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The Biggest Mistake You Can Make
By Ken Varga | June 26, 2010
As I travel, I have an opportunity to read many ads in many magazines and newspapers. What disturbs me is that 99% of them are downright dull and I often yawn when reading them.
As the saying goes, “How you say something is just as important as what you say.” An ad should be similar to a face-to-face sales pitch.
A great ad will have, not only the offer itself, but the language, the tone, and the “voice” of the offer.
The problem is that most sales messages get so engrossed in describing the company, its products, and product features that they fail to appeal to the reader.
It’s understandable. People in business are often so tied to their businesses or products that they get tunnel vision and fail to look at their copy from their reader’s perspective.
It’s understandable, but inexcusable.
My advice is to be more experiential in your ads, as if the reader is experiencing what you are telling them. Let them feel or imagine how it feels. Make it “benefit-rich”. Most importantly, appeal to the reader’s ego when describing those benefits.
People always buy for, or are influenced by, personal desires, selfish reasons and self-interested motives. And guess what? It’s been that way for thousands of years, and nothing’s changed.
People are people. They always buy on emotion and they always will.
Our job as entrepreneurs is to express our offers in terms that trigger the prospects emotions, press their hot buttons, tug at their heartstrings, and push them into taking action.
To do otherwise with your offers is the biggest mistake you can make.
Topics: Advertising, Attract More Clients, Attract more customers | 4 Comments »
July 20th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Hi Ken! Could you give us an example of an ad that speak to people’s egos? What word pictures would you use to get the reader to take action? Thanks!
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Ken Varga Reply:
July 25th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
@Mary Leedy,
This is a broad question. The answer depends on your market. For instance, if you are selling a hot sporty car and your main audience is made up of men, your ad will talk about how the car will make the driver attractive to the opposite sex. You will cater the ad to the male ego. You will show the “sexy” photos of the car, etc. So it all depends on your market. You need to know your market, what motivates them, and what words they say to themselves to make them take action. Then use those words in your ads.
One caution though…don’t approach your ads with the intent of manipulating the reader. Instead, use what I said above with the intent of facilitating communication about the benefits you want to offer. You are learning about your market so you can give them what they want and so you can use the words that allow them to hear what you have to say.
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September 7th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Ken,
Thanks for the wise words…the difficult part is getting out of our entrepreneur heads and into our customer’s hearts or in your words “to look at our copy from the reader’s perspective”. Thanks for putting it in words that make sense!
[Reply]
Ken Varga Reply:
September 7th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
@Julia Aquino,
You are welcome, Julia.
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