World Copywriting Blog

Fabulous article on how to put together a Persuasive Sales Message by a seasoned Direct Marketer, Russell Kern

Every once and again I come across an article so well written and so chock-full of valuable, practical information, that I have to share it with you.

This is one of those articles:

Achieve success by adhering to the fundamentals

The article appears on the Web site of Target Marketing Magazine. It's by Russell Kern, author of S.U.R.E.-Fire Direct Response Marketing: Generating Business-to-Business Sales Leads for Bottom Line Success.

Mr. Kern is president of The Kern Organization in Woodland Hills, CA.  He supplied the photo and asked that I include his contact information in this post, which I am happy to do:

(818) 703-8775 ext. 215
(800) 335-4244
www.thekernorg.com

If you want to get better results with your copy -- whether B-to-B or consumer; whether online or offline; whether written or audio/visual -- read the article and take down some notes.  He covers the basics that bring in the bucks.  Which we all need to know... and once we know them, we need to be reminded of them -- regularly.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Who Needs Enron? Microsoft Just Got Talked Into Doing A Great Sally Fields Impersonation At The Oscars For A Mere $1.7 Million Per 30 SECONDS... And It's All Perfectly Legal

History was made at the Oscars 22 years ago, when Sally Fields embarrassingly gushed: "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"

For an actor, in the business of being liked, likable and bankable at the box office, it's a perfectly understandable gushing, blushing moment. After all, people in Sally's line of work are frequently paid large sums of money to make absolute fools of themselves, all the while looking cool and in control -- and to do so, mind you, in front of worldwide groups of people.

But suppose you were Microsoft, the world's largest software company. Even if you had a market valuation of $279.3 billion and annual sales of $41.5 billion...

... does that justify buying 30 seconds of advertising time for $1.7 million, to trumpet the message, "We're not boring!  Really, we're not!" to the world?

Advertising executive Matt Ross, apparently with a straight face, explained the strategy to George Raine of the San Francisco Chronicle:

"You do something to seed engagement in the minds of people watching it."

Very smooth.  I couldn't have said nothing better myself.

Ross is president of McCann Worldgroup San Francisco, a large branding advertising agency.  His company produced the commercials which, according to Raine's article, feature... are you ready for this? ...

• A man and his friend overwhelmed by the size of a large pumpkin they see in a Nebraska field in 1978
• A man surprised by seeing a deer in his neighborhood
• A woman surprised by the Great Wall of China
• A boy stunned by a blanket of snow
• A tall basketball player impressed by the moves of a much shorter, younger basketball player
• A girl simply in awe when a boy removes a tablecloth but leaves the plate and silverware on the table

And finally...

• A pitch for Microsoft's new operating system. The commercial's voice-over says:

"Every so often you experience something so new, so delightfully unexpected, that there is only one word for it: 'Wow.' Introducing Windows Vista."

And silly me.  I thought the delightfully unexpected part was McCann and ABC divvying up $1.7 million of Microsoft's money.

But I guess this kind of empty spending has become so routine that it barely raises an eyebrow.

Empty spending?  Yes.

Why?  ROI.

Specifically...

Where's the return on investment on that $1.7 million?

There is none.  No customer buying activity occurs by inviting people to think "Wow."

You have to ask them to buy something.  And then they have to buy it.  That's where ROI comes from.

(You already knew that. But in case any Advertising Executives are reading this, I thought a little refresher course in ROI 101 might be in order.)

Now, the problem here is that Microsoft might be just a little worried that it is perceived as boring, and somehow that will hurt the company in business. 

Boring is deadly in the movie business.  It's never good per se in advertising, but it's not a real problem as far as your public image goes in the plumbing business... the earth-hauling business... the office supplies business... or, now that you mention it, the software business.

Besides which, the key quality underneath being likable -- charisma -- is not something you can buy and sell, like market share.  Either you got it, or you don't.  As John Kerry discovered, and Hillary Clinton is about to.

So... what about you and your business?

Let's not worry for a second whether people say "Wow."

Let's worry instead about whether people say, "How can I buy that?"

But, it would be nice if they remembered you, had a positive feeling about your company, felt like you stood for something beyond being a bookmark in their Web browser or a contact in their Outlook (oops.  There goes that boring Microsoft again!) ...

... It would be nice if, in addition to saying, "I'd like to buy that from your company," they also said, "Your company seems to include the kind of people I'd like to have a long-term business relationship with."

Translation?

"I'd like to buy from you again."

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

I think it would.  That's why I teamed up with a man who was, without remorse, responsible for strategizing branding campaigns that cost clients 10s of millions of dollars. He did this without remorse while working for big agencies like Deutsch, JWT and BBDO.

No remorse because his ad campaigns DID have a return on investment... the ads produced sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

His name is Ben Mack. He is author of the bestseller Think Two Products Ahead.

He has a unique (and revolutionary) vision of branding that includes... are you ready for this... sales!

In fact, he sees branding as the main factor determining how much a customer will want to buy from you in the future.

Ben and I are presenting a 3-session teleseminar series introducing our fusion concept Direct Response Branding. The first session is Tuesday, so take a look at the course description now -- click here.

Actually, we don't really care what Microsoft does with its money.  When you've got that much money, you do what you've gotta do.  Big wow. 

But we'd like to help other businesses not make the same mistakes.

If you take our course, the next time you spend $1.7 million dollars... or $17 dollars ... on advertising, you'll know what you need to do to expect positive return on your investment.

And here's the best part:

You won't really give a flying fig if people think you're cool or not.

Direct Response Branding Teleseminar. Begins Tuesday, February 27, 2007

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

New Program for Copywriters, Marketers, Business Owners and CEOs

We're launching on Thursday:

http://www.davidgarfinkel.com/copy-club

Reflections on The Year Of The Pig, The Conceits of Western Science, and Your Opportunity To Bring Home The Bacon

In San Francisco's Tenderloin District, the high priests and stern wizards of Western Science are whining about their worries.

"A panel of researchers expressed concern that people are giving increasing credence to pseudoscience... [including] horoscopes," reports Randolph E. Schmidt of the Associated Press, live from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The meeting takes place at the San Francisco Hilton, plumb in the heart of the city's Tenderloin District.

Meanwhile, one-fifth of the world's population is getting ready to take a week off because of a horoscope-based holiday, including most of the residents of the neighborhood six blocks to the north of the Hilton.

That neighborhood, of course, is Chinatown. San Francisco has the largest Chinatown in the world outside of Asia.

OK. Quiz. What's wrong with this picture?

It's the Year of the Pig for 1.3 billion people... and the Scientists are worried that Western minds are not uniformly marching to their tune.

Who's right?

Who's wrong?

And what in the world does this have to do with you?

An interesting fact:

Economist Robert Kuttner writes in Saturday's Boston Globe:

"And China's immense stash of dollars happens to be a prime source of funding America's national debt."

So... let me see if I've got this straight... the Scientists (most of whom are funded directly or indirectly by U.S. Government) are worried that ordinary Americans believe in the same kind of things as the people who, by and large, are making sure the Scientists' paychecks clear?

It doesn't even boggle the mind.  It just makes you want to sigh.

Now, as a marketer, as a copywriter, as a business owner or CEO, what do you do with all of this?

We could put together a series of books or a week-long seminar to explore the full answer in the detail it deserves.  So I'll just give you the bottom line:

• Forget about what you know.
• Forget about what you believe.
• Find out what people want.
• Then find out what's top-of-mind for them.
• And start with what's top-of-mind for them -- whatever it is.
• From there, move to show them how you can get them what they want.

Does this mean be a hypocrite?  Or a panderer?

Yes and no.

Yes -- if you totally abandon your principles and refuse to engage your brain.  And take the quick shortcut to get-rich-quick, complete with the risk of bankruptcy-through-refunds.

Then there's the other route, where the answer to the hypocrite/panderer questions is:

No -- if you artfully weave what you have to say and what you know is true from your perspective, into this format so your prospects can get emotionally engaged and buy what you're selling. 

A well thought through headline, hook, rationale and offer can launch a fortune that lasts.

And... finally... thanks to the Chinese for keeping the U.S. from going belly up!

Gung hay fat choy!*

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

* Happy New Year in Chinese (Cantonese)

What Copywriters And Other Marketers Can Learn From The Enduring Myths of Urban Legends

As a marketer, you are constantly striving to break through the clutter and get your message noticed.

Fair enough. But once you do, how do you get your message remembered?

And repeated to others?

It's a question that bugs every copywriter. The other day I found part of the answer. And it's exciting!

I was talking with World Copywriting Blog Executive Contributor Jim Van Wyck. Telling him about something I was really excited about.

"STOP!" he screamed. "You're doing it!"

I had no idea I was doing anything, besides telling him a story about a book that a client had told me.

It turns out what Jim was referring to was the kind of story I was telling, which I had told to half a dozen other close friends and associates without thinking about it.

You see, there's a certain structure and a number of key elements to stories that routinely get repeated... become viral... go "word of mouth"... become Urban Legends... etc.

You're probably heard some of the actual stories:

• the stranger who wakes up naked a hotel room bathtub with a tube in his back, a cell phone, a message to call 911... and when he calls, is told that his kidney has been harvested, and not to move until an ambulance arrives
• the Nordstrom salesperson who gave a demanding customer a refund on tires (or tire chains), even though Nordstrom's doesn't sell tires (or tire chains)
• Something (anything) funny a Southwest flight attendant said that breaks sharply from the usual announcements you hear on an airplane

Well, here's the question:

How would you like to create phrases, stories and scenarios for marketing that create in others the same irresistible urge to tell someone else?

Chip and Dan Heath have come out with a remarkable book (not the one I was telling Jim about, but the one Jim subsequently told me about) that, better than anything else I have ever seen, tells you exactly how to do it.

Their book is called Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

They're both academics -- Chip teaches at Stanford, and Duke is a consultant and Duke Corporate Education, the executive education branch of Duke University.

But unlike most academics, they write about very practical material, grounded right here in the real world.

And what they have to say can make a huge difference for you.

A couple things I like about this book:

1) They take these attention getting, memorable and repeatable ideas and identify six key qualities

• they're stories
• they're simple
• they contain the unexpected
• they're concrete
• they're credible
• and, most important of all, they're emotional

2) The Heath brothers do something I've never seen before in a non-direct-marketing book: They refer to the ideas and copy of Old Master John Caples (the Dean of Direct Response Copy on Madison Avenue) on nine different pages.

Probably more important to you: The book is chock-full of examples (many of which you're familiar with, and all of which you can learn from). Plus, they show you step-by-step how to write your own "Urban Legends."

Which could be worth thousands... millions... maybe even billions to a business.

This book is a gem. If you want to be forgotten the moment after people read what you write or hear what you say, pass it by. But if you want to be memorable, get yourself a copy of Made to Stick.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter