Over 70 years ago, one man had the answer to increasing
almost any product's sales and literally crushing the
competition.
His name?
Claude Hopkins. And today his advice is even more valuable
than it was during the 1920s.
Hopkins was one of the most famous ad men and really the
Father of modern advertising. His two books "My Life in
Advertising" and "Scientific Advertising" are worth reading
and re-reading.
If you read on, I'll share with you one of Hopkins'
greatest secrets for attracting more business.
Listen closely - the secret is *EDUCATION*.
By educating a prospect about how things are done in your
business, even it's the same exact thing any one of your
competitors could tell, will produce a tremendous selling
advantage.
Don't believe me?
Look around at nearly all the advertising being done based
on the plea: "Buy my brand", "Come to my store", "Give me
the money which you give to others". Typically this falls
in the category of boasting and bragging advertising.
Frankly, consumers don't care one lick about you or your
company, they care about the benefits they'll get from
dealing with you.
Let me share with you how Hopkins used this advertising
secret to rocket a so-so beer brand from 5th place into a
tie for 1st place in just a matter of months. Listen to
this:
Schlitz Beer hired Hopkins to increase their falling market
share. Every beer manufacturer at this time was screaming
"PURE" in their ads. In fact, companies were spending a
fortune just advertising this 4 letter word as big and as
bold as they could. They even took out double pages ads to
put that word in even bigger letters. All this shouting and
no explaining was making zero impressions on the buying
public. Nobody ever explained what 'pure' really meant
until Hopkins came in.
The first thing Hopkins did was take a factory tour. On
this tour he was shown plate-glass rooms where beer was
dripping over pipes. Inquiring the reason for this, Hopkins
was told that those rooms were filled with filtered air, so
the beer could be cooled without any impurities.
Next, he was shown huge expensive filters filled with
white- wood pulp that provided a superior filtering
process. The manufacturer then went on to explain how they
cleaned every pump and pipe, twice daily to assure purity.
And also how each bottle was sterilized not once or twice,
but four times before being filled with beer.
Then, Hopkins was shown the 4,000 foot deep artesian wells
dug to provide the cleanest and purest water available,
even though the factory was right on the shore of Lake
Michigan. (At this time Lake Michigan was not polluted and
could provide clean water.)
Finally, Hopkins was lead into a laboratory and was shown
the mother yeast cell, that was a product of 1,200
experiments to bring out the robust flavor. And he was told
all the yeast used in making Schlitz beer was developed
from that original yeast cell.
After his tour Hopkins exclaimed, "Why don't you tell
people these things?"
The manufacturer's response was because every beer
manufacturer does it the same way.
And to that Hopkins replied, "But, others have never told
this story..." And he went off to create an advertising
campaign explaining to people what makes Schlitz beer pure.
Once again he told the same story any brewer could have but
he gave a meaning to purity. And this is what took Schlitz
from 5th place to a tie for 1st place in market share.
Really, this whole process is just educating.
Educating prospects about the how's, the why's, the good,
the bad and the ugly. You simply cannot over educate
people.
Now maybe you're thinking anything from the 1920's can't
possibly work today -- WRONG!
Murray Raphel, a retail direct marketing consultant, tells
the story of how he was visiting one of his clients, Ethan
Allen Furniture, and he noticed carpenters in the back room
repairing furniture. He asked, "Do you make furniture
here?"
The reply from the manager of this store was, "No, those
are carpenters doing work on Ethan Allen wood furniture."
He went on to explain how every customer is given a
lifetime guarantee on all their wood pieces. And he quickly
added, "But all Ethan Allen stores do this."
But of course no other store advertises this fact.
Soon Raphel ran an ad stating *Every Piece of Ethan Allen
Wooden Furniture is Guaranteed For Your Lifetime!*
And wouldn't you know it, a competitor soon ran the same
guarantee in their ad. But guess who got the credit for the
guarantee?
That's right -- the original store.
So here's the bottom line: Take the time right now to write
down exactly what you do in your business (even if it's the
exact same as any other competitor). Write down absolutely
everything and tell people everything. Don't suffer from
the curse of assumption - let people know and they'll knock
down your door to order!
(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.
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Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on
creating automatic, moneymaking websites...and he still
doesn't know how to put up a website.
He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-
selling online marketing books and tools, which can be
found at http://www.SurefireMarketing.com
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