How To Create Advertising That Sells. Five Easy Steps Anyone Can Follow - Step #2 Continued
Furniture World News Desk on
12/8/2013
Last week I promised to spend a little more time on advertising copy and why it’s so important so here goes.
Let’s recap for a second. First, when I say “ad” I mean any means you use to communicate with your clients, customers and prospects. ROP. Flyer. Post card. Letter. Web site. Whatever.
Second, the five elements every ad must have in order to communicate your offer effectively are:
- A potent headline. In addition to the main headline for the sale, there must be selling subheads for the store and the items on sale.
- Copy which carries forward the selling idea in the headline.
- A layout which serves your selling by following a logical sequence.
- Benefits supported with features.
- Call to action. Tell them what to do next.
Decades of response research tells us that without all five, your ad cannot possibly achieve maximum response. And that’s always our goal, right? Maximum response, not just some response. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Good is the enemy of the best.” If your ads pull “good” results, why not shoot for “best?” If business is “good” why not shoot for “best?”
Remember, there are three things to be sold in your ads: (1) the event (2) the individual items (3) your store as the place to shop. Last week we talked about selling the Sale and we spent a couple of minutes on selling the individual items.
Right now I'm looking at a manufacturer’s circular I just received from a local store. I won’t name the manufacturer or the store but I'd like to share with you a couple of thoughts.
It’s a beautiful circular as most manufacturer’s circulars are. “Holiday Home Sale” in a pretty red script. Big red bow on the front cover. The sub-head under “Holiday Home Sale” says “Create year-round spirit with the best selling items on sale.” Not bad. Couple of benefits. But couldn’t that be said for any store in town? So how do you separate your store from the guy down the street?
The front of the circular features a very nice looking leather sofa grouping. Know what the headline is for the sofa? You guessed it. “Leather Sofa.” Makes you drool with desire for that sofa, doesn’t it. What if the headline said something like this: “Genuine American Leather. So soft. So sensual. So comfortable. Now so affordable.” Which headline do you think your reader might respond to? I'd guess the second, wouldn’t you?
Typical of almost all ads today, there’s not one word about the sofa itself. What if after the headline I suggested above, there was a block of copy which went something like this: “No other upholstery smells so good, feels so luxurious, and actually improves with use. It softens and mellows with each year. Nothing else is quite like it. Come discover why and save during this great sale.”
Keep this in mind as you prepare your next ad. People arrive at a buying decision in two ways. One is practically (e.g. this car as 300 horse power) and the other is emotionally (e.g. man, these leather seats make me feel really good).
The very best selling copy enables the reader to clearly visualize and believe what it would be like to “own” and “live with” the thing advertised.
I just completed a post card mailer for a client. In copy describing a sectional I said, “Your home will be a more comfortable, inviting place . . . .” I didn’t say “3-piece sectional” as with just about any other furniture ad I see.
The headline for a featured recliner is, “So inviting . . . so tempting . . . so comfortable . . . so affordable.” Then there is a brief but potent paragraph of copy. Not once did I use the word recliner. She can see by the picture that I'm talking about a recliner.
I could go on and on but I hope you're starting to get the idea. If you’d like to find out more about all this, I urge you to go to my web site and download my special report.
www.lovefurnitureprofits.com.
Remember this: Without adequate copy to sell what you offer, you're back to the same old game; who has the lowest price and the longest free financing. That’s a game you cannot win.
Next week, we’ll talk about layout and give you some tips there, too.
Oh, by-the-way, you can find this entire series and other free articles on my web site.
www.lovefurnitureprofits.com.
David Love is the owner of Love Furniture Profits. An advertising consulting and coaching firm that shows retailers how to get more traffic, more and higher ticket sales and more profits using long-lost scientific advertising secrets unknown by about 99% of all of today’s retailers.
David is a 41 year furniture/mattress, in the trenches, industry veteran. His unmatched-by-anyone background includes retail furniture sales. Manager of a retail furniture store. 22 years on the road making money for companies like Sealy Mattress and Best Chairs. His territory and his retailers achieved sometimes remarkable sales increases due to the expert advertising and sales advice he gave. He has also owned and sold his own profitable store and was a highly regarded sales manager of a top 100 furniture store.
With his knowledge and front-line experience he has a passion for passing it on and sharing that experience to help furniture and mattress retailers cut advertising waste and maximize sales and profits.
To find out more, get your free copy (a $29 value) of his just released, breakthrough Special Report for Furniture and Mattress stores, “5 Long Lost Scientific Retail Advertising Secrets that work like magic in today’s economy for any furniture or mattress store to get you more customers, more sales, more profits.” Go right now to www.lovefurnitureprofits.com. David can be reached at david@lovefurnitureprofits.com. 707-580-3415.
Advertising That Sells
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