Tweet

Remember That the People You Address Are Selfish

Guest post by: Paul Tobey

Article Overview: Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money. That is not a popular appeal.

Remember That the People You Address Are Selfish

Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money. That is not a popular appeal.

The worst ads ask no one to buy. That is useless. Often they do not quote a price. They do not say that dealers handle the product.

The best are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They cite advantages to users. Perhaps they offer a sample, or to buy the first package (with a certain dollar value coupon), or to send something on approval, so the customer may prove the claims without any cost or risk.

Some of these ads seem altruistic. But they are based on a knowledge of human nature. The writers know how people are led to buy.

Here again is salesmanship. The good salesman does not merely cry a name. He doesn't say 'Buy my articles.’ He pictures the customer's side of his service until the natural result is to buy .

I didn't write those 196 words, I wish I had. They were written by Claude Hopkins in 1923. Although he has been dead for many years, Claude Hopkins is still considered, by those in the know, to be one of the world’s leading authorities on direct response. Interestingly few modern copy writers and advertisers have read his work.

He used the above philosophy to put Bissell Carpet Cleaners on the map and using the same philosophy he helped take Schlitz Beer from number 5 to number 1, in only a few months. Nothing has changed since he wrote Scientific Advertising. His ideas work as well now, as they did back then. The book is now out of print, but well worth reading if you can find a copy of it. You can download an electronic version at:

http://www.marketers-hall-of-fame.com/1-claude-hopkins-marketing.html

Read the above passage at least 3 times. Use it to guide your letter writing, your advertising, your proposals and your sales presentations. It will have a profound effect on your results.

Related Articles
  Loving Yourself First
  Selfish Leadership
  It's All About Love!
  Selfish Much?
  Whats Your Prosperity Quotient

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your age? - I guess I kind of got us off the original subject. Sorry about that, but even so, there's a lot of useful conversation here so I'm glad I did. Remember......strong body = strong mind.......usually.
Re: Taking Your Online Business Offline? - Hi Alan This sounds like a wonderful opportunity would love to hear how it all pans out for you. Remember that when you are offering help to offline businesses to market online, you are dealing directly with people in your local area and already you have a built in audience right there. Good luck I will be thinking on you. MichelleJ
Re: $200,000 in 91 days - Hi Yinka I agree with both Trent & GT, the chance of this happening is highly unlikely. Remember that someone starting out on the internet is trying to build a business, usually with very little if any internet marketing knowledge and also they are totally unknown, so it is a long hard slog to get where you are earning big bucks. MichelleJ
Re: The Best Method for Online Marketing - Using multiple marketing methods is best. Remember though, Marketing is a process and all processes should be tracable. It's good to have each online tool you use point to eachother and your main website. For example. Start a blog on blogger.com. Blogs usually act as an organic SEO and you'll find your blog at the top of google search results provided you use the right key words within your blog title and content. The blog should not be a selling tool. It should be informative to draw attention and have people coming back to learn more, but you should always have your blog point towards your selling tools, especially your website. People love to share good reads, get new contacts by ensuring that your written material is approved to be shared by you, ask people to email you if they want to share what you wrote and to give credit to (Name + website). Now for every contact that asks to share your material, you will be able to track the results and if they turn into customers, you can calculate and ROI for your time. facebook/twitter. Start a promotion campaign, Tell people that if they invite 5 people to your facebook page, they can recieve a special offer for them and the 5 people that they referred. Ask them to message you on facebook for a special promo code. Make any code you want, but this gives you the chance to track the results of this campaign. Post on free classifieds sites. Every paid website has an equally effective free site.
Re: Google Calendar - Hi Mary, On FireFox go to Tools --> Options --> Security There is a box that says: Remember passwords for sites, check it. Next time you enter a PW firefox will ask you if you want to save it. If you go to security again you will see a button "Saved Passwords" click on it and it will open the list, with all the PW hidden, you can choose to hide or show them.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Attracting Passionate Employees

Anger Solutions at Work: Why Customers Get Angry

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.