Sales Focused Copywriting For Direct Response Marketers Who Want More Clients...More Sales...More Cash In The Bank!
The chill winds of hard economic times are blowing across the world and hitting some places more than others.
I’ve refrained from commenting about the economic situation so far, but I will be posting about the implications for copywriting and sales messages.
The “social mood” definitely has implications for sales promotions.
However, that’s not what I’m going to talk about today.
Noticed this item (“Ad Sales Drop 16.4% At New York Times”) in the “Financial Times”…
In the City today I couldn’t help notice a new advertising campaign from BT Financial Group, one of the big local funds managers.
It’s promoting their superannuation (retirement savings) products and the part that I saw was the outdoor display ads.
There’s a whole series of these advertisements and they all have a question theme along the lines of…
“Do we really care more about organising our music than our super?”
“Every year the average Australian spends 40 days watching TV. Why don’t we spend more time on our super?”
…and so on.
So what’s wrong with this? Two things…
Had to share this wonderful example of the use of intrigue that I came across in today’s UK “Daily Telegraph”.
“The Sticky Toffee Pudding Mystery”
The article leads off…
I’ve commented in the past about the importance of traffic for any business and observed how some businesses are very vulnerable to changes outside of their control. I mentioned the impact on my local Starbucks and a small bakery shop of the relocation of a big corporate headquarters away from the area.
Fortunately, business seems to have recovered and the bakery shop has even moved to new and larger premises. And the local Starbucks had a little boost over the last week because of the “World Youth Day” event here in Sydney.
(The whole thing lasted about a week, so I’m not sure why it’s called “World Youth Day” but let’s leave that.)
“Our prices have been reduced 25 per cent”
“Our net profit is 3 per cent”
“The final result of testing and comparing 130 formulas”
The 3 claims above are all drawn from chapter 7 of “Scientific Advertising”, called “Being Specific”.
The point that Claude Hopkins makes throughout the chapter is that when you make a specific claim in your copywriting, it is evidence that you have conducted research and tests. As a result, people are much more inclined to believe your claims.
“Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They leave no impression whatever. To say, ‘Best in the world’, ‘Lowest prices in existence’ etc are at best simply claiming the expected. But superlatives of that sort are usually damaging. They suggest looseness of expression, a tendency to exaggerate, a carelessness of truth. They lead readers to discount all the statements that you make.”
This last point is critical, especially in situations where you’re already dealing with a high degree of scepticism or resistance from the reader. If you’re in a highly competitive market, you cannot afford to have the reader instantly dismiss your claims and move on.