Build A Case For Your Product or Service

You know that in order for your advertising to be effective, you need to think of your ads as an army of tiny salesmen that work on straight commission. In order for this to work though, your ads have to be properly structured - from a selling standpoint - to get the biggest impact. When you go to write an ad, you probably ask yourself, "What should I talk about? What selling points should I bring out, given my time or space restraints, and the competition I've identified?" The answer is - as much as you can - to build a case for your product or service.

Think about your marketing and advertising strategy this way: Your product or service is on trial. The consumer is the jury. You're the attorney, and you must prove to the jury that they should buy from you - and it's a life-or-death sentence. Your job is to come up with all the proof and evidence needed and then present it in a way that the jury believes you.

But if you look at the way most businesses advertise, they build no case at all. Instead, they just carelessly spout off the same old stuff that all of their competitors are saying. Here's an example of ad for a franchised auto repair facility - it says,

WE DO IT ALL,
OUR HOURS ARE DESIGNED AROUND YOUR HOURS,
WE USE HIGH QUALITY PARTS,
WE HAVE FRIENDLY PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIANS,
AND WE GIVE FREE ESTIMATES.

Does that build a case? If you were in the market for auto repair, has their mail piece convinced you that you'd be an absolute fool to take your car anyplace else? There's no claim, no proof that they're any different or any better than any other place. Just the same old meaningless advertising babble. No argument, no evidence, no proof...no nothing.

Just imagine what it'd be like if an attorney did as poor a job arguing a court case as most advertisers do in their marketing. I know it's been a while, but remember the OJ Simpson murder trial? What if OJ's attorneys had said, "Come on...he couldn't have done that! He's OJ! The Juice! He runs through airports! He's the 2,000 yard Buffalo Bill! He's an actor! Everyone loves him! There's no way he did it!" As ridiculous as that sounds, that's about as good of a case as most advertisers ever prepare to defend and sell their product. "It's better, we're cheaper, we're professional, we've got better service," and so forth. Remember what OJ's attorneys DID do? They researched and prepared all kinds of forensic reports, alibis, and expert witnesses... everything they needed to prove he couldn't possibly have done it. I guess he could have used better attorneys this last time around.

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