10 Tips I Use To Make Sure My Advertising Produces For My
Clients!
Number One: Translate features into benefits. Don't give
your client information and think they "get it." Many of my
clients are automobile dealers. When advertising a car it
would be a mistake to list a product feature without
showing the benefit first. For example; front wheel drive
is a desirable feature, but many people wouldn't know why.
You need to tell them it's desirable because of safety,
improved cornering, improved braking, increased mileage and
so on.
Number two: Write from the "you" perspective not the "I" we
perspective. Say, "You will love the smooth handling and
quiet ride of your new car." Don't say, "We build the
quietest and best handling car."
Number Three: Communicate credibility. Credibility can be
demonstrated in many ways. The length of time in business,
the number of customers you serve, the size of your
company, testimonials from satisfied customers, membership
in various community associations, awards and certificates
of appreciation and all things combined.
Number Four: You can use dramatic license. You shouldn't
deceive or mislead or misrepresent anything but you can
dramatize it. Here is an example you're familiar with;
Remington Shavers had commercials in the eighties and the
president of the company said; "I like the Remington shaver
so much that I bought the company." Well that's silly. That
man is a shrewd and experienced business person and his
acquisition of Remington was based on a thorough analysis
of many factors, not just the quality of the product.
However, his statement is at least partly true and is a
dramatic way of talking about quality. That's dramatic
license.
Number Five: Remember that stories sell, facts only tell.
Whenever you can use first person stories, third party
stories about customers and amusing stories to make key
selling points, do so. Stories sell, facts only tell.
Number Six: Don't be afraid of long copy. Ad copy should be
as long as necessary to tell the story effectively and
persuasively. Customers will read all the way to the bottom
when it is something that interests them. One of my most
successful sales letters was 8 pages long.
Number Seven: Use a writing technique, Dan Kennedy calls;
"a double readership path." This is really very simple and
I agree with Kennedy that it is extremely important. The
idea is to understand and reach both ends of the spectrum
of consumer behavior. Analytical behavior versus impulsive
behavior. Here is what is meant; the analytical person will
read lengthy copy and is interested in as much information
as possible. The impulsive person lacks the patience to
read lots of copy and wants to get the message quickly.
When you organize your copy, you should communicate the
important points in only your headlines, subheads, photo
captions and call to action so the impulsive person can
quickly skim over your copy yet still get the message and
take action.
Number Eight: Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. You
don't want to intimidate or confuse people with long
paragraphs and complex sentences. Number Nine: You must
create a sense of urgency. You can do this in many ways. By
offering a discount or bonuses, putting an expiration date
or including extra incentives for a quick response.
Number Ten: Use the power of the P.S. Many direct mail
copywriters agree that many people skip down to the P.S. on
a letter and read that first. You can take advantage of
this in several ways. One, make sure you include a P.S. at
the bottom of your letter, two, make a powerful, persuasive
and interesting statement and three, reiterate whatever
bonus, incentive or discount you offered in the letter copy.
Now that you have my top ten tips. Use them in all your
advertising. Don't use four or five, use all ten every time
when you're writing your ads. These techniques can turn a
small business into a big business, a struggling business
into a successful one, a modest income into wealth.
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Hal Hoadley has been creating direct mail marketing events
for multi-million dollar companies for 24 years. His
marketing skills have produced million dollar sales in
various markets through out the United States. Recently,
Hal has put together a marketing plan that is guaranteed to
get attention. He calls it "The Ultimate No BS Marketing
Plan".
http://www.lahpromotions.com
