It’s not often that you’ll catch me on camera; I have an irrational fear of leaving photographic evidence of my whereabouts and activities… (I’m just kidding)
But for my buddy Jeff Zelaya, I made an exception. We spent about half an hour on a Google Hangout talking about copywriting, marketing and being self-employed. Fun times for everyone. Now I’d like to share the fun with you.
You can check out the video below, where he says some very nice things about me (check’s in the mail, Jeff).
Over the years, it seems like I’ve sold almost everything: Swiss watches, cell phones, warranties, coffee grinders and even plain old advice. You’ll never hear me say I’m a natural salesman. I wasn’t even always good at sales.
In 2012, I wrote Stealth Selling: Non-Pushy Persuasion for Professionals, an ebook revealing my personal selling philosophy along with insights and advice I’ve picked up along the way.
This week, I had the privilege of appearing on Steve Lahey’s Small Business Talent podcast. He asked me about stealth selling, ethical persuasion and life as an entrepreneur.
I even performed a live dissection (guess that would make it a vivisection) on his new service page sales copy.
It was fun and I’ve received a lot of great feedback. If you have about half an hour, I’d be thrilled if you listened to the interview here.
By the way, the Steve’s podcast is always excellent. If I were you, I’d check it out every week.
I’m also working on making a second edition of Stealth Selling. Up until the time I release it (hopefully by the beginning the end of April), you can pick up the original for $5, which the lowest price I’ve ever offered (a large percentage of buyers paid $19 for it). I’ll also send you the updated version as soon as it’s ready, free of cost.
If you’re interested, click here.
One more thing: if you listen to my interview with Steve Lahey, leave a comment and send a screenshot of the comment to db at donnie-bryant dot com, I’ll give you the book for free. Why? Because maybe what Steve said on Twitter is true:
.@donniebryantjr If more people took your advice then we’d all be better off. Ethical marketing and selling can be powerful.
— Stephen Lahey (@stephenlahey) March 28, 2014
Yesterday we talked about turning your prospects into paying customers by making crazy offers. Did this concept haunt you the way it’s been haunting me? I hope you spent a good deal of time coming up with an almost too-good-to-be-true offer you can use to move potential clients from interest into action.
Ideally, you will come up with an offer so crazy, so compelling that you don’t need much sales copy (or pitching if you’re selling in person or over the phone). Start with a winning product or service and create a very valuable offer and you’re already most of the way there. Now the copy has an easy job. (Confidentially, this is one of the big reasons copywriters are picky about which projects they work on.)
But no matter how strong your offer is, you should still…
Even though making the right offer to the right prospect is 80% of the battle, persuasively-written sales copy can improve response by 10, 100 or 1000%.
Here are 4 qualities that will add extra oomph to your copy:
Identification
Your message should aim for the heart of who your target customer is and how he sees himself.
Nike could talk about comfort, but their customers are athletes concerned with performance, so that’s what their marketing highlights. Lexus could talk about performance, but Lexus buyers are thinking about status. That’s what they showcase in their ads.
What causes one person’s heart to race may not excite the next person at all. Know your customers. Write copy that appeals to their sense of who they are and who they want to be.
Clarity/Specificity
Don’t be the least bit vague about what you’re offering. Tell them exactly what they’ll get, how long it’s available for, how they’ll benefit from their purchase, what to expect next, etc. Clarity creates vision; without vision there is no action. On the other hand, confused people generally don’t buy.
Bold Claims
The idea of under-promising and over-delivering seems to make sense, but it can be suicidal when it comes to marketing. These days, with so many sales messages begging for our attention, you can’t afford to be shy.
Don’t be afraid to make big claims, as long as you can back them up.
People are searching for the best answers to their questions, the best solutions to their problems. Imagine a dentist who marketed his services as getting your teeth “pretty clean.” How long will he be in business? Even if he’s the best dentist in town, marketing like that will ruin him.
Sincerity
Skepticism is at an all-time high. So is the volume of hype-filled sales pitches we see and hear every day. People are looking for providers they can trust. Any hint of dishonesty or shadiness will send most potential buyers running.
Sincerity is like a breath of fresh air. Almost no one is using it.
The less you seem to hype up what you’re doing, the more believable you are. You come across as honest and helpful instead of desperate and opportunistic.
1) If you haven’t come up with it yet, keep working on your crazy offer.
2) Write the first draft of your sales copy ASAP.
3) Test out your offer. Don’t be scared.
If I’ve ever shared anything on this blog that I think you should act on right away, this is it. Don’t let another day go by without considering the immediate and long-term effects this “crazy offer” concept can have on your business.
And get moving!
As a soldier, what main characteristic did David possess that allowed him to defeat Goliath, who was bigger, stronger and more heavily armed?
Most people will say that it was his agility or speed. Just moments before the battle, David decided against suiting up with King Saul’s armor to maintain his mobility.
More important than these things, though, was his willingness and ability to choose the terms of the fight. Even though he was very confident in his physical strength (he’d beaten wild lions and bears in the past), he picked up stones and decided to take out the giant from a distance. I’m inclined to believe David would still have been victorious over Goliath in hand-to-hand combat, but there was no need for that.
He took a weapon he was skilled with and slew the Philistine champion before the fight even began.
When your small businesses square off against entrenched competitors… ones that are bigger, stronger, better-known and better-equipped than you… you can learn a few things from the young warrior David.
There is a strong temptation for look at your potential customer base and think, “If I drop my prices, more people will buy from me. That’s what everyone else is doing.” In most businesses, special offers mean discounted prices. Every conceivable holiday is an excuse to offer a sale. And some of your big competitors spend thousands or even millions of dollars broadcasting these discounts.
How can you compete with that?
Make no mistake: low prices are attractive. There will always be a market for cheapness. That’s probably the biggest reason why a huge percentage of startups open their doors with plans to become the low-cost provider for the customers they’d like to serve.
But unless you have the buying power of Walmart or its equivalent in your industry, that’s a tough fight to win.
Take a page out of David’s book. Pick your battles strategically. What do you offer that’s better than everyone else who is competing for the customers you want?
Your lunch menu is healthier than McDonald’s.
Your plumbing work is guaranteed for twice as long as anyone else in town.
Your T-shirt brand has been worn by more rock musicians in concert than any other brand this year.
In general, you don’t want a potential customer to be able to make an “apples to apples” comparison between your product or service and that of the guy who insists on cutting his prices to the bone. All other things being equal, the customer will buy the less expensive option.
You can’t allow other things to be equal.
It’s essential that you create some differentiator that forces the consumer to make an “apples to orange” comparison.
Your marketing and your sales people force the comparison between your product and the competition at the point of differentiation.
“Look how healthy our lunch menu is!”
“No one guarantees their pipework for as long as we do.”
“If you’ve been to any concerts this year, you’ve noticed how popular our brand is with your favorite rock stars.”
Juxta-position your product in a way that appears unique, especially if your product or service is seen as a commodity.
Have you ever noticed how many different choices are available for chicken eggs at your local grocery store? There are probably dozen options (yes, I thought that was funny).
What’s really interesting is the price difference between some of the choices. For example, your “average” large eggs sell for $1.79/dozen at this particular store. Eggland’s Best Vegetarian eggs normally sell for $3.79/dozen. That’s more than double the price of your “commodity” eggs.
How does that happen?
Eggland’s Best has capitalized on a key differentiator. This type of egg is in a distinct category: cage-free, vegetarian brown chicken egg.
This destroys the “apples to apples” comparison and forces the customer to consider whether it’s more important for them to save a couple bucks or treat himself to this special kind of egg.
Dutch Farms (the Goliath in this example) probably sells a lot more eggs at the much lower price. But Eggland’s Best (David) is carving out a nice corner of the market to dominate.
Can you think of a way to create a special category for what you sell?
Last Tuesday I was a guest on Lunch Money (part of The Million Dollar Trek) with Camari Ellis. It was my first experience with Google Hangouts.
For 89 minutes, we discussed marketing, copywriting, lead generation ideas and why you need to fall in love with your customers. We basically went through the 5 “smooth stone strategies” I talk about in my Beat Goliath report (which you get for free when you sign up for my weekly newsletter. Just enter your name and email address in the boxes to the right.)
We also briefly talked about the Walmart donkey meat fiasco.
For those of you who missed it, here’s the recording of the show.
Funny Side Note:
With this being my first time using Hangouts, I made a pretty embarrassing mistake when I started promoting this show. I created an event on Google+ and shared it with a few hundred people and made it publicly visible. Then, naturally, I included the link to that event in my email newsletter and shared it on Twitter and LinkedIn as well.
The problem is, the Hangout was hosted at the event Camari had created.
For some reason, I thought my Google would figure out what I was trying to do. I figured that once Camari and I were connected, our Hangout events would merge. (Don’t ask me why I thought that.) So I never corrected the problem or redirected people to the correct link.
So there were several people sitting at the Hangout I created and invited them to — without me.
Many apologies were made.
How do you make a billion dollars in sales without discounts, urgency, a call to action or even appearing to “sell” at all?
It’s not only possible, but it’s a bit of an open secret. It happens somewhat frequently these days — in Hollywood.
I know this about you: you don’t have a Hollywood bank account to spend on advertising. And you know something about me, too. You don’t have to have a 10-figure marketing budget to apply the ideas I’m going to share. Trust me and give me just a few minutes of your time.
This trailer for Man of Steel is a good jumping-off point:
Even though Man of Steel had a $150M marketing allowance, there are some powerful principles you can put into practice for yourself without spending much more on your own marketing. If you do it well, these ideas will more than pay for themselves. Some will begin begin having an impact faster than a speeding bullet.
Here are 4 super takeaways:
Most of our marketing sounds like this: “We’ve been serving the community for 20 years. We only use the finest materials. Our service can’t be beat.”
Those things are important, but they don’t capture the imagination of our customers. That messages doesn’t make the heart race.
The trailer doesn’t say “We spent 3 years and over $200M to make this movie. It’s 2 hours long and it’s sure to excite you.” Instead, it teases you with a taste of what you’ll see, hear and feel when you get to the theater or buy the DVD. Action. Stunning visual effects. An engrossing story about a beloved character.
How can you emulate that? Talk about the experience you provide. Illustrate what the future will look like after doing business with you. Or if they don’t. Better yet, have a current customer tell the story for you.
Remember, people want to know what’s in it for them. Show them right away. Put yourself in their shoes; what’s going to get their heart racing?
Everyone’s familiar with Superman. Most of us like him. Some people are fanatics. (I’ve seen people come close to fist-fighting when discussing DC vs. Marvel.) And just like an old friend, we’re happy to spend more time with him, getting to know him.
While there are plenty of ways a Superman reboot could go wrong, this production builds on a strong franchise with a loyal built-in following. Not a bad place to start.
On top of that, the director (Zack Snyder) and producer (Christopher Nolan) have rabid fan bases of their own. Even if you don’t know them by name, you’re familiar with their work:
People know, like and trust the movie-watching experience itself.
What positive associations do your potential customers have that you can tap into?
Who or what do they already know, like and trust that you can align yourself with?
What part of your product or service are they already in love with that you can highlight?
What amazing experiences can you remind them of?
Superman has been around since 1938. There are new comics, cartoons, TV shows and movies all the time, and it’s been that way for decades.
Repetition begets trust and burns memories.
Think about your marketing efforts in the long-term. I know you don’t have 75 years to wait for a profit, but don’t go crazy acting like a traveling salesman who’s only in town for a week, either.
Communicate consistently and continually. If possible, try to reach your audience in multiple channels to keep things fresh and interesting. Write articles in magazines or trade journals they read. Take on speaking gigs and record them so you can share the video or MP3. Do a podcast.
Don’t just blog or email.
The challenge is that you have to continually fascinate, educate and/or add value, otherwise you become a nuisance.
Have you noticed that trailers don’t put pressure on you? They don’t have to sell you half-price tickets or give you free Ginsu steak knives if your order in the next 10 minutes.
There’s no need for anything like that.
They’ve tapped into established consumer behavior. People love movies. They pay for tickets at the theater and buy the DVD, too. They love to go in groups (or couples at least), and they love to tell everyone they didn’t go with how awesome (or horrible) the experience was.
There are millions of people who go to the movies no matter what’s playing. It’s not hard to get them to buy a ticket.
The price-to-value equation is an easy one for moviegoers to calculate. They enjoy the experience, and the value of that experience outweighs the cost of the ticket. It’s a no-brainer.
Is there a proven consumer behavior or cultural trend you can hitch a ride on? (Be careful, the competition can be rough there.)
What can you do to make your product/service so valuable that your price is a non-factor?
(Just for the record, I’m all for strong calls to action, creating urgency, etc. I highly recommend using them to strengthen your offer.)
I haven’t seen Man of Steel yet (apparently their marketing doesn’t always work, huh?), but I know this: $150M worth of marketing has generated at least $830M in gross revenue for Warner Brothers. That’s nearly a 6X return on investment. There’s something worth paying studying there.
Although I believe direct response is the way to go, especially for small businesses, we can learn from all kinds of business success. Anyone getting 600% ROI is worth paying some attention to, wouldn’t you say?
P.S. Want more superhero marketing tips?
You’re going to love this video.
Today’s lesson is inspired by and based on a 47-second video. (None of this will make much sense if you don’t watch it now.)
I wasn’t able to find any verifiable figures on how this particular device is selling (or how much can be attributed to this 2-week old commercial), but according to Inc. Magazine, the company that created Nabi, Fuhu, is the fastest growing privately-held company in America this year. With 42,148% growth over 3 years, they’re clearly doing something right.
Let’s go with what we know. This commercial is:
1) Laser-targeted. Fuhu knows precisely who the main buyers of these tablets are: parents (mostly mothers) of children in their Pre-K and early school years. This commercial makes its appeal directly to them. They’re not trying to win over any other audience. The commercial is running on channels where Mom, in full parenting mode, will be most receptive to the message.
2) Emotionally-driven. The video plays on the heartstrings — and does so mostly without words. It isn’t about tech specs; it’s not even about the device itself. The quick plot focuses on the triumphant end result: your child is fearless, unstoppable, even when her peers tremble.
3) Visually compelling. Again, the words are almost an afterthought here, although they do strengthen the visuals. But if you play the video again with the volume off, it has just as much punch. Video is powerful that way.
Viewers who don’t have kids can still appreciate the impact of the message.
Parents who see the commercial are deeply moved.
Parents with kids struggling academically…well they’ve probably already gone to buy the thing.
You can make your message visually compelling even if you’re not using video. Good copy can create the exact same effect in print or audio. Robert Collier said it well:
“The mind thinks in pictures, you know. One good illustration is worth a thousand words. But one clear picture built up in the reader’s mind by your words is worth a thousand drawings, for the reader colors that picture with his own imagination, which is more potent than all the brushes of all the world’s artists.”
1) Get to know your target audience. I sound like a broken record, but this point can’t be stressed enough. You can’t make a truly persuasive marketing message if you only have a vague idea who you’re talking to and what they care about. If you don’t get anything else from this newsletter, I’d make this the thing you pay attention to.
Your ideal client is like your spouse: you can never know her too well.
2) If you are intimately familiar with a promising audience, consider customizing a product or service for them. Fuhu saw a big opportunity to market kid-friendly, drop-proof tablets (you know you always cringe when your little one grabs your iPad with his slippery, slimy fingers). They went from $279,000 in revenue in ’09 to $118 million in 2012.
Maybe there are some 9-figure doors waiting for you to open them.
3) Add emotion to your messages. Aim for those heartstrings.
You’ve got a great product with all the bells and whistles. Who cares? Potential customers want to see their own triumphant end result. Paint that picture.
4) Make sure you have a good copywriter on your team.
5) Get your laser-focused, emotionally-charged message out in places where your best buyers will see them — and be in the right state of mind to listen attentively. Maybe it’s a radio ad during drive-time. Maybe it’s a snail mail letter from someone they trust. (That’s another one of those things you’ll have to figure out with study and testing.)
In Parts 1 and 2 of this short course, we’ve been talking about intensifying your potential customers’ built-in desires and directing them towards the thing that you’re selling. There’s a common thread tying together each of the points we’ve covered. Perhaps you’ve noticed.
You use your words to paint vivid, evocative images in the minds of your prospects…their response will correspond directly with their desires, motivations and priorities…
You base your marketing messages or sales pitch on the quest they’re on, the vision they have for their lives and the way they see their place in the world…
You do your best to be convincing…but those who become your customers are those who convince themselves that you can deliver the results they want.
Do you see it? Conversion is essentially a self-initiated change. All persuasion is self-persuasion.
“No matter how brilliantly an idea is stated, we will not really be moved unless we have already half thought of it ourselves.” ~ Mignon McLaughlin
If you’re honest, you know deep down that this quote speaks to real experience.
As irresistible as your message may seem to you, what really matters is how it matches up with what the hearer thinks about himself (his quest)… about the problem you’re addressing or promise you’re making… about you.
For example, if he believes he was born to be an entrepreneur and that reading a book can speed up the process and increase his chances of success, he’ll actively search for those kinds of books.
If he believes that “I could never succeed in business” and that starting a business a risk reserved for richer, more educated people, “be your own boss” products won’t appeal to him.
In order to get someone to buy from you, you need him to convince himself that your product or service will give him what he wants. To do that, you have to give him the materials he needs to convince himself. That brings us back to the concept of building vision.
When you’re helping your prospect imagine all the wonderful tomorrows that are sure to come after he buys your product… when he can see himself enjoying a brighter future because of you, he’s really selling himself on your proposition. Of course you’re doing your part: feeding him the raw materials he needs to see that mental image. This is where copywriting, storytelling, demonstration and testimonials come into play.
You want him to come to a predetermined conclusion: that your product is his best option to achieve the transformation he’s looking for. Rather than stating that too explicitly (which will probably be a turn-off for most potential clients), you want to help him draw that conclusion on his own. As Blaise Pascal said, “People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.”
When he decides that you’re the best choice based on his own “reasoning,” you’ve won a firmly-convinced convert.
Don’t forget to read Part 1.
Whether they’re aware of it or not, every single person on this planet is on a quest. This quest is defined by the person’s vision of his life, both how he interprets his past and imagines his future. It’s the lens through which he sees himself and his place in the world.
This quest can take all kinds of shapes. To be a millionaire living on a tropical island by the age of 35. A mother of two beautiful children. To be respected by his golf buddies. To “just fit in,” or to stand out from the crowd. To rock and roll all night and party every day.
Please understand, persuasion isn’t about building a vision for its own sake. The images you create with your sales and marketing messages have to complement the hearer/reader/viewer’s vision for his own life. They have to fit that vision and expand upon it. Clarify it. They have to move the hearer further along his life-quest.
For example, painting vivid mental pictures of arthroscopic knee surgery won’t convince anyone to undergo the procedure. (That would probably have the opposite effect, wouldn’t you say?) Rather, images of pain-free movement, the ability to participate in activities you’ve missed out on for years, the enjoyment of an energetic, uninhibited life – that’s what sells.
A number of years ago, my wife and I had a disagreement over observing a particular tradition. I wanted to abstain from observing it. She plainly informed me that she would not be married to someone who wouldn’t keep this custom.
“That’s not how I see my life,” she explained.
My bride had a vision for what her life would look like. She had a strong drive to make the vision a reality.
I was driven by the way I saw the future, too. I envisioned myself as a happily married man, and I was just as motivated to make my vision reality. Needless to say, the aforementioned tradition hasn’t been interrupted since that conversation.
That’s the importance of the quest.
Our quest dictates our priorities (in large part); our priorities determine our decisions, including what we buy.
The kind of heroes people want are the ones who assist them in making their dreams come true. We want heroes who help us become the heroes we envisions ourselves as becoming on our life mission.
Remember: your customer is the protagonist of his own story. You’re a role player helping him overcome the conflict and reach ultimate victory. It’s your job to talk/write your way into the plot of his story.
The question is, how do you do that?
1. Get the attention of people whose story you can transform in a unique way: Your business won’t fit into everyone’s story. That’s cool because you don’t want to get involved in everyone’s story. You need to have a) a clear understanding of the value you can create for your customers, b) who those customers are, and c) how to gain their attention.
2. Paint a picture of the problem: If you talk about the “good life,” people who don’t have it will feel the sting. Alternatively, you could talk about the problem itself. Your message will resonate with those who are struggling through the challenges now, or those who have already given up in despair. If you can use language they’d use to describe their experience, you’ll really strike a chord. They see that you understand them and their difficulties. It’s much easier to trust the advice of someone who knows what you’re going through.
You can inspire those individuals that there’s still hope, and you’ve found it. You’re also the best person to lead them to the source of that hope.
3. Paint a picture of progress: When you build vision in your prospect’s mind of the progress he’s looking for but doesn’t yet have (or doesn’t know how to get), his desire intensifies. It takes on a definite shape, like liquid poured into a bottle which you design. He’ll probably feel it in his gut. He wants that progress, and if you do it right, he’ll see your solution as the best way to get it.
Last week I shared a quote from Gene Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising. Let me share another excerpt as an poignant example. It’s a bit lengthy, but compelling. From the Preface to the Boardroom Edition:
This book was first published in 1966…it only sold a few thousand copies. But since it was published I have had people coming to me regularly to tell me that they directly credit reading this book with their making millions of dollars.
… Here is a book that is called Breakthrough Advertising…and yet was used by men who were not in the business of advertising at all, to make more money than most of us ever dream of accumulating.
How did this happen? Why was a publisher, a financier, a manufacturer of novelties, able to make so very much money with a book that is about putting sentences together? (The financier told me that, within one year of obtaining the book, he had raised his net worth from $100,000 to $10 million). Are the sentences contained in the pages that follow actually that powerful? Can they change the fortunes of men so radically? Are they far more universally adaptable than I had first thought…so they are no longer about advertising products, but literally about opening whole new markets for them?
There is a way to develop an entirely new market for a new or an old product. That way involves a certain number of clearly-defined step. And in this book I show you every single one of those steps…
We are, in a phrase, “Market Makers”…
So, this book is not about building better mousetraps. It is, however, about building larger mice, and then building terrifying fear of them in your customers. In other words, it is about helping to shape the largest and strongest market possible, and then intensifying that market’s reaction to its basic need or problem, and the “exclusive” solution you have to offer it.
Ask Rodale Press–for whom I sold over twenty million dollars of a single book…
Creates some nice images, right? After reading the preface, it’s hard for an entrepreneur or marketer not to be excited about reading the rest of the book.
As you can see, better words paint sharper pictures. Vivid images are the holy grail of desire intensification. Don’t slack off in this area.
In Part 3 we’ll wrap up this short course on desire intensification. Until then, think about the pictures you paint. Think about how what you’re learning about your customers’ desires can make bolder, brighter and clearer visions in their minds. Then work on improving the words and sentences you use to win your customers over.
How do you make people want what you’re selling? I mean, that’s the point of marketing, right?
Let me clarify one thing before we get started. I don’t believe in it’s possible to create desire. Our desires are pre-existing. Your job as entrepreneurs and marketers is to create products and services that there is already some existing desire for, then direct the desire our potential customers feel toward your offer.
Now, I hear what you’re saying. “There are companies making big money selling things people didn’t know they wanted. Just look at Apple. They’ve sold millions of devices nobody even knew they wanted.”
Steve Jobs himself said that “A lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
Jobs was dead wrong.
What about the auto industry? Henry Ford once said “If I’d asked my customer what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.” Nobody wanted cars. But in 2012, global car sales topped 80 million units.
Believe it or not, this apparent discrepancy actually proves that marketing is about selling what people already want. People may not have wanted a car, but they did want to travel faster. So Ford gave his customers what they wanted – it just came in a different package than they expected.
The same is true for Apple. Jobs and company didn’t create a brand new desire; they channeled desires that millions of people already had into a unique new line of products.
Apple didn’t invent music and inject it into the iPod. It just made it easier to access the tunes you love and carry them with you everywhere you go. Apple didn’t have to convince anybody that carrying one multi-capability device was better than hauling a music player, camera, GPS device and a phone.
The iGadgets are products appealing those already-present desires in an attractive new way.
So instead of asking “How do I make people want what I sell,” figure out how to channel your ideal prospects’ desires toward your product and the satisfaction they’ll experience when they buy it.
The real key to directing the desires of your potential customers is to create a vision, an image in their minds. Business gurus spend a lot of time talking about coming up with your own company vision, and that’s important. But until you’re building a vision in other people’s minds, you’ll always struggle to sell your product or service, especially if you’re not the cheapest, closest or only available option. (A precarious position at best.)
Even then, you face the danger of being overtaken by someone who does inspire visions in your customers’ minds.
According to Roy Williams, the 7th Law of the Advertising Universe is this: “Engage the Imagination, then take it where you will. Where the mind has repeatedly journeyed, the body will surely follow. People only go to places they have already been in their minds.”
Think about it. When you’re making a big decision, you’ve always imagined scenarios of how it will turn out. You’ve seen yourself enjoying the benefits of action or enduring the pain of indecision. You’ve smelled the salt air and felt the warm waves soaking your feet on Waikiki.
When you keep picturing something you want, that recurring vision heaps up desire that sooner or later you have to act on. Or go crazy.
Eugene Schwartz said this in Breakthrough Advertising:
“Above everything else, advertising is the literature of desire…Advertising gives form and content to desire. It provides it with a goal. These desires, as they exist in the mind of your prospect today, are indistinct. They are blurs—hazy, ambiguous, not yet crystallized into words or images. In most cases, they are simply vague emotions, without compulsion or direction. And as such, they have only a fraction of their true potential power.
“Your job is to fill out these vague desires with concrete images… your job is to show him in minute detail all the tomorrows that your product makes possible for him.
“This is the core of advertising—its fundamental function. To take unformulated desire, and translate it into one vivid scene of fulfillment after another. To add the appeal of concrete satisfaction after satisfaction to the basic drive of that desire. To make sure that your prospect realizes everything that he is getting—everything that he is now leaving behind him—everything that he may possibly be missing. The sharper you can draw your pictures…the more your prospect will demand your product, and the less important will seem your price.“
Are your marketing materials are delivering in these areas? Are they intensifying and directing the desires of the people you really want to do business with? Are you talking about what interests you or what interests them?
In Part 2 we’ll plunge a little deeper into this topic. In the meantime, make an effort to get to know your prospects and customers better than ever. It’ll be one of the best investments you can make.