“The Only Advertising Course You Will Ever Need! ” From an article by Joe “Mister Fire!” Vitale
I devoured over two hundred books on advertising and marketing before I sorted out the six fundamental principles of effective advertising. Then I read one more book and found all six truths were already discovered!
The book was a privately printed course called How to Convert White Space into Advertising that Sells and the author was the late ad genius Clyde Bedell. Clyde was famous for taking retail ads that everyone else thought worked okay and rewriting them into ads that broke records. He knew — and proved — that the fastest way to increase profits was through effective advertising.
Principle One is “All good selling is serving.” People often design ads to look clever or cute or creative. The three c’s of failure. Instead, describe your product or service in terms that serve your reader. Guitar Center sent me a brochure on “How to Buy an Electric Guitar.” That ad served me by informing me. Where did I go when I went guitar shopping? Guitar Center!
Principle Two is “People buy only to get benefits.” Your prospects buy from you because of what your product or service gives them. They don’t buy cars, they buy transportation and good feelings; they don’t buy chairs or beds, they buy comfort and relaxation; they don’t buy computers, they buy speed and efficiency.
Principle Three is “Benefits must be supported by product points.” People justify their emotional urge to buy something with logic. Without the facts, your ad is fluff. Prove your product or service delivers by describing the features. A 486 computer is why I get speed; a bed made out of special springs is why I get comfort. Saying a car is safe is an empty benefit; saying it is safe because of special brakes is believable.
Principle Four is “Prospects will read any amount of copy — as long as it is interesting, helpful, service-rendering copy.” Look at it this way: If I invited you to lunch, you may come. Not many words are needed. If I said come and bring a check for five hundred dollars, you would need an explanatio — maybe even a lengthy one. Tests have proven (PROVEN!) that if everything is kept constant but the length of a sales letter, a two-page letter outpulls a one-page letter and four-page letters outpull two-page letters. Four-page letters have actually DOUBLED the response of one-page letters. Why? Just re-read Bedell’s principle four.
Principle Five is “Plan for profitable advertising.” The great ad wizard David Ogilvy said advertising should be allocated in your budget just as any other expense. Effective ads aren’t whipped up over night. They take time and planning. Most businesses cut their ad budget when things get rough. Wrong! That’s when you should increase your advertising efforts. Plan for a consistent and profitable ad campaign.
Principle Six is “Management must support these ideas.” If advertising isn’t your profession, don’t argue with these principles. Your ENTIRE team needs to focus on advertising’s war cry, “We sell — or else!” One of my clients said he was taught in college to create ads that were creative. He later learned his clients want ads that sell. Your team should want that, too and be willing to support the pros who can deliver it.