Tomorrow morning, after brushing your teeth, look in the mirror
and ask yourself this question: What are the most compelling
reasons a prospect should pick my product or service over my
competitor's? Your answer is an important one, because that
comparison may make for a persuasive sales message you should be
using in your advertising.
I'll give you an example of how such a comparison convinced
me--a jaded advertising copywriter--to purchase a product I
wasn't sure I wanted. The other day, a salesperson came over to
pitch me and my wife on installing country-style shutters over our
windows--but instead of wood, they'd be made of a substitute
material. No way, I thought. Shutters made out of something other
than wood? I've learned to live with pretend meat, phony
cheese, fake fur and leatherette, but don't make me live with
pseudo-wood shutters, too.
Not to worry, said the sales guy. Instead of buying expensive
wood shutters that eventually warp, crack, peel and fade, you can
have something that looks to all the world like real wood, but
isn't. This new impostor, said the sales guy, is also moisture-
and heat-resistant, won't split or chip, and insulates up to
three times better than wood. Plus, they're about two-thirds
the cost of wood shutters. And, finally, the clincher: By
purchasing these ecological, wood-free shutters, I would, in my own
small way, help preserve the great forests of the earth.
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How could I deny my tree-hugging impulses? I said yes. And the
copywriter in me appreciated the reinforcement of a strong
marketing and advertising postulate: Do a good job of comparing
your product to the competition's, and you'll persuade many
more people to buy.
That's my recommendation to Carl Evans of Leesburg, Florida,
who wrote recently. Evans and his wife, Carol, operate Decorative
Concrete Inc. Their current small-space ad is on the right track
but needs to take a different train.
Because one of the best comparisons the Evanses can make about
their product is in contrasting their decorative concrete work with
a wood deck, I developed a headline that reflects concrete's
superiority in that regard. And I phrased it in a headline that
might be called calculatingly corny: "Beats A Deck To
Heck!" The headline is then followed by this explanatory
subhead: "Decorative concrete offers lower maintenance, more
enduring beauty, no splinters . . . and saves
you money!"
Then the body copy starts out: "Allow us to show you our
color portfolio of driveways, patios, courtyards and garages that
we've made more beautiful . . . and that
make your home more valuable." I begin this way because
it's difficult in a black-and-white newspaper ad to give
decorative concrete its visual due. So I want to immediately assure
the prospect that he or she is going to get an appealing eyeful of
the Evanses completed jobs from which to judge.
As for my "Hee-Haw" headline, uncultivated and
unmanicured headlines are sometimes a good way to get attention and
distinguish themselves from all the slicker approaches around them.
These tweaks to their ad should give Carl and Carol Evans the
head-turning new direction they want for their advertising.
Before:
This ad needs to raise its decibel level a bit and deliver a
more concise message.
1. The headline has
everything but the spunk it really needs. Concrete is not very
photogenic, so the words need to carry the ad.
After:
Here's an ad with an imposing point of view that can't
help but get noticed.
1. The new headline
isn't bashful about making a strong sales point.
2. This body copy describes
the other ways concrete can be used to decorate outside the
home.
Q: What are some of your favorite recent advertising
campaigns, and how can they help me with my own ads?
A: When film critics are asked a similar question about
their favorite movies, they often cite so-called "small"
independent films nobody's ever heard of. Why? Because
that's where a lot of good filmmaking happens.
Something similar can be said for advertising. The other day in
my local paper, I saw a small ad for a plastic surgeon whose
promotional approach got my attention. The visual in the ad was the
ubiquitous before-and-after tummy shot with one side looking less
than svelte and the other looking much slimmer, with a headline
exclaiming "This is the same person!" My hat's off to
the phrase-maker who thought of that one. Its mock incredulousness
works to add extra drama to the visuals.
But more important, there's an idea here for other
entrepreneurs who believe, as I do, in appropriating good
approaches--as long as they're from a different product
category--for their own purposes. For example, I would advise a
house painter to do a flier or an ad showing before-and-after
visuals of a home he or she had just freshly repainted, with a
headline that reads "This is the same house!" Any other
small business whose efforts result in aesthetic improvement can
use the same idea.
Another local before-and-after ad I recently spotted from a
lighting company shows a picture of an outdated fluorescent
lighting panel installed in a kitchen alongside a replacement
version that has a more contemporary lighted-dome area. The catchy
headline announces "If you don't like it, then dome
it!" The visual difference is quite dramatic, and the headline
perfectly complements it. But how might you use this same idea in
your own advertising? What if you were an upholsterer and created
an ad showing an old chair next to one that you had revitalized?
Borrowing from the dome ad, perhaps you'd create a headline
that would read "Why buy new when you can re-do?"
Have you seen a great small ad in one of your local papers? Send
it to me c/o Entrepreneur along with a few thoughts on why you like
it. Maybe I can share it with other readers.
Q: Some time ago, you recommended the use of a form of
testimonial called an "implied endorsement." Can you
explain what that term means?
A: Unlike a formal testimonial, which is a direct
quotation from the user of a product or service expressing
happiness or satisfaction, an implied endorsement announces that
someone or some group or organization happily uses your product. So
although they haven't formally extolled it in their own words,
their use of it constitutes approval and satisfaction or, in other
words, gives your product or service an implied
endorsement.
For example, if your doughnut shop is frequented by groups that
might be considered doughnut "experts" (truckers, police,
and so on), you could create ads that call your product
"Truckers' favorite fuel!" or announce "Police
officers give our doughnuts a thumbs up, and so will you!"
Another implied endorsement may be present if your product or
service involves the use of a substance or part that is also used
by a party well-known to the prospect. For example, "Guarded
by the same protective coating used to shield space shuttles on
re-entry into the atmosphere." Or "We use the same
fertilizer that keeps the White House lawn looking so
green."
One famous vacuum cleaner company uses a variation on this
approach with great success by announcing that its product is
preferred by more hotel housekeepers than any other kind. It's
very likely that such an implied-endorsement possibility is hidden
in your own product or service. Now's the time to dig it
out!
Jerry Fisher is an advertising copywriter, consultant and
author of Creating Successful Small Business Advertising
($39.95), available by calling (800) 247-6553. If you'd like
Jerry to consider your materials for a makeover in this column,
send them to "Ad Workshop," Entrepreneur, 2392
Morse Ave., Irvine, CA 92614, or e-mail him at Jerry228@aol.com