The Secret Behind Advertising – So Simple Yet So Powerful

Advertising seems like just creating ads that sell. But to properly understand what advertising is and learn the rudiments, you have to start with the right concepts. At it’s basic core, advertising is pure salesmanship. The principles of advertising are salesmanship principles.

The only purpose of advertising is to make a sale. That’s it. I can’t stress how important this is. So, I’ll say it again. The only purpose of advertising is to make a sale, not educate, not make aware, but to make that sale. Either advertising is profitable or unprofitable for you.

Your advertising is a twenty four hour salesman. Force your advertising to justify itself. Compare it with other sales material. Then, figure out the costs and the results. Don’t leave room for any excuses.

Because a mistake that you make in your advertising can cost you thousands of dollars in the long run, you want to be much more demanding, cautious, and exacting.

Some people think of advertising as ad writing. Truth is, literary qualifications have nothing to do with ad writing. You have to be able to express yourself briefly and convincingly. More over, fine writing can prove to be a huge disadvantage. Pay attention to the hook instead.

Fancy talkers are rarely effective salesmen. They create resistance instead of sales and they create suspicion that causes them to run the other way. On the other hand, effective and successful salesmen and saleswomen are rarely very good speech makers. They usually don’t have a lot of oratorical graces. They are just plain women and men that know their customers like the back of their hand.

The same goes with ad writing and advertising. The best sales people know little of rhetoric and grammar. They just know how to use words to sell.

Your advertising should do one thing and one thing only – SELL. Many of your advertising questions can be answered in one simple way.

Ask yourself “Will it help a sales person sell the goods?”. Your answer to that question can help you avoid tons of mistakes that can hurt your business in the long run. Slogans and clever phrases don’t sell. Your customer does not care about you, he cares about himself.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What is he thinking? What does he feel? What is his out look of the world? Where does he come from? This is the secret behind advertising. Speaking to your customer as if you were him. When you speak to your customer from his frame of mind, it is easy for him to be persuaded to buy your goods. If you do not speak to him from his frame of mind, then it will be very difficult to get the sale. Beliefs are built not on logic, but on emotion. If your customer believes that your product or service can benefit him or her, then he will buy.