9
Mar
With the movie version of The Lorax out at theaters near you, I thought you might enjoy this:
So, it’s funny because it’s true, right?
It also highlights the difference between, what a story or movie or ad is superficially about, and what it’s REALLY about. An important nuance that a lot of copywriters screw up.
An ad for a car might be about the car, but it’s REALLY about celebrating the fact that you’ve arrived. And while this ad is for a watch rather than a car, the copywriter definitely got that distinction:
You are standing in the snow, five and one-half half miles above sea level, gazing at a horizon hundreds of miles away. It occurs to you that life here is very simple: you live or you die. No compromises, no whining, no second chances. This is a place constantly ravaged by winds and storm, where every ragged breath is an accomplishment. You stand on the uppermost pinnacle of the earth. This is the mountain they call Everest. Yesterday it was considered unbeatable. But that was yesterday. As Edmund Hillary surveyed the horizon from the peak of Mount Everest, he monitored the time on a wristwatch that had been specifically designed to withstand the fury of the world’s most angry mountain. Rolex believed Sir Edmund would conquer the mountain, and especially for him they created the Rolex Explorer. In every life there is a Mount Everest to be conquered. When you have conquered yours, you’ll find your Rolex waiting patiently for you to come and pick it up at Justice Jewelers. I’m Woody Justice and I’ve got a Rolex… for you.
So when writing your ads, make sure you ask yourself: “What’s this about? What’s it REALLY about?”
P.S. If you have trouble with this, think in terms of creating an emotional understanding of an intellectual truth.
If you can find that kernel, the core of what that product is, so that when you talk about it, no matter how you talk about it, people respond and say “Yes! That’s right!”, then if you talk about it in a strong, interesting, memorable way, they say “Yeah that’s right, I’m gonna buy it.”
- Jim Durfee (co-founder, Carl Ally Inc.) as quoted in Art & Copy
Every now and then an ad comes along that really nails the true essence of the product. Ads that achieve both maximum impact and dramatic sales success. Think “Got Milk.”
This Clorox ad belongs in that category:
Think about it, bleach isn’t really about just getting things clean. Soap does that well enough. Nor is it about merely disinfecting things, although that’s closer to the mark. Bleach is about making things “ritually clean.”
When a kid poops in the tub and you bleach it, you not only cleaned the tub of poop, you removed whatever imaginary, psychological contagion might have been left over. That’s how we think of bleach — it’s beyond clean, beyond merely disinfected, and taken all the way to pristinely, immaculately, safe. And, yes, there’s a whole lot of Magical Thinking involved in this.
The essence of Clorox isn’t just what it does (Pine Sol and Lysol also disinfect), but encompasses as well what we unconsciously believe bleach does, as well as the full context of it’s use and role in our lives.
Remember that when creating advertising for your products.
OK, since my last UVP post made a not-so-flattering comment about Mazda’s rotary engine (one of the few, truly unique power plants in auto manufacturing today) while also making a strong plug for UVPs based on “Romancing the Stone.”
Well, this Mazda commercial, my friends, is an exceptional example of that technique:
The rotary engine features prominently in the video, starting at the 1:12 mark and going through to (arguably) the 2:08 mark. But here’s the thing:
Even the parts about the Rotary Engine aren’t really about just the engine.
The rotary engine and its role in Mazda’s win at Le Mans is only taken as a tangible example of something more powerful. It’s the romance woven around the attitude behind a company that would produce that engine that matters. Read more
21
Feb
Copywriting skill usually progresses along 3 stages:
Stage 1: Understanding the Mechanics — The untrained copywriter can become exponentially better in a day’s worth of training. It really is that easy. And a copywriter that’s made that minimum effort can get results, right away. That’s why a lot of A-List copywriters will tell you that you don’t have to become a great writer to make money copywriting.
Stage 2: Learning the Psychology of “Salesmanship in Print” — Semi-decent copywriters won’t continue to get better without at least a few month’s or a year’s worth of continued study and practice. That’s because they’re moving from the core mechanics and basic mindset of copywriting, to applying effective sales psychology to their writing.
Stage 3: Becoming a Serious Student of Advertising Artistry — Moving from seasoned, journeyman copywriter to true pro DOES require that you become a better writer and a better director of the “movie in the mind” of your prospect. This requires artistry above and beyond the previous two stages and it naturally takes a lot longer to learn.
Why should you care?
You’ll get better faster if you understand what stage you’re in and what resources will help you the most for any given stage. That’s not to say the components of each stage don’t overlap or feedback into the other stages, but that you shouldn’t spend too much time, say, trying to learn rhetorical flourishes if you haven’t mastered the basics of WIIFM, substantiation and proof, etc.
So with that in mind, here are some solid, mostly free resources to get you to that next level:
Understanding the Mechanics
To me, the basic mechanics of copywriting includes the following:
- Moving from We-We to You-You Copy
- Why We-We talk never gets the
girlcustomer - A quick and dirty calculator to see how much you’re copy is “we-we-ing” all over itself
- The Carlin Ad-Speak Calculator — how much BS does your copy really contain?
- A Case Study: Speak to the Dog in the Language of the Dog About What Matters to the Dog
- The Importance of WIIFM and Benefits vs. Features
- WIIFM and moving the needle on the “Who Gives a Shit” Dial
- Copyblogger on Real vs. Fake Benefits
- Gary Bencivenga Asks: What Are You Really Selling?
- Tim Miles on What’s Your Better Business Reality
- Learning AIDAS and/or the Four “P“s of persuasive messaging
- Bryan Eisenberg (AKA The Grok) teaches AIDAS for beginners
- Brian Clark on the Four P alternative to AIDAS
- UVPs, Irresistible Offers, and Calls to Action
- Gary Halbert demos the “how to” of creating an irresistible offer as only he can
- Sonia Simone’s 15-minute Guide to Creating a USP
- Charlie Moger on why it should really be the Unique BUYING Proposition
- Brian Clark on why it should be called the Unique STORY Proposition
- The Grok on the importance of Calls to Action
- Writing Calls to Action as Persuasive Links
- Substantiation & Proof Elements
- Do Your Readers Secretly Think You’re a Liar?
- How to Signal Sincerity When Words Alone Won’t Cut It
- The 6 Currencies that Buy Credibility
- Infomercial Proof Elements Guaranteed to Work — Or Your Money Back
- Dave Young’s Video Explains Online Trust and Credibility Builders
- Marketing Experiments Explains Credible vs. Non-Credible Copy
- Anticipating and Answering the (prospect’s) Freaking Question & Objection
- Roy H. Williams on Look for the Loophole
- The Promise and Permission of Hyperlinks
- Does Your Copy Pass the Parent Test?
- Achieving Clarity and Conversational Tone
So, there’s obviously a bit more to the basic mechanics of good copywriting than JUST these elements, and for you dedicated students, I’ve come up with two entirely FREE resources to cover those:
- Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg have graciously agreed to let my readers download a free copy of their highly praised and sought after book, Persuasive Online Copywriting.
- You can download a free, no-email-necessary PDF of Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising right here.
Learning the Psychology of Salesmanship in Print
Sales Psychology is a BIG topic, and I’m sure I’m leaving lots of topics uncovered, but for me, the must-have basics include:
- Understanding The Elements of Influence
- Just go buy a copy of Cialdini’s Influence
- A quick and dirty explanation of Cialdini’s Elements of Influence as applied to Social Media
- John Forde gives a copywriting-centric explanation of Cialdini’s Elements of Influence
- Learning about Temperaments & Decision-Making Styles/Needs
- A Brief Overview of the 4 Temperaments (AKA Decision-Making Styles)
- Presidential Candidates, Temperaments, and Website Copy
- Temperaments and Headlines
- Eye-Tracking, Heat Plots, and Temperaments
- Michele Miller on Jenny Craig’s use of Temperaments
- Understanding the Role of Self-Image in Persuasion
- Emotioneering Your Message
- Self-Identity and Powerful Messaging
- Brian Clark Discusses Headlines Based on How Prospects Want to Feel About Themselves
- Self-Image and Magic Words
- Understanding the Importance of Persuasive Momentum
- Persuasive Momentum (or the lack thereof) and Cart Abandonment
- Avinash Kaushik on the Importance of Measuring Micro Conversions
- Scent Trails, Clickstreams, and Persuasive Momentum
- 2-Steps to Beating Buyer Procrastination
- Framing Arguments & Manipulating Context
- Understanding how prospects are Predictably Irrational
Obviously, there is a lifetime’s worth of learning around these topics and any number of “additional reading” books could be recommended. That said, the best FREE resources for this stage are Roy H. Williams first two books in his Wizard of Ads trilogy, The Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, both which you can download as audio and e-books for free at Roy’s Website.
Becoming a Serious Student of Advertising Artistry
Once you understand the mechanics and the psychology, you enter the realm of advanced techniques, subtlety of execution, and general artistry. This is where the ad writer has the most in common with the novelist, playwright, movie director, entertainer, and even the stage musician. Here are
- Frameline Magnetism & Closure (aka, Knowing What to Leave Out)
- The Language of Silence and Shadow
- The Secret of Obscenity
- Revealing the Vivid Unexpected
- Roy H. Williams and the Invisible Backboard
- Making Copy “Interactive”
- Short-Form Drama and Storytelling
- An Example of Short Form Drama
- What’s In It For You
- Inception’s 4 Rules for Ultimate Influence
- The Power of Smug
- A 30-Second Length Feature Film?
- The Southpark Guide to Storytelling
- Structuring Stories for Memorability
- Ira Glass on Storytelling
- The Magic of Portals
- Nested Storytelling
- Voice
- 3 Steps to Finding Your True Writing Voice
- How to Find Your Website’s Voice
- Can You Make it Talk?
- Steven Pressfield on The Writer’s Voice
- Mental Imagery & Image-based Ad Writing
- Visual Images vs. Mental Images
- Normal vs. Average
- Mental Images and Emotional Priming
- Foolish Children, Mental Movies, and Persuasive Copy
- Believe Everything Your Told?
- Magical Thinking
- One Tough Mother’s Magical Advertising Secret
- Magical Thinking and McDonalds
- A First Class Ticket
- Set-ups and Payoffs
- Hooking the Reader /Listener
13
Feb
“The longer it takes to explain an idea, the smaller it seems” — Lee Clow
Great ads can deliver an idea like “Winning the Battle of the Short List” in less than 30 seconds. Or in the example below, in 9 short lines and less than 64 words. Better yet, great ads make you feel the truth of the idea in your gut.
How do they do that?
Usually with drama. Take this magazine ad I ran into over at the Sell! Sell! Blog:
Totally different experience than reading my blog post on the same subject, right?
And they created that experience through short-form drama. They sucked you into a story — smack in the middle of a mini drama — before you even realized it. And while you were mentally playing out that drama, they sucker punched you with the emotional truth of the idea. Here’s how:
1) The image of the ad has a high degree of story appeal. The guy is looking at you and he doesn’t look happy. So what’s that all about, right? Apparently there’s trouble in River City, and where there’s trouble, there’s a story. So curiosity obliges you to read the copy to figure it out and get the scoop.
2) The copy speaks directly to you, the reader. You are indeed being addressed by this man, and — boom! — at that instant you’re now inside the drama.
3) The copy makes it immediately and painfully obvious that you’re walking into a tough sell. A very tough sell that get’s tougher with each line of copy from the prospects mouth.
So once you finish reading and finally pop out of the mini-drama, the emotional truth of the message hits home. There’s just no denying the truth of that final “Moral.”
The Beauty of Short-Form Drama
So what’s the moral of THIS story?
Moral: Great ad writers do use short form storytelling and short form drama to cause people to realize the truth of your message on an emotional, gut-feel level. Most advertising fails because most ads aren’t written by ad writers capable of persuading through short-form drama.
What kind of persuasion is your ad writer baking into your ads?
9
Feb
OK, before you do anything else, watch this all the way through:
Now, regardless of which side of this issue you are on, put that aside for now. If you don’t you’ll never see the persuasive art at work in the film.
So what techniques ARE at work in the film?
Well, the grand strategy is to get you emotionally involved in the story of the featured man’s relationship — presumably with a woman who’s “first person shooter” perspective you’re watching in the video.
In fact, the creators of this video want you to not only be drawn into the narrative arc of their story, but to be “rooting” for the couple. So how do they do that?
1) Use of First Person Shooter Perspective & Narrative Misdirection
Whenever fiction writers need to write a suspense novel or mystery, they usually write from a Third Person Limited perspective, meaning the reader sees the world through the eyes of the main character and is privy to that one character’s thoughts, but every other character is only ever presented externally, as seen through the eyes of the main character.
This perspective allows close identification between the reader and the main character. It also allows the author to lead the reader in one direction, and then yank the carpet out from under their feet for a “big reveal.” We see Harry Potter’s world through the eyes of Harry Potter, and are surprised to find Quirrell, and not Snape, as the bad guy at the end of Sorcerer’s Stone.
Sounds kind of like the video, doesn’t it?
Of course it does. In the video, you see everything from the perspective of the “girl” being flirted with, dated by, and romanced by “Paul.” And you frequently experience you and Paul’s co-participating in activities with other hetero couples. Leading you to believe that Paul is also involved in a hetero couple.
This sets the stage. This technique allows the video to get you to think about the couple absent any other preconceptions you might have. They have to get you to like and root for the couple BEFORE the big reveal.
So step 1 is First Person Shooter Perspective combined with Narrative Misdirection.
2) Use of “Character Rooting Techniques”
Screenwriting gurus will tell you that you can’t assume the audience will like and root for your main character — you have to bake in scenes designed to GET the audience to like and root for your character. The late Blake Snyder called this “saving the cat” and thought it was important enough to name his first screenwriting book, Save the Cat.
And the corollary to saving the cat? Squashing the cat. You either have the hero perform some kind or heroic act, or you have the character suffer some kind of undeserved misfortune. Disney redeems the thieving Aladin in the eyes of the audience by having him give his stolen food to street urchins. He saves the cat. Cinderella loses her mom, and gets abused by her stepmom. She suffers undeserved misfortune.
So what does this film do?
- It starts out with playful, “meet cute” flirting. Every adult has had this experience and most people reflect back on the fear and emotional charge of such a moment, meaning that you almost can’t help but want success (however you define it) for the people involved.
- Lot’s more “Like me” moments. Playing on the beach, meeting parents, arguing over directions, and lots of other similar scenes that most viewers can instantly identify with.
- Playfulness. Most of the scenes show “Paul” acting playful and fun. This is very human and makes the couple instantly likeable.
- Undeserved misfortune. Paul’s mom is introduced earlier in one of those “like me moments” that define the narrative arc of the relationship. So when Paul’s mom dies, we can’t help but ache for him. And to appreciate the relationship that helps him get through that death.
So we get lots of Character Rooting Interest moments packed into this 2 minute video. All setting up maximum emotional punch for the big reveal.
What the Heck Does this Have to Do with Advertising?
If these fiction writing techniques can get you to like and root for a couple in spite of a highly-charged politically divisive issue, do you think they could work to get you to identify with and like a brand?
Sure they could. Similar techniques worked for Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant, Bartles & Jaymes, and “I’m a Mac.” And they can be put to work for you, too, even if you’re not a huge multinational. Here’s an example created by my partner, Roy Williams, for a local HVAC client:
And here’s another one:
So, do you think that after watching a series of these ads, you might start liking and rooting for Mr. Jenkins and Bobby?
Well, whether you do or not, the ads are increasing sales. So somebody’s rooting for Mr. Jenkins. Actually, a whole lot of somebodies.
What are you doing to get people to root for YOUR business?