Cashvertising

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💡 Key Takeaways

• Foundational Desires: Survival, enjoyment, freedom, sex, comfort, superiority, care, and social approval drive human behavior.
• Emotional Appeal: People buy emotionally; ads should evoke foundational desires, creating visual scenarios in consumers’ minds.
• Consumer Psychology Principles: Fear, ego morphing, transfer, bandwagon effect, means-end chain, and 12 other principles guide effective ad creation.
• Ad-Agency Techniques: Simplify language, emphasize benefits, create urgency, use specific headlines, visuals, and employ psychological pricing.
• Response Superchargers: Short sentences, visual adjectives, testimonials, deadlines, and free offers enhance ad effectiveness.
• Conveying Value: Discounts, explanations, amortization, value boosts, scarcity, psychological pricing, and coupons create perceived value.
• Making Buying Easy: Provide contact details, multiple order options, easy payment plans, guarantees, and clear instructions for smooth transactions.
• Killer Ad Checklist: Prioritize headlines, benefit-driven copy, logical progression, testimonials, simplicity, visual appeal, clear calls-to-action, and effective layout design.

✏ Top Quotes

Advertising’s purpose is not to entertain, but to persuade consumers to part with billions of dollars every day in exchange for products and services.

People don’t care about you, they care first about themselves.

The first use of any product is inside the consumers’ minds.

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📝 Summary + Notes

Chapter 1: What People Really Want

• The 8 foundational “desires” common to everyone:
  1. Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension.
  2. Enjoyment of food and beverages.
  3. Freedom from fear, pain, and danger.
  4. Sexual companionship.
  5. Comfortable living conditions.
  6. To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses.
  7. Care and protection of loved ones.
  8. Social approval.
• People buy because of emotion and justify with logic. Force an emotional response by touching on a basic want or need.
• The 9 secondary human wants:
  1. To be informed.
  2. Curiosity.
  3. Cleanliness of body and surroundings.
  4. Efficiency.
  5. Convenience.
  6. Dependability/quality.
  7. Expression of beauty and style.
  8. Economy/profit.
  9. Bargains.
• The secondary are not hardwired in our brains as are the foundational and we are not biologically driven to satisfy them.
• Cause your prospects to visually demonstrate your product or service inside their heads.

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Chapter 2: How to Get Inside their Heads: The 17 Foundational Principles of Consumer Psychology

• Principle #1: The Fear Factor—Selling the Scare.
  • Fear sells. It motivates. It urges. It moves people to action. It drives them to spend money.
  • Use only if what you’re selling offers a truly effective solution.
  • The goal is not to create new fears, but to tap into existing fears.
  • A common way fear is used to simulate action is via the use of deadlines and scarcity. Phrases and slogans such as limited offer and one-day sale have the effect of scaring consumers into believing that unless they act now, they’ll miss a fantastic opportunity to save money.
• Principle #2: Ego Morphing—Instant Identification.
  • Represent your product through carefully chosen images and personalities.
• Principle #3: Transfer— Credibility by Osmosis.
  • Your prospects: (1) See a symbol of credibility (logo, endorsement, and the like), and then (2) question less of your sales argument.
• Principle #4: The Bandwagon Effect— Give Them Something to Jump On.
  • If a large enough group holds a favorable opinion about a product, then that opinion must be correct.
• Principle #5: The Means-End Chain—The Critical Core.
  • Don’t buy my product for what it does for you today—buy it for what it will do for you tomorrow!
  • Your copy and images should always represent the positive-end results.
• Principle #6: The Transtheoretical Model—Persuasion Step by Step.
  • Create ads that address the stage where your prospects do not know the existence of your product, to prospects that already buy it.
• Principle #7: The Inoculation Theory— Make Them Prefer You for Life.
  • Include in you ad a comparison with a competitor.
• Principle #8: Belief Re-ranking—Change Their Reality.
  • We don’t want to cause any negative reactions. Our goal is not to fight with our prospects.
  • We want to change their beliefs without causing a negative, defensive reaction.
• Principle #9: The Elaboration Likelihood Model—Adjust Their Attitude.
  • Pour on the facts, stats, evidence, testimonials, studies, reports, and case histories.
  • Load your ads full of colorful, pleasant images, humorous or popular subject matter, or the sponsorship of celebrities.
• Principle #10: The 6 Weapons of Influence—Shortcuts to Persuasion.
  • Comparison: No one likes to be left out; we’re all driven by a need to belong.
  • Liking: They should like you.
  • Authority: They should believe and trust you.
  • Reciprocation: Give for free.
  • Commitment/consistency: Elicit a string of “yes” responses from your prospect, each successive answer adding momentum, creating a snowball of interest and desire, and presenting your product as the path to fulfillment.
  • Scarcity: Get ’em while they last!
• Principle #11: Message Organization— Attaining Critical Clarity.
  • Whatever the strength of the message, it must always be well organized and easily and accurately understood.
• Principle #12: Examples vs. Statistics—And the Winner Is…
  • Place your money on the example because emotion is the key to sales.
• Principle #13: Message Sideness—Dual-Role Persuasion.
  • Don’t ever be afraid to tell people why they shouldn’t buy what you’re selling. Not only does it boost your credibility, but if they’re true prospects, it will add fire to their desire.
• Principle #14: Repetition and Redundancy—The Familiarity Factor.
  • Repeating your message not only helps break down walls of disinterest, but with each repetition your ad also gets exposed to those who may not have noticed it the last time.
• Principle #15: Rhetorical Questions—Interesting, Aren’t They?
  • With rhetorical questions, the prospect makes a conscious attempt to consider the advertiser’s message, which increases the likelihood of successful persuasion.
• Principle #16: Evidence—Quick! Sell Me the Facts!
  • People buy from you when they believe what you are selling is of greater value than the money they need to exchange for it.
• Principle #17: Heuristics—Serving Billions of Lazy Brains Daily.
  • A product or service is more likely to be viewed favorably if the ad is long and contains numerous, credible facts and figures.

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Chapter 3: Ad-Agency Secrets: 41 Proven Techniques for Selling Anything to Anyone

• Write simple so people can understand. Short (11 word max) sentences, words, paragraphs. Use pronouns such as you, me, I, etc. Calculate your Flesch score.
• Bombard your prospects with benefits. Put your biggest benefit in your headline in 3-6 words.
• Make them buy now, by creating the perception of scarcity with powerful deadlines.
• Your headline should (1) grab attention, (2) motivate to keep reading.
• Be specific. What can you say about your product that may be obvious to you, but your market knows little about?
• Place the headline under a visual, as the eye moves to the picture first and then moves down.
• Use a serif font. 12-points in size. Arial. Black font in white background.
• Use questions to cause your prospects to continue reading to find the answer.
• Start your first sentence with “Do you want/would you like?” following by an extremely positive benefit to keep your prospect reading.
• Ask people for testimonials. “We want to make you famous!”. Ask for honest opinions and a photo if they want. So they can show it to friends and family. Give them something for free.
• Use powerful visual adjectives. Don’t say “Make lots of money!”. Do say “Rake in $2,750 cash weekly!”.
• Create a unique selling proposition and say something different.
• Ask people in a survey with questions to evaluate some aspects of your product so they must see your product.
• Power your ads with visuals.
• Have coupons. People love to buy with them.
• Offer money-back guarantees.
• The colors that humans like most are in this order: blue, red, green, violet, orange, yellow.
• The color combination that humans like most are in this order: blue-yellow, blue-red, purple-yellow, red-green, violet-green.
• If the price ends in .99, like 19.99 it will get more sales.

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Chapter 4: Hot Lists: 101 Easy Ways to Boost Your Ad Response

• 22 Response Superchargers
  1. FORGET style—sell instead!
  2. SCREAM “Free Information!”
  3. WRITE short sentences and keep them reading.
  4. USE short, simple words.
  5. WRITE long copy.
  6. BOIL it down; cut out the fluff!
  7. STIR up desire by piling on the benefits.
  8. SHOW what you’re selling—action shots are best.
  9. GET personal! Say: you, you, you.
  10. USE selling subheads to break up long copy.
  11. PUT selling captions under your photos.
  12. WRITE powerful visual adjectives to create mental movies.
  13. SELL your product, not your competitor’s.
  14. DON’T hold back, give them the full sell now!
  15. ALWAYS include testimonials!
  16. MAKE it ridiculously easy to act.
  17. INCLUDE a response coupon to encourage action.
  18. SET a deadline to break inertia.
  19. OFFER a free gift for quick replies.
  20. SAY the words “Order Now!”
  21. OFFER free shipping.
  22. BOOST response 50 percent or more with a “Bill Me” or credit option.
• 9 Ways to Convey Value
  1. SCREAM “Sale!”
  2. GIVE them a coupon.
  3. DIMINISH the price: “Less than a cup of coffee a day.”
  4. EXPLAIN why the price is low: “Our boss ordered too many!”
  5. AMORTIZE it: “Just $1.25 a day.”
  6. BOOST the value: Tell what it’s worth, not only what it costs.
  7. TELL how much others have paid (and we’re happy to do so!).
  8. CREATE a sense of scarcity with deadlines.
  9. EMPLOY psychological pricing.
• 13 Ways to Make Buying Easy
  1. GIVE your street, e-mail, and Web address.
  2. GIVE your phone number.
  3. PROVIDE street directions and parking advice.
  4. SAY “It’s Easy to Order…”
  5. ACCEPT phone orders.
  6. ACCEPT mail orders.
  7. ACCEPT online orders.
  8. ACCEPT fax orders.
  9. ACCEPT credit cards.
  10. ACCEPT personal checks.
  11. GET a toll-free phone number.
  12. INCLUDE a long, strong guarantee—longer than your competition’s.
  13. OFFER installment payments for products more than $15 (“3 easy payments of just $10.99”), shown to boost response 15 percent.
• 11 Ways to Boost Coupon Returns
  1. TELL them in the headline or subhead to return the coupon.
  2. SAY “Buy 1 Get 1 Free!” instead of “50% Off.”
  3. USE a big “FREE!” at the top of your ad.
  4. TELL what the coupon brings; say it again inside the coupon itself.
  5. SHOW what the coupon brings with a small photo or illustration.
  6. USE a bold coupon border.
  7. SET a hard (firm date) or soft deadline (“The First 100 People”).
  8. PROVIDE check-off boxes to get people involved.
  9. SAY “Valuable Coupon” at the top.
  10. GIVE sufficient room for fill-ins.
  11. POINT to the coupon with bold arrows.

46-Point “Killer Ad” Checklist

• Headline
• Does it feature your product’s biggest benefit? (The #1 most important rule.)
• Is it a real grabber? Does it elicit an emotional response?
• Is it significantly larger than your body copy? Boldfaced too?
• Is it powerful enough to get people to read your body copy?
• Does it make some kind of offer?
• Is it authoritative, and not wimpy?
• Is the headline set in initial caps? (This Is Initial Caps.) Use ALL CAPS only if your headline is short—about four to five words or so.
• Is it in quotes? This can boost reading 25 percent.
• Body Copy: First Sentence
• Are you using one of the dozen body copy jump-starters shown in Chapter 3?
• Does it naturally flow from the headline?
• Does it get right in to the benefits for the reader, instead of bragging about your company?
• Does it almost force them to read the second sentence?
• Is “you” one of the first few words?
• Body Copy: General
• Does it focus on how the reader will benefit?
• Does it tell your readers why they should buy from you, rather than from a competitor who offers the same product/service?
• If your product or service is exciting, does your ad sound exciting?
• Does it progress in a logical, methodical way?
  1. Get attention.
  2. Stimulate interest.
  3. Build desire.
  4. Offer proof.
  5. Ask for action.
• Are you trying to sell only one product at a time? (This is best. However, some businesses, such as: delicatessens and furniture stores, can get away with more. Those are more similar to catalog ads: “Here’s everything we got.”)
• Do you use selling subheads to break up long copy blocks to make them easier on the eye?
• Is the copy colorful, sprinkled with power visual adjectives where appropriate?
• Is it believable? (Not overblown or ridiculous.)
• Do you use the principle of extreme specificity?
• Are your words, sentences, and paragraphs short? Simple words?
• Are your printed ads, sales letters, brochures, and such set in a serif typeface, such as Schoolbook? Is your Web copy set in a sans-serif typeface such as Arial or Verdana?
• Do you tell your readers what you want them to do in a super-simple way?
  1. Clip this coupon.
  2. Bring it to our store by August 21.
  3. Save 50%.
• Do you outright ask for the sale?
• Did you set a deadline, if appropriate? (Most of the time it is!)
• If you have a lot of benefits to offer, do you list them in bullet or numbered form?
• Do you use testimonials? If you don’t have them, get them!
• Is your business name and phone number large and instantly noticeable?
• Did you include your logo? (Use it all the time—the more often people see it, the more brand equity it builds.)
• Do you give directions, maps, or landmarks? (They may be more necessary than you think.)
• Did you key your ad to better track responses?
• Layout and Design
• Did a professional designer produce your ad? (Not a layout person!)
• Is your headline big and bold?
• Is the headline broken at the right words?
• Is the ad easy to read? Is there a focus? (The eye should naturally be pulled to certain areas first, not jump around.)
• Is there sufficient white space? Did you wrap it in white?
• Did you indent your paragraphs? This makes reading easier.
• Is the number of separate elements kept to a minimum? (Don’t have a million little tint blocks with type, three bursts, two blocks of bullets, a corner flag, and four reverse-type panels!)
• Do you use art (photos or illustrations) relevant to your sales message? (Please, no babies for steel-belted tire ads!)
• Did you use a minimum number of typestyles? (One or two; three max! Unless a professional designer recommends it in a unique situation.)
• Do you feature a picture of a person looking at you? (It’s one of the most powerful ways to grab people’s attention.)