danpauselius
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,325
In the interest of full-disclosure, some of these ideas have been hanging around in my office for so long that I cannot remember where I first learned about them. SO … If I inadvertently write something here and don’t give proper credit … I’m sorry, please forgive me. Marketing is such a huge subject that has been written about by nearly a gazillion people that it’s hard to imagine that any idea is original. I certainly am not claiming any of this information originated with me.
There are 4 functions that any successful print ad must serve. They are as follows:
1. GET ATTENTION!
2. AROUSE INTEREST AND EMOTION
3. TELL AN INTERESTING STORY IN A BELIEVABLE WAY
4. ASK FOR ACTION AND MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO DO SO
I will take these functions one at a time as I cannot afford the time to write this whole thing in one shot … sorry.
GET ATTENTION! generally refers to a good headline. 80% of the success of your ad will depend upon your skills at writing headlines … so PRACTICE … A LOT! This is one of the few things that is worth sitting on for a few weeks rather than launching a print ad prematurely with a bad headline. Without a good headline, your ad is absolutely worthless.
A good headline will grab the reader by the throat, it will make them notice your ad in a sea of ads. A good headline WILL make the difference between losing money or maybe breaking even and a solid return on investment (here on out, referred to as ROI). Your headline should have something to do with the main benefit of your services, even better would be your Unique Selling Point (USP). Are you just another carpet cleaner advertising in the phone book? Then by all means, use “Got Dirty Carpet?” as your headline. (I apologize if that actually is your headline, but you are about to understand why that’s a horrible headline)
Why are you different? What is it about you that makes people want to buy from you? Are you the “Green” cleaner in town? Are you the cheapest guy in town? (Probably not a good point of differentiation) Are you the guy who can fit them in at a moments notice? Are you the VLM carpet cleaner? Do you have super-fast dry times? Do you specialize in Dentist’s offices? Do you see that you are not just another carpet cleaner? You must be something different than everybody else, or at least appear to be.
By the way, the “Most thorough carpet cleaning you’ve ever seen or it’s FREE” guarantee was a great headline for the first guy in his area to get it to print. What ruined it was when 5 other carpet cleaners started using the exact same headline. “Well, if it worked for him, it’ll surely work for me, right?” NO, NO, NO! The reason it worked for the first guy is because he was the ONLY ONE who offered it. That guarantee is what made him different. Notice the word “Unique” in USP? Unique means DIFFERENT! So be different.
I’ll use the Yellow Pages as an example because it is one of the few places where multiple companies who offer the same services have ads side by side. People who open the yellow pages are not looking for a carpet cleaner, they are looking for someone to solve their specific problem. If Fido did his business on the carpet and your headline says that you are THE pet stain and odor expert. Chances are, you’ll at least get a shot at that prospect.
Seth Godin talks about the “purple cow”. Imagine you are driving down a country road for 50 miles and there are cows everywhere. Now, every time you pass a new cow, do you say to your passenger, “Hey, another cow!” Probably not, unless you are just annoying like Odin. But what if you’ve been staring at hundreds of cows for hours and then you see a purple cow? “Back up! Did you see that purple cow?” You need to be a purple cow. Make people notice your company. Actually, noticing you isn't enough. You have to be something totally remarkable. Give people a reason, a really good reason to talk about your company.
There actually is a bit of science behind writing good headlines. There are certain words like “How” that have been shown to out perform other words. “How Mrs. Piffelton got her home featured in Better Homes and Gardens with the help of a local carpet cleaner”. That headline would probably draw some attention. There are some great books out there that will help you learn to write great headlines and ad copy. One such book is “The Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan Kennedy. I would also highly recommend David Frey’s “Small Business Marketing Bible” If anybody else has any recommended books on this subject please post below. Also, feel free to expand upon this subject matter. But please try to stay with the GET ATTENTION! topic as the others will be covered in additional threads and I'd like to keep all the info together.
There are 4 functions that any successful print ad must serve. They are as follows:
1. GET ATTENTION!
2. AROUSE INTEREST AND EMOTION
3. TELL AN INTERESTING STORY IN A BELIEVABLE WAY
4. ASK FOR ACTION AND MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO DO SO
I will take these functions one at a time as I cannot afford the time to write this whole thing in one shot … sorry.
GET ATTENTION! generally refers to a good headline. 80% of the success of your ad will depend upon your skills at writing headlines … so PRACTICE … A LOT! This is one of the few things that is worth sitting on for a few weeks rather than launching a print ad prematurely with a bad headline. Without a good headline, your ad is absolutely worthless.
A good headline will grab the reader by the throat, it will make them notice your ad in a sea of ads. A good headline WILL make the difference between losing money or maybe breaking even and a solid return on investment (here on out, referred to as ROI). Your headline should have something to do with the main benefit of your services, even better would be your Unique Selling Point (USP). Are you just another carpet cleaner advertising in the phone book? Then by all means, use “Got Dirty Carpet?” as your headline. (I apologize if that actually is your headline, but you are about to understand why that’s a horrible headline)
Why are you different? What is it about you that makes people want to buy from you? Are you the “Green” cleaner in town? Are you the cheapest guy in town? (Probably not a good point of differentiation) Are you the guy who can fit them in at a moments notice? Are you the VLM carpet cleaner? Do you have super-fast dry times? Do you specialize in Dentist’s offices? Do you see that you are not just another carpet cleaner? You must be something different than everybody else, or at least appear to be.
By the way, the “Most thorough carpet cleaning you’ve ever seen or it’s FREE” guarantee was a great headline for the first guy in his area to get it to print. What ruined it was when 5 other carpet cleaners started using the exact same headline. “Well, if it worked for him, it’ll surely work for me, right?” NO, NO, NO! The reason it worked for the first guy is because he was the ONLY ONE who offered it. That guarantee is what made him different. Notice the word “Unique” in USP? Unique means DIFFERENT! So be different.
I’ll use the Yellow Pages as an example because it is one of the few places where multiple companies who offer the same services have ads side by side. People who open the yellow pages are not looking for a carpet cleaner, they are looking for someone to solve their specific problem. If Fido did his business on the carpet and your headline says that you are THE pet stain and odor expert. Chances are, you’ll at least get a shot at that prospect.
Seth Godin talks about the “purple cow”. Imagine you are driving down a country road for 50 miles and there are cows everywhere. Now, every time you pass a new cow, do you say to your passenger, “Hey, another cow!” Probably not, unless you are just annoying like Odin. But what if you’ve been staring at hundreds of cows for hours and then you see a purple cow? “Back up! Did you see that purple cow?” You need to be a purple cow. Make people notice your company. Actually, noticing you isn't enough. You have to be something totally remarkable. Give people a reason, a really good reason to talk about your company.
There actually is a bit of science behind writing good headlines. There are certain words like “How” that have been shown to out perform other words. “How Mrs. Piffelton got her home featured in Better Homes and Gardens with the help of a local carpet cleaner”. That headline would probably draw some attention. There are some great books out there that will help you learn to write great headlines and ad copy. One such book is “The Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan Kennedy. I would also highly recommend David Frey’s “Small Business Marketing Bible” If anybody else has any recommended books on this subject please post below. Also, feel free to expand upon this subject matter. But please try to stay with the GET ATTENTION! topic as the others will be covered in additional threads and I'd like to keep all the info together.
