Your reader is perusing (browsing) a magazine or newspaper. She has paused because your subject or your headline attracts her. But in a moment she will be interested in her reading and will usually forget you. In some way in your climax inspire immediate action in those interested. -My life in advertising, p.114 Continue reading Aim to get action
Use every word to talk about the service. That is what you selling, that is all your prospect wants. There is no place to boast the brand. -My life in advertising, p.113 Continue reading Do not waste a sentence or a word on anything else than what you’re selling.
When silk shirts cost $15 they became so common among laboring men that other classes went to broadcloth. My experience on cosmetics prove that a low price on perfumes, etc., does not appeal to the girl who should economize. She demands what the “best people” use. Many people around me, working at small wages, consider cost far less than I do. Suggest a thingto them because it is economical and you arouse opposition. You hurt their pride. But direct your appeal to those who do not consider cost and they like to be included. -My life in advertising, p.111 Continue reading Where economy is a necessity most people like to defy it.
No one can profitably change habits in paid prints. Instead, the advertiser comes in when those habits are changed. He says “Here is the right method”. Converting new users was a very expensive proposal. No new user would pay us in his lifetime the cost of his conversion. -My life in advertising, p.95 Continue reading No advertising campaign can educate readers into a new habit profitably, none.
In advertising Van Camp’s pork and beans, Claude told of their steam ovens where beans are baked for hours at 245 degrees. That is regular practice. They told how they boiled beans in soft water to eliminate the lime which make skins tough. -My life in advertising, p.66 Continue reading Tell the same story that any rival could have told, but all others thought the story was too commonplace.
Very few people will cheat a square deal. Try to hedge or protect yourself, and human nature likes to circumvent you. But remove all restrictions and say, “we trust you”, and human nature likes to to justify that trust. -My life in advertising, p.57 Continue reading In advertising, make appeals overwhelming, almost resistless
Consider the person who stands before you with certain expressed desire. However big your business, get down to the units, for these units are all that make size. -My life in advertising, p.53 Continue reading Treat people in advertising as you treat them in person.
I never ask people to buy. I rarely even say that my goods are sold by dealers, I seldom (rarely) quote a price. The ads all offer service, perhaps a free sample or a free package. They sound altruistic. But they get a reading and get action from people seeking to serve themselves. -My life in advertising, p.47 Continue reading Sell service, never ask people to buy.
Claude had advertise sweepers made in vermillion wood. So when he mailed the letters to the dealers. The letters mentioned that three vermillion wood sweepers would come in each dozen if orders were sent of once. The dealer could sell them at any price he chose. But never again could he obtain Bissell sweepers built in vermillion wood. The only condition was that the dealer must sign the agreement enclosed. He had to display the sweepers until sold […] Thus again I placed the dealer in a position where he was soliciting us. -My life in advertising, p.33 Continue reading Do not urge people to buy. Offer the priviliege of buying.
-My life in advertising, p.18 Continue reading Any unique style excites suspicion. Any evident effort to sell creates corresponding resistance.
Roadmap to Billions 