Tell Your Full Story

What­ever claim you use to gain atten­tion, the adver­tise­ment should tell a story rea­son­ably com­plete. If you watch returns, you will find that cer­tain claims appeal far more than oth­ers. But in usual lines a num­ber of claims appeal to a large per­cent­age. Then present those claims in every ad for their effect on that percentage.

Some adver­tis­ers, for sake of brevity, present one claim at a time. Or they write a ser­ial ad, con­tin­ued in another issue. There is no greater folly. Those seri­als almost never connect.

When you once get a person’s atten­tion, then is the time to accom­plish all you can ever hope with him. Bring all your good argu­ments to bear. Cover every phase of your sub­ject. One fact appeals to some, one to another. Omit any one and a cer­tain per­cent­age will lose the fact which might convince.

Peo­ple are not apt to read suc­ces­sive adver­tise­ments on any sin­gle line. No more than you read a news item twice, or a story. In one read­ing of an adver­tise­ment one decides for or against a propo­si­tion. And that oper­ates against a sec­ond read­ing. So present to the reader, when once you get him, every impor­tant claim you have. The best adver­tis­ers do that. They learn their appeal­ing claims by tests — by com­par­ing results from var­i­ous head­lines. Grad­u­ally they accu­mu­late a list of claims impor­tant enough to use. All those claims appear in every ad thereafter.

The adver­tise­ments seem monot­o­nous to the men who read them all. A com­plete story is always the same. But one must con­sider that the aver­age reader is only once a reader, prob­a­bly. And what you fail to tell him in that ad is some­thing he may never know. Some adver­tis­ers go so far as to never change their ads. Sin­gle mail order ads often run year after year with­out dimin­ish­ing returns. So with some gen­eral ads. They are per­fected ads, embody­ing in the best way known all that one has to say. Adver­tis­ers do not expect a sec­ond read­ing. Their con­stant returns come from get­ting new readers.

In every ad con­sider only new cus­tomers. Peo­ple using your prod­uct are not going to read your ads. They have already read and decided. You might adver­tise month after month to present users that the prod­uct they use is poi­son, and they would never know it. So never waste one line of your space to say some­thing to present users, unless you can say it in your head­lines. Bear in mind always that you can address an uncon­verted prospect.

Any reader of your ad is inter­ested, else he would not be a reader. You are deal­ing with some­one will­ing to lis­ten. Then do your level best. That reader, if you lose him now, may never again be a reader.

You are like a sales­man in a busy man’s office. He may have tried again and again to get entree. He may never be admit­ted again. This is his one chance to get action, and he must employ it to the full.

This brings up the ques­tion of brevity. The most com­mon expres­sion you hear about adver­tis­ing is that peo­ple will not read much. Yet a vast amount of the best pay­ing adver­tis­ing shows that peo­ple do read much. Then they write for a book, per­haps — for added infor­ma­tion. There is a fixed rule on this sub­ject of brevity. One sen­tence may tell a com­plete story on a line like chew­ing gum. It may on an arti­cle like Cream of Wheat. But, whether long or short, an adver­tis­ing story should be rea­son­ably complete.

A cer­tain man desired a per­sonal car. He cared lit­tle about the price. He wanted a car to take pride in, else he felt he would never drive it. But, being a good busi­ness man, he wanted value for his money. His incli­na­tion was towards a Rolls-​​Royce. He also con­sid­ered a Pierce-​​Arrow, a Loco­mo­bile and oth­ers. But these famous cars offered no infor­ma­tion. Their adver­tise­ments were very short. Evi­dently the mak­ers con­sid­ered it undig­ni­fied to argue com­par­a­tive merits.

The Mar­mon, on the con­trary, told a com­plete story. He read columns and books about it. So he bought a Mar­mon, and was never sorry. But he after­wards learned facts about another car at nearly three times the price which would have sold him the car had he known them.

What folly it is to cry a name in a line like that, plus a few brief gen­er­al­i­ties. A car may be a life­time invest­ment. It involves an impor­tant expen­di­ture. A man inter­ested enough to buy a car will read a vol­ume about it if the vol­ume is interesting.

So with every­thing. You may be sim­ply try­ing to change a woman from one break­fast food to another, one tooth paste, or one soap. She is wed­ded to what she is using. Per­haps she has used it for years.

You have a hard propo­si­tion. If you do not believe it, go to her in per­son and try to make the change. Not to merely buy a first pack­age to please you, but to adopt your brand. A man who once does that at a woman’s door won’t argue for brief adver­tise­ments. He will never again say, “A sen­tence will do,” or a name claim or a boast.

Nor will the man who traces his results. Note that brief ads are never keyed. Note that every traced ad tells a com­plete story, though it takes columns to tell. Never be guided in any way by ads which are untraced. Never do any­thing because some unin­formed adver­tiser con­sid­ers that some­thing right. Never be led in new paths by the blind.

Apply to your adver­tis­ing ordi­nary com­mon sense. Take the opin­ion of nobody, whom know noth­ing about his returns.

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

• How to Capture and Captivate Attention
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