creative rules-that-work
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the DMA’s Creative Certification Course
Part Two
Creative Rules that Work for Print
Thurs., Oct 18, 2012 ; 8:30am - 12:00pm
Presented by Alan Rosenspan &
Carol Worthington-Levy
Our goals
• Share the key drivers of both effective direct mail and print advertising
• Show you how to create more effective print advertising
• Show you how to improve every element of the direct mail package – from format to letter copy
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Certificate Section 2:
How to Get
The Best
Print Work
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How to EvaluateSpace
Advertising
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• Designers, in particular, like to create bold visual statements in space ads
• But - If the customer has to think for more than a moment, the message won’t get through… no matter how flashy you are
• In a matter of seconds, you can lose them… or you can reel them in!
Space advertising is more challenging than most realize
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7 handy points for keepingyour space advertising creative on track
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Point 1:The best visuals are the things
your customer ismost interested in.
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Don’t bother showing prospects something that impresses you and your peers.
You’re not the customer.
Find out what your customer loves.
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Does this make you want to buy a big screen TV?
What would inspire YOU to buy a big screen TV?
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Maybe this?
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or this?
Super DUPER Bowl
Stop in Saturday morning and see the clearest most exciting
screen definition EVER—on the Sony 80-inch.
Plus we’re taking $500 off the price, for 3 hours ONLY.
Buy it Saturday by noon, we deliver it Saturday night.
Then, on Sunday, watch the game with
your lucky, envious friends.
It’s better than being on the field. And it’s sure as hell
better than freezing on the top row of the stands.
Jack’s TV and Electronics12345 James Lane800-543-8765
FREE DELIVERY Saturday nightWhen you order by noon on Saturday
Super DUPER Bowl
$500 savings SaturdayFrom 10 am to 1 pm
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Lands’ End promisesmore than
just warmth…
They use photography that really says ‘soft’ and use a phrase that tells us that it’s exquisite without saying that.
And we want this sweater.
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For a traveler looking for beauty and solitude…
Saying something negative about your product or service does not sell it well!
The great outdoors shouldn’t look gray and barren
Monochromatic ads/subdued color is more likely to be ignored
PS – who would struggle to read this ad? Hint: Comprehension of a written message is reduced to only 10% when the type is reversed-out sans serif type
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What if that same traveler sees this ad?
Why does this ad have so much more appeal?
• It’s more colorful, a really eye-catching presentation
• The fire and little tent look so inviting
BUT… Some of their effort is wasted
How many of you see the idea they wanted to get across?
Is it a pretty nice ad even without that? Subtlety is often wasted in space advertising
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Point 2:Your customers are looking
for answers to their problems.
The more convoluted or arty you make it,
the less they’ll ‘get it’
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Which Vacuum ad draws in more customers?
This one… or….
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… or this one?
• Mr. Oreck is a personification of their BRAND
• What makes this guy so appealing?
• Why would someone read all this copy?
• What’s in it for the reader?
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Dell tells us some good news
… PLUS you feel like they’re just like you –
“THANK GOODNESS
It only looks expensive.”
You like Dell a little more because of this ad.
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You can almost hear OOHs and AAHs…
Who wouldn’t want a product that, in moments, turned them from hostess to hero?
Pepperidge Farm is ‘winking’ as they’re giving you the solution to the ‘what will I serve my special guests for dessert?’ question
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Lands’ End gives us more good news
The promise to a road warrior that they’ll always look their best, with little to no effort
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A promise of more sales… in less space
This company makes “Beer Salt” –which is popular with the Latino beer enthusiasts.
With this product next to the cash register, a 7-ll can triple their beer sales. (The display is so small, it fits there easily!)
No need to educate them about beer salt – just show them that this is the road to profitability!
Offer!
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Point 3:
Take them by surprise…
intrigue them!
But again, make sure it’s
interesting to the reader
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Does this make you curious?
Insurance advertising is rarely surprising or engaging
But with a headline like this, you can’t help but be drawn in to find out what Liberty Mutual has to say
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How to get someone to consider a
vacation in freezing cold Churchill, Canada
The more specific you are to your audience, the less you have to tell them, and the more interested they’ll be in your ad
Note – no explanation of what a Tundra Buggy is. None needed.
Let’s go see the Polar Bears!
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Humor can be risky but …
The target audience is someone who would use Adobe Photoshop to make changes in photos
This un-subtle approach immediately shows the benefit and fun of Photoshop
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If you’re a media buyer, this kooky
scenario would stop you in your tracks
This ad’s point: Anyone —even a bride heading down the aisle — won’t be able to resist looking at your advertising on the ROVI TV schedule!
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Point 4:“The Prospect as Hero”
Use an ad to show the reader how they, too, can be the hero
in their workplace or home
… if they follow your advice!
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Want to be a hero, like Sam?
Who wouldn’t like to save their company or client $23,000 in postage?
What would their boss say?
Would their client be happy?
If we can get our prospect thinking in those terms, we have their attention
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Dad will love it – and love you more!
This tiny space ad sells ice cream for father’s day
Another ‘prospect as hero’ approach
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Copy and image
show our
prospect as
a hero
Here’s how to say ‘The new Anritsu Site Master lasts all day without recharging... Just like you.’
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Point 5:
Take a service or other
‘hard to explain’ product
from obscure to something your
prospect can relate to –
and hear the phone ring
with new business!
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What are they telling us, and do we care?
Eyecatching? Yes.
Relevant? No.
Plays on words and visual tricks don’t tell people who you are or why they should talk to you
“The ones who need us know who we are” is a cop-out
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Product that’s hard to define?
Tell the story simply
When telling about a software system that enables someone to see dozens of other systems simultaneously, it’s easy to find examples…
Jugglers
Lion tamers
But why go there?
Show them the benefit.
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Another story – and an ad that worked
This guy used B&B Electronics wireless components and consulting to reconnect communications between two buildings without digging out the parking lot
Hats off to Otis Maxwell who wrote that this wireless system ‘saved his asphalt.’
We all love a good story, with a hero at the end
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A story of how we almost lost our way…
Xtime is the developer of a highly comprehensive customer service system for auto dealerships
Unlike other services that have some customer service pieces, Xtime has it all in one convenient package…
Customer histories at their fingertips. No more ‘robocalls’ to frustrate customers. No more wasted money on mailers for service they don’t need. No more question of whether the parts are in. No more customers wondering when their service will be done.
Xtime handles it all and more.
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How could we tell operations managers
that this unique service is
exactly the solution they’ve been
looking for?
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Brainstorm.
“Xtime is like…”
Xtime is like a finely tuned pit crew in Nascar… where each worker is expert in what they do, fast and true. They help you to win the competition for more customers
When you have Xtime, it’s like you have hired the world’s best customer relationship manager, on call 24/7 Xtime’s multi-pronged
system of service is like your own service bay, where you have experts for each need, all working together
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A concept was chosen and we forged aheadThe pit crew concept was chosen…
Because it was colorful and seemed like a winning idea
But this was not really the most intelligent solution.
How do you stop a moving train?
Sometimes you just have to step out of the way…
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But then, just in time, someone spoke up…
We put on the brakes and decided that the ad really could wait another month or two so it would be the right communication
We went to work again…
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We got ourselves a winner
This final ad is inspired by the life of the fixed operations manager
Everyone wants him to solve all of their problems
He is seeking a way to reduce the post-it notes on his computer monitor and make everyone happy
This ad has been running for months now – it is doing its job well
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Point 6:Size may not matter as much as you think
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Small space ads can pack a punch
• A $70 piece of jewelry with natural chakra stones strung on black jeweler’s cord.
• A shoestring budget
• Choose the market who is likely to buy it — affluent, open-minded individuals. Aim directly and fire.
• Small ads: 2.25 x 4.125 in. A 6-ad set in New Yorker, run every other month
Sold out in 6 months. Profit was in six figures.
Website? It was there but most customers just bought directly from this ad
Note – even in tiny ad, there’s an offer
See the website with the cool magnifying glass function at http://chakranecklace.com/
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Small space ads can pack a punch
With tiny space ads, one big idea is essential
On the far right:
see which ad designs do best in the small space environment: simple, even black and white
The worst performers: photos of art, lots of color, reversed out type
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How a few small space ads can dominate a spread
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Two 1/3 page ads and two 1/8 page ads
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Exploring new print media?
• Put your toe in the water with ads in a ‘marketplace’ or ‘directory’ in that publication
• Watch to see who runs again and again – they are the ones for whom the ad space is working
• Which ads attract our attention first?
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Point 7:An offer is part of
every successful effort –even space advertising
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This ad is almost ALL offer
Rumored to be the most successful space ad Intuit ever ran for Quickbooks
How do they know?
It has an offer.
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Lead with the offer, blow the doors off
Sweeps offers generate excitement
Attention-grabbers
If media is well targeted, you get many more names of interested prospects
You get more dead wood too but it can pay off
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Offers create a reason to start a conversation
The offer is a FREE solutions kit that is useful for anyone in this business
The free consultation will get less response, but it still opens a door
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The offer in this ad -
Avoid discounting your product –instead add value as they have with this triple bonus
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Don’t hide your offer
• People miss offers that are hidden.
• Use a banner. Use a burst. Do anything to make sure the offer is clear
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Tacky? Or effective?
• Beauty contest winner, or great ROI?
FREE Benchmark
Study$200 value
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To this market, here’s the ultimate offer
This ad sells Praise and Worship tapes in a continuity series, to active Christians
The offer is a tape that is not sold anywhere – it is only available through this offer
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Anyone here doing space ads?
If time, we can do some quick critiques…
‘7 points for space advertising ’ quick reminder list1. Relevant visuals
2. Solve a problem for your prospect
3. Surprise or intrigue them
4. The Prospect as hero
5. Take on a new way to explain a complex or abstract product or service
6. Size tests and trial runs
7. Offer in the ad
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Questions?
Be sure to ask me for a FREE CD
About how to make your email work harder and perform better!
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Time for Alan Rosenspan!
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Key Driver #1
IT MUST BE
OFFER-CENTRIC
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Offer-Centric?
• In most cases, it is more effective to sell the offer – not the product
• The direct mail package and the print ad should be all about the offer
• “Wait, there’s more…”•
•
• No one will ever wait
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• None of these had an offer
Prior mail “controls”
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New control by CWL TEAM
A DM package
We were not able to talk them into an
offer
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Next control by CWL TEAM
A DM self-mailertested with and without an offer.
But the offer sucked.
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“Offers don’t work for us”Correction: bad offers don’t work.
Or
Offers don’t work if the audience is wrong/
Mailing list is bad
Is a cheap electric BBQ fork that’s been out on the
market for a few years a good offer? Ecchh!
NEXT slide: the offer that won (Thanks to Alan!)
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Key Driver #2
IT MUST BE
ALL ABOUT BENEFITS
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“The customer or prospect doesn’t give a damn about you, your company
or your product.
“All that matters is ‘What’s in it for me?’”
— Bob Hacker
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Determine your main benefit
• Definition of feature and benefit
• A feature is what your product is or does
• A benefit is what it does for the user
• Advertisers sell features; people buy benefits
• All benefits are not created equal
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Why does anyone buy these products?
Product:
Gasoline
Features:
Poisonous,
smelly,
expensive.
Benefit: Travel!
Product:
Washing Powder
Features:
Powdery, granular,
comes in a box, poisonous.
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Benefit: Clean clothing(You’ll feel clean and fresh)
(How about the high price of a Porsche?)
You can turn almost anything
into a benefit
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How many features and benefits can you think of for
an ordinary #2 pencil?
The Incredible Pencil Test
Ranking your benefits
Is it unique?
Is it important to your market?
Is it believable?
Is it a personal benefit?
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Key Driver #3
IT MUST
ADD VALUE
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If the only time I ever hear from your company is when you want to sell me something…
…then I’m not sure I want to hear
from your company
• Add valuable information
• Add tips or advice
• Add something that helps them
• Add something they didn’t expect
• Add entertainment
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Something that people just
can’t wait to open
Turn your direct mail package into a fortune cookie
Key Driver #4
IT MUST
HAVE URGENCY
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And in this uncertain economy…
People are deferring purchase decisions
Why do I need it has become:
Why do I need it now?
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Create urgency now!
Tell people what will happen if they don’t respond
Give them a deadline…
Use urgent language
Consider a fast 50… but never honor it
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Psychology studies show…
People are more motivated by fear of loss
than by the prospect of gain
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Key Driver #5
IT MUST
BE TARGETED
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How to Evaluate Direct Mail
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Choosing the right format
• Choice of formats:• Boxes• Self-mailers• Postcards• Letter packages
• Testing is essential
• Change is good
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Self mailers Why do so many companies use them?
Easy to do, less work More graphic, more fun Usually cheaper
When to consider a self-mailer A simple message or offer As part of a continuity program When you have no time When you have many classes or seminars When you expect a low response rate
unqualified list
If you do decide to use a self-mailer… Be careful about the BRC Test against it
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Postcards can pull
They must be visually-oriented
They must be single-minded – almost like a tiny billboards
Use them strategically
Use unusual size or shape postcards
www.shipshapes.net
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Carol’s favorite postcard:the ‘don’t let this happen to you’ approach!
• For a proofreading service
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You can Bet on a Box
• It has a 100% opening rate
• It gets a lot of attention - almost like a gift
• It forces you to be creative
• It will be the most memorable mailing the person receives that day
• It doesn’t matter what you put in the box…
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…if you do use a box
Your company name must be prominent
Nothing perishable or fragile – unless that’s the point
Don’t just do half the job – include a letter, a reply device, a strong offer….
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• “They” say that boxes ONLY work for B2B –that it’s too expensive for consumer mailing…
• Here is an exception to that rule
• It also brings up the old adage, if you don’t ask, you won’t get…
A slight diversion by Carol…about dimensional packages
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• Isuzu was introducing a line of vehicles under the title, ‘Ironman’
• These were a few different models, so we couldn’t concentrate on one specific market
• Brainstormed around “Ironman” and then someone said,…
“I wish we could send them a
running shoe in the mail to
highlight the Ironman competition!” …
Finding our way to the big idea…
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• Highly cost effective
• Beat a flat direct mail package in a head to head test
• Incredible ROI
• It led to new profitable relationship with Reebok
• Winner National Postal Forum award
Isuzu Ironman dimensional package
Elements: outer box, letter, brochure, reply form, offer
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One more: an amazing idea for a box pkg.
A collapsible boxthat slips underthe door…
“Breaking into yourapartment may beeasier than you think!”
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Back to Alan:
The Letter Package• Elements include:
• Outer envelope or OE
• Letter - usually personalized
• Brochure
• Reply device
• Extra enclosures
• Usually outpulls other formats (except boxes)
• Always outpulls self-mailers
• Still allows for creativity and flexibility
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The Outer Envelope
If this fails, everything inside the package is wasted…
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The Outer Envelope
• First job is to gain the attention of the recipient
• First exposure to offer or main benefit
• Give them enough to get them interested…
• …but not enough to allow them to throw it away
• Stand out from other mail
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Choosing the right envelope
• Paper stock can be important• Direct mail is a tactile medium
• Consider vellum, see-through, metallic, poly-bags, even paper bags
• Color can be important• Test kraft, yellow
• Test “stealth” envelopes• Especially to customers
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1. State the main benefit
2. State the offer
3. Tell them what’s inside
4. Ask a provocative question
…but not one that can simply be answered “no!”
5. Give them a test
6. Describe a situation...
7. State a problem
8. Flag your market
9. Use personalization in an unusual way
10. Use F.U.D.
10 Proven Envelope Techniques
The Letter
The only form ofadvertising you will ever read or ever write that always starts with one word…
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The Letter
• This is, by far, the most important part of the package.
• According to research done by Ogilvy & Mather, it will account for 65-75% of your response
• The first thing people actually read
• When should you include a letter?
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The Most Successful Piece of Advertising in
Advertising History
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How should a letter look?
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7 Letter Techniques
1. Use a Johnson box
2. Start with a killer opening...
Put news in it
Show ’em you Know ’em
Ask a provocative question
3. Use short words and simple language
4. Bring me to your offer
5. Give me a reason to respond now
6. Use the word “you”
7. Include a strong P.S.
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Write the way people talk
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Write to just one person…
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Yale University Study
You
Health
Money
Safety
Save
Love
The Single MostPersuasive Word inDirect Marketing?
New
Discovery
Results
Proven
Easy
Guarantee
_______________
The 12 Most Persuasive Wordsin the English Language
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How to evaluate a letter
• Count the number of “you’s”
• Are you proud of it? Would you sign it?
• Would you respond to it?
• Read it out loud
• Read it to your significant other
• You’ll know…
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The Brochure
The best place to visualize your benefits…
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Building Better Brochures
“The letter sells, the brochure tells.”
Evelyn Woods should have been a direct marketer
“The 3-second solution”
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The Role of the Brochure
• Provides detailed information
• Can include testimonials and clients lists
• Can be used as an involvement device
• The “Striptease” effect
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7 Ways to Improve Your Brochure
1. Put your strongest benefit on the cover
2. Make your headlines benefit-oriented and specific
3. Make your photographs tell a story
4. Include a strong call to action, how to respond
5. Include a guarantee
6. Include a Q&A
7. Include a Q&A segue
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Headlines are critically important
80% of people read them and nothing else
They must include your main benefits
They should not be “creative”
“Some copy writers write tricky headlines, puns,
literary allusions and other obscurities. This is a sin.
Every headline should appeal to the reader’s self
interest. It should promise the reader a benefit.”
--David Ogilvy
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Photography is almost always better than illustration
– but charts rule
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The most popular newspaper in the USA...
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Art Direction, Design & Typography
The goal of good direct marketing design should be to attract the attention of the reader, and lead them through the package.
Ugly works; neatness may reject involvement
ALL CAPS ARE DIFFICULT TO READ BECAUSE THE EYE RECOGNIZES SHAPES - NOT INDIVIDUAL LETTERS
Type set in narrow columns is easier to read (50 characters ideal).
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When a designer uses reversed out copy
it simply means they don’t have confidence that the big idea will carry the day
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• Less than 10% readership and comprehension compared to black type on light background
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The Reply Device
Where the rubbermeets the road
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The Reply Device
• Why do you need one?
• Why can’t we just send people to the web?
• Tracking can be an issue
• Send to a micro-site only
• This should “stick out” like a sore thumb.
• 1st thing to personalize
• Include main benefits
• The “empty envelope” test
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BRE or BRC?
What kinds of information do people
regard as “private?”
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
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How to improve your reply device
• Give people a “Yes” or “No” option• ….but don’t be too clever
• Consider an involvement device
• Give them a choice• …but keep options very simple
• Include 800, fax number, e-mail address• …but go for the phone call!
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The Lift Note
Every little bit helps
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The Lift Note• Can “lift” response an average of 10% over regular
response rate for that package.
• Write in a different voice than the letter
• “Whisper in their ear”
• Highlight the offer
• Consider a yellow sticky note
• On reply form
• On letter
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The InvolvementDevice
Will another three seconds reallymake a difference?
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5 Proven Involvement Devices
1. Use a sticker – Yes/No or with an offer
2. Have them lift the sticker to review their special offer
3. Include a brief 3-question survey
4. Include multiple enclosures
5. Remember what Barnes & Nobles knows…
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What’s next?
Part 3: Digital Creative that Engages Customers
Oct 18 (today), 12:30pm - 2:45pm
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Direct marketing creative requires a tenacious spirit — perseverance!
• “All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance.”
— Samuel Johnson
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