Advertising B.S. “Experts” Preach – is This Costing You Sales and Customers?

Summary: What's the one "unbreakable" rule of copywriting? Here it is... Put your biggest, boldest benefit in the headline! Or stated another way... "The bigger the benefit, the more they'll buy". Why? Because the headline determines 80% of the success or failure of the ad. Well, the truth is, it's actually B.S. Or, to be diplomatic, only a "half truth". Like soooo much to do with human psychology, there's more to the picture. Because headlines such as this... "Bald headed man embarrasses Wall St pros by making $20,000 in 2 weeks - trading only 15 minutes per day." ... make people fall asleep. Or headlines like this... The amazing secret of a Lotto maniac who "cracked the code" and now makes $2,796.95 per week from home. ... bore us to tears So, in this article, I want to give you 4 situations when you must not ever write a big benefit filled headline in your ads... landing pages... brochures... TV spots... video sales letters etc., etc., Stay glued to the screen because you're about get an inside peek into psychology that only a small number of people - even highly paid copywriters - know and understand. SITUATION #1: If your product has brand name recognition and your market WANTS your product. If so, it's much more effective to put the brand in the headline and couple it with a special offer e.g. Apple iPads - 75% off. Need the headline say more? No. Why? The brand has done much of the selling for us to date. We already know and trust the company and the product. All we need is a nudge - a logical reason to act now. In this case, a big discount. SITUATION #2: When your product has brand name recognition but your market does NOT yet want the product. What you do then is butt the unique selling proposition (USP) next to the brand name. Here are examples from Gene Schwartz's seminal book, Breakthrough Advertising: Steinway - The Instrument of the Immortals Anywhere you go. Hertz is always nearby. Or one of the most famous examples in all of direct response history, David Ogilvy's Rolls Royce Ad... "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock." HERE'S A QUICK BACK STORY FROM MY TIME IN NEW YORK One time a few years ago, I was walking along Central Park with a good friend of mine and we saw a wall poster for a Robert Kiyosaki event. Normally, I'd advise against wall posters as an advertising medium... unless the product in question is a brand name. When it comes to wealth building, the brand doesn't get much stronger than Kiyosaki. Hence having his name as the main feature was a smart thing to do. I'm unable to recall the exact wording of his USP on the wall poster, but I think it was "The World's Leading Wealth Building Coach", or something like that. Another example is Tony Robbins. For many of us he is a brand name. Which is why you'll often see his name in the headline of ad - coupled with the USP "World's #1 Motivational Coach". AN IMPORTANT LESSON The easiest categories to sell stuff are the two categories I've mentioned - when your product has brand name recognition. Unfortunately, most of us in business don't sell products that are household names. So we have to dig deeper - and get more creative - to make our message stand out. Well, here's another time to never use benefit filled headlines... SITUATION #3: When you have a product that solves a problem. Example... Let's look at the acne market. As a primary motive, a teenager plagued with acne doesn't want beautiful, silky smooth skin. He wants to get rid of his acne. He wants to overcome pimple problems. He wants his acne to disappear. Notice how each of these focus on the problem rather than the gain? That's because his mind is more focused on his pain than the potential reward. That's why you must never claim a big benefit if your market is