I saw this advert in a nationally circulating newspaper in the States and reckon it would have cost tens of thousands of dollars to run.
It probably would have worked gangbusters and generated thousands of sales but I wonder whether that would be enough to turn a profit for the advertiser coz of the low value per sale and the advert cost.
So what are my thoughts?
Well, first of all you’ve got to walk in the moccasins of a fisherman, or should I say fisherperson? You’ve got to understand how they think.
Peter, my business partner and an avid angler, said that if he got a advert, barely readable printed on crumpled paper headlined “How to catch the biggest fish in your life!” that credibly explained how a widget worked to do that he’d rush out and buy it.
So, the headline in this advert targets the right audience. I’m sure it’d grab the attention of anyone reading the newspaper who was into fishing.
And the use of the magic word “new” in the headline is full of promise.
And I reckon that once hooked, the reader would read the rest of the story because it does a great job of presenting very convincing facts.
And being written in the first person, with the writer apparently telling his own story, adds to the credibility.
The pictures, well captioned, break up the wall of words and add to the conviction in the copy.
If I have one tiny criticism it would be that the copy could be broken up with a few more sub heads… many readers scan the sub heads only to get the gist of the story and will act on that information alone.
Testimonials, one of the most important strengthening factors in any advert are there too but not in the more usual way of having a named satisfied client reporting success with the product.
Here, the story teller quotes examples from credible sources like “three fishermen”, “two professionals”, “a tournament fisherman”, “a veteran fisherman in my office”, and even an “ichthyologist” who said that you “could probably empty a lake with it”. Impressive proof indeed!
As is hugely important, there’s a great no nonsense guarantee.. you get your money back if you haven’t caught more fish using it. That’s a good’un with no ifs, no buts and no qualifications. That’s pretty powerful.
I only have one negative in my mind. Why did they spend tens of thousands on an advert in a newspaper that reaches a huge audience, most of whom are non fisherfolk? Why not try the advert in a fishing magazine, or use Google Adwords or get an email list of people interested in fishing. The cost /sales equation may have been even better.
But I imagine they knew what they were doing and had tested and measured the results of various approaches. Maybe they knew that even non fishers and friends of fishers as well as fishers themselves read the newspaper and would line up to buy, either as a gift or for themselves.
Oh, and by the way, the advert was run at the height of the US summer vacation period when fishing makes lots of sense.
There’s heaps to learn from this classic approach to a direct marketing advertisement. It’s one you should study no matter whether it’s old or new fashioned media you may be thinking of using.
If you’re planning to use direct marketing, then A Marketer’s No Disaster Checklist is essential. Marketing guru Winston Marsh takes you through a 50 point checklist of things to do so you can disaster proof your campaign. Discover everything you should put in place before launching your campaign. Get it here. Part of the Winno’s Wise Words series.
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