“Scientific Advertising” Chapter 2: Just Salesmanship
The second chapter in Claude C. Hopkins’ “Scientific Advertising” is entitled Just salesmanship.
The concept of being a salesman as an advertiser and marketer has already been covered in previous posts. I suggest you refer back to “From Headlines to Psychological Triggers as Taught By Joe Sugarman“, “Why Content is King“, “Dig Deeper into the Emotions of Your Audiences When Writing Content“, and “As a Website Copywriter…Think the Consumer has Become the Producer“ to see how it all ties in.
I very much enjoyed reading Hopkins’ second chapter because it covers the most basic elements of a good copywriter. A copywriter is a person who uses words to sell. Just as you would sit in a bar with a friend and tell a story, the same should be applied when writing powerful sales messages like sales letters or email newsletters: speak to you audience as if you are having a “bar conversation” as John Carlton refers to it. Simple language, to the point, precise and easy to understand is what you should be applying when communicating with prospects.
Hopkins’ writes: “One must be able to express himself briefly, clearly and convincingly, just as a salesman must. But fine writing is a distinct disadvantage. So is unique literary style. They take attention from the subject. They reveal the hook. Any studies done that attempt to sell, if apparent, creates corresponding resistance.”
He goes on to say: “Successful salesmen are rarely good speech makers. They have few oratorical graces. They are plain and sincere men who know their customers and know their lines. So it is in ad writing.”
Again, review the previous posts on copywriting and content generation to understand the essence of good writing.
In this chapter, Hopkins’ reiterates another important element of good salesmanship; a concept Eben Pagan explains very often too: “Some advertising men go out in person and sell to people before they plan to write an ad. One of the ablest of them has spent weeks on one article, selling from house to house. In this way they learn the reactions from different forms of argument and approach. They learn what possible buyers want and the factors, which don’t appeal. It is quite customary to interview hundreds of possible customers.”
A good marketer understands his prospects as well as he understands himself. A good marketer delves deep into the psychology of his targeted audience to understand their fears and pains, and delivers to them something of value to solve a problem.
Finally, the main difference between a salesman and a marketer (or advertiser), is that a salesman tries to sell to a specific person: one-on-on. An advertiser puts out a campaign to target masses of people. Therefore, a real marketer is always cautious about the methodologies he uses when launching his campaigns – the more cautious and exact a campaign is, the more it is likely to succeed.
Every word or slogon in an advertisement is used for a purpose. Every word in an advertisement should be as infused with super-salesmanship.
Conduct research on your audiences, conduct surveys and questionnaires to reach into their psychologies. Good salesmanship is not a bunch of shiny words and expensive suits – a good salesman understands his prospect and brings him value by solving a problem.
Next time – Chapter 3- “‘Offer Service”
Cheers!
Anna @ Toronto
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