Great Moments in Advertising Part 3
Claude C Hopkins Ramps It Up
Another Notch
In this issue
- How treating great marketing strategies and sales copy as a mere commodity hamstrings businesses …
- How to position any product as unique and head-and-shoulders above the competition…
- How long sales copy should be …
- And much, much more!
Dear Business-Builder,
The other day, a subscriber e-mailed me to inquire if my direct marketing agency, Response Ink, would build a website for him.
Now, although ResponseInk is definitely NOT looking to add new clients to our line-up at this time, the subscriber’s company has an intriguing, even ingenious business model – and so my curiosity got the better of me.
As we talked, it quickly became clear that, instead of searching for the best marketing strategies and sales copy money could buy, the principals were price-shopping us!
And so I politely quoted our admittedly outrageous price – which includes a commission on each sale we produce … let them off the hook by apologizing that we couldn’t get their site done in the time allotted … and politely wished them good luck.
At this moment – unless I miss my guess – they’re now discovering the joys of working with the lowest bidder: A company that agreed to their deadline and quoted them a dirt-cheap price.
My prediction? These guys are about to endure a painful and costly object lesson in the true value of great marketing.
Here’s what typically happens next:
- The lowest bidder proves (surprise, surprise!) incompetent. The sales copy stinks, the Web pages are ugly and virtually unreadable, functionality is limited and the third, fourth, fifth, etc. drafts blow the deadline to smithereens.
- The lowest bidder is fired. The next-lowest bidder is hired and starts all over again from scratch. This step is often repeated two or three times until a website – of sorts – is finally finished.
- Sales stink. Months after the initial deadline, the website finally goes live and promptly proceeds to disappoint everybody with pathetic sales.
Pity.
Whether from hubris or ignorance, these otherwise very bright men are making one of the most common blunders in the business world. Believing that they have built “a better mousetrap,” they expect the world to automatically beat a path to their door.
They evidently understand they need sales copy – although they’re probably not sure why. And they’re certainly ignorant of the fact that great marketing can often produce many times the sales, revenues and profits that mediocre, lukewarm promotions do, thus multiplying the size of their business in a fraction of the time.
To “penny-wise, pound-foolish” guys like these, marketing strategies and copywriting are merely a commodity – just another business expense – no more important to their company’s success than ink cartridges, yellow pads or toilet paper.
One can only hope that sooner or later, these “penny-wise, pound-foolish” guys will have an epiphany: That they will finally realize that great marketing strategies and sales copy combined with flawless execution is AT LEAST as essential to their success as the quality of their product is – and quite possibly, even more so …
98 Years Ago, Albert Lasker Already Knew
What Those Poor Guys Are Learning NOW …
A while back, we continued our series on The Masters of Marketing with the story of “John and Albert’s Excellent Adventure” – and saw how Albert Lasker used John E. Kennedy’s assertion that good advertising is merely “Salesmanship in Print” to revolutionize our industry.
Advertisers begged for a coveted spot on Lord & Thomas’ client list – and happily paid their truly outrageous fees – because they knew the true value of great sales copy.
Whether they sold washing machines, Palmolive soap or Lucky Strikes, every company that experienced the L&T’s sales miracles knew full well they were due to great sales copy – and that the enormous multiples this great sales copy produced were well-worth paying for.
Lasker knew it too. That’s why he gladly hired John E. Kennedy for a whopping 205 times more than he was paying another copywriter at the time.
… And it’s why in 1908, Lasker jumped at the chance to hire a 42-year-old copywriter named Claude C. Hopkins for a mind-boggling $4 million in 2009 dollars.
Mr. Hopkins had already carved out a stellar advertising career using the very “Salesmanship in Print” and “Reason-Why Advertising” principles Kennedy and Lasker so fervently believed in – and his brilliant copy took sales of numerous products to the moon — including Pepsodent, Quaker’s Puffed Wheat and Chevrolets.
How to Make Any Product Feel Truly Unique
Of all his great campaigns, Hopkins is probably most famous for the campaign he created for Schlitz beer in the early 1900s.
In those days, a beer’s purity was of paramount importance to consumers – and knowing this, most breweries claimed – but never really proved – that their beers were the purest available.
Mr. Hopkins reasoned that he could lift Schlitz head and shoulders above the competition by proving his claims beyond the shadow of a doubt. Instead of merely claiming purity, he would trumpet the reasons why Schlitz was purer than the rest.
To do that, he needed to become an expert on the brewing process. And to do that, he would have to visit the brewery.
Now, picture this … here’s a guy who makes millions as a copywriter – arguably the greatest word-juggler of his time – and he realizes that second-hand research isn’t enough.
Hopkins could have simply visited a library (remember them?) to do his research on the brewer’s art. Or better yet, he could have saved several valuable days of his time and just sent an eager young apprentice to the brewery to do his research for him.
But, no. Hopkins understood that, to write the most compelling ads possible, he needed a deeper personal understanding of the product. He needed to experience the sight, smell and sounds of beer-making first-hand (and hopefully taste the final result!) – and get answers to every question that sprang into his mind.
Only, after his enlightening tour of the brewery, Hopkins began writing – describing in meticulous detail the 4,000-foot-deep artesian wells from which Schlitz drew its water … the wood pulp filters that ensured the water was 100% pure … the spotless plant and “clean rooms” with their filtered air … how Schlitz’s bottles were sanitized with germ-scalding steam … and more.
… But Hopkins did leave out one teeensy-weeensy little fact: Pretty much every brewery made its beer just like Schlitz did!
In reality, Schlitz’ beer wasn’t one iota purer than its competitors’ brewskis were. But by being the first to tell the public about the steps beer-makers took to ensure purity – and by having his client take ownership of those techniques in consumers’ minds – Hopkins convinced the entire nation that Schlitz really was the purest beer anywhere.
More than that: By making Schlitz the first brewery to reveal how beer was made, Hopkins ROBBED competing breweries of their purity claims!
After his ads ran, any brewery that claimed its beer was pure without substantiation was crushed by the specificity of Hopkins’ ads …
… And any competitor that attempted to substantiate its purity claims would just come off looking like second-rate, “me-too” breweries!
RESULT: In no time flat, Schlitz soared from America’s fifth biggest-selling beer … to NUMERO UNO!
Hopkins described his strategy beautifully in his book My Life in Advertising:
“This is a situation which occurs in most advertising problems. The article is not unique. It embodies no great advantages. Perhaps countless people can make similar products. But tell the pains you take to excel.
“Tell factors and features which others deem too commonplace to claim. Your product will come to typify those excellencies. If others claim them afterward, it will only serve to advertise you.
“There are few advertised products which cannot be imitated. Few who dominate a field have any exclusive advantage. They were simply the first to tell certain convincing facts.”
Hopkins on Hopkins
Although Claude C. Hopkins may be best-known for his Schlitz campaigns, he also pioneered sampling, the use of coupons, and replaced reckless claims with money-back guarantees and much, much more.
In fact, he reveals so many powerful copywriting techniques in My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising, nearly all of today’s top writers still worship the ground he walked upon.
If you have not read him – or have not read him lately – I strongly suggest that you surf over to Amazon.Com and remedy this situation post-haste.
Here are just a few gems from Hopkins’ gifted pen:
On Salesmanship …
“Advertising is multiplied salesmanship.
“Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman’s standards.”
—–
“The only purpose of advertising is to make sales.
“It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen.
“Figure its cost and result. Accept no excuses which good salesmen do not make. Then you will not go far wrong.”
—–
“Many of the ablest men in advertising are graduate salesmen. The best we know have been house-to-house canvassers. They may know little of grammar, nothing of rhetoric, but they know how to use words that convince.”
—–
“When you plan and prepare an advertisement, keep before you a typical buyer. Your subject, your headline has gained his or her attention. Then in everything be guided by what you would do if you met the buyer face-to-face.”
On long copy vs. short copy …
“Some people say, ‘Be very brief. People will read but little.’
“Would you say that to a salesman? With a prospect standing before him, would you confine him to any certain number of words? That would be an unthinkable handicap.”
—–
“Mail order advertising tells a complete story if the purpose is to make an immediate sale. You see no limitations there on amount of copy.
“The motto there is, ‘The more you tell the more you sell.’ And it has never failed to prove out so in any test we know.”
—–
“When you once get a person’s attention, then is the time to accomplish all you ever hope with him.
“Bring all your good arguments to bear. Cover every phase of your subject. One fact appeals to some, one to another.
“Omit any one and a certain percentage will lose the fact which might convince.”
On what mail-order advertising teaches …
“The severest test of an advertising man is in selling goods by mail. But that is a school from which he must graduate before he can hope for success.
“There cost and result are immediately apparent. False theories melt away like snowflakes in the sun. The advertising is profitable or it is not, clearly on the face of returns.
“In mail order advertising there is no waste of space. Every line is utilized. Borders are rarely used. Remember that when you are tempted to leave valuable space unoccupied.
“In mail order advertising the pictures are always to the point. They are salesmen in themselves. They earn the space they occupy. The size is gauged by their importance.”
On the importance of specificity …
“Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They leave no impression whatever.
“The weight of an argument may often be multiplied by making it specific. Say that a tungsten lamp gives more light than a carbon and you leave some doubt. Say that it gives three and one-third times the light and people realize that you have made tests and comparisons.”
On genius and hard work …
“Genius is the art of taking pains.
“The advertising man who spares the midnight oil will never get very far.”
On testing …
“Almost any question can be answered, cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign.
“And that’s the way to answer them - not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort - the buyers of your product.”
On negative advertising …
“Show the bright side, the happy and attractive side, not the dark and uninviting side of things.
“Show beauty, not homeliness; health, not sickness. Don’t show the wrinkles you propose to remove, but the face as it will appear. In advertising a dentifrice, show pretty teeth, not bad teeth.”
On manipulative advertising …
“Any studied attempt to sell, if apparent, creates corresponding resistance.”
——
Hope this helps …
Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,
Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.
Looking for more of Clayton's articles? Check these out.
Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.
Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,
Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.
Looking for more of Clayton's articles? Check these out.
Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.
9 Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by Ryan Wegman — February 26, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
Wow what an eye opening article Clayton I really enjoy this total package, Claude Hopkins was a genius in his own time and really still to this day.
As a budding entrepreneur I use this valuable info to grow and prosper in every way shape or form that I can. Thanks for everything in advance; <a href=”http://ryanwegman.com/otobook”The Pillars of Wealth is built upon the theory that wealth is simply a concept and you must vision that concept before you ever attain it.
Same as the “salesman in Print” a concept that took the marketing world by storm, I hope to do the same, keep the great content coming…
Ryan
Comment by Clarke Echols (Resident scientist and rabble-rouser) — February 26, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
Sounds like my experience. When I talk to business owners
about website work, they want to know my hourly rate.
I explain that I was a senior writer before most “web
developers” were even born, and that you can’t get that kind
of experience without planning to pay for it.
I then tell them I don’t charge by the hour. I bill by what
the job is worth, based on what they’re looking for. I’m
willing to give them ballpark figures for pages (like $800-1500 for *writing* the text for a home page, but the
graphic design and page creation is on top of that.
I then ask them what kind of budget they had in mind. Then
I explain to them what goes into writing a page — research,
understanding their competition, devising a method to position them above the competition, and make it look like
a difficult job. I even mention the intense “brain sweat”
involved in doing it well.
I then tell them they can find writers at dime-a-carload prices on elance and elsewhere and get words from a hack who
knows nothing about their business or how to make writing
effective.
They’re left with a choice: Hire it cheap, then pay me later to fix the mess, or do it right to start with.
One guy wanted a site for his business and wanted to spend
less for the entire site than I get for half a home page!
I try to be tactful (it’s hard when you can’t fix stupid),
but explain you can’t buy champagne on a ramen-noodle
budget. If you want quality and results you have to be
willing to invest properly, and if you cut corners, it can
damage you revenues more than the cost of doing it well.
I also explain the importance of having a writer who is an
*ally* instead of a “hired gun”, or worse — a minimum-cost
“vendor” of services to be minimized in cost.
I don’t win ‘em all, but it keeps the whiners down and out
of sight so I can deal with those who “get it”.
They also help you appreciate all the more those who love
and appreciate quality work — the kind of work you don’t
mind sitting up half the night working on.
CE
Comment by Marilyn — February 26, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
You are a riot!
I can just read your mind, ‘Don’t chump change me!’
Instead of getting all serious about tightwads, it must be funny to rock yourself to sleep with these thoughts.
Marilyn
Comment by John White — February 27, 2009 @ 10:37 am
On Specificity…
Hopkins sates that “platitudes and generalities mean nothing…”
Although I understand Hopkin’s point (and I have read his book several times), recall that we just elected a president based on platitudes and generalities.
The masses did not demand clarification from this guy, but then again neither did they from other notables in history (you can fill in the names here).
Also recall that - based on platitudes and generalities about an impending crisis - our congress recently passed the largest spending bill of all time without even reading it - amazingly irresponsible!
Yes, people can be mesmerized into unthinking decisions with the right guidance from a master propagandist.
Let us not overlook this valuable lesson - our children and grandchildren have paid dearly for it.
Comment by Dave Doolin — February 27, 2009 @ 4:44 pm
I am going to make my fortune in this depression.
My life whole life I have been busting my butt and watching others succeed in part by sucking up and in part by taking what isn’t theirs from people like me.
What’s coming is going to shake such people to the very core of their being.
Now, I am learning how to quantitatively measure my value.
Thanks to the generosity of Clayton, Troy, Daniel, John Carleton, Eben Pagan, Frank Kern, and many others, I have at least a full YEAR of free, very high quality material to steep myself in, to learn NOT the “tricks of the trade,” but to learn the trade itself. I’ll find my own trick later, thank you very much.
Let’s rock and roll people!
Comment by Dave Doolin — February 27, 2009 @ 4:46 pm
Oh yeah… a near term goal is to generate enough revenue to purchase *real* copywriting from a pro. I know it’s worth the bucks… but I want a proven business model working first!
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