a little while, but it makes no lasting impact with the prospect. And lasting impact helps build an image.

The trick

The trick is to do two things at the same time:

1.   Get many responses.

2.   Chisel out the image.

The intelligent way is to state that “getting responses” is your primary goal for the next six months, and “building the image” will be part of that.  The reason you can do this:  If prospects are responding to your campaign, you are establishing the image.  (Just make sure the campaign has an image.)

Don’t make “building the image” your primary goal, because it will be difficult to hold the organization together during the long struggle.  Coworkers will say, “I know what our goal is, but we need responses now.”  And they will be right.

To summarize, you make “getting results” the objective...and you begin to get them.  Then, you have the leeway to pursue your equal goal:  Create an image and make it grow for many years.

Chapter 5.  Idea

What’s the idea?

You went through the last chapter and settled on an approach.  As things stand, you could put out a serviceable ad.  However, if you’re determined to get this ad noticed, you’ll have to make the prospect fall over.  And that’s the definition of an idea:  It’s something that knocks the prospect on his backside.

The idea is central to your ad, so there is plenty of preaching about it in other parts of this book.  You can see idea-ish stuff in subsections like “Jolt” (on page 101) and “Make wild analogies” (on page 107).  Therefore, the following subsections will contain little on why ideas work, and lots on how to create them.

The two point shot

If you’re lucky, you can get across two messages in one idea.  This is often done by using a word or phrase that has two meanings.

For example, you’re writing for a professional event coming up.  The word meeting can be informally defined as...

1.   Coming together (the verb)

2.   A setting where people come together (the noun)

Your headline says, “Improve your meeting skills.”  You make two different points in one concept.

Also, guess what:  The two-pointer a self-made hook.  The double meaning is all the cleverness you need to make a compelling ad.  If you were creating ads for a coffee shop, “Improve your meeting skills” would not have a hook, because there's no coffee-ness in the line.

Mission:   In your business, look for words with double meanings.  You’ll create attractive industry-specific ads.

How to create ideas

We’re about to take a journey into idea making, and that starts on page 131 with “The process.”  We need to pick up some provisions first.

Getting cold feet early:  Thousands of people construct ideas thousands of different ways.  The following can help you structure your thinking, but it’s definitely not “the only way.”

Provisions

Capabilities

If you stress over whether you can create ideas, stop!  The answer is yes.

You can.

The reason:  There are many types of ideas out there.  Choose the ones that are comfortable for you and right for the product.  Then, you’re on your way to being the master of your specializations.

For example, let’s say...

 You’re? more realistic than imaginative

 You? write clear text

You can certainly conjure up a clear, powerful headline that attracts the prospect.  Then, you’re only a year from being established as an awesome creator of straightforward ads.  You say:  “I write ’em straight, and I’m proud of it.  Deep down, straight is what everyone wants.”

Last point:  Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re incapable of creating ideas.  Get into places where your ideas match their needs.

List of capabilities

Here is a highly subjective list of qualities that can assist you in ad creation.  It helps you to have the following:

What isn’t needed?

Here is a list of things that can help you come up with ideas:

What isn’t needed?

The process

Let’s go from you sitting there to you sitting there with great ideas.  We’re

going to delve into five sections:

1. “Start,” coming right up

2. “Explore,” on page 76

3. “Chain,” on page 78

4. “Angle,” on page 78

5. “Visualize,” on page 79

1. Start

What is the problem?

Your first, hugest, and ongoingest question is: “What is the prospect’s problem?”  Ask yourself again:  “What’s the problem?”  Then answer it repeatedly...in different ways.

The deal is:  When you examine the prospect’s problem in different ways, it leads you to new ideas.

For example:  “What’s the problem?” you ask yourself.  Answer:

“The prospect is tired of the same old runaround.”  Noodle that thought in your head, and then express it in a different way.  “The prospect dreads having to endure all the red tape.”  Hmm.  What can be done with red tape?  Maybe the headline should be, “Cut the red tape.”  And put red plastic scissors inside direct mail pieces.

Moral:  By focusing on the problem, you’re halfway toward finding the right idea.  If your thinking gets way too far from the problem, your ideas will lack relevancy.

Content and form

Writing ideas is like having a metronome in your head.  It continually swings between content (what you’re doing) and form (how you’re doing it).  Until you hatch the idea, you won’t know if it will be stronger on content or form.  Look at ads and you’ll see every combination.  Here are four ads:

 10%? content, 10% form:  Ew – this ad does nothing.

 20%? content, 80% form:  It’s creative, but it doesn’t say much.

 80%? content, 20% form:  It says a lot, but it lacks imagination.

 90%? content, 90% form:  This radical ad is off the charts!

Back to strategy

Short note on a big to-do:  When you’re forming the idea, everything in the strategy section should be reexamined.  You aren’t trying to change the strategy.  You want to find stuff that can help you invent ideas.  For example, you should think a lot about the prospect...his needs, activities, etc.

Reference:  “Zig and zag” and the different approaches under them.  See page 91.

Think through the logic

For example, “This is mustard.  Its job is to liven up foods.  OK, what do you do with mustard?  You spread it.  How about this line:  ‘The flavor is spreading.’  Maybe.”

2. Explore

What does each word mean?

For example:  “The prospect is a mechanic.  What does it mean to be a mechanic?  What are mechanics doing for people?”

Don’t rely on formulas

There are a lot of matrixes and formulas designed to help you develop ideas.  Unfortunately, they oversimplify a process that requires a lot of abstract thought.  Instead, get your pen, notepad, and solitude.

5Ws+H vs. Framework

We talked about “Who, what, when, where, why and how” back on page 15.  Put those six key words up against the framework, and some idea-startering questions arise.  For example:  Why is the prospect?  Who is the problem?  How is the product?

Under normal circumstances, these might be nonsensical questions. However, idea development can be a nonsensical process, so it’s worthy.

Ideas can form strategy

For example:  You have an Alabama-based airline, and you want to talk about their service.  You come up with this line:  “Southern hospitality...all over the world.”  It was never a strategic objective to emphasize this airline’s Dixie-ness, but it hits you that this would go over big:  Southern hospitality can be a lively and distinguishing characteristic for them.  Go see if it flies.

What else is it?

Look at your product and ask yourself, “What else is it?”

A lazy way to get inspired

Of course you’re tired.  Instead of thinking, let your thesaurus give you words that will spark ideas.  Use a great computer-based thesaurus, and enter your key word.  Let’s say it’s “run.”  You get back “rush, gallop, dash,” etc.  Think of ideas from that list.  Then, look up “dash,” and see what new words you find.  And so forth.

Synonyms can also change your strategy.  You originally thought the best appeal was “you get many choices.”  Now you’re thinking “restore hope” is better.

Tap your memories

You have ’em, so use ’em.

Theme it on a meaningless aspect

For example, if your company has May in the name, hold events in the month of May.

Work with another creative person

Two heads are better than one.

Boundless thinking

For example:  You’re creating something pertaining to doors.  Ask yourself questions like, “What would a door say?”

There is a method to this madness, because it takes wide-range thinking to hit on the right ideas.

From drifting to dazzling

Let your mind escape the task for a few minutes and then come back.

Reasons this is worthwhile:

1.   Thinking is exhausting.  Drifting helps you recharge.

2.   You’ll write down other notes, such as to-do’s you’ve been forgetting.  This is because your mind is zooming everywhere.

3.   It makes the work easier.

Talk it out

Talk to yourself aloud.  Do this even more when you find yourself drifting too much.  (That’s “drifting,” not “drinking.”)  Say to yourself, “Hey!  Come on!  What are we doing?”

It’s mind-expanding, dude

The more close-minded you are the worse your ads will be.  This isn’t a helpful statement, because everyone believes they are open-minded.

Let’s check your open-mindedness.  Take a controversial issue you’re passionate about, and see if you can convincingly express the opposite view for five minutes.  No rolling your eyes.  No phonying your tone.  The more you can understand and state the other side’s case, the more open- minded you are.

Describe the product in a different way

Come up with a new word or phrase for your product.  For example:  “It’s a time machine, because it takes you into the future.” Really!

3. Chain

Visual association

When you’re developing concepts, look at a wide assortment of visuals, and link them to your task.  For example:  You’re advertising fast delivery of data.  You see a water tower, and you ask yourself, “What can I do with a water tower?  OK, water from this tower flows to the homes all around.  So, there’s a flow from a higher source.  I guess a stream does that as well.  How about this:  ‘Rapid information for your business,’ and I show white water rapids.”

Reference:  “Use borrowed interest,” on page 99.

What is comparable to this?

Look at your problem and ask, “What would be a similar situation to this one?  What’s analogous to this?  For example:  Buying a too-small car is like a tall man trying to ride a tricycle.  Maybe that’s our image.”

The point:  Often, a problem doesn’t become clear until it is seen in another light.

Reference:  “Become someone else,” on page 134.

Turn two problems into one solution

When you’re dealing with two different problems, don’t fret over them separately.  Try to put them both together.  Sometimes they can help solve each other.

For example, here are two separate problems.  The prospect…

1.   Dislikes overspending to get what he needs

2.   Complains that all the products are too slow for him

Your headline:  “Expensive add-ons slow you down!  Get the streamlined solution.”

4. Angle

A right...then a left

Here are three steps to creating ideas:

1.   You let your creative right brain take over.  You think, “I’m just knocking out ideas.”

2.   You go and watch TV for a while.  Then, you let your wise left- brain looks at these ideas.  Leftie thinks, “I’ll decide what’s good enough to keep.”

3.   You let the right and left sides work together to sharpen the best ideas.

Look at it another way

 Example? 1:  You make electric motors.  This means you also transport energy.

 Example? 2:  You transport freight.  This means you also make satisfaction.

Moral:  Your product or service does more than meets the eye, and your job is to make that apparent.

What is it saving or making?

That’s a key question.

5. Visualize

Quick advice:  Look through online stock photo sources for inspiration.

Words help, pictures help

Coworker Vis Ual says, “I create ads by thinking visually.”  OK Vis, but don’t limit yourself.  Use words, too.  You need all the help you can get.

Doodle

Draw your problem, product, and prospect in different ways.

Show the product in other states

No, not Utah.  (That is a fine state, however.)

 Example? 1:  Show your product empty instead of full.

 Example? 2:  Show your product enduring harsh treatment.

How can we express that visually?

Don’t say it – show it.

Increasing emphasis on what’s unique

Is your product visually different?  Then put that difference on display.

Don’t water it down with meaninglesses.

Don’t say what is seen

For example:  Your ad shows a hand making a cash machine transaction.  Don’t say this headline:  “Do you panic at a cash machine?” Say:  “Panic time?”

Single focus

Don’t expect the prospect to absorb several visual messages in order to understand the picture.

Here’s an example of the wrong way:  “Show a lady at the health club, and the wall calendar shows it’s Friday, and the wall clock shows it’s 9:45 p.m.”  You’re not going to get the prospect to think, “She’s exercising on a Friday night.”  Go back to the drawing board.

Getting it

You don’t need help recognizing that you came up with the ideal concept.

Hence, this subject is lightly covered.

“I got hit with an overwhelming idea”

A tremendous idea will strike you, and after about four of them, you’ll feel beaten up...in a good way.

“How will the reader react to my visual?”

Answer honestly.  If your ad were like many out there, you’d have to say, “There won’t be much reaction at all.  So, it’s not going to be an effective ad.” Instead, hopefully you can say something like, “I think it will give people a jolt.”

“If the idea is so good, why hasn’t anyone else thought of it?”

Thirty percent of the time you should think, “Maybe there’s a reason nobody has done this, and I should ask some industry veterans why.”

However, 70% of the time you should think, “The other companies aren’t as smart as me.”

No aping

It’s pathetic to see Al Waysbehind do a weak imitation of his competitor’s innovative campaign.  Often, the competitor succeeded by breaking new ground.  Mimicking the competition won’t produce anything new, so Al’s knockoff will get knocked off.

Reference:  “Innovation can’t be faked,” on page 108.

“Kill the new thinking!”

Some will rehash an old-style campaign...because it’s comforting for the advertiser.  However, an ad succeeds when it’s new and different...because it’s refreshing for the prospect.

No second chances

Disagree with anyone who says, “We’re not expecting the prospect to understand this ad the first time, because it’s a little complicated.  Advertising is like that.  Messages sink in over time.”  No way.  Your ad should be so crystal clear that someone who sees half gets it all.

When you repeat your basic point repeatedly in your ad, you increase the chances of people understanding it.

Reference:  “Lather, rinse, repeat,” on page 127.

Deciding on the right idea

You must.

Put it down and pick it up later

You’ll always benefit by letting your mockups sit for a while...even if you have little time.  Reason:  You’ll catch errors that would otherwise damage your masterpieces.  Here is how:

1.   Finalize your project half an hour before the deadline.

2.   Take a 10-minute break (you need it).

3.   Read over everything for 20 minutes.

4.   Fix the little mistakes you missed.

Show your concepts to others

Igws (it goes without saying):  You want the input of people around you.

Rely upon the non-committeds

Seek the opinions of those who, by their personality, demonstrate that you mean little to them.  (You always wondered what they were good for, and now you know.)  They will be more like your prospect:  blunt.

What is the reaction?

You’ll collect different opinions, and there should be some consensus.

For example:  Five people looked at your ads, and three of them liked a particular one.  Of course, that becomes your A1 ad.

Show the ad to others for clarity

As the creator of your idea, you’re close to it – too close.  You can’t be sure if people will understand it.  Readers can think you’re saying something other than what you mean.  For example, you show your ad to Ron.

You:  What do you get from this ad?

Ron:  That we’re not smart enough to make a better product. You:  Why would you say that?

Ron:  This ad makes us sound like weaklings. You:  I thought it makes us look humble.

Ron:  It doesn’t come across that way at all. You:  I’m gonna crack your head open!

Don’t do it, because Ron is only helping you be clear.

Extra 1:  If two people tell you, “Oh, I didn’t get what you were trying to say,” don’t go forward with the ad.  Even one is a mega-snag.

Extra 2:  If something confuses three people, it will confuse three million.

Confusion can’t be yelled away

Advertisers who make the wrong point don’t help their cause by saying it louder and more frequently.  For example, someone says, “Toaster!  Book bag gyration.  Socks.”  Huh?  Well, how about: “TOASTER!  BOOK BAG GYRATION.  SOCKS.”  OK, um...thanks.

Related point:  If something confuses three people, it will confuse three million.

Aspects with idea creation

There are aspects to everything in life, and the following supports that.

It takes work

It a guy says he comes up with great advertising idea while shaving, be skeptical.  Rarely does anyone instantly churn out breakthrough ads.  With each assignment, you’ll have to devote innumerable hours and brain synapses.  If your coworker gets lazy he’ll only have 1/8s of concepts, and those with advertising experience will know he’s slacking.

To do:  Put in the hours and push out the ideas.

Think about the reaction

For example:  You want to show four people in your ad (a crowd) but only three will fit (doesn’t look as much like a crowd).  Go with three people and don’t worry about it.  All that matters is how the prospect sees your ad.  If she’ll still get your point, everything is A-OK.

Try for one and get another

For example, you’re writing headlines for a winter sale and you think up a delightful summer event.  Get used to occurrences like this, because your creative mind will produce many different things.

Don’t fret over what they didn’t see

For example:  You want to show four people in your ad (a crowd) but only three will fit (not as much like a crowd).  Go with three people and don’t worry about it.  All that matters is how the prospect sees your ad.  She’ll still get your point, so everything is A-OK.

Turn on the pressure

Be glad when you’re given an extraordinarily short deadline, because you’ll rise to the occasion, get brilliant on the spot, and dream up a wonderful concept.

A quick turnaround time also prevents over-futzing in the approval process, because the coworker doesn’t want to be responsible for missing the tight deadline.  He says, “I wish we had more time to do this better, but we don’t.” True!

Upshot:  When you only have a little time, you’ll get down to business, rock and roll, and create one of your most effective ads ever.  It’s that simple.

Raise and lower the temp

Your initial idea may come in at the wrong temperature – too hot or too cold.

There’s a place where it feels right.

“I’ll know it when I see it”

An initial concept may have something to it, but it has to be sharpened up a lot.  And, you may not know what it needs until you see it.  Only then can you say, “That’s what I was having an issue with.  This is better.”

Remember the sensation you had when you first saw the concept, and stay loyal to it.  Don’t abandon the ad because you’re seeing it so much.  Recall that the prospect has never seen the concept...and wowzie – is he going to get a kick.

Also, as the process proceeds, your initial “this is a wonderful idea” rush will be replaced by a staid sense of where the concept should be headed.

Happy ending:  Your finished ad looks meant to be that way.

Chapter 6.  Campaign

Now we’re putting everything together.

What is a campaign?

Again, let’s try it without looking in the dictionary.  A campaign is “an orchestration of advertisements.  The goal is to move people.”

Why have a campaign?

For the same reason football players make a team effort to get the ball down the field.  You could have three different quarterbacks out there at once, and have other players wandering around doing whatever they please.  You might even get some touchdowns.  However, in the course of the game, the structured opposition will beat your disorganized mess.  Reason:  The other side is truly a team, and together they accomplish more than the sum of their players.

In our case, look at each ad like a player on the team.  They could even pat each other’s rump.

Should you launch a campaign or run an ad?

That question is probably already answered by your circumstances.  If a coworker says, “We want to run an ad in order to sell this product,” that isn’t a campaign.  If the coworker says, “We need to have a campaign,” that is a campaign.

Go from a successful ad to a successful campaign

Experiment with different ads, mindful that each should have campaign potential.  See which one does the best, then extend and expand it.  If it works once, it could work many times and with many variations.  The point:  Run response-oriented ads, and figure it out as you go.

Also:  You have the ability to create umpteen kinds of concepts, but select ones that can spawn follow-ups.  Reason:  A great ad will help you for only a short time, but a great campaign can help you for years.

Let’s build a campaign

For this new campaign, we’re choosing “empowerment” as the appeal, and military aircraft as the visual.  The first ad shows a jet fighter and this headline: “Because you demand power.”

Stay on course...for a while

You need to stick with your central message (“you demand power”) for twice as long as you feel comfortable.  You started with ‘empowerment and aircraft’ as the theme, and you stay with it.

Now, it’s time for other appeals

You would like to promote your wide selection for a while, primarily because you want to attract those interested that appeal.  In your new ad, you show the fronts of three different military aircraft (jet, attack copter, and a transport plane).  Headline:  “Because you demand choice.”

By making a similar looking ad (aircraft) that has a different message (promoting choice instead of power), you’re having it both ways.  You are...

1.   Keeping the campaign intact

2.   Breathing new life into it

The key is to retain enough of the original – 70% is a rule of thumb – and to “variate” with the other 30%.  Is there a better way to show choice than with three aircraft?  Certainly.  On second thought, no.  You’re running a campaign, and each ad needs to help the other.

Here are several aspects to this “variations within a visual theme.”

 Aspect? 1:  Nobody cares – good.  The prospect pays little attention to the purity of the campaign.  He won’t say, “Hey, this campaign is about getting more power, not about getting more choice.”  But he could respond to the “choice” appeal, and that would be grand.

 Aspect? 2:  Lengthening the longevity.  Folding in other appeals helps keep the campaign alive.  Your organization is always coming up with reasons to buy, and this is wonderful.  You’ll want to promote those reasons, and a “consistent visual” campaign lets you do this.

 Aspect? 3:  You can ever-expand everything.  Your aircraft campaign has empowered people, given them choices, and now...the sky’s the limit. You can construct an aircraft ad that talks about quality, or maybe experience.  Also, you have options.  If your product is entering a new dimension, maybe you’ll show a spacecraft.

 Aspect? 4:  Appearance counts.  This follows the view that Image is mostly visual (on page 71).  As long as you’re showing aircraft, say whatever you think will fly.

 Aspect? 5:  Choosing among winners.  You run that multi-aircraft ad on choice a few times, and it delivers many more responses than your empowerment ads.  Interesting.  Should choice replace empowerment as the new foundation of your campaign?  That’s a good problem to have – choosing one winner or another.  And yes, you should make choice the new ongoing appeal.  You go where the market leads you, because the market rewards you for this.

Stick-to-it-ive-ness

The number one reason campaigns fail:  They are weak.  The number two reason:

Advertisers rapidly lose faith in them.  The second reason is your big concern, because you’re going to create a strong campaign.  Let’s talk about this loss of faith.

And when they want to scrap the campaign...

Keep a Web link to a popular directory of products in your industry.  When Imp Ulsev says you need to drop your campaign, scroll through the directory with him.  Say, “Look at these products.  We don’t want to be one of these nobodies. But you want us to start the push all over again, and I have trouble agreeing.”

Show him how the campaign is being modified – continually updated to match the needs of the market and your company.  Show him how you’re introducing new appeals and images.

The deal is:  Some marketing people get away with flaky acts, and one of the worst is “starting new” – only because their egos demand it.  If the new IT manager threw all the existing computers in the trash, that manager would be thrown in the trash.  However, some marketing people are allowed to discredit, disregard, discard, and discombobulate all the company’s current advertising, and this is misguided.

Reference: “The fickle,” on page 55.

Reinvigorate an old something

Here is an approach that will sail through the approval process.  (You only need to decide if it will be effective.)  Refresh some little-used company philosophy, mission statement, or customer bill of rights.  Coworkers will say, “We never talk enough about that.  We should play that up.”

Again, just make sure you believe it will work.

Chapter 7.  Selling

Persuasion

If you don’t win the prospect over to your side, you’re nowhere.  You won’t even have a side to not be won over to.

You, you, you

In your copy, say this:

“You need our product.”

“Here’s where you’re having a problem.” “You have a job to do.”

It’s all about the you...what the short story writers call the “second person.” Storywriters don’t use the second person much, but as a copywriter, your y, o and u keys should get worn out first.

Reasons you works:

 The? prospect wants to hear about himself more than anyone else.

 It? forces you to be relevant.  When you’re putting you into every other sentence, you’ll stay on the topic.

Telling no one nothing – don’t do it

Jabberty Jabberty thinks he can merely toss out 10 product features, and the prospect will...

1.   Pick out the three features she needs

2.   Connect them to her situation

3.   Respond

Hey, Jabberty – you’re making the prospect work a lot on your behalf. Rather, you should...

1.   Select three features you think she needs

2.   Relate them to her life

3.   Give her an incentive to respond

Limit the number of “scene” ads

A “two people talking to each other” ad can seem desirable…mostly because we see them so much.  But it can easily fail, because nobody is talking to the prospect.  She’s ultra-likely to overlook the message.

So, if you want a response from your prospect, talk directly to her.

Reference:  “Tell second person stories,” on page 99.

Give a rationale

Oftentimes the prospect wants to go your way, but you need to give him strong reasons.  In fact, you and he are working for the same outcome.  You just need to be on his side – not selling to him.

For example, if you’re trying to get a homeowner to take out a second mortgage, don’t just throw that offer out there.  Give him a rationale he can embrace.  Say this:  “Your home has increased in value over the years, and that’s money you’ve earned – but you’re not using.  Take out a home equity loan for the amount of extra value in your house, and make other wise investments – like college for your kids.”

Then, your prospect will have his money and his reason for it.

Bridge from the agreeable to...

If you have a tough sell, start with some points the prospect agrees with, then “therefore” him to the statement that’s harder to buy.

Agreeable statement:  “Beaches are too polluted.”

The bridge to the tougher sell:  “Therefore, our organization plans to melt Antarctica, lift the oceans by 40 feet, and shape new shorelines.  Will you help us make a clean start?”

Move the prospect

Let’s make a point so basic that nobody says it:  The prospect hasn’t purchased your product.  There is little chance she will.  You wouldn’t be needed if she were falling all over herself to get your product.  However, she is not budging.

It’s your job to cause a significant change in the prospect – enough that she makes a move toward your product.

So:  When, where, why and how will your prospect experience this change?

Samples of persuasion

Someone is out there, and you need to pull him to you.  How?  There are hundreds of ways, and here are six:

? Subtlety

 Warmth?

? Sincerity

? Expertise

? Humility

? Reasoning

To do:  Think about the forms of persuasion that you’ll use to attract the prospect.

Framing

For example:  Your product is strong on reliability and weak on speed.  You have a snag, because the prospect doesn’t care about reliability and desperately wants more speed (no jokes).  Q:  What should you do?

A:  Turn reliability into speed.  Since your competition’s fast product is unreliable, it breaks, and then it’s not moving at all.  Is that quick?  No.  You should say, “Our product is fastest over the long haul.”

The truth

The truth is everything.  Tell the truth.

However, don’t do it poorly.  Framing the truth properly is a skill as old as humankind, and America’s greatest practitioner was Honest Abe Lincoln.  The truth of the matter is:  There are dozens of ways to express something truthfully, and your job is to do it the right way.

“Hey!”  Rex Ridgid barks.  “There’s only one way to tell the truth, and that’s to say it!”  Calm down, RR.  Deep inside, you’re determining how to say something the right way, but it’s so ingrained you don’t notice.  Those who communicate for a living devote lots of attention to the “How should I say it?” question.  So, the options come to the surface more.

Extra:  Successful people like to blurt out, “I just say what I think!”  But sorry – they don’t just say what they think.  Listen closely to how they use language and phrasing.  As successful people, they are calculating what they say.  They simply don’t show it.

The right touch

Definition:  The right touch is the ability to phrase sentences in ways that win

the prospect over.

You should have the right touch or a desire to develop it.  Reason:  Situations are thrown at you all the time, and you have to express your way through them.

The controlling hand

There’s an art to knowing when to hold back and when to give it your all.

Lucky for you, you’re in advertising.  Mostly, you’ll give it your all.  That’s easier.

Enhance

For example, if you advertise a shoe store, tell the prospect she can meet with your shoe counselors.  To be sure, they are shoe counselors.

Success

Adding up to success

What is the combination of somethings that will put you in the winners circle?

The following list should get you started.  You can figure out the percentages, and add your own factors.  Here goes:

80/20

If your product has loads of distinct advantages, put 80% of the emphasis on the advantages and 20% on creativity.  Also, if you can mix creativity into those advantages then you’re a superstar.

Vice versa that as well.  If you have few advantages, go strong on the creativity.

Restrain yourself!

Sure, Getit Allin wants you to put a bunch of new junk to the ad.  However, you’ll turn off your prospect, because she doesn’t want to dig through a crowded mess.  Fight to give your prospect the right number of selling points.

Rule of thumb:  You’re better off presenting too little rather than too much, because a spare ad is more inviting.

Chapter 8.  Approach

What is the approach?

You have the appeal.  The question is:  How are you going to bring it to life?  The answer is:  You need an approach.

The approach isn’t the idea (that’s the next section), but it forms the kind of ad you’re going to have:  serious, humorous, declarative, or something else.

Program note:  This Approach section will focus on types of approaches.  The Idea section will concentrate on how to create ideas.

Choosing the approach

You have choices to make.

Forks in the river

Selecting approaches is like making your way up the Mississippi.  You come upon a fork in the river, and you have to select one branch or the other.  You progress, see more forks, and make more choices.  When you look back after a long trip, you realize this was quite a singular adventure for you.  Relatively few others have traversed it the way you did.  We’re going to make a similar journey.

Here are pre-notes that aren’t worth reading.

 This? book doesn’t have every kind of approach.

 You may? want to combine different approaches.

 Many of? these approaches are similar.  As we move along in our journey, the choices will be narrower.

 Some of? the upcoming approaches are presented as “the best way to go,” but don’t take those statements seriously.

Zig and zag

This is the importantest choice you need to make.  Defining the two:

Zig...is going it straight.  You use the same general approach as many other advertisers, but you do it significantly better.

Zag...is being unusual.  You take a different approach than everyone else. You go your own way.

We’ll start with types of zig approaches, and zag ones begin after that.

Zig

Four choices

There are four main ways to zig.  You can be...

1.   “Straight.”  Types of those begin in a moment.

2.   “Informative,” see page 96.

3.   “Emotional,” see page 97.

4.   “Exciting,” see page 100.

1. Straight

Go direct

“What does it all come down to?”  Answer that for the prospect, and make her happy.  Random notes follow:

When you state your message clearly, it contrasts with all the overblown stuff out there, and you get the prospect’s attention.

Those who are direct usually say they’ve tried to promote this product in creative ways, but the straight approach is unmatched.

When you hit an extremely high level of simplification, you have it right.  Reason:  Your prospect isn't paying attention.  You make your message so easy to absorb it’s impossible not to.

Say, “Here’s the point.”

Being direct is the opposite of being subtle.  Here is a typical subtle idea:  “We’ll show a lone wild stallion, and it’ll signify our independence.”  Unfortunately, few prospects will pick that up.  Most will see this ad and think, “There’s a horse.”  So, rather than being subtle, be obvious.  Make the prospect highly conscious of your appeal.

Is being direct being dull?  Not if it gets results.  The ones who responded weren’t bored, and they are the only ones who count.

Easy to-do:  You see a new product campaign, and it’s creative but confusing.  Remember it.  In eight months, it will probably be replaced by a direct campaign.  This is because the confusing one didn’t catch on.  At best, it befuddled people.  The company radically switched gears and went for the straight message.

Return to high school

Recall how you and other high schoolers would describe something (keeping it G-rated).  For example:  “It’s stupid.”  Or:  “I can’t stand it.”  Use these phrases in your ads.

Flag down

You need to signal your audience.  The quickest way is to ask.  For example, ask this:  “Do you have gray nose hairs?”  You can even shorten it:  “Gray nose hairs?”  This is better than, “There is hope for those embarrassed by gray nose hairs.”  Shorter is better.

The point:  The prospect wants you to get to the point about his problem.  The sooner you arrive at this point, the better off everyone will be.

Ask a question

This is a short section on a high-priority topic.

Questions draw the reader in, so ask them.  For example, you can make a challenge:  “Are you ready for a new cure?”

Alternatively, you can get him to connect.  For example:  “Leg stiffness?”

Give and take

For example, say this:  “Our competitors are good.  But we’re 34% better.”  You gave a little in the first part (good competitors), and you took a lot in the second part (34% better).  The “give” adds to your credibility.

Command

You tell people to buy your product.  Here are two places this can work:

1.   As rockem’ sockem’ retail, and we’ve seen that countless times.

You yell, “Get it!”

2.   As a zag.  Everybody else is sweetly asking, and you’re sternly barking.  “Get this life insurance!”  This is risky, because it may generate ill will.  But if you’re in the “no guts, no glory” camp, start commanding.

The do it drum

If you’re experimenting with three different ads, try one that bangs the do it drum incessantly.  Throughout your ad, you include declarations like these:

 Get the? free trial.

 You? need to experience this firsthand.

 Don’t? hesitate!

 What? are you waiting for?

 Tell us? you want the free trial.

 Now is? the time!

Why beat the drum so often?  Because if you tell someone to do something enough times, you might get him to act.  It finally – finally – hits the prospect that he should do something about his problem. “All right!” he says.  “I’ll do it.”  And he’s happier for it…just as you are when you finally accomplish something.

Look at successful direct mail pieces, because many are beating the drum:  “Try this,” they say.  “You have to try this.”  They promote this way because it works.

Here is a way to check the potential drumbeat-effectiveness quotient:  Show your ad around.  Someone says, “Whew, you’re going overboard with the ‘get it’ message.  I think you’ll turn people off.” This is good.  You’re beating the drum well.

Moral:  Often, it has less to do with being rational and more to do with repeatedly asking for the order.

State the reason

Try this:  Start your headline with, “Because...”  Then fill in the rest.

For example:  “Because you’re sick of being sick.”

Perhaps your final headline won’t start with Because, because Because isn’t the strongest way to get your message across.  But Because helps get you there.

Become solemn

For example:  “There is a serious issue in our industry.”

Are you giving the prospect convincing reasons?

Ask yourself that.  Go ahead.

Fetching

Countless ads come off like good dogs – ready to fetch and eager to please.  For the most part, this is a smart way to go.  Reason:  Providing top service is central to your cause.  Therefore, hang out with dogs and get inspired.

Say an old saying

Wise old sayings can form outstanding ads.  For example:  “You’re known by the company you keep.”  The prospect gets your drift and sees where you’re going.  The all-important connection is made.

Reference:  “Twist the tried and true,” on page 106.

Use jargon

The industry you’re selling to has its own terms, and you should use them.  For example, you’re writing an ad for anniversary diamonds, and it’s going into financial newspapers.  Your headline: “Delivers a 3-time love ROI.”

Corporatize

If your competitors run amateurish or otherwise crummy ads, try going corporate.  Make everything classy.  Run headlines like, “The intelligent choice.”  Give the prospect someone he can feel confident about.

Caution:  This approach can easily look dull, and that won’t help anyone.

Aspects of straight

Let’s get all this straight.

You can write straight

If you say you’re not a writer, be glad for the straight approaches.

You can write them, because the emphasis is on content, not style. You’ll find an audience out there saying, “Give it to me straight. Don’t flower it up.”  And that is true in every industry.

Straight starts grand relationships

Bad scenario:  The advertiser hires a writer, and the writer puts together clever approaches.  However, the approaches don’t fit the advertiser’s vision.  This causes tension, false starts, and unhappiness.  The writer got off on the wrong foot, and he might never get up to speed.

Promising scenario:  The writer should have also developed excellent straightforward approaches, because that’s where the writer and advertiser will probably find common ground.  Reason: The advertiser can focus on the ad’s content.  He says, “I like what we’re getting across here, and that we’re saying it clearly.”

Why does this help the writer?  Because he isn’t trying to accomplish two separate objectives:  content and style.  Going direct reduces the style issue, so everyone can devote energy to content.

Notably, the final ads could have a lot of style in them.  The direct approach was only a starting place.  The writer and advertiser became comfortable together, so they could explore creative ideas without tension.

Focus on content

If you’re nervous about creating an ad, there is one fantastic solution:  Focus on the content.  Say to yourself, “This isn’t about me and my writing style.  It’s all about what this product does for the prospect.”  Here is the secret you can’t tell yourself:  While you’re shaping up the content, flares of writing inspiration will come to you.

Straight doesn’t mean boring

Clear writing will be interesting.  You give the prospect your direct message, and that’s what he wants.

“Let’s just show the product”

If there’s nothing outstanding about the product, don’t expect it to stand out on its own.

However, in some cases, it might be smart to show the product by itself.  Then, don’t be reasonable and normal with the perspective.

Use an extreme close-up, because it catches the eye.  Limit your viewpoint to a distinctive part – like the label.

2. Informative

Deliver the news

If you have something new to say about your product, say it loudly in your advertising.  Also, don’t obscure your news with a clever headline or convoluted text.  Overwhelm people.

Lay out the facts

For example:  The competition only provides assistance 12 hours a day, and you go 24/7.  Tell, tell, tell people.

Provide testimonials

Give ’em a whirl!  However, they won’t necessarily make an impact, because even Benedict Arnold could scrape up a positive testimonial for himself.

Also, if it’s a testimonial from your client, don’t play up the client's name so big it looks like an ad for them rather than you.  It’s easy to confuse the prospect, so use care.

Relate

What is relevant is better than what is big.  Let's say your company saves the American workplace a million hours each year.  That’s a good selling point.  However, a better point is to say, “We can save each of your employees one hour a day.”  In other words, instead of throwing big numbers at the prospect, connect with her real challenge:  saving employee time.

The “one million hours” point should be used in the copy, because it establishes you as a player.

3. Emotional

Appeal to the emotions

Clearly, affecting the feelings can sell every product under the sun.

The bond forms when you move the prospect.  You make him laugh, cry, or something similar.  Then you and the prospect are a few steps away from a response.

If you’ve written short stories that make people laugh or cry, congratulations.  You’re the kind of person who can write emo-effective ads (that’s a new term you’ll never see again).

Side note:  The emotions topic is scattered all over the book.  For example, there’s “Driven by reason or emotion?” on page 40.

Show the irony

For example:  “He’s a gruff man, but he nursed that abandoned bird back to health.  And what water was used for the bird’s bath?  Wsprhmpsg Bottled Water, of course.”

Latch on illogically

Your coworker Scrooge says, “We need to show people drinking our bottled water, not pouring it in birdbaths.”

Your friendly reply:  “Oh, come on, Ebenezer!  This is imagery – an emotional grab.  Don’t extract all the joy out of life, Eb, because all we’ll have left is flat crud.”

Tip-off:  A cynic looks at your ad and says, “This is so corny.”  It’s a sign you’re onto something good.

The truth is:  There is an inverse ratio between emotion and reason. You’re trying to attract the emotional side, so don’t worry about using much reason.

Mother the prospect

Turn your prospect into a small child that your product will mother.

This requires a sensitive and maternalistic approach...something that implies this:  “There, there, rest your head.  Let our product take care of you.”

To be sure, the prospect isn’t expecting an ad to cradle him.  However, he runs everything else in his life.  If a product wants to take over part of his life, fine.

Become homespun

Give your ad a down-home tone.

Take a slice of life

The ad shows two people sitting at a table having a discussion.  One person says, “I have this problem.”  The other replies, “I have the solution.”

Many people say these ads are ghastly, but they can work.  The prospect sees himself in the ad.  He connects and responds.

Note 1:  This is contradicted in “Talk with prospects,” on page 17.

Note 2:  Direct marketers use these kinds of ads because they get results.

Not for the long haul

The slice of life approach is not recommended if you want a long– term image, because this advertising is so forgettable.

“But our slice of life ad will be remembered,” says one creator. “We’ll make it so beautiful that everyone will hold it in their memories.”

Eh, forget it.  If the basic structure is blah, adding window dressing won’t help.

Uncover nostalgic feelings

At one time, your prospect was determined to be a multimillionaire, but that never happened.  However, he earned big stockpiles of gold – golden memories.  They fill up his heart.  Put spirit in him.  Make him glad about his life.

How this pertains to you:  If you make him nostalgic, those nice feelings can turn into a response.

Side notes:

? Nostalgia isn’t just for octogenarians.  Anyone over 10 years old can enjoy the past.

 Use? poise, deftness...those kinds of things.

? Nostalgia is easy to overdo, and then it won’t work.  The prospect will reject anything too schmaltzy.  For example, avoid the “making cookies with Mom” scene.  Nobody cries at that anymore.

Use borrowed interest

The fastest way to jumpstart a campaign is through borrowed interest.

Here, your product latches onto the long-established image conveyed by something else, such as a mountaintop, red rose, or sports team.  You show a mountain, talk about making it to the top, and you could have a winning ad.

The trick is to make the mountain’s qualities rub off onto your product, rather than lose your product in the peaks.  In other words, you’re not selling mountains.

Tell stories

The prospect loves reading stories, but you won’t see many storytelling ads.  Reason:  Advertisers want the product to be the centerpiece of the message, not the story.  And that’s understandable.

However, if you want to stand out from a crowd of product-centric ads, tell that tale.

Tell second person stories

For example:  “You’re heading off for another day at work.

Suddenly...”

Suddenly what?  What happened to me?

Forge a relationship

In this type of ad, you try to secure a bond between the reader and you.

One way is to imagine the prospect as your friend.  Your copy comes out of that.

Saying this another way:  Typically, an ad makes a few good points, flashes around the product name, makes an offer, and it’s done. Relationship ads don’t do that.

Go off on a whim

The ad looks like you dashed it off, and that has energy.

Note:  It’s difficult to get these ads through the organization, because an organization’s role is to sharpen ads up.

Get sincere

Don’t fake it.  Or, be good at faking it.

Use levity

A touch of humor is golden, because it can draw the prospect in.

Should you write a fall-down funny ad?  Ninety-nine percent of the time, no.  It won’t be right for the product; it won’t come off as funny; and it wouldn’t form a long-lasting image.  If you have something to say, blurt it out.  Don’t cloud it in comedy.

Your approach

You speak and walk in a certain way.  Likewise, you naturally develop certain kinds of ads.  Be glad of this, and let yourself prepare them.  Look at something you create and say, “That’s a ‘me’ ad.  It’s the kind I do like nobody else can.”  Just don’t say this aloud, or people will call you a snoot.

Aspect of emotional

Imitation is the sincerest form of failure

Ape Chimpanee says, “People love our competitor’s ad.  We can do something similar.”  Ape, you can’t recreate the competition’s magic.  Instead, perform some of your own.  A rip-off campaign will probably go unnoticed, because...

? Originality is a key reason the competition’s ad succeeded

 The? imitation will have too little heart and too much mimicry

4. Exciting

Creative people are always developing ideas, and that’s fantastic. However, most of the winning ads out there don’t contain ideas.  They succeed by having a lot of excitement in them.  This is a huge deal, and we need to pause a moment for it in order to reflect.  …  We’re creating excitement instead of ideas, and we’re getting results.  Fascinating.

Excitement is its own world, and it hasn’t been mapped out yet.  We’ve all seen, “Wow!  You’ll love this product!” excitement in an ad, and that’s fine. But there are many kinds of excitement, such as showing the problem in a dramatic way.

What comprises excitement?  Here are three examples:

1.   A thrilling design

2.   A clever headline that says it all

3.   A picture with action in it

Let’s look at some different types of exciting approaches.

Yell

You have to cut through all that advertising noise.  If you feel you’ll

succeed by screaming even louder, go for it.

Extra point: You don’t have to make perfect sense.  For example, yell this:  “Huge Taste!”

Don’t be part of the harmonious background

Some advertisers are happiest when their ad looks like most others in the publication.  Borne Follower says, “We match the competition. Now we’re in the game, and that’s great.”  Borne, that’s not enough! You have to get out in front of the others.  Immediately.  One big jump ahead.

Pow

With this approach, you come right out with it.  Your visual shows the situation in stark fashion, and your headline, goodness – you’re pounding the message.  For example:  “KABOOM!”

This type of approach will wake everyone up, because you take charge...alarm the prospect...show capability...make competitors look sterile.

To hammer out a powerful headline, answer this:  How could you say exactly what you want to in five words or less?  Also, one of the words needs to have action in it.

Summary:  If you want a knockout campaign, start punching.

Jolt

For example:  “You could lose your house tomorrow.”

Man, there’s a jolt.  What could be so serious?

Shake it up

Your prospect needs to get shook up.  He’ll say, “I don’t like these ads that get in my nose.”  But most times, don’t believe him.  Get right in his nose, jostle him around, and let him be thankful later.

Your goal should be to skyrocket the response or go down in a blaze.  The result will probably be neither extreme, because readers won’t react negatively as feared.  However, your boldness can earn a 30% better response.

Thoughtful extra:  Rise to the challenge.  The prospect knows you’re advertising a mundane product.  She wants you to impress her. Come up with a stunning ad...for her sake.

Stop the march

Thousands of people are filing past your ad.  Find a way to yell, “Halt!”

Tell the cold truth

Here, a whole bucket of truth is thrown in the prospect’s face.  For example:  “Are you terrible at love?”  That’s a tough ad.  However, if the prospect is ready to face this problem and resolve it, you’ll probably get his response.

Addendum:  It helps no one to tiptoe around problems.

Deep question:  What is the truth of it all?

Declare the world’s end

Get ultra-serious.  Go ahead.

Sure, you want your ads to be intense, because the prospect is more likely to pay attention.

Announce the popularity

Thousands of companies push the message, “We’re so popular.”  And they are right to do this.  The prospect is comforted knowing that masses of people are buying the company’s product.

Also:  You can communicate that people are switching to your product.  Because unless sales are nowhere, people are switching.

Hype it

Make your ad larger than life.

Turn it up

For example, you’re advertising gronoflizers.  You could show people reveling in the speed, but that’s too easy and overused.  Rather, apologize for making it so fast.  “Because we exceeded the requirements by significant amounts, our gronoflizer will be too powerful for some.”

Show an obsession with the product

Your coworkers will adore this approach.  More important, the prospect will probably respond, because you’re showing product popularity.

Take a stand

Enlighten the prospect.  Tell her the popular way isn’t the right way.

Bust into your ad

Take the ad you’re currently running and drop in a loud announcement.

Make an unthinkable offer

Advertise a promotion that makes the competition’s jaw drop.

“Read this”

Demand extra attention from the prospect.  It’s your moment – use it!

Zag

A zag advocate speaks:

“All the ads you see are the same, same, same.  Why would you ever want your ad to get lost in the crowd like that?  Let’s do something different!”

Four choices

These are listed from the most “normal” zags to the most radical.  You can be...

1.   “Unusual.”  That’s coming right up

2.   “Odd,” starting on page 105

3.   “Unreal,” on page 106

4.   “Extreme,” on page 107

1. Unusual

Be illogical

The organization agrees to a rational approach, but something tells you to forget that.  The reason:  Your prospect doesn’t want logic.  Instead, he craves illogicalness.  Here are two examples:

1. The learning center

You’re advertising for a learning center – an after-school program that helps kids who need more academic help.  Here is the logical ad:  “Your child can’t keep up?”

Unfortunately, this ad doesn’t get to the heart of it, because parents won’t believe their kids are inferior – as well they shouldn’t.  An unconventional but better approach is to say, in effect:  “Your child is smart, but somehow he isn’t in synch with what he is taught.”  Explain how the center can help bring the child and grades together.

2. Paperclips

You’re selling generic paperclips.  It’s logical to scrape up whatever advantages you can (“ours hold more paper”) and hope for something. But the prospect won’t care about lackluster appeals.  He knows they are regular old paperclips.

So, make your paperclips the cool paperclips.  Design the ads so they look like teenage consumer product ads.  They will stand out in the dry office product world.  Then, purchasers with a sense of humor can say, “Look, I’ve got the cool paperclips.  And you don’t.”

Note:  You should be able to explain the logic behind your illogical approach.  For example:  “The paperclip is simply delivering some fun to the user.  And who doesn’t need more fun?”  If you can’t explain the logic, your ad is probably too wiggy.

Raise curiosity

For example, ask the prospect:  “What is the only ball bearing that exceeds federal government safety requirements?”

A curiosity-inducing ad can rake in responses, because you engage the reader.  Then, you can guide him to a response.

Find the right opposite

Let’s say your competitors look too corporate.  Everything is stuffy.

To counter that, you ask your six-year-old nephew to draw pictures of people using your product, and you run those drawings as the visuals in your campaign.

You’re taking the “right opposite approach.”  In this case, you’re using charm to outdo your uptight competitors.

The wrong opposite approach would be for you to draw pictures and run them, because nothing is heartwarming about adult scrawls.

U-turn the thinking

For example:  Show businessmen protesting.

2. Odd

Go off the wall

For example, mail each prospect a loaf of bread and say, “Any way you slice it, we’re better.”

Your prospect will remember receiving a loaf of bread.  Also, the way to his heart is through his stomach.

Use something familiar

Your ad has more power when you tap the energy of well-known general advertising.

For example:  You sell a business-forecasting tool in a dull industrial market.  You liven things up by making your campaign look like a “talk with a TV psychic for $3.99 a minute” ad.  The point:  You’re connecting business forecasting with psychic power.

Play dumb

You come up with an ad so likeably oafish the prospect has to smile.

And respond.

Use cartoons

If we took a photo of someone experiencing a blizzard of paperwork, it would...

1.   Cost money and time

2.   Look phony and staged

However, an imaginative cartoonist will make the funniest paper blizzard you’ve ever seen, so you’ll have a valuable ad that doesn’t cost much.

Cartoons also make small space ads pop.  They grab the eyes.

Use cartoon characters

Create an illustrated character to represent your product, because it...

 Has an? inherent appeal

 Can be? used in dozens of ways

 Easily? builds upon itself

 Can? cost little

 Becomes? equity for the advertiser

Twist the tried and true

Take an old saying and turn it on its head.  For example:  “Man cannot live on beer alone.”

Change the form

For example:  Cut your direct mail piece into a unique shape.  It will stun everybody.

Begin serious and end funny

The more accurate you make the first part, the funnier your second part will be.

A comedic ad soon gets annoying

You don’t want to be told the same joke 10 times.  Likewise, your prospect doesn’t want to see that same ha-ha ad 10 times.  Put variations out there.

Don’t make ads about making ads

“I’ve got the idea!” exclaims Nell Ified.  “Look at us.  We’re three people, sitting here, struggling to come up with the idea.  Let’s make this the idea.  The ad shows us going over all the different ways we can promote this product.”

Nope, Nell.  A non-idea cannot become an idea.

3. Unreal

Get unreal

Nophun says, “Let’s tell the prospect to get real.  He shouldn’t receive nice feelings from products.  It’s a little weird!”

However, deep down, the prospect doesn’t want to get real.  And why should he?  His world is all too actual and commonplace.  If your product gives him a small escape, marvelous.  He’ll know he isn’t in a fantasy world, but he’ll feel something nice.  And feeling wins.

Reference:  “Go to the hopes and dreams,” on page 42.

Making a point over making sense

You show politicians holding a common man upside down and shaking hundreds of dollars out of him.  Coworker Pres Icely says, “A person doesn’t carry around that much money.”  Don’t worry about that, Pres.  Advertising says it’s OK to exaggerate.

Moral:  Your objective isn’t to portray realism but to make a connection with the prospect.

Reality within unreality

For example, you can have a family living on the moon, but they

can’t have a zebra as a pet.  The striped mammal is out of whack with the setting you created.

Enter the stilted world

If realness is the way to go, try moving it 15 degrees off center – to put some zip in it.

 Example? 1:  Get the people in your ad to bug their eyes.

 Example? 2:  Stay in modern day, but set some clothes, hairstyles and objects back 20 years.

Unfortunately, slightly-off-center ads might get resistance.  Stupe iFied asks, “Why are you doing this?  It seems kind of senseless.” Exactly, iF.  This way the ad can be realistic but can still stand out. Otherwise, it’s the same old crud.

In short:  Turn up the volume on your ad.

It need not be exact

Feel free to take a license.  For example, your visual is the word “gardening,” and it is written with a garden hose – in cursive. However, you need to dot your i, and the hose won’t extend up there. Put a little dot on the i and don’t worry about it.  Or, place a sunflower as the dot.

Relatedly, if someone ever gets too nutty about exactness, say this: “The Declaration of Independence states, ‘In order to form a more perfect union.’  Maybe you don’t like that ‘more perfect’ part, hmm? You’re saying if something is perfect, it can’t be more perfect.  Are you against the Declaration of Independence?”

4. Extreme

Go to extremes

In life, most of your answers are found toward the middle.  In advertising, most are found toward the extremes.  Reasonable ideas will get you compliments in the office, but they won’t get far with your prospect.

Make wild analogies

For example:  Your product provides a path to a solution.  Show a freeway with 22 open lanes.

The last ditch zag

If you have to go with a weak ad, run it upside down.  It’s a cheap maneuver, but at least you’re doing something.

Aspects of zag

It’s tough to get the effect you wanted

It’s excellent that you have super-new approaches for this ad.  It's just difficult to get the effect across, because you’re covering new ground.

Take steps to ensure that what you want to see is going to be the outcome.  If that’s impossible to know until too late in the process, don’t take the risk.

Mix and match zig and zag

You can build a power-packed ad by combining the...

? Corporate look (zig)

? Borrowed interest idea (zag)

But for goodness sake, don’t mix corporate and straight.  That would be soooo boring.

Innovation can’t be faked

Some advertisers won’t try something new unless others have done it before.  How sad and ironic this is.  Since innovation is a pillar of effective advertising, this ad is missing basic support.

Be open to creating different kinds of ads

Snuteiest says, “I compose certain kinds of ads.”

Snute, you’re being too restrictive!  The objective is to get results. You reduce your chances of reaching that goal if you limit yourself. Instead, say this:  “I create results-driven ads.”

Who says so?

Don’t be stopped by long-held traditions.  Research has shown that half of them are stupid.

Aspects of the approach

Actually, these are subsections that needed a place to live.  Don’t tell anyone.

Tone and personality

You have to make a decision about your ad:  What disposition/character/behavior/attitude is going to be the most effective?  In other words, what is going to be the tone and personality of your ad?

Tone:  The undercurrent of your ad – the mood. Personality:  The make-up of the ad’s character.

Be glad you’re thinking about tone and personality.  Some advertisers ignore that elusive entirety when they pull together the pieces (picture, copy, etc.) of the ad.  As a consequence, their ads don’t project anything.

Big budget delivers big results?  Hmm

Just as money can’t solve all social ills, big budgets can’t automatically create inventive advertising.  Repeatedly, we’ve seen...

 An? enormous budget + a rotten idea = huge failure

 A small? budget + a first-rate idea = marvelous success

Be prepared to make do and still make it fantastic.

Break the limits

If you have a small ad, demonstrate that you’re better than the space you’re in.  Remember that the prospect doesn’t care about the size of an ad. He’ll never say, “I wouldn’t respond to this, because it's such a small ad.”  He only cares about what you’re doing for him.

Turn adversity into advantage

If coworker Nat Urallized insists on showing woodchucks in his jewelry ad, turn out the best woodchuck jewelry ad ever.  You’ll get points for originality.  And because it’s a zag, you’ll probably get results.

Use what is already available

Before you spend a lot on photos and illustrations, look at what you have lying around.  It’s free.

Can the approach be done?

Not to discourage free form thinking, but you should reject approaches that demand too much BLT (budget, labor, and time).  Instead, prepare ads that require your talent – not months and bucks.

Frugality lets you be timely

Rule of thumb:  The smaller the production budget, the sooner your ad can get in the market.  This is because you’re not relying on other resources.  So, unchain your ads from expenses and move fast.

A reason this is worthwhile:  If economic conditions suddenly change (and they will), you can quickly respond with a new ad message – one that addresses the new economy.  You might decide to say, “Now more than ever, it pays to use our product.”  You again leave your competitors in the dust, because they are tied to expensive ads and long production timetables.  They aren’t set up to do anything quickly – unlike you.

Notable:  Stag Neight will say, “Times are bad.”  But his advertising doesn’t change accordingly.  Certainly, he’s doing a poor job of responding to the market conditions.  Don’t be like him.

Watch it

Some people don’t realize the power that’s packed in language.  One misused phrase can upset thousands of people.  Keep your antennas up about this, and use your judgment.

Nothing at the expense of a certain group

Don’t offend people!  Instead, show that an ad can get results from scores of readers, and a smile from every reader.

No good-natured ribbing

Don’t make fun of the prospect in a, “We’re just kidding” way.  He’s not paying much attention to your ad, so he won’t get the subtle nuances of your wit.  He’ll only pick up enough to receive an insult.

Short notes on media

Media is a huge and ever-changing subject.  This book will only make some quick points, and encourage you to find a better and timelier source on the subject.

Also, the most important point about media was already made with “Select response-oriented media” on page 20.  Run in places where you can measure the results.  Otherwise the advertising will be considered an expense, and all companies are working to cut costs.

What’s the frequency?

Get your ad out there a lot.

The right place at the right time

You’ll hear the following often, but don’t trust it:  “The prospect sees the image repeatedly, puts it into the back of his head, and it jumps up in his mind when he’s in the purchase mode.”

Instead, put more faith in this:  “The winning ad is the one that’s in front of the prospect when he gets serious.”

Get close to point of purchase

And be creative about it.  For example, radio stations use billboards as point of sale advertising.  The driver sees the billboard and changes his radio to that station.

Smaller space, higher frequency

It’s better to run small space ads at a high frequency than to put out one giant splashy ad...and wait months before running it again.  If you’re not getting the prospect at the right time, you’re not getting the responses.

Think big with small space ads

Helpl Ess says, “I can’t do anything with this small budget.”  To prove Helpl wrong, we’ll do this:

 Get the? visual and headline to take up about 65% of the ad.  It will pop like a firecracker.

 Cut out? most of the stuff we’re supposed to say, so we can push our superiorest points.

 Use the? small space as a reason to urge a response.  We’ll say, “We don’t have room to tell you all the amazing features!  Contact us now.”

Do what you can’t

For example:  You’re advertising on the radio, and you offer an audio coupon.  Announcer:  “Come in, tell us you heard the coupon, and get 15% off.”  Since you can’t have an audio coupon, that’s why you should have one.

Related point:  Rise to the challenge!  If you’re advertising in a medium where you can’t get much response, determine how you still can. Cook up a unique idea that defies the medium’s limitations.

Use analogies that work well in your medium

For example, you want a unique direct mail piece.  Glue down fabric squares onto your letter – burlap on the left and silk on the right. Say, “Make your choice in service:  rough or smooth.”

Naming the product

Spend hours and days coming up with the right name for something.  The reasons are clear as day, so we won’t go into them.

Name recognition

Of course you want your product to enjoy name recognition.  The more the prospect is favorably aware of the product, the easier it is to sell.

However, it’s a waste of advertising to build name recognition alone.  Go it this way instead:  Think up an ad that…

1.   Tries to pull in many responses

2.   Uses the name a lot

Then, if it’s pulling in oodles of responses, you can figure it’s also increasing the name recognition.

Tie the name to a benefit

For example:  “Erdrfgeh means style.”

No dreary corporate names

Unfortunately, some companies have dull product names, because they believe it will get them more respect.  Forget this!  Rather, give your prospect something catchy...something she can hang onto.  The “dull name will gain admirers” theory is totally wrong.  Just as you have respect for people with unusual names, the prospect is   fine with an unusually named product.  That name even becomes part of the charm.  And everyone remembers it.

Use the meaning of the product name

For example, if “Allied” is in the product name, talk about an alliance between you and the customer.  This scores for a number of reasons:

 It? cures one of advertising’s worst afflictions:  the prospect remembering the ad but forgetting the product name.

 It will? scare your competitors, because their campaigns are generic.  Any competing product name could be placed into their ads.  But your campaign is as singular as your product name.

 Your? company is less tempted to switch campaigns, because yours is “product name centric.”

Advice:  Theme your campaign around the product name!  Your ad will sail through the organization, reel in prospects, and knock the wind out of your competition.

Turn initials into descriptions

For example, if it’s 1840 and your company is ABC, here is your ad:

“What does ABC stand for?  Maybe it’s, ‘Always Better Cannonballs.’ Or, perhaps it’s, ‘Any Blasting Cannonballs.’  Whichever way, ABC represents everything you need in your armory.”

When a bad name is good

An ugly name is effective for a male-oriented product, because guys like anything humorously wrong and insulting.

Chapter 9.  Advertisement

We’re going to build an ad.

Staking out territory

Here is how you can partition a successful ad.  (After this listing, there’s a little subsection for each one of them.  Plus cake and donuts.)

065%   Big push

007%   Other push

014%   Copy

009%   Call to action

005%   Logo and contact information

100%   Total

65% Big push

This is where your visual and headline reside.  You have a whopping 65% of the ad to make your central point.  You can dominate, stimulate, resonate, or levitate.  Go for it!

Determining the lead attraction

What is going to be the wow?  This is one of the most fundamental questions.  It could be something that is...

 New?

? Exclusive

 Unknown?

? Interesting

It is your decision.

You command the attention

Marketing teaches us the prospect is in control, but that is not true at the first contact point.  You have more power to attract the prospect than he has power to run away.  You just need to create an irresistible ad that makes the prospect think, “Hey, that is something.”

Basic question:  Would the prospect want to read your ad?

The sudden connection

The prospect is mindlessly paging through the advertisements.  Then zap!  He sees an ad that addresses one of his big complaints.  “Well, hmm!” he thinks.  “This is something.”  You’ve made the sudden connection.  Three cheers for you!

Note:  When you make an instant impact with the prospect, you’ve already finished half of your assignment.

7% Other push

There’s something else you need to say, and 7% lets you get that message into the subhead...or perhaps a sidebar.

14% Copy

Sure, you want this.

9% Call to action

The reader needs to respond, so you’re devoting 9% of space to properly cajole him.  You can put a prominent, ‘Contact us now’ line at the bottom, or have a call-out.

5% Logo and contact information

Yes, there is this.

Waste space in a showy way

Try this one:  Keep your elements spare, so your ad is open and inviting.

Question:  Is the reader going to absorb all the blee-blah in a junky ad?  No.  The advertiser is only serving himself.

What matters?

Clear away all the extraneous malooky from advertising, and what matters is your...

?  Initial attraction

?  Basic message

?  Idea or excitement

?  Visual

?  Collection of lines

?  Urge to respond now

Chapter 10.  Lines

A line is the...

? Well-crafted selection and arrangement of words that

 Tries? to accomplish something meaningful

Overblown statement:  Lines weave together and help to form the fabric of strong advertising.

Some points:

?  The term “line” covers headlines, slogans, subject headings, and snappy statements in the copy.  Lines are also in some subheads and photo captions.

?  Maybe your line has a hook in it, a fun-ness with it, a rhythm to it, or a blast in it.  In fact, the sentence you just read has line qualities.

?  Every line has the same objective:  It wants to get something out of the person receiving it.  When someone drones on because he likes to hear himself talk, there are few lines in what he says.  Reason:  He’s not trying to get a response from you, so he won’t express anything to you in an appealing way.  Writing lines is the opposite of this.

Go ahead:  Throw out your lines and see what comes back.

Semi-pre-note:  Avoiding repeats

Many elements from previous sections are applicable in the following section, so they won’t be presented again.  For example, on page 93, “Command” is noted as a type of approach.  “Command” is also a type of line, but it’s not going to be discussed below.  This lets us cover new ground.

Lines vs. sentences

A line is almost always a sentence, but this guide won’t get into the basic rules of sentence writing.  Three reasons:

1.   We learned that in school.

2.   The rules aren’t fun to read.

3.   Lines go out of their way to break the rules.

Instead, we’ll concentrate on the aspects, qualities, and whatever elses that are particular to the line.

As just stated, lines break grammar rules – and more power to them!  For example, of course you can make your line a fragment.  As long as it works.

Note:  Writing a line is much more complex than writing a sentence.

The hook

The hook is the part of the line that makes it a grabber.  For example:

“There’s a lot in it and nothing to it.”  “In it” paired with “to it” form the hook.

About 30% of successful advertising comes down to hooks.  More isn’t written about the hook here, because it’s implicit in other discussions about writing successful lines.  For example, see “The music in a line” on page 118.

Regarding the…

?  “objective of the line.”  That’s coming right up.

?  “structure of the line.”  It starts on page 117.

?  “orchestration of words in the line.”  This is on page 119.

Regarding the objective of the line

Don’t have it like the platform

Basic Leeh reads the appeal you constructed (see page 62) and says, “I like this!  Let’s make it our slogan.  It says everything we want to say.”

Mr. Leeh, thanks for liking the appeal.  Unfortunately, that appeal statement won’t grab the prospect.  It needs to be a line – with a wow, and some zim-zam-boom.

What are you getting at?

Ask yourself this when you’re creating the line.

How a line might connect

Following are some of the personas lines take on.  Lines can be...

? Alluring

 Clever?

? Demanding

 Regular? Joe

? Seductive

? Identifiable

 Serious?

This list is miles short of being complete, because a line can become almost anything.  For example, let’s pick a state of being:  hysterical.  Sure, a line can be hysterical.  However, there are limits.  For instance, few successful lines are catatonic.

What are the criteria?

There are things you can and can’t say, and they make up the criteria.  For example:  If you’re selling a medical device, you can’t say it “stops the problem dead in its tracks.”

This is a short subsection on a big issue, because most ads are eliminated by criteria.  Another example:  You’re advertising instant potatoes to a network of cafeterias.  You can’t say, “It’s the cheapest mix,” because, well, this is food, and people eat food.

Reference:  “Satisfying the criteria,” on page 25.  Why these two weren’t rolled into one is a mystery.

Regarding the structure of the line

Don’t overload

If you burden the line with blah-blah, you’ll wreck your point.  For example, let’s overload the sentence you just read:

“If you, your coworkers and/or management try to get too many thoughts into, or otherwise overwrite, complicate, or burden a line (the aforementioned sentence that makes a point of interest to the prospect), the person reading that line won’t have the point made to him or her, and he or she could be negatively impacted in numerous ways.”

Lawyers like these unwieldy statements, because they cover all the bases. However, your reader...

 Doesn’t? have time to wade through all that

? Responds to succinct phrasing:  "In short...”

 Needs? only a few details to get the message

Keep strong words spare

There is a temptation to dive into your thesaurus and emerge with a string of highly potent words, because together they might make a powerful line.  For example:  “Opt for the superlative masterpiece that disentangles hindrances.”  However, you’re not applying an artful touch, so the line explodes.

Alternatively, say this:  “It’s a masterpiece.”  You didn’t get in that it disentangles hindrances...nor did you include the company’s address...nor did you say that it comes in a variety of colors.  But what you are getting across gets across.

Rule of thumb:  “How you say it” should be at least 20% better than “what you say.”

The music in a line

Lines can work for many reasons, and one of them pertains to music.

A great line could have a beat – though you can’t dance to it.  For example:  “It’s more like a house, and more like a home.”

To do:  Take the principles you learned in grade school music class, mix them into your line, and you’ll have lively text.

Note:  When someone makes a short, convincing statement to you, play it back in your head a few times.  It probably has a ring to it.

An example

Mike is writing a slogan to increase membership in the radical left wing organization he belongs to.  Mike comes up with, “The left is right!” It’s catchy, thought provoking, and attractive to those inclined to agree with him.  Even better, it looks good on a sign he can carry at demonstrations.

Bart is Mike’s comrade and partner.  Bart hears, “The left is right!”

and changes it to:  “Going Left is the ONLY choice – Join us now!”

Bart’s change ruins the line.  It breaks the beat, destroys the hook, and overburdens everything.  Mike is angry about this, but he shouldn’t push Bart out a window and assume power...yet.

Mike to Bart:  We should deliver a single message here – not a string of little declarations.  Let’s not squeeze in every phrase we think is necessary.  Instead, let’s communicate to the prospect in an appealing way.

Bart:  [Simply stares.  He might be reaching for his pistol under the desk.]

Mike, pressing on:  “The left is right!” has a beat to it.  And hitting a beat is far more effective than saying “Join now,” and “we have the only choice.”

Bart:  Don’t you want people to join now?  You’re not proud of our ideology?  Are you a capitalist?

Mike:  Don’t try that.  It’s a matter of discipline – something you don’t have.  You know, there are five other points we could jam in the line too. We have a special on membership now.  Should we junk the slogan up more by including that?

Bart:  Maybe we should.

Mike:  C’mon!  OK, if you can’t understand discipline, try priorities. We don’t need to say everything all at once.  We can prioritize.  Right now, we only need to introduce ourselves to the prospect, because he needs to be attracted to our cause before he’ll join us.  “The left is right!” is a great introduction.

Bart:  How about this instead: “Quit your Stalin, and Lenin us help you.”

Mike thinks:  Oh, boy.

Note:  Lines are at the core of resultful advertising, and they should be treated with extreme care.  In short, they’re worth fighting for.

Regarding the orchestration of words in the line

Double meanings

For example:  “Get the experience.”  You’re taking advantage of the fact that experience has two positive definitions.

Double meanings...

 Give? your ad a two-for-one impact, and it needs lots of impact

 Satisfy? the requirement that ads be clever

Reference:  “The two point shot,” on page 72.

Twist on a recognized phrase

For example:  “Anything you can do you can do better.”

Note:  If people kid you for saying lots of clichés and old expressions, be glad!  You can use them to write lines.

Punch

In a few words, you hit the prospect right where he lives.  For example:

“Why throw away $117 a month?”

The prospect thinks, “Wow, where can I save $117?”  You’re on your way to getting a response.

Reference:  “Get in line with the prospect’s thinking,” on page 39.

Time to rhyme?

Years ago there were rhyming slogans, and then everyone got violently sick of them.  Perhaps you’re the innovator who will bring them back.

Words that sound similar

For example:  “Superb Suppers.”  This repetition is called alliteration, and it’s one of the easiest ways to write an effective line.

Be generational

It connects.  For example, tell the WWII generation, “V for Victory.”

Types of lines

Slogans

A slogan (or “theme,” or “tagline”) is the short little phrase that sums up the marketing effort behind the product.  Your slogan needs to say or imply most of what’s in your appeal.  Reference:  “Appeal,” on page 62.

Will a slogan generate new prospects?  That depends on how much you use it. “Hold it!” says Skip Tic.  “We put time, money, and effort into creating the slogan, and what matters most is how much it’s seen?”

Sure.  If an OK slogan is your star attraction, it will be more effective than a great slogan sitting at the bottom of the ad.  In the latter situation, you could call it a “theme.”  You say, “This is the overall theme of the campaign.  Different messages branch from it.”

Keeping a theme in the basement

Why create a slogan when it isn’t used a whole lot?

 The? company is proud of its achievements.

? “Everyone else has a slogan.”

 The? creation of a new slogan puts the company through a cathartic experience.  “What is this product?  Why is it on this planet?”

 It? signals reinvigoration.  “It’s a new year...we have a new theme...and we’re recommitting ourselves to innovation.”

 It’s a? motto the employees can rally around.  The Director of Accounting could speak at a conference and say, “You might have seen our ads saying we’re ‘The solutions company.’  Well, I’m going to give you some accounting solutions.”

Product name in slogan…yes or no?

It’s time to settle a 200-year-old disagreement in the advertising world.

Question:  Do you need to have the product name in the slogan? Answer:  Not necessarily.  If you insert the product name into your slogan, will your message, hook, and beat remain intact?  If yes, great. Put the name in.  If no, leave the name out.  It’s better to have your line function beautifully.

“But,” says Wise Advertiser, “the name has to be there!  Otherwise, nobody will remember the product.”

To be sure, the slogan benefits when it contains the product name. However, as Leftist Mike taught us (on page 118), if the slogan works best without the name, leave it be.

But you might be able to cheat, and here’s how:  You tack the product name onto an end of the slogan.  For example, let’s add to this slogan: “Your one-stop shop.”

“Jaxhwsfd is your one-stop shop.” “Your one-stop shop is Jaxhwsfd.”

Don’t have a single word slogan

Coworker Al Mostgotit says, “We brought our advertising message down to one mighty word:  ‘Performance.’  It says everything about who we are and what we do.”

Hmm.  “Performance” doesn’t really have a hook.

Line collection

If you want to see several pages of lines, go to page 139.

Headlines

Here are two points:

1.   Headlines mean everything to ads.  All hail the mighty headline.

2.   Most of what was already stated about lines and slogans applies to headlines, and we won’t repeat all that.  However, there are headline-ish subjects we can talk about.

Clear the way – here comes a big headline

As we saw in “Staking out territory” (on page 113), 65% of your ad should be used for your headline and visual.  That’s a lot!  So, consider running your headline MOUNTAINOUS.

Putting different headlines in the campaign

Your lively campaign should contain a wide variety of ads, each with different...

 Topics?

? Headlines

 Visuals?

The prospect may not respond to your February ad talking about convenience.  However, he may reply to your March ad, because it addresses quality assurance.

“Hold it!” says Klose Reeder.  “This book keeps talking about supporting the theme, yet we’re supposed to have ads that address different topics. What’s the deal?”

The key is to mix the theme into the ad.  If your theme centers on “best tasting wild rice,” certainly one of your headlines can talk about “low sodium.”  Just make this your subhead:

“It’s true:  The best tasting wild rice contains very little salt.”

The net of it is:  The reader likes seeing variety in your ads, and he should reward you for that.

Reference:  “Let’s build a campaign,” on page 84.

“What is this product?”

Q:  In the headline, do you need to say what the product is or does?

A:  The less the prospect knows about this type of product, the more you need to explain it.  If a company is selling you Leyden jars, they had better tell you what they are and do – quickly.

Note:  You can probably put those explanators into the subhead.

Oh:  Leyden jars were used a few hundred years ago to create electricity.

A happy marriage between the visual and headline

To have a successful relationship, the headline and visual should be...

? Compatible

 Right? for each other

 Helpful? to one another

? Understanding of each other

A weak visual doesn’t carry its own weight

When the visual idea is lousy, the headline has to waste words...

? Explaining what is in the picture

 Doing? the selling the visual should have done

The point:  Improve the visual idea, and free your copy for other duties.

Don’t say what is shown in your picture

For example:  If you have a close-up of an orange hanging from a tree, your headline need not have the word “orange” or “tree” in it.

Cut the blee-blah, increase the impact

Here is an ad with a lot of...

 Impact:? “Save Big Now!”

? Blee-blah:  “Wait until the competition sees that we’re offering you tremendous savings.”

Moral:  It’s difficult for the prospect to overlook a short and declarative headline.  So make one!

Incongruity between photo and headline

If you have a dramatic photo, you might want to play down the headline message.  For example, show a telephone as a giant spaceship over a city.  Headline:  “It’s for you.”

Subhead:  Your ace in the hole

The subhead sits right below the headline, and you can use it for many reasons.  You can...

 Put in? whatever you couldn’t get into the headline.  Let’s say coworker Load Itup tells you, “We have to put in the headline that we won the Grlwdrxo Award.”  You can stuff that fact into the subhead and make Load loads happy.

 Place a? “call to action” high up in the ad:  “Get our free trial offer.”  Usually these encouragements don’t come into the ad until the end, because advertisers want to be refined and staid.  However, you should be pushy and loud, so make an early offer to your prospect to lure him into the copy. “Read how you can save $24 every week.”

A point:  The subhead probably isn’t a line, because you’re trying to say something ultra-clear to the prospect.

Paragraph heading:  Break it up!

Look up one line and you’ll see, “Paragraph heading:  Break it up!”  This is a paragraph heading.  Use these, because they keep your copy from becoming long expanses of gray.

More reasons to use paragraph headings:

 The? prospect doesn’t want to read all your copy.  He wants to zero in on the parts that interest him.  Paragraph headings help him do this.

 It’s? easier to organize what you want to say.

 You? don’t have to worry about transitioning from one subject to the next (with “Furthermore,” “In addition,” etc.)  Just start a new paragraph heading and take off.

Here’s the big secret:

Paragraph headings like the above can attract readers.

Throwaway lines:  Keep them!

You write a few sentences of copy, and then add, “But you already knew that.”  This is a throwaway line.  Here is another one:

“And the best reason to get our product?  You’ll look fabulous using it.” Throwaway lines are powerful, because...

 The? communication is more person-to-person and spontaneous.  The

prospect likes reading what one person writes off the cuff, rather than what a group rewrites in serious marketing meetings.

 The? reader expects you to cram your space with logical argument.  Instead, you’re zagging.

 It? surprises the reader, makes her smile, and warms her a little more toward responding.

So:  Should you put in another reason for buying the product, or put in a throwaway line?  Answer:  Whichever is better.  If it’s a great line, it has to go in.

Be mischievous

For example:  Rather than saying, “Get our fact sheet,” say, “Get our cheat sheet.”

Chapter 11.  Copywriting

It’s about time we got to this.

Pre-note:  Hitting the highlights

A lot of grammarizing goes into writing copy.  You need to concentrate on verbs, sentence structure, etc.  This book won’t cover all that, because...

?  Whoah – it would be tiresome to read

?  Too much would just state common sense

?  We read those rules in school

Rather, we’ll address what’s relevant to your copywriting needs.

Helpers

The we reference is best

Question:  When you communicate with your prospect, how should you refer back to your company?

Answer:  “We.”  As in, “We want you to improve your life.”

Make lists

You need to give the prospect a mountain of information, and wordsmithing it all out is painful.  The cure-all answer is to make bullet points.  In other words, write lists.  Let’s see how bullet points benefit everyone:

For you, making bullet points...

 Lets? you put your strongest “reason to buy” first

 Cuts? all the fat from the copy

 Gives? you a place for every possible selling point

 Turns? writing into a mild pleasure

 Squeezes? more details into less space

 Is? easier than making sentences flow together

For your prospect, reading lists...

 Spares? her the fluff she didn’t need anyway

 Answers? her demand for immediate information

 Lets? her scan down to what interests her

 Is? easier than wading through mega-glonks of text

 Gets? her through the copy and into the response zone

For the organization, reviewing bullet points...

 Lets? them zero in on content – and that’s what matters

 Gets? them to say, “We can use this list for other projects”

 Is? easier to digest, because it gets to the essentials

Reference:  “Don’t try to artfully weave extraneous points,” on page 134.

White space is better

Let’s say you have five bullet points, but they look crowded in the layout.

There has to be one bullet point you can cut.  The prospect will find the white space more inviting, and he’ll never miss that bullet.  (President Andrew Jackson even had a bullet removed.)

Bridges

Bridges, a.k.a. transitions, are links that help you turn wide-ranging points into a slick piece of copy.  Some of the most popular bridges are…

 Also?

 And?

 In? addition

“List of bridges” begins on page 147.

Reference:  “Oh, that flow,” on page 135.

Cite examples

Here’s a short message on a big subject.  Advertising doesn’t lend itself to convoluted explanations, so give examples.  Then you’ll make everything clear.

Examples rule because they are simple to follow, easy to identify with, and entertaining to read.  Goodness, everyone likes a story.  So, rather than writing a dissertation that puts the prospect through a wringer, just give a “for instance.”

Use metaphors and similes

They provide an instant picture of what you’re getting across.  For example:  “Our competitors are venomous snakes, and they’ll sink their long fangs into you.  Beware!”  There are positive metaphors too.

Avoid words nobody says

Don’t use words people don’t use.  Like, concatenate.  Maybe 5% of the English-speaking world understands that word.  Paradigm is another one. Perhaps more people know catalyst, but not enough for you to use it.  Reason: These mysterious words will turn the prospect off a little.

Here are more words real people seldom say:

 panacea?

 quarrel?

? whereupon

? feedback

 fatigue?

 deadpan?

 peers?

? horseplay

Spruce up the obvious moments

When something is unmistakable, have fun with it.  For example, if you’re showing a week of events for fathers, say Mondad, Tuesdad, Wedsdad, etc.

Lather, rinse, repeat

In your copy, it’s necessary to say your theme many times and ways, because – surprisingly – the reader will tune in rather than turn off.  He won’t attack you for repeating yourself, because he probably won’t notice.  Meanwhile, you’ll sell him a lot, because repetition gets the prospect to finally absorb the message.  So, restate! Because it sinks in.

Rephrasing – saying the same thing numerous ways – is necessary, because you don’t want the reader asking, “Didn’t I just read this?”  For example, here is the same message with four different treatments:

1.   You’ll save more if you buy now.

2.   Purchase during our limited-time special.

3.   Don’t hesitate, because you’ll lose this low price.

4.   This awesome deal is going away – act today.

Also, while you don’t want to be a repetitive pest, you want to get pretty derned close to being a repetitive pest.  Reason:  Repetition is a top way to trigger response. See, the prospect won’t contact you until he absorbs your message.  Repetition gives him the message so often he does get it...and he responds.  It’s that simple. Therefore, think up many ways to get your central message across, and distribute them in your copy.  You’ll get more prospects.

To be sure, repetition is one of the most underused methods in advertising, and it’s one of the most powerful.  The crux of the matter is this:  In our lives, experiencing anything a lot makes it familiar – like driving a car.  However, bad advertisers believe they can say something twice, and the prospect will get the message.  Would you ride with someone who’s only driven twice?

Hoo boy, Onse Isenough doesn’t agree with all this.  He reads your copy and exclaims, “You keep restating the same stuff!  You don’t need to say this so often.”

Not true, Isen!  Sure, you’re reading the copy closely, because you’re a coworker. But the prospect isn’t.  When he reads the same point repeatedly, it gets into his head, and he acts upon it.

In addition, because advertising is already a little bothersome to the prospect, you have some latitude.  Since the prospect is putting up with your ad, he won’t get bent out of shape when you make the same point often.  This gives you opportunities to push the message further into his mind.  If it’s the right message, he is more likely to respond.  Plus, if you wrap it up with a timely offer, you should be in great shape.

So, your challenge is laid out.  You have to acquire the space, willingness, and discipline to drum that message repeatedly – inside your copy and across your advertising.

Repetition over reasons

Making your main point repeatedly is more important than trotting out many different copy points.  The prospect has less need for details, and more need to soak up your message.

“OK, stop talking about repetition!”

Sorry…can’t do that just yet.

Let’s say we have a main theme, like, “It makes your operation run smoothly.”  But we also need to make such unrelated points as…

 “You? get more choices.”

 “We? have five locations in the city.”

How can you tie everything together and still create repetition?  Make those unrelated points connect to the main theme.  With our theme – “makes your operation run smoothly” – you can weave in your unrelated points thus:

 “You? get more choices.  Select the one that works for you.”

 “We? have five locations, so the solutions you need are close by.”

Rephrasing for the sake of clarity

The prospect wants to understand what you’re saying.  It’s good to make the same point multiple times, because he can move from confusion to clarity. Rephrasing gives him a clearer view of your picture.  He figures out what you’re getting across.

Note:  Confused people will not buy your product!  They will immediately reject everything and move on.

Messing with English

Those who write medical journal articles have to adhere to a strict (boring) writing style.  Life is better for you, because you can get creative and get away with it.

Play on words

For example:  If your ad has golf as the image, copywriting is an easy putt.

You can tell the prospect to take a swing at it…follow through...and make a hole- in-one.  Don’t say he’ll perform below par.

Why use puns?  Because otherwise, your copy will be as dull as golf on TV. Better to have him sticking around for your next bad wordplay than running for the 19th  hole.

Also, shh!  People say they dislike puns, but most folks enjoy them in an oddball way.

Make up words

If your product is for enjoyment, create your own words for it.  The impactificatiers in your sentensations jumpitate the slumbulating prospect.

Advice

Cut the convoluted negatives

Here is an example of a convoluted negative:  “You can’t afford to miss avoiding another long night.”  OK, is this for or against long nights?  Instead, say it quickly and positively:  “Sleep supremely for a low price.”

Never use definitives

Companies and writers would love to make ironclad statements like, “It works every time!”  However, there are always exceptions, so definitives don’t find a place in copy.  Here are some examples of definitives…and ways you may get around them.

Definitive

Non-definitive

Two notes:

1.   This book is not a legal guide.  None of these words will help or protect you.

2.   Someone might say, “Those non-definitives are so non-committal.”  Yes, and read any copy from the multi-billion dollar corporations.  You’ll find few definitives and many non-committals.  This is because they know what they are doing.

Know the importance of what you’re saying

You have power!  Ah, ha, ha, ha!  Don’t use it carelessly, or you’ll regret it.

And you’ll lose that power.

Convincing

Get a little amazed that nobody has crystallized the sales message to the extent you think is possible.  While others may be clever, they aren’t sending out the convincing messages.  Make it your goal to be highly persuasive, and accomplish it.

“Here’s how that works to your advantage”

Take a feature (“our wheels have more spokes”), and say this to yourself:

“Prospect, here’s how you’ll benefit from this.”  Then express it.  Then put it into your copy.

Using the product name in the copy

On one extreme, it’s wrong to be snooty and rarely say your product’s name.

Because:  The prospect needs to know what the product’s name is!

On the other extreme, it’s wrong to say the product name so often it awkwardizes your message.  Because:  The prospect needs to absorb your message!

Climb out of a hole as you scale up a ladder

If you have to resolve some weird side issue while you’re marketing the product, the trick is to make everything work together.

For example, your product is called Djvaskt and the competition’s is Djvask. Oh boy, those are too similar.  Don’t expect your prospect to know the difference between you both – it’s all too confusing.  If you choose to ignore the name problem, your ads will sell a lot of Djvask.  However, you can’t afford to run a “name differentiation campaign,” and the prospect wouldn’t pay attention anyway.

The answer is to tackle two objectives at once.  How about this slogan: “Djvaskt suits you to a T.”  It’s not an all-star line, but you’re addressing the name problem while you’re selling.

Upshot:  Wasteful as it may seem, you have to invest budget, labor and time (BLT) to resolve these odd predicaments.  Luckily, you’re smart.  You’ll mix them into the overall effort.

The reader understands your constraints

If your ad is in a small space, don’t cram in details.  Hit a few highlights, and tell the reader to access your Website to learn more.

1.   Your prospect will understand.  He’ll see you can’t fit the world into that space.

2.   Hopefully, giving fewer details will jar his interest, and you’ll get more Website hits.

The process

Writing copy is no walk in the park.  You have to put thousands of brain synapses into what you’re saying.  Let’s figure out how to make this process a little easier.

Hurdles to jump

Following are copywriting obstacles and ways to get around them.

Hurdle 1:  You hate writing copy

You really do.

Jump 1:  Talk into a tape recorder

Jot down the mini-subjects you need to address in your copy.  For example, you list out:

? Prospect doesn’t have money

 Wishes? can get a better home

 Family? is growing beyond house

 The? place is falling apart

Then, get a big soda, find a peaceful place, and begin “copy-talking”

about those topics into your microcassette recorder.

Later, transcribe all this spoken text into your word processor, and edit it like a maniac until you have something.  Editing isn’t fun, but it’s easier than writing.  You can edit while watching TV.

Reference:  “Editing – shaping up the copy,” on page 62.

Speaking copy (rather than writing copy) works for several reasons. Here are six:

Reason 1:  It’s a snap to speak

Talking comes naturally to you, so it’s easier to say what you want to get across.  It’s easier than thinking into a keyboard, anyway.

Furthermore, you automatically bypass dozens of awkward wording situations, because you don’t speak those in life.  You only write them.

Further furthermore, you avoid the ornate wording traps writers get into.  See “Avoid words nobody says,” on page 126.

Well-known advice:  To see if something you wrote reads naturally, say it aloud and listen to yourself.

Reason 2:  You’ll speak stronger copy

Your final copy will be more powerful, because generally, the spoken word gets to the point quicker.

For proof, look at a newspaper story.  Most times, the quotes are more interesting than the reporting around them.  The firefighter being quoted might have zero journalism experience, but he said what he felt, and that had impact.

Reason 3:  You’ll strike the right tone

For example, if you need serious copy, you can get into a serious frame of mind and speak serious text.  If you need loud and brash copy...well, you can be loud and brash, right?

Reason 4:  You’re forced to plow ahead

Lotsa times, if a writer doesn’t want to move forward, he’ll keep refining what he already wrote.  The result is two strong paragraphs but nothing more...and two whole pages are due.

Using the microcassette recorder avoids all this.  It’s cumbersome to re-listen to what you spoke, so you have to plow ahead.

Reason 5:  You aren’t tied to your word processor

Get out and enjoy the world.  Take a day trip with a patient friend, and speak into your tape recorder.

To be sure, there are parts of your surrounding area you haven’t seen before.  Now is your chance to visit them.

Reason 6:  It helps you sharpen your message

After speaking on your subject for an hour, it occurs to you that your direction is wrong.  There is a smarter way to approach the whole subject.  So, you start over.  And you’re glad you weren’t typing for three hours.

Hurdle 2:  It’s all overwhelming

You say, “I don’t have the strength to attack this today.  I will tomorrow.”

And, you fall further behind.  (Uh oh.)

Jump 2:  Feel the draft

Don’t try to accomplish everything in one sitting.  Get something on paper today, and sharpen it tomorrow.

Also, choose any part of the assignment that you want to.  Take the beginning, middle or near-end.  It doesn’t matter.  If a part is easy to accomplish now, attack it.  The point is to do something.

Working in drafts works because as you work through the whole text, you get smarter about how it all works together – and you structure it better.  (If that previous sentence went through another draft, maybe “works” wouldn’t be in there so much.)

Hurdle 3:  It’s terrible

“Agh!  This is crud!”

Jump 3:  Run through methods

First, reference two other subsections from this book, because they help you get through creating ideas and lines…and those are building blocks to copywriting (what we’re doing now).  The subsections are:

 “?Put it down and pick it up later” on page 81.

 “?Content and form” on page 75, because it gets into…

1.   What you’re doing

2.   How you’re doing it

In this subsection, we’ll talk about making a body of text work.  The key is:  Don’t run from the assignment, but run through methods in order. Try these:

 1st? thought:  “Let’s keep to the basics.”  You’re communicating a central problem and a solution to the prospect.  You’re also talking about other problems ad solutions.  And you’re putting in a lot of features and benefits.  This is all very do-able.

 2nd? thought:  “How can I restructure this again?”  It’s easy to reorganize your text blocks in a smarter way, so mess with that for a while.  Once you have it all in a logical order, your thoughts will shift to brushing up the wording – making everything flow together.

 3rd? thought:  “I’m lumping all these other features together.”  Don’t try to artfully weave extraneous points (“comes in several colors as well”) into your copy, because…

1.   The prospect won’t internalize them anyway

2.   It’s painful to write them in well

Instead, list these points somewhere.  For example:  “Here is more you should know about Dwkliukjdj:

 Most? experienced provider in Ohio

? Certified B46-122

 50+? consultants

? Licensed in 32 states”

Reference:  “Make lists,” on page 125.

Hurdle 4:  You’re your own worst enemy

You stop you from writing copy.

Jump 4:  Become someone else

Pick an influential person in your life, such as your Dad, and ask yourself:  “How would he express this problem...and the solution for it?” For example:  “My old boss would say, ‘You can’t let these people push you around like that.’  OK, how about this for the copy:  ‘So, stop getting pushed around.’”

Summary:  The standout people in your life have distinct perspectives and ways of expressing them, so call them up in your mind.  They will be glad you did.

Editing – shaping up the copy

You emoted into the tape recorder, transcribed everything, and now you have a pile of verbosifications.  Yes, you can grind all this into compelling body copy, because you’re not in depressing writing mode.  You’re in do-able editing mode.

Certainly, it’s a tedious job.  You move words around, reference the thesaurus, chop up sentences, make julienne fries, etc.  There aren’t shortcuts, but at least you can do it with distractions around you.

Oh, that flow

What is flow?  It’s making one sentence transition to another.  OK:  There are two paragraphs coming up after the following table.  Here is how the sentences in those paragraphs will flow:

However, if you become outstanding at flow, people will enjoy your copy – though they won’t know why.  Reason:  Transitioning is an invisible art.  When done well, it’s so seamless that the reader concentrates on your message, and she’s more likely to like it.

So, please:  Recognize the need for continuity.  You’re not just writing sentences and piling them up.  You’re a one-person band who’s composing an original song, and it has to sound good.

Some ways to get in the flow

 Use? many bridges.  See “List of bridges” on page 147.

 Go with? a long sentence with multiple commas, then a short one with no commas, then a long one again.  Or use two short sentences.  It’s your call.  However, the long and short of it is, progressing in this pattern makes the copy more digestible.  The sentences in this paragraph went long then short.

 Give? lots of thought to what you said at the end of your just-finished sentence.  It’s the launch pad for the sentence you’re writing.  For example:  “...your just-finished sentence.  It’s the launch pad...”

Another point:  Don’t expect the prospect to sort out scatterbrained copy.

The courage to be concise

Note:  This contradicts everything that was said about repetition.

Three reasons to keep it short:

1.   The fewer words you use, the more each one is worth.

2.   It shows confidence.  You know your statement is right, so don’t need to blunder and drone.

3.   Your prospect is delighted to read, “Here are the key points:”

Blended yes, pureed no

Group input mixes in a lot of different thoughts and suggestions, and your ad will give the market a delicious shake.  However, don’t allow too much group processing, or you’ll end up with muck.

This is tricky, because “the more input the better,” right?  However, if they change the ad too much, it will lose the personal tone, and the prospect will dismiss it as corporate BS.  And that makes a rotten shake.

Reference:  “One-on-one communication,” on page 33.

Chapter 12.  Urge

You’ve done all kinds of smart things to get the prospect this far.  It’s time to urge him to respond.

Urging is vital, because it’s not enough to drop the facts in front of him.  You don’t want him leaving your ad saying, “Hm, that’s interesting.  Maybe I’ll do that sometime.” No, now is the time!  Get him off the stick.

Pre-note:  Why is this the last section?

This book should end with a crescendo – and the urge is that.  While the post– urging activities are necessary, they’re either dull (“finalize the ad”) or obvious (“count the results and act accordingly”).

Aspects of urging

Here is stuff about it.

How interested and qualified?

The type of respondent you want affects what you’ll do to get him.  Following are two scenarios:

Scenario 1:  The sales manager says, “Bring us any person with any level of interest.  We’ll close ’em.”  In this case, you’ll offer as many incentives as the organization will let you use.

Scenario 2:  The sales manager says, “Getting a bunch of tire kickers with no money only wastes our time.  We need highly qualified sales leads.”  In this case, you’ll put some “If” qualifiers into your ad.  For example:  “If your company has more than 500 employees...contact us.”

Short notes:

 Until? he is ready, the prospect is unlikely to reply.

 Nine? times out of 10, you want to make it easy for the prospect to express his interest.

 How? effective are incentives?  That depends on your type of product. Improve upon what…

? Competitors are doing

 Your? company did in the past

What are you asking the prospect to do?

If it’s a small ticket item, you want him to buy it.  The more your item sells for, the more important trialing becomes.  You want him to try the product out.

Let’s talk about trialing

It includes the following:

 “Take a? free sample.”

 “Use it? for 30 days.”

 “Try? our free demo version.”

Why is trialing necessary?

It would be wonderful if you could write 200 magical words that cause thousands to order an expensive product.  However, that’s miiiiighty tough.  This is because the prospect will...

 Want to? get a feel for the product

 Expect? you to take the risk, not him (and the “30 day money back guarantee” isn’t enough)

 Want to? compare...though he probably won’t after trialing yours (you have a big head start)

 Worry? about getting stuck with the wrong solution

 Take? advantage of trials from competitors

Sell the trial

You don’t need to convince the prospect to love the product right now.

You need to convince him to get the trial.  Pepper your ad with statements like...

 “...now? you can see for yourself – free.”

 “...and? once you trial the product...”

 “...try? it risk-free...”

Two things:

1.   Trialing keeps you from being someone who’s trying to shove product onto people, and turns you into a benevolent beneficial benefactor.  You say, “We’re giving you something wonderful.”

2.   Trialing puts your product ahead of ones the prospect isn’t trialing.

The prospect may never have time to compare you against the competitors.  He got your product, liked it, and made the purchase.

Make it effortless

To get him interested, state that it’s effortless to get the product.  Say, “Just call or e-mail, and the rest is practically done.”  Without any trouble, he gets everything.

Appendix 1:  Line collection

Random intro notes

You’re about to see a bunch of lines put into different categories.

This line collection doesn’t have all the types (and far from it).  Two examples: It’s weak with “it’s on sale” and “you need to get this now.”

There are many different types of products placed into the lines.  For instance, there will be, “The smart hairbrush.”  The intent is to give you a real example, because it’s better than saying, “The smart [product].”  Please insert your own product type, and don’t feel you need to sell hairbrushes.

Important legal note:  If one of these lines is trademarked by a particular entity, that line belongs to that entity and should not be used by you or any other.  Within 10 days of seeing the slogan, the entity needs to write gf_brown@yahoo.com and report this.  The author of Advertising for Results will post a prominent announcement about this trademark at the following site:  http://www.geocities.com/ad4results.  The author would not have learned about this line through any association with the entity that claims the trademark.  It would be a coincidence.

Following are the main types of lines and the aspects of them (indented).  Click one and you’ll fast-forward to the lines for it.  Unless you’re reading a paper copy.

The following page has the lists of lines.  The “Category” section has three parts in three colors (unless you’re reading a B&W printout):  company, product, prospect.

Appendix 2:  List of bridges

Introduction

Bridges are transitions.  They get you from one copy point to another.  Following is a list of them.

This section is dedicated to a copywriter who was advertising’s greatest bridge- builder.

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