This morning I received an email from a well known North American marketer. He was promoting a webinar. The headline read:
“How to Craft Simple Stories to Vaporize Buyer Resistance… Create Deeper, More Meaningful Connections With Your Best Clients… And Sell Your Products and Services for MORE MONEY Instead of Less”
A few years ago, I would have lapped this up and been first in line for the webinar. But experience has taught me that the more hyped up the copy, the less actual substance is going to be delivered by the product or service being sold.
I deleted the email. Now, the irony is that I believe in story telling in marketing as one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience at the emotional level. But there’s a disconnect in my mind between an authentic brand story and a big, bold, over-hyped headline followed by sales copy that’s full of all the old tricks like scarcity e.g. “hurry so you don’t miss out” etc.
Just last night I was looking again at an old newspaper ad written by David Ogilvy in 1958 for Rolls Royce. This is still regarded as one of the best advertisements ever written, in any medium.
The headline is: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
The copy below this headline is written in the form of a newspaper article, quoting various experts and speaking to the reader in a matter-of-fact manner about all the various features and benefits of the Rolls Royce. Short, simple sentences. Not a trace of hype in sight.
You can see a full copy of this ad here.
Ogilvy made millions from writing ads for print media that followed a simple formula:
- a large image at the top, which sometimes took up half or even two-thirds of the page
- a clear, simple headline
- followed by about 250 words of copy
Now, more than 50 years later, this formula has recently been “discovered” as the secret to a successful web page.
Above all, Ogilvy’s ads were never hyped. They drew people in with a headline that sounded authentic and the copy reinforced this by its matter of fact but authoritative tone.
For many years, people have put up with hype in marketing. But today, finally, they are saying “enough”. People love to buy things. But they hate being “sold”. The challenge for marketers in today’s world is to be open, honest and discard tricks. Figure out what makes your product or service unique and tell people about it in clear, simple language – without any hard sell.
In today’s world, authenticity beats hype hands down.
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