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An Important Internet Marketing Secret Discovered 100 Years Ago 19 points posted over 3 years ago |
Three important words on Internet marketing that were discovered over 100 years ago. |
In 1904, a former Canadian mountie knocked on the door of Lord & Thomas, one of the biggest advertising agencies of the time, and told senior partner A.L. Thomas that he had a secret that would change the way advertising was executed from that day onwards.
The former mountie, John E. Kennedy, told Thomas that the secret is actually a definition of what advertising should be and that no one had ever thought about it before. Furthermore, he said the secret contained just three words that would change advertising forever. And it has.
The three words are these: Salesmanship in print.
While advertising had been around since 1704 and advertising agencies sprouted all over the USA in 1843, no one had ever looked at advertising that way. Up to that time, advertising was seen simply as a means of telling the public what a product was all about in a simple, straightforward forward manner.
With Kennedy's three words -- salesmanship in print -- he flung the doors wide open to what advertising has become: creative selling. Or, as that age-old marketing quote puts it, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak."
Bear in mind that, when selling a product, our prospects are probably thinking about only one thing: what's in it for me? That is the attitude you have to appeal to. Sure, the nuts and bolts of your product are certainly important, but that's not what captures your prospect's attention and convinces them to buy. It's the sizzle that does that.
Hence, you're not selling soap, you're selling "fragrant, glowing skin." You're not selling shampoo, you're selling "dazzling, luxurious hair." In a nutshell, you are not selling products, you are selling consumer benefits.
Now, you may ask, what does this have to do with Internet marketing? Why, a great deal.
Oftentimes, our Web sites or online ads contain simple, straightforward copy that tells people what we have to offer -- much like the state of advertising before 1904. In doing this, we are missing out on a great opportunity.
We should instead be thinking, to paraphrase Kennedy, "salesmanship in cyberspace." In other words, our Web sites should be all about the sizzle and not about the steak. Every word in our copy should appeal to our prospects' question "what's in it for me?" Like advertising, our Web sites should be a selling tool. Remember, you are selling consumer benefits, not products.
Now, take a look at your Web site and read your copy with Kennedy's three words in mind. You will surely find more than a few opportunities to put in some sizzle and salesmanship.
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