Monday, March 23, 2009

Exposing the Ad

The Fewer the Words the Better!

You say that people will not read lots of words and postcards cut through by being basic? Boy, I’ve got news for you… you’re way wrong! You would be hard pressed to find me a postcard that had a better response than a letter. I can find you MANY 16 page letters that outsold the 8 page version which outsold the 4 page version which outsold the 2 page version… get my drift? I am talking about companies that generated millions and millions off more words. I am talking about sales that would not have happened with 50 words on a card.

Do you think that your service is just too basic to go on for a page or more? I could write a 5 page letter on thumbtacks. Don’t focus on the "we clean______" ,"I cut grass", "we install_____".

You don’t write about what you do, you write about what it does.
It is not the amount of words that turn them off, it is what you are saying that turns them off. People love a good book. They love magazine articles, they LOVE stories. People are always looking for interesting news. What do people say to each other all the time? ―what’s new?
Ever notice that every 6 months you see- New and Improved Tide, New Nutri-system, New ways to make $1000 a week sitting on the couch, etc…

Most fail in their attempt to add more words because they run out of things to say about themselves. Most of you create ads focused on themselves. Let's face it, you love you some you.

When you write about you it does not take long before you run out of things to say. You likely slap your name at the top of your ad followed by a "we're #1 in Philadelphia" or "Angie's List Award winner" or you may toss in a worthless tag line like "we don't cut corners, we clean them"

When we view our company we get excited to think of ourselves as being the best. I get aroused thinking I am the best marketer in the service industry, YEAH BABY! but alas, am I truly the best marketer in the industry. If I state I am the best marketer, how would you feel about that?

You would likely roll your eyes

We need to realize that most all ads look the same within the service industry. If you really want to stand out it is quite simple, say something meaningful. How do you do that?

Take a look at some of your ads and your website landing page (home page). How many times to refer to you or your company. Count the times you say I, we, us, our, my, and company name.

People really want very little information about you. Either they need your service or you create the need (which take words), they do not see your credentials or hype and get talked into it. I had a interesting chat with a business owner who told me that ad content does not matter, either they need your service or they don't....

I find that interesting, it is a good thing people in this country do not impulse buy, right? Every time we go to the store we get only what we went there for, right?

In an earlier post I discussed what can be learned from infomercials. The biggest lesson to be learned is that they create a need you did not know you had and sell you something you had no intention on buying 5 minutes before you landed on that channel.

They flat out convinced you in a half hour. You say that you don't buy off infomercials and your target prospects don't fall for that stuff? You are a sucker and so are they. If you don't believe me than tell me why you go to the grocery store and end up with a fleet of items they strategically place to influence your purchase.

Now find me any example of how glorifying yourself works.

How can you make ads that can create a need instantly? Hit on their triggers-

People connect words to images, not the letters that derive them. For example if I say "money" you do not think of the letters m-o-n-e-y, you think of green dollars or your bank balance. Your mind visualizes everything. Now imagine what the vision is when someone reads about how you are #1 or your award. They don't envision anything that is relative to them and your ad blends back into the 2000-3000 ads they see that day.

To grab attention you need to know what created your past customers to call you. Why did they want/need their carpets or windows cleaned? Was it a special occasion, did their carpets smell, was it because they do not have time to do it themselves? Once you get an idea of reasons they bought you can exploit that.

A Home With Dirty Windows is Like a Nice Smile With Yellow Teeth

Humidity, Pets and Carpet Can Make Your Home the Talk of the Town

You may have noticed I have created mental imagery here. Now you may not get those people whose windows are clean or those that do not have pets?... so what. You can't appeal to everyone but you can lock down a part of the market by being precise.

Let's face it, almost everyone has carpets and everyone has windows. You will never appeal to most of them no matter what because their triggers are different. You want to narrow your search to those most attracted to your offering.

Now as you get in to the rest of the ad you should discuss why your service can help them. You want reasons derived from benefits and not your perceptions. You most likely speak in a features manner right now that is introverted-

"We offer the highest quality at the lowest price"

That seems like an awesome statement doesn't it? So awesome in fact that every service and product has latched onto it turning it into meaningless drivel. Do you really give the highest quality at the lowest price? How do you know? How will they know, because you say so?

Now let's remove ourselves from the statement and define it-

Great value!- Most 3 bedroom homes are under $150 and every homeowner is protected by a 100% satisfaction guarantee

You are likely aware of what customers pay in that area. Average it out and use that if the price is fair. Quality is elusive, guarantee satisfaction and quality becomes a non-issue. Keep in mind EVERY company promises high quality, back it up .

A Guarantee is a POWERFUL feature and scares the hell out of most business owners for no reason. Let's say you are looking for a used truck. You are looking for a red 2005 Ford F150. You find 2 of them each at different dealerships. Let's say they both cost the same price and are in the same condition, similar millage.

The only real difference is that one of them has a warranty and the other is "as is", which one will you buy? No brainer, right? What if the one with the warranty is $100 more, would you pay it for the security? Likely. What if it is $500 more, would you still pay it? Likely you would take it or at least think hard about it.

Now imagine the homeowner that has a kung fu grip on her checkbook. She looks at 2 ads for window cleaning and one has a guarantee and the other says nothing about it. Even if the ads were identical she would lean towards the guarantee. We are all trained with "buyer beware" because of personal experience and word of mouth. We all hear the horror stories.

Subconciously just seeing guarantee drops a certain amount of defensiveness,

Do you see where the guarantee transformed from a feature to a benefit? Do you see how "lowest price" can be communicated in a different way to allow the person reading the ad to draw their own conclusion. We just help guide them and they are less resistant. We are trained to resist ads otherwise we would make 3000 purchases a day. Yet the infomercial and the grocery store can still talk us into it.

You can cause people to impulse buy a service. I have done it a thousand times and will do it thousands more.

Find your features and turn them into benefits-

  • Get a set of 3x5 index cards and on each card write down a feature of your service. Keep in mind a benefit is not a feature. A feature is: window cleaning, house cleaning, screens cleaned, we use The Sudser 3000, we work Saturdays, We have 10 years experience, guarantee... etc
  • You will sit with your cards and scribble maybe 5-10 before you get frustrated and give up- DON’T! You can likely get at least 25 features from your service. (these can be
    guarantees, soap, processes, customer service, specially trained employees) Stop and take a breather and get back at it!
  • After you get 15-20 written down I want you to go back and explain each benefit customers get from them. How do they feel, how does it do, what does it smell like, etc. Get as detailed as possible, you can edit it down later. What does the Sudser 3000 do for them? Go deep on this.
  • Sometimes this helps- go look at a different service, maybe one you use like lawn care, or a product like tooth paste. Take your cards and start writing down what YOU like about it. Why do you like it and what keeps you buying more. What could they do to make the product even better. Taking your company out of the picture will open you up to seeing this more clearly. Take your new found insight and now apply it to your offering- as an outsider.
  • Pick the strongest 2 or 3 things you think your customers care about most. Check out your competition and see if they are leveraging those benefits. If you have one they are not using and it is something that really resonates with your current customers… RUN WITH IT! Be careful not to dump it after a couple weeks because you had some bad ads. You will need to make sure the rest of the ad, the offer and the market are solid also.
Go get some


Paul

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