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What
is advertising?
Advertising
is
something to be regarded as a work of beauty or
art? Is it clever slogans or amusing prose? Is
it workmanship to be judged for an award or
recognition?
It’s
none of the above.
Advertising
is salesmanship multiplied.
Nothing
more.
And
advertising copy, or copywriting, is salesmanship
in print.
The
purpose of a copywriter’s job is to sell.
Period.
The
selling is accomplished by persuasion with the
written word, much like a television commercial
sells (if done properly) by persuading with
visuals and audio.
As
Claude Hopkins wrote in his timeless classic, Scientific
Advertising:
“To
properly understand advertising or to learn even
its rudiments one must start with the right
conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its
principles are the principles of salesmanship.
Successes and failures in both lines are due to
like causes. Thus every advertising question
should be answered by the salesman's standards.
“Let
us emphasize that point. The only purpose of
advertising is to make sales. It is profitable
or unprofitable according to its actual
sales."
“It
is not for general effect. It is not to keep
your name before the people. It is not primarily
to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a
salesman. Force it to justify itself. Compare it
with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result.
Accept no excuses which good salesmen do not
make. Then you will not go far wrong."
“The
difference is only in degree. Advertising is
multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to
thousands while the salesman talks to one. It
involves a corresponding cost. Some people spend
$10 per word on an average advertisement.
Therefore every ad should be a
super-salesman."
“A
salesman's mistake may cost little. An
advertiser’s mistake may cost a thousand times
that much. Be more cautious, more exacting,
therefore. A mediocre salesman may affect a
small part of your trade. Mediocre advertising
affects all of your trade.”
These
points are as true today as they were when they
were written nearly one hundred years ago!
So
the goal then becomes: how
can we make our advertising as effective as
possible.
The
answer is to....
All
is revealed inside :-) |
