A smart (and honest) fishing salesman will tell you…

…fancy fishing equipment isn't meant to catch more fish… it's meant to catch more fishermen.

Which brings us to this week's brilliant direct response ad…

First of all, can you even tell if this is an ad or an article in a newspaper?

Most people can't. In fact…

…When I asked my web guy to scan the "fishing ad," he told me there was no fishing ad. Just an article about a fishing lure.

That's how much this ad looks like a legitimate newspaper article. And that's why it's so successful. It looks like news. 

In fact, this type of advertising has a name. It's called an ADVERTORIAL It's part ADVERTising and part editORIAL.

Here's why advertorials are so powerful when it comes to selling…

People buy newspapers and magazines to read news and learn something new. So, whenever you can make your ad look like news, odds are, more people will read it.

And when more people read your ad… more people will buy.

Unlike traditional advertising, which screams, "I'm an ad." Advertorials are more like "stealth" advertising. They blend into the newspaper and magazine they're in.

When someone starts reading an advertorial, in their mind… they're reading news. They're learning something new. Getting good information. They pay more attention to the "article."

If you run advertising in newspapers, you may think "But I want my advertising to stick out. I don't want it to look like boring news."

But the fact is, people buy newspapers for the news. And when you can make your ad look newsworthy, more people will read it.

OK, let's see how this direct response ad makes so much money…

It all starts with the headline. The job of the headline is to make a reader stop dead in their tracks. And if you're a fisherman, this headline makes you want to read more.

New lure's catch rate may be 
too high for some tournaments.

It starts with the word "New." And, isn't that exactly what newspapers write about? New stuff? So it fits right in with the editorial style.

And we, as humans, are just wired to want to learn new things.

The headline is not salesey. It sounds like something an unbiased reporter would write.

Compare this subtle, but intriguing headline, to the typical headline, like "Catch more fish with the XYZ lure" or "The best lure for fishing."

Those are bland, hypey headlines. EVERY fishing lure claims to help you catch more fish.

The key to a great advertising headline (and sales letter for that matter) is to find a unique way of saying your product/service does something better than every other product, in an intriguing way.

Right after the headline, are two great subheads…

Out-fishes other bait 19 to 4 in one contest.

____________________________

Uses aerospace technology to mimic a real fish.

The first subhead immediately backs up the claim of the headline. You see, just saying a lure's catch rate me be too high is hype without the facts. This ad provides the facts right after the claim. It's an impressive number, yet believable.

And then the next subhead hooks the reader with an intriguing piece of information: this lure is made from aerospace technology and mimics a real fish.

That line does two things simultaneously:

1) It gives the reader the reason this amazing lure
     
     outfiishes other bait by 19 to 4. It mimics a real fish.

2) At the same time it gives the reader an answer…
     It
 makes it easy for the reader to ask a question in
     
     his mind. The first thing the reader thinks is,
     
     "Sounds reasonable. anything that mimics the
     motion of a real fish should fool a fish.
 But exactly
     how does it work?"

And that question in the reader's mind gets them to continue reading to find the answer.

Just like a real news article, this "article" starts with city and state. Fits right in with all the other articles in the paper.

The copy starts off innocently enough… describing a "small company" in Connecticut. Nothing about the fishing lure. Nothing about buying the lure.

Even though this is an ad to sell a fishing lure, the writer is in no rush to sell the product. And that brings us to today’s big lesson…

How to Sell… by NOT Selling…

I’ll use an example I first saw the great copywriter Gary Halbert use. Let’s say you’re a guy and you feel like picking up a woman. You go to a bar. See an attractive woman sitting alone.

Now, would you go up to that woman and say,

“Hey, you’re hot, let’s go back to my place and have sex.”

Of course not!

Even though sex may be your goal, you need to romance the sale first.

You work up a conversation. Get to know each other. Have a few drinks.

In essence, you’re slowly showing her what a great guy you are. Let the chemistry build.

It’s often the same way with advertising. You don’t just come out and say, “Buy my product!”

Here's how most small businesses and advertisers screw up advertorials…

First of all, they can’t resist putting something salesy in the headline. Or, worse yet, their company name. Right off the bat, they destroy the illusion of news.

Then, after one or two sentences, they get right into the selling. This ruins the illusion of news. It sets off alarm bells inside the reader's mind saying, "Hey, this guy is trying to fool me. This is an ad!" And, of course, they stop reading.

I know you want to sell more of your products and services. But if you’re going to do an advertorial, you have to be 100% committed to making it look like news.

OK, back to the ad. It starts off by telling how this amazing fishing lure fooled eight professional fishermen. This “proves” the lure is legit, because even the pros are fooled by it.

Then it goes on to describe how the design makes tis lure so realistic. So far, no selling. Just an interesting story . A story every fisherman interested in catching more fish will read.

Then it gets into the angle how fishing tournaments may ban the lure because it’s too good. This pays off the headline.

Remember, when you’re creating advertising, when you say something in your headline, you must “prove” it in your copy.

Think about it, the headline got the reader to start reading. So you must "prove" the claim you made in your headline.

Finally, in the second column, they mention the name of the lure. See how this is different than most advertising?

Most advertising SCREAMS the name of the product. But the consumer doesn’t care about the name of your product. They only care about the benefits.

The “article” goes on to describe the results of an informal test of the fishing lure between eight professional fishermen. Again, more proof.

Even though this isn’t a double-blind study from a famous university, to the reader, it’s 100%, believable proof. And that’s what counts.

Also, the article makes sure to pay off the subhead and shows how the lure outfished other bait 19 to 4. Again, the problem with most advertising today is, the headlines make claims, but those claims are ever shown in the ad.

And if you don’t prove your claims after you made them, the reader won’t buy your product or service.

Another great line in the ad copy is…

“Fisherman reserved thousands of KickTails before we produced it!”

This shows a high demand for the product. So the reader "knows" it must work. And also, it helps the reader know he's not the only one who will buy it.

Even though people often like something unique, they also don't want to feel like they're the only idiot buying it. The "huge demand" shows social proof this is an acceptable product to buy.

Then it casually mentions the company offers a money back guarantee. But, it's not a vague guarantee. It's specific… 

"If you don't catch more fish, return the lures within 30 days."

Actually, there's a typo in the ad. If you read the guarantee carefully, it actually says…

"If you don't catch more fish and return the lures within 30 days."

See…there's an extra "and" in there. But, guess what? Readers don't care about typos! In fact, direct marketing companies sometimes intentionally mispell words to make the copy seem more real.

So, when you're writing your advertising and marketing, don't get caught up in grammar and spelling. It's the least important part of selling.

Back to the guarantee…

…If you were writing a straight-forward ad or sales promotion, you might use this guarantee in the headline or subhead. But in an advertorial, you must make it more subtle to be believable to the reader.

Remember, an advertorial is written by a "third party." To the reader, it looks like a reporter is writing this. And a real reporter would never bend over backwards to help promote the product he's writing about.

And finally, in the very LAST PARAGRAPH, the writer lets the reader know they can purchase the lure.

Here's the sales psychology for this advertorial…

By the time the reader gets to the last paragraph, he should be thinking to himself,.. 

"Damn, I wish I could get this lure. If I only had this lure, I would catch more fish then all my fishing buddies combined."

In fact, the reader probably doesn't even think he can buy this lure, because he's reading an article about it.

Ideally, you want the reader to think he missed out on buying this lure. You want him to think, "Why didn't my local sporting goods store sell this? How did I miss this? I can use this!"

And that thinking, sets him up perfectly for the final paragraph…

…When he reads that last paragraph, and see he can get his hands on the lure, he thinks he's hit paydirt. And out comes the credit card.

Read this ad carefully. Even though it's an advertorial, it's packed with selling copy. And tons of proof this lure catches more fish.

So, if you want to try your hand at an advertorial ad for your product or service, what should you do?

First of all, look at as many advertorials as you can. Get a "feel" for how they're written and designed. 

Then get lots of back issues of the paper of magazine you plan on advertising in. See how their articles are written.

Remember, it must be written like an article. Don't worry about selling the product. Worry about telling an interesting story that convinces the reader the product being written about is something they want. 

What you write won't be perfect, especially the first draft. But odds are, with a handful of revisions, it'll be better than anything your competition is doing.

When this ad was written, the name of the company was NGC Sports and the website was: www.NGCSPORTS.COM. If you go to that website today, you'll see the name of the company is now Scientific Fishing, and offers all sorts of great fishing gear.

Comments? Suggestions about this ad or the blog itself? Let me know in your comments below.

Would you buy the world's most expensive 
(and weirdest looking) exercise bike?

I’m going to start the ad review with one of the all-time great direct response lead generation ads.

Take one look at this exercise bike (called the ROM, which stands for Range of Motion).

You know there’s no way in the world this friggn’ time-machine looking contraption can possibly do what it claims.

It looks ridiculous…impractical… intimidating…and complicated.

And it costs a whopping $14,615.

And then there’s the outrageous claim,

“Exercise in only 4 minutes.”

Four minutes! “Yeah right,” blasts the voice in your head.

Common sense and logic dictate you shouldn't even take a second look at this ad. Yet…

…Versions of this ad have been running in magazines (including Robb Report, Forbes, Fortune, etc.) for years. 

Obviously, it’s getting customers to buy.

And any ad that can sell this device–is a great ad.

There are a ton of powerful marketing lessons to learn here.

But first…

…Let's make sure we're all on the same page as to exactly what this ad does.

This is a Lead Generation ad. Its sole purpose is to capture a person's name and address so the ROM company can send more information about this bike to the prospect.

In other words, the ROM company doesn't expect to actually sell the bike form this ad. They just want the opportunity to continue the sales process.

This ad is the first step in a 2-step campaign.

Step two will be more information about the product. In this case, ROM sends out a DVD to everyone who responds to the ad.

You see, when you're selling an expensive or complex product or service, where a prospect may have lots of questions and needs lots of facts to make a buying decision, there's no way you can write everything you need to in a small ad. Instead, what you could do, is…

Create an intriguing ad to capture a prospect's attention and give enough information to get the reader to provide a name and address (and sometimes phone number).

Your goal in a lead generation ad is to get the reader to request more information about the product/service.

By using a two-step sales process, you capture a qualified lead (only people truly interested in ordering this bike are going to request more information).

And you get the opportunity to deliver a great sales pitch in their follow-up information you send out.

OK, now that you know the basics about lead generation ads and a simple two-step sales process… let's look at what makes this ad so great at generating leads for an outrageous (and outrageously priced) exercise bike…

First…the headline. It's outrageous. It makes you stop dead in your tracks.

"Exercise in only 4 minutes?"

Really? Is it possible? Can this finally be the exercise that will help me lose weight? 

Instinctively, you know it takes longer than 4 minutes to lose weight.

Yet, the bold headline combined with the photo of the exercise machine (similar to other exercise bikes, yet very different looking… different enough to get your attention) makes you read on.

Then, right underneath the headline, is the subhead…

"Winner of the Popular Science Award for
the 'Best of What's New' in Leisure Products."

This is an important line because it adds instant credibility to the product. After all, it can't be a total scam if it won a Popular Science Award. But here's the thing…

I have no clue what the heck the Popular Science Award is… and neither does anyone else reading the ad.

It can be a legit organization that thoroughly tested the bike, or some tiny little operation with absolutely no credibility. The fact that the ROM won the award is all that matters right now.

When someone's reading an ad like this, they won't question it too much. Remember, this ad is not trying to get someone to pull out a credit card and buy the bike. So, at this point, a reader won't be too critical of all the claims.

The ad also uses the "Best of What's New" indicia to help sell home the point the ROM won an award. Makes the award (and the ad) look a bit more official.

It's also a nice little eye-catcher. Just enough to catch someone's attention as they flip through a magazine. And, of course, the other item that catches EVERYONE'S attention is…

…The $14,615 price tag. Normally, you don't put a price on a lead generation ad. But ROM does include the price for two very good reasons:

1)  The high price immediately sets the ROM apart
      from all other
 exercise bikes. Obviously, at this price,
      the ROM is the top of the  line. It's exclusively for
      those who only want the best. 

2)  The high price eliminates all the tire kickers who
      can't afford the bike. ROM doesn't want to waste time
      sending out DVDs or
 talking with anyone who doesn’t
      have the money to buy the bike. So,
 only qualified
      buyers are going to request for more information.

So, the very top of the ad has four separate elements…

     • Eye-catching headline

     • Subhead that lends credibility

     • Official-looking indicia

     • Extremely high price

These four elements quickly let the reader of the ad know this bike is different and exclusive.

Those readers who are truly interested in owning such a bike, will continue reading. And the first thing they'll see is the photo of the exercise bike. It looks different than any other exercise bike. And you begin to think, "Hmm… maybe it's worth the money…"

Immediately underneath the photo of the bike, you see

"MANUFACTURED IN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1990."

I'm not sure how important this is anymore. Maybe when they first started running these ads, "Made in the USA" was popular, and they tried to capitalize on that sentiment. But today, not sure it adds to the sales argument.

I would put a much stronger line, possibly stating a benefit of owning and using the bike. According to the website, the ROM has been tested and reviewed in quite a few medical journals.

It would be easy to use a caption like "Six published health studies PROVE the ROM reduces body fat and increase cardio endurance in only 4 minutes a day!" Or something like that.

Or, if you want the caption to build on the social proof and popularity of the ROM, you can say something like "As seen in Esquire Magazine, L.A. business Journal, Vanity Fair, Fortune, Newsmax, Outside, Time, Vogue, and Popular Science."

As you can see, even before we get to the actually copy for the ad, there's a TON of selling going on. As for the copy…

…It starts with some impressive facts and statistics about lack of time and exercise. Many people reading the ad can probably identify with not using the exercise equipment they own or missing sessions at the gym.

So, right off the bat, the reader can start nodding in agreement with what the ad is saying.

And then a really good stat and proof of the value of the ROM,

"Over 97% of people who rent our ROM for 30 days wind up
purchasing it based upon the health benefits
experienced during that tryout."

This is a STRONG line for many reasons…

First, no way in the world would 97% of people plunk down $14,615 for something that doesn't work.

Since these people tried it out for 30 days, it "proves" it works. After all, who better to convince you the ROM works than people who were in your shoes and tried it before they bought it?

And, the reason they bought it is: "the health benefits experienced."

This takes out any guesswork a reader may have. NEVER assume the reader of your advertising knows what you're talking about.

And never miss an opportunity to remind them of the benefits of your product. This one line in the ad does both in a subtle, but convincing, way.

Another great line in the ad is:

"At under 20 cents per use, the 4 minute ROM exercise is
the least expensive full body complete exercise a person can do."

WHEW! That line is PACKED with benefits. And it also addresses the cost issue.

You see, anybody who buys this bike, is likely to buy it because he or she is the type of person who wants the best in class. They buy expensive cars, expensive clothing and expensive homes. Emotionally, they WANT the nice and expensive stuff.

However, they justify these expensive purchases (no matter how outrageous they are) with rational facts. So now, they can justify the outrageous price tag by saying, "But look what a smart and prudent purchase this is. It only costs 20 cents per use."

You and I know this line of reasoning is a crock. But it gives the purchaser something to ease the rational side of their mind (and give them amo to use when their spouse sees the credit card statement).

So, when you're selling, always appeal to someone's emotions first… but make sure to include rational reasons someone needs your product or service.

The ad also goes on to continue using very specific facts and numbers on who buys the ROM and how durable and dependable it is.

And the ad ends by telling the reader all the maladies the ROM can help cure, from blood sugar imbalance to bad backs and shoulders. Is there anything this wonder machine can't fix?

And finally, probably the most brilliant copy and sales strategy in the ad is the box on the lower right hand side:

"The typical ROM purchaser goes through several stages"

This lets the reader know he's not alone in thinking what he or she is thinking. Many others before them have gone through the same emotions and indecision as to whether to pursue purchasing the ROM.

And it lets the reader know the ROM company understands exactly what they're feeling and that they deal with this all the time.

In fact, they’re normal in thinking this way. That’s what a BUYER of the ROM should think.

And the best point of the ten is the first one,

"Total disbelief that the ROM can do all this in only 4 minutes."

Many advertisers would shy away from the claim of incredible health benefits in only 4 minutes. But the ROM company addresses it head on. They're not only admitting their claim is unbelievable. They're telling you, you should question the claim as well! 

This is a brilliant strategy as it lets the reader know he or she is not alone. And, at the same time, it gives the ROM company the opportunity to prove their case.

And the second point, builds on the first, and let's you know, everyone around you is going to think you’re nuts for even considering buying the ROM.

In fact, they flat out tell you, "Be prepared to be ridiculed when you buy this bike." Again, this puts the reader (and potential buyer) at ease letting them know, "Hey, it's OK, everyone of our smart buyers goes through this. It's typical."

But, as the list goes on, it slowly convinces you that the ROM is worth the money and is the miracle exercise machine it claims to be.

You see, the first few bullets get you to agree with them on the obvious stuff. That is, this bike is weird and I'll be laughed at. That's easy for a read to buy into and agree with.

However, beginning with bullet number three, the list begins to get more positive toward the ROM. It actually tells you how you will feel. It's easy for the reader to keep agreeing with these points. This list makes it easy for the reader to visualize how great they'll look by using the ROM.

And bullet number 10 will probably put a smile on your face as it tells you the same people who ridiculed you will eventually buy the bike too, after they see how happy you are with it.

And the ad gives you two different ways to order your free DVD. It also lists a physical address (assumingly, the company headquarters. By including a real address, the company appears more real.

Also, the ad lets you know you can rent the ROM for 30 days. This is a great strategy, as it lets you know you don't have to commit to buying it. You can try before you buy.

So now, instead of thinking, "I have to shell out over $14,000 to try this," it gets you thinking, "Hmmm…I can rent it for a little while. That will be cheaper and safer than buying."

There's a reason this ad has been running for many years. It works. It gets people to request the free CD. And a portion of those who request the CD, will purchase the bike.

I actually remember the very first time I saw this ad. I was very young. Had no interest in buying any exercise bike, but read every word of it. It's a masterful job of sales persuasion.

OK, so, how can you use what you just learned form this review in YOUR advertising? Let's see…

First of all, if you have  a product or service that is
totally unlike your competitors, think about making
that one of the major selling features. Just like the ROM
does, come out and tell people, "Of course this looks
different.  That's because, in order to get the 
amazing results above and beyond everything
else offered, we had to make it different. If we
made it look like everything else,  it would 
perform like everything else. But we made
a major breakthrough."

Second, Don't be afraid to tell people something negative
about your product or service. The ROM does this by letting
the reader know they'll be ridiculed by others. By admitting
a weakness or flaw in your product or service, it gives you
the opportunity to address it and turn it into a positive.
People aren't idiots. If there's a flaw in your product or 
service, they'll sniff it out. Especially those serious about
buying. Buyers are the ones that read every word of your ad.
Buyers will question every claim you make. And buyers will
see what you're leaving out. And if you leave something out of
your sales pitch, a potential buyer will assume you're leaving 
it out because you're covering or hiding a flaw in your
product or service.

Third, show the reader the results he or she will experience
when using your product or service. Show them how fun or
easy or healthy or profitable their future will be due to the
amazing effects of your product or service.

Fourth, if your product is very expensive compared to
competitor's products, see if there's a way to get your product
into the hands of potential buyers with a short-term trial. ROM
does this with their 30-day rental. And ROM lets the  renter know,
if they buy after they rent, the full rental price will be used toward 
the purchase, so the rental money doesn't go to waste.

OK, that's my first ad review.

What do you think?

Let me know what you liked and didn't like.

Also, feel free to tell me what you'd like to see me review in this blog.

If you want to check out the ROM, go to the company's website at: www.FastExercise.com

Recently, the ROM company has been running quite a few ads. As I collect them I'll scan them in and post them here so you can see the other strategies and executions they’re using to sell the ROM.