When I’m travelling I love flicking through the glossy in-flight magazines produced for the full service airlines (not the budget airlines where seats, safety belts and snacks come extra). The other place you’ll find the types of magazines I’m talking about are as glossy inserts in newspapers and other publications for the elite crowd.
The advertisements in those magazines are obviously pitched at those high net worth, big spending vacuous individuals who apparently can’t read more than a few words but are mighty impressed by pictures.
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You know the sort of adverts I mean… just a big, normally full page, picture of an article of clothing, a watch or a car. The picture is generally finished off with a brand name and precious little other information. They are all about the picture and the brand.
Obviously what the advertiser believes is that the reader will admire the picture and immediately take in the brand name to be forever converted to that brand!
I think it was when I first read Scientific Advertising by Claude C Hopkins, written almost a century ago, that I first came across a phrase which has stuck with me since. The phrase? “Reasons why”. The meaning? Give people reasons to buy.
The more you do so the more they’ll buy. Describe the features, elaborate on the advantages but, most importantly, sell the benefits. People buy benefits, the answer to their question “what’s in it for me”. They are reasons they’ll buy.
That’s why, when I saw this advertisement, I asked myself – what are they asking me to buy? And where are some reasons why I should? Sure I know they make hundreds of products in all these categories… jewellery, watches, living, cutlery, Christmas, men’s, silverware, gifts and more.
I know how good the products they produce are, so just use all that valuable advertising space to give me some reasons to buy… something!
And make sure that, in your marketing, you always give people reasons why.
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