Now, as a marketer, the Empathy and Focus parts are second nature — at least in terms of understanding.  Putting them into practice every day is harder stuff, but any copywriter that doesn’t understand the importance of empathizing with the prospective customer and focusing in on their primary buying motivations and concerns isn’t a copywriter at all.

It’s the last element most marketers and copywriters screw up or overlook: the importance of Imputed Quality.  Not nuts and bolts, specification-driven build quality or value for the dollar quality.  But quality cues that tap into buyers’ pre-existing mental imprint of luxury and virtuous manufacture.  The telling detail that says everything.

Want to see an example of imputed quality used in copy?  Here ya go:

Notice that the actual build quality is detailed by the bullet points of the body copy, while the imputed quality — the telling detail — is given pride of place within the headline of the ad itself.*

Of course, this sort of quality cue or imputed quality factor has to be already existing or freshly baked into the product or service itself before it can be advertised, but recognizing the need for it — and doing the patient research and digging to find it — is one of the major keys to writing copy that works.

Apple of course, is a master at this, which is one reason they are renowned design icons, because inspired design imputes high quality. But it’s also why Apple never skimps on screen quality, keyboard feel, and the overall polish put on their user interfaces: those are the sort of tangible, experiential things that impute quality.

Yes, of course, we expect real quality from an Apple product in the sense of freedom from typical PC-like annoyances, annoyances brilliantly dramatized and mocked by Apple’s “I’m a Mac” campaign.  But even if you knew nothing about Apple or PCs and just LOOKED at the competing products laid side by side, you’d intuitively get that one set of products were special and nicer than the rest.  Regardless of how their internal components and specs stacked up.

So Here Are My 3 Takeaways from This:

1) Quality is important, but quality without imputed quality will go unrewarded in the marketplace.

2) Business owners should never expect customers to recognize quality and should “bake” imputed quality into their offerings.

3) Copywriters who fail to use imputed quality cues will end up with underperforming ad copy.

P.S. — Want to see an already-existing quality cue in action? Check out these guys thudding the door closed on a Mercedes:

Click here to view the embedded video.

P.P.S. — How do I know that Ogilvy diligently searched for product facts that would help him find and recognize important quality cues?  Because he listed research twice when explaining his copywriting methodology!  Steps 3 and 5 both emphasize the importance of research and facts.

* For a more detailed analysis of this famous Ogilvy Ad, check out my old GrokDotcom post.

Two Kinds of Quality is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

Kindness and Professionalism

And while Tim has drilled down to discover the 7 elements in small business Kindness and Professionalism (which you should consider a must-read), for me the real genius is in his general formula of “Kindness and Professionalism.”  Why?

Because it’s the opposite of “Adding insult to injury.”

Believe it or not most medical malpractice suits, along with most “United Breaks Guitars” PR and word of mouth catastrophes all prominently feature both elements — often with the “insult” taking precedence over the injury.

Imagine what would typically happen without the “Insult.” If united broke the guitar and then apologized and even only partially compensated Dave Carroll for the loss, do you still think he would have made that video. Think about that: even if the ordeal still cost Dave hundreds of dollars — even if the “injury” part of the equation was still present — that element alone would never have sparked a viral YouTube revenge without the added injury of an uncaring and calloused bureaucratic response.

But flipping the equation goes beyond avoiding PR nightmares; adding kindness to professionalism offers a powerful mental framework for creating emotionally compelling customer service.  And these elements are present in every “WOW” customer service story you’ll ever hear or experience, whether it’s the I Heart Zappos story, the various Nordie stories, and so on.

So, think about it: Kindness and Professionalism.

And then head on over to Tim’s blog to see everything that can go into each part of that dynamic duo.

The Opposite of “Adding Insult to Injury” is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

Of course not. The claim lacks all credibility.

You can’t possibly look at photos like that without wondering:

• How could you possibly have gotten these, given how passionately Apple protects their upcoming projects?
• Even if you DID get legitimate photos, why aren’t Apple’s lawyers sending you a cease and desist letter?
• What evidence do I possibly have that these are real, and weren’t simply photoshopped?
• And so on.

In short, the context is all wrong, so we just know the photos are fakes (or “artists renditions,” at best). But what about this video?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Somehow, this video fooled a lot of people and created quite a stir before it was proven to be faked. But why? Why is this video so convincing when the typical “leaked” photos aren’t?

Context.

The video provides a context which preemptively answers all of these credibility-killing questions and more.  According to the non-verbal storytelling in the video, the guy who made the video accidentally discovered an “unreleased” page to Apple’s German Website, and took a screen recording of it.  That’s how he got the photos, that’s why Apple can’t stop him, because they’re the ones who put the content on the Web, etc.

More importantly, the very style of the Web pages created by this hoaxster convinces us.  When we look at these “accidentally discovered” Web pages, they look so faithful to Apple’s own design aesthetic, and the pictures of the phone look so faithful to the rumors about the new iPhone (curved, metal back, larger screen, thinner, etc.) that we tend to believe that maybe the video is for real.

Making This Dynamic Work for You

The truth is that we ALL rely on context every day for almost every decision we make.  Manipulate context and you manipulate people’s perceptions and, ultimately, their decisions, too:

• If you’re an ice cream parlor and you simply put canisters of sample spoons up on the counter, that context will cue people to ask for free tastes, without any other change required.
• An HVAC guy who shows up in a corporate-branded truck and uniform will look like he’s from a big company, even if the company consists entirely of him, his cellphone, and that truck.
• Tell me you have the best food in the city, and I’ll be a lot more likely to believe you if you serve that food on linen table cloths rather than plastic trays.

Good fiction writers know the importance of this instinctively, which is why they go to such lengths to establish the right pretext for their big moments — they “set you up” and then “pay it off” later. Though I am absolutely not advising anyone to hoax their customers or to adopt a conman’s mindset, I am asking you to think about the believability of the claims you make, and how the right context can create customer confidence that you might not create any other way.

So what context cues are you using now, and what cues should you be using going forward?

What the iPhone 4S Can Teach You About Persuasion is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

When writing copy for products and services designed to help someone do X, the best persuasive tactic is to re-sell them on the dream.

In other words, whenever prospects got into X in the first place, they did so because they had bought into a dream. For instance, most people take up blogging because they buy into the dream of blogging: be able to put their “voice” out into the world and finding an appreciative, receptive audience that not only tweats, re-tweats, comments on, and forwards their posts, but also finding financial benefit through that same audience buying their books, come to their conferences, etc.  That’s the dream most people are chasing when they start up a blog.

Needless to say, the reality frequently falls short of the dream.  And the frustration at the gap is where the incentive to buy comes in.

So if you’re selling a service to help people with their blogging, you not only want to sell the prospect on the service, but also re-sell them on the dream.  More specifically, you want to sell them on the ability of your service to help them re-capture the dream.

Why?

Because they already bought into the dream once, and they haven’t yet given up on it (they’re still X–ing, aren’t they?), and nothing is easier than selling someone on the dream they’ve already bought into.  Doesn’t matter what the dream was, and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; the easiest sale you’ll ever make is selling the prospect on the dream they’ve already dreamt.

Jonathan Morrow’s new product BoostBlogTraffic.com is a perfect example of that. Check out the product announcement over at Copyblogger and see for yourself.  What’s Jonathan doing for the first 2/3rds of the copy?  Invoking the frustrations and dream-reality gap involved in blogging, and then re-selling the blogging dream, baby!

Because Jonathan Morrow knows what he’s doing.

• So what dream where your prospects chasing whenever they got into your market?
• Are you minding (and mining) the gap between the dream and the prospect’s current reality?
• Does your copy re-kindle the dream?

(re)Selling the Dream is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now, here’s what the Alamo Drafthouse has to say about the incident:

We do not tolerate people that talk or text in the theater. In fact, before every film, we have several warnings on screen to prevent such happenings. Occasionally, someone doesn’t follow the rules, and we do, in fact, kick their asses out of our theater. This video is an actual voicemail from a woman that was kicked out of one of our Austin theaters. Thanks, anonymous woman, for being awesome.

Just one question: after watching that video, do you have any doubt that the Alamo Drafthouse is serious about protecting the customer’s movie-going experience?

Of course not. Why? Because you know that they not only are willing to kick people out for distracting violations, but that they’ve done it in the past and are not at all afraid to take some heat for it. This video serves as a masterful display of transparency in advertising, a perfect form of proof, and a strong signal of intent to any prospective customer.

What’s the intent? To provide the ultimate in serious move-watching experience. The Alamo Drafthouse is a movie theatre with steep stadium seating guaranteed to provide an unobstructed view of the screen, and waiters and waitresses that serve real food and beer, allowing customers to better enjoy the movie and to avoid any hunger or thirst-induced interruptions.

So while this video may indeed repel some customers,it’ll likely attract a lot more. In fact, it’ll be sure to attract the serious movie-goer — which is exactly the kind of customer the Alamo Drafthouse wants.

Not a bad way to turn a cranky, complaint-ridden phone call into a brilliant piece of viral advertising, no?

What about you? How could you take what might be considered a downside or “cost” or complaint and turn it into proof of your main UVP?

Transparency, Proof, and Signaling Theory is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

- Roy H. Williams, Secret Formulas of The Wizard of Ads

I’ve always cringed at the mention of “personal branding.”

“Personal branding” grates on me because I believe that it’s far more profitable to understand corporate branding through the lens of personal reputation than to create some kind of contrived reputation through use of corporate branding.

For example, if you understand brand as reputation, you can’t help but understand that:

• Your actions speak louder than your words
• What others say about you is more important than what you say about you
• Deep relationships are more important than shallow popularity
• Straight-talking, look-you-in-the-eye individuals are trusted while “organizational men” aren’t

And yet, I do believe that the very best advocates for personal branding have a worthwhile point or two, namely that:

1. People want to do business with other people — people they know and trust

There’s magic to George Zimmer promising us that “You’ll like the way you look, I guarantee it.” Or a Lee Iacocca challenging us with “If you can find a better car, buy it.”

The magic lies in the human connection, in the sense of doing business with a live human being invested with the magical power of free will, instead of with some faceless organization, utterly without agency.

When given a choice, we prefer businesses run by people whose passion for what they do extends beyond making money. People who’ll do the right thing; people that care.

We want to know that Mama Gert Boyle simply won’t stand for her company to produce anything less than the best, even to the point of torture testing Columbia’s clothing on her own son. This hits us at a far deeper level than technical specifications.

Want to see what it looks like when a small business puts some of this magic into their advertising?

Check out Tim Mile’s branding campaign for a local Heating and Air Conditioning Company

2. (most) People can’t “know” the real you

Do you think that any of us actually knows the real Lee Iacocca? Other than his wife, kids, and close friends? Heck no. And yet most of us feel as if we know him. He has a public persona.

The reason most of us don’t have a crafted public persona is because most decent people shy away from self aggrandizement. It goes against the grain and feels icky.

We’re far more comfortable with Jimmy Stewart’s “aw shucks” foot twisting than Donald Trump’s “I’m the greatest” chest thumping.

We all have to get over that.

We have to grow more comfortable both with the need for self-promotion and with the need to provide the public with a narrower and more easily grasped projection of ourselves than could possibly fit our own complex personalities. We have to be OK with the public perceiving us as something approaching a caricature of our real selves.

I’m sure the owner of the HVAC Company that Tim Miles renamed “Dr. Comfort” probably wouldn’t have thought to caricaturize himself as a method to brand his company. Nor would he most likely have been too comfortable with what must have seemed a boastful and over-reaching title — that of “Dr. Comfort.”

And yet the strategic use of the Dr. Comfort persona has convinced a lot of people to do business with him.

How Domino’s Could Have Made “Rate Our Chicken” Even Better

Want to see this at work in a national ad campaign?  Check out Tom Wanek’s analysis of Domino’s Rate Our Chicken Ad.

Just keep in mind that Tom approaches this analysis from a Credibility-based perspective.  He’s analyzing how Domino’s use of transparency and signaling lends credibility to their claim of superior chicken.

And from that perspective, Tom finds fault with how the “Rate Our Chicken” ad opens and closes its message. It opens with a weak, non-attention-bragging image and it closes with a show of hesitancy and doubt on the part of Domino’s chicken expert. Tom recommends a more confident closing image — and he’s right!

But that’s coming from a logical/credibility perspective.

What actually unites the two mental images has nothing to do with logic and everything to do with the magic of “Pictures with People.”  Tate Dillow is the thread running throughout the commercial, and he is who commands both the opening and closing images of the ad.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As much as Domino’s is looking to gain credibility through transparency, they are also looking to gain an emotional involvement through Tate Dillow’s public persona as Mr. Domino’s Chicken. And for the most part it works.

But as Tom so rightly points out, it could be made better by strengthening the opening and closing images. Yet knowing that Tate is the thread that holds the commercial together, we wouldn’t want to remove him from either the opening or closing images. Nor would we want to do away with any image that helps to convey Tate’s humanity to the audience.

So my suggestion would be to simply switch the opening and closing mental images.

Show me the transparently human and understandably nervous-about-the-box Tate Dillow first. Make me curious why the box has him so worked up. Hook me into his story.

Then, at the end of the commercial, show me the confident, “My Name’s Tate Dillon and I am Domino’s Chicken” image, leaving me with the impression that this guy’s hell-bent on giving me great chicken.

The Bottom Line:

The best bet for your ads isn’t to be either purely logical or emotional, but to combine the two in the evident passion and verifiable actions of a spokesperson the public can trust.  And if you’re the owner of the company, that spokesperson should likely be you.

Are you up for it?

P.S. I couldn’t find an already-online version of Roy H. Williams’ essay, “Song’s with Words, Pictures with People,” so I made a hasty scan of it and posted it here.  Enjoy…

Pictures with People is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

“Taking it to the next level” is cliché. So is the phrase “he/she/it opened a lot of doors for me.” But people still reach for these phrases regardless. There’s a reason for that.

Both phrases reflect an intuitive understanding of transitions: that there’s always a threshold to cross. Boundaries define an area, environment, or world. Movement past boundaries necessitates movement through openings in those boundaries — or though portals, if you will.

So where there is change, there are portals, or so our subconscious minds expect. But all too often, businesses fail to meet our subconscious expectation for portals.

Businesses usually want to transition shoppers from thinking one way about a product or service (price sensitive) to another way of thinking, typically one that elevates shared values, big-picture performance, and total experience above price. The goal is to move shoppers from an objective, consumer-reports mindset to an enthusiast’s mindset.

And yet people don’t just snap from one state of mind into another; there has to be a transition and a portal to mark that transition. Put plainly: if you’re selling premium products or experiences, you need to understand the power of portals.

Fantasy Writers Understand Portals

When it comes to portals, perhaps the best people to study are fantasy writers, who have always intuitively sensed the need for portals between worlds:

• C.S. Lewis had his Wardrobe.
• J.K. Rowling had her Platform 9 3/4s,
• L. Frank Baum had Dorothy ride her twister, and
• The Wachowski Brothers gave Neo his red pill (among other portals).

Enter The Picture Book Powerhouse of Portals

But some of the most intense and easily observed stacking of portals I’ve come across take place in a children’s picture book: Skippyjon Jones, by Judy Schachner.

And what follows is my breakdown of Portal Stacking in Skippyjon Jones. And to start, let me give you a bit of set-up…

Skippyjon Jones is a young Siamese Cat who likes to pretend that he’s really some other animal. The story starts with him pretending to be a bird, much to his mother’s dismay. So she sends him to his room for a little time out, and that’s when ol’ Skippyjon begins his transformation into the great sword-fighting Chihuahua, El Skippito Friskito.  A transformation involving portals galore.

First, Skippyjon starts bouncing on his bed, with the bouncing symbolically equivalent to flight. Then, during that flight, Skippyjon Jones encounters his first portal:

Literature is rife with the notion of mirrors as portals. And Skippyjon’s midflight glimpse into his mirror reveals his hidden chihuahua nature. A nature which is amplified through the donning of a Lone Ranger style mask by the little kitty. Skippyjon literally becomes invested in the identity.

Then we flash down to Skippyjon’s mother and sisters watching TV downstairs, talking about Skippyjon’s time out. But when the book cuts back to Skippyjon Jones, we’re not brought back up into the room, but forced to look into his room through — you guessed it — a portal:

We’re outside seeing Skippyjon objectively as a masked kitty racing around his room like a freak. And the half-conscious expectation is that when we move inside, we’ll transition from outside to inside in more ways than one, moving from an objective to a subjective understanding, so that we will start to see what Skippyjon/El Skippito Friskito sees.

Still, the reader is further prompted to engage in Skippyjon’s whimsy by yet another portal transition, this time from the room to the closet:

So we have a double-portal transition, from outside the room to inside, and from inside the well-lit room to inside the dark closet, wherein the magical realm of imagination rules, and where Skippyjon Jones, the Siamese cat, fully becomes El Skippito Friskito, the great sword-fighting Chihuahua.

But still, if Skippyjon is to fight something truly monstrous, he might have to cross yet another portal within the imaginary story, before he is to face the monster.  And so it is, as Skippito and his band of Chihuahua friends take a nap, using sleep as the ultimate portal to dreams…

And that’s when the adventures really begin. Until, at the conclusion of Skippyjon’s imaginative adventure, El Skippito is blown back through the portal/closet door, and back to the everyday reality of his mother and sisters. Portal crossing in; portal crossing out.

So why is this important for the book?

It makes the difference between watching a kitten dream something silly, and being emotionally pulled along with him into his dreams. All those portals really help readers (of all ages) “get into” the story. Yes the story itself is delightful, and yes, the author (Judy Schachner) does a wonderful job making the book a blast to read. But I can’t help but think the brilliant use of portals has more than a little do with the books critical praise and widespread popularity.

And in case you think I’m reading too much into this, take a look at the Official Skippyjon Jones Website’s entrance page:

Anyone want to guess what happens when you click to enter?  Go ahead and try it!

So, that’s cool and all, but how can you use it for your business?  We’ll get into that next week…

But for now, let me just give Judy Schachner’s book a hardy plug for all those with young kids out there.  It won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award because it’s both a blast for the parents to read and a delight for kids to listen to. Highly recommended.

And who knows, you might learn something too…

P.S. My mentor and business partner, Roy H. Williams, teaches an entire course on portals. If you’re interested in this kind of stuff, you probably ought to check out Wizard Academy at some point. And, yes, as adjunct faculty, my opinion on Wizard Academy is heavily biased ; )

The Magic of Portals is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes

It features a woman who sits down next to her husband, babbling away about the delicious oatmeal she bought.  As she sits down, she remains focused on the oatmeal and never really looks at her husband until after she offers him a spoonful.

Then — surprise! — the man she’s offering to spoon-feed isn’t her husband at all; he’s only dressed like her husband, and is, in fact, a socially awkward dweeb eating breakfast alone. That’s when the icky part happens.

As the woman recovers from her shock, with her extended spoon still hovering in front of the stranger, the social misfit puts his mouth around her spoon and eats the oatmeal.

And we all feel violated for her.

The woman, mortified beyond belief, drops that spoon like it was poison and recoils from the stranger, retreating to the safety of her husband. It’s meant to be funny, but comes off as deeply disturbing. Even after the husband’s “that’s actually how we met” joke makes light of the situation, most viewers remain disturbed and left feeling more than a little icky.

[****A reader helpfully left a youtube link to the commercial in the comments — thanks, Susie! The video captures has some weird overtape in the first few seconds of the commercial, but you can see all the important parts.  Check it out:***]

Click here to view the embedded video.

But why?

Magical Thinking

Whether we admit it or not, we all believe in essences.  Sure, our conscious minds might try to over-rule our emotional belief, but we still believe — we still have the same emotional reactions and make the same decisions as if we consciously believed in essences and cooties. This is why people shy away from cookies placed next to say, tampons or kitty litter, even when both the cookies and the kitty litter are safely wrapped in plastic and never actually touch each other.  It’s also why the billion dollar sports memorabilia industry even exists!

So when the woman in the ad started eating the oatmeal and stuck that spoon in her mouth, she imbued it with some of her essence.  And by eating from that same spoon the stranger not only exposed himself to her germs, but on an emotional level, he enacted a violation — a stolen intimacy with the woman, made against her will. He took some of her essence, and in turn, intermingled his essence with hers, contaminating her spoon.

This is one reason why the woman immediately ditches the spoon — she doesn’t want his essence creeping up the spoon to her hand — and also why she recoils in disgust at the man’s actions.  For any man who fails to recognize that kind of transgression is dangerous, almost sociopathic.

It all makes perfect emotional sense. And if you think I’m spinning off into English Major la la land, just ask yourself:

• Would you buy furniture from a convicted child molester, even if it was sold for pennies on the dollar? Why not?
• Would you be upset if you knew that an old bed you had sold in a yard sale was bought by a child molester?
• Would you give special treatment to some item (aka relic) that had belonged to one of your heroes?

If you answer, no, to the first two questions or, yes, to the third, then at least a part of you believe in essences.

Magical Advertising

So what does this have to do with advertising?

Because the decision-making part of our brains work according to the laws of Magical Thinking. Meaning that your advertising ought to at least be in harmony with those same laws, if not actively leveraging them to your benefit.

And, just so you know, the Law of Contagion/Essences is just one of about two dozen “Laws of Magic” that you’d probably want to keep in mind.

So does your advertising weave magic? Or are you violating these laws and inadvertently leaving your audience feeling icky all over?

P.S. One might say that McDonad’s oatmeal itself is a sign of magical thinking, wherein the mere contact with oats somehow imbues healthful qualities onto a snickers bar’s worth of sugar, chemicals, and saturated fat.

Magical Thinking and McDonald’s is a post from: Jeff Sexton Writes