“Direct response is my first love, and later it became my secret weapon.” ~ David Ogilvy
I was inspired to write this guest post for Mr. Green after reading (albeit a little post facto) Shock Marketer’s blog http://shockmarketer.com/calculate-statistical-significance/. To Mr. Shock de la Rock, whoever you are, your blog is tip top.
A longtime ago and far far away, before there was Don Draper and Roger Sterling, there was David Ogilvy. Mr. Ogilvy was the King of Madison Avenue, and the man knew how to sell.
Before my life in affiliate marketing, Miss Ewoww worked at a direct response advertising agency working on DR TV shows, radio spots, print ads, catalogs, and a lot of direct mail. And we were all fanbois of David Ogilvy.
“In print advertising, you know that long copy sells more than short copy. You know, that headlines and copy about the product and its benefits sell more than cute headlines and poetic copy. You know it to a dollar… Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
Sound familiar? There are a LOT of old school marketing tricks from that golden era of advertising that should be brought back (and I mean besides the 3 martini lunch).
It’s time to go back to our direct response roots (and no, I’m not referring to that “blonde” Hydra AM <cat sound!>). You can build all the scrapers you want but if you don’t start figuring out why something is working than you’ll always be a step behind the innovators, chasing the trends. As Father Flipside called it (although I do believe that grandfathered in from Mr. Affbuzz, who originally coined the term) the “WickedFire mindset.”
For example, let’s talk segmentation and targeting my affilifriends. Know who your product is for, and I mean specifics. Certainly not for everyone, not for people trying to lose weight, not for women trying to lose weight, but possibly about for first-time moms trying to lose the baby weight but finding themselves with no free time and exhausted more than ever desperate for a quick fix to get their bodies back in pre-bambino shape.
Ogilvy was already hip to your so-called farticle.
“It has been found that the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement, and the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop, look and read. Therefore, study the graphics used by editors and imitate them. Study the graphics used in advertisements, and avoid them.”
What you call linkbait or subject lines, the Direct Response world calls teasers and headlines. Some headlines tips from Mr. Ogilvy…
1. Try to put news in the headline. The words new and free are the most powerful
words that can appear in the headline.
2. There are several other words that are effective: How to, Suddenly, Now,
Announcing, Improvement, etc. Headlines can also include emotional words.
3. Include a promise in the headlines, and longer headlines sell more than short
headlines. Make the consumer curious.
4. Do not try to write tricky headlines, be simple and to the point.
5. Do not use negatives in the headlines.
Some more words-o-wisdom from the King of Madison Avenue:
“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.”
“A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.”
“Long copy, long headlines, address people as individuals, use plain conversational language (Ewoww note: aka the flog) and write your copy in the form of a story.”
I leave you with this my affilifriends… If this video doesn’t stir you ever the slightest, then take a knee spaceman and move on. Affiliate marketing ain’t for you. Enjoy ripping landers and trying to fill the post-continuity void, get back to me when you move back in with mom and pops. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br2KSsaTzUc
And if it did, go pick up David's classic handbook, "Ogilvy on Advertising." You'll be glad you did!
-Ewoww
