"When everyone else is shouting, whisper; and when everyone else is whispering, shout."
This old advertising axiom speaks volumes about how to attract attention to your advertising: make your ads distinctly different from those of your competitors. If your advertising can't be sharply contrasted with that of your competitors, then yours is just another voice added to the clamor and clutter being beamed at your customers and prospects. A distinct difference between your advertising and that of your competitors will get the attention of both your prospects and your present customers. And remember that your present customers are your best prospects.
How can you find -- create, actually -- that distinguishing feature or element that sets you apart from all the competitive messages clamoring for the attention of your customers and prospects?
First, carefully analyze the advertising being done by your competitors. Don't simply look at it; read it closely. You may find that much of it consists largely of lists and recitations of product and/or service features. Features. Remember that word.
Then carefully examine your own advertising. Don't simply look at it; read it closely. You may find that your advertising, too, consists largely of lists and recitations of product and/or service features. Now let's talk about how to go beyond mere features.
Start with the acronym FAB. That stands for the chain of features→advantages→benefits. Those three parts of the FAB chain are essential for the most effective advertising. Hard-working advertising goes beyond merely listing features, to describing the advantages those features bring, and the resulting benefits to the customer. It goes something like this: Our product is blended with zorch, the most effective whitener on the market (feature), which is so powerful that less is required to reach a desired level of whiteness (advantage), which means that your chemical cost is reduced and your profit margin increased (benefit).
I am sure you get the picture. When planning your advertising approach, just remember FAB. Plan your advertising argument with the features→advantages→benefits chain in mind. Headline the benefit and pound it home.
Chuck Swann is Senior Editor at Paperitalo Publications. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. For more information on Paperitalo Publications, feel free to contact:
Curt Gifford
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770-367-4823
Helen Roush
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937-403-8602
Jim Thompson
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678-206-6010
100% Renewal Rate
Something to think about when you consider where to spend your advertising dollars this year--what media company in the pulp and paper industry can say it has experienced a 100% renewal rate with its advertisers in 2014? Paperitalo Publications. Our service after the sale, our delivery of what we say we can deliver, our monthly correspondence all add up to a relationship people want to continue. Do you feel this way about your current advertising media? Perhaps it is time for you to take a look at Paperitalo Publications.
