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Evaluation Well I Would Hope So

Written by: Ernst Marsig

Article Overview: When you make an any advertising claim, don't think about it in terms of coming out of your mouth; think of it in terms of it entering your prospect's ears. If you do this, you'll realize how ridiculous, non-compelling, boring, and flat-out stupid much of the advertising you see and hear sounds. What we're trying to accomplish here is simple: we want to write a message so compelling that it causes prospects to say, "I would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you...regardless of price." I'm going to give you seven evaluations you can use to judge whether or not what you're writing is any good. Wouldn't you like to know if what you're writing and spending your advertising budget on is any good - before you actually spend the money?

Evaluation Well I Would Hope So

When you make an any advertising claim, don't think about it in terms of coming out of your mouth; think of it in terms of it entering your prospect's ears. If you do this, you'll realize how ridiculous, non-compelling, boring, and flat-out stupid much of the advertising you see and hear sounds. What we're trying to accomplish here is simple: we want to write a message so compelling that it causes prospects to say, "I would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you...regardless of price." I'm going to give you seven evaluations you can use to judge whether or not what you're writing is any good. Wouldn't you like to know if what you're writing and spending your advertising budget on is any good - before you actually spend the money? Use this evaluation (and others we will discuss in future newsletters) to judge anything you write - headlines, sub-headlines, body copy, whatever. The first evaluation is:

Evaluation: Well, I Would Hope So!

This is first because it's the one most likely to be failed. Whenever you say anything in your advertising, ask yourself if the prospect will immediately respond to what you've said with "Well, I would hope so!"

To illustrate this, write on a piece of paper why a prospect would favor your business over the competition. Then use the "Well, I Would Hope So" evaluation and see if the answers hold weight. Let me give you an idea of what I'm talking about by giving you some of the answers from other companies. A huge printing company gave this as their number one reason to choose them over the other sixteen zillion other printers: "We help the non-professional print buyer understand the various options available." Here's what you should say to that kind of claim: Well, I would hope so! You're a printer! Isn't that what you do? See how ridiculous that answer sounds?

An insurance agency claims in their advertising "they'll be there for you when you have a claim." Well, I would hope so! What else would they say? I can't imagine that their ad would state, "When you have an accident, you can call us but we won't answer the phone. We hate paying claims, so we won't pay attention to you. Just keep mailing the premiums in every month."

See how this works? Just read any headline or any claim out of one of your advertisements and then see if it spawns this response: Well, I would hope so!

Try this one from a management training company: "Our training leads to change! And it will increase productivity, performance, and profit." Does anyone hire a management consultant for any other reason than to foster change and increase the productivity, performance, and profit? Finish the following statement...Well I Would ______ _____!!! That's right...well, I would hope so!

I remember one time I was looking in the yellow pages for a screen door and I saw an ad with the headline, "NEED a Screen Door?" and I thought, "No, I don't need a screen door, I just happened to be perusing the yellow pages in the screen door section and thought I would give you a call!" Well, I would hope they had screen doors! That's the best thing they could think of to put in their ad?

Or what about an auto mechanic who says, "We're honest. We fix your car right the first time." Well, I would hope so. What else would you expect the guy to say? "Hey, we're lousy. We'll fix things that aren't broken and make sure the original problem goes unsolved so you'll bring it back so we can fix it and charge you again." You've got to articulate better than the usual platitudes and generalities. You've got to force yourself to break out of the lazy communication mold and do what we talked about before: Say it well.

These standard, lazy communicator claims are like the hair stylist telling you that your hair will be shorter after it's cut or the gas station telling you you'll have more gas after you fill the tank. Always, always, always use this important evaluation question whenever you make any claim. Take this test right now as you're reading this. Answer the question, why would anyone choose you over your competitors? Then honestly evaluate your answer against the "Well, I would hope so!" evaluation. Yes, this is a real exercise. Go ahead and answer the question right now. If you can't come up with the answer instantly and articulate it well, you can bet your customers don't know why either. After you take the verbal test, check out all of your printed advertising and marketing materials. Do they pass the "Well, I would hope so!" evaluation? If not, you need change them immediately.

And you know what? Here's what's really sad: many businesses with great inside realities don't know how to articulate their advantages, so they end up putting "Well, I would hope so!" verbiage in their ads. They just don't know what else to say. For now, realize this: you can make your advertising more compelling, you can make it draw a better conclusion, and you can make it build a better case than just spewing out the usual "Well, I would hope so!" stuff.

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