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The Woes Of Starbucks…And Lessons For Marketers

Apologies for not posting the last couple of days.  I’ve been locked away at a “super secret” session with a client (he’ll probably laugh if he reads this!).

Anyway, following on from the last post, my fears have been confirmed and my local Starbucks store is closing.  Not too surprising given the scale of the cutbacks announced by Starbucks Australia.  In fact, in Sydney there will only be a handful of stores remaining, mainly in the City (there will be no stores at all on the North Shore, amazingly).

Couple of observations.

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“The Dark Knight”, The Social Mood And Copywriting

The new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight” is a massive hit and looks like it could challenge “Titanic” as the biggest grossing movie of all time.

I went to see it yesterday and loved it. Best film I’ve seen all year. To paraphrase one reviewer “It’s visually stunning and works both as a conventional all-action blockbuster and as a psychological thriller”.

Here’s the trailer…

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Now Is When Direct Response Copywriting Is Needed Most…

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”…

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Thoughts On Traffic…And Copywriting

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.)

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“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 7 “Being Specific”

“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.

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