The mistake most internet advertisers make, is that they try to sell their goods/services in their ads.

 

There’s a story about a school that hosted a career day, where various industry speakers came to present their industries to an auditorium filled with grade 11 and matric students.

 

Most of the speakers went on about how wonderful their respective industry is, and what benefits the students would have in choosing a career within their industry.

 

The last person to present was a military Sergeant. He walked onto the podium, looked around for about 5 minutes without saying a word, then said…

…”I see only a few of you who would make it in the military. Those of you who are interested in trying your luck, come see me after school”

 

Needless to say, almost the entire auditorium went to see the Sergeant.

The lesson…

…Don’t try to sell your goods/services in your ads. Create just enough interest for your prospective client to want to contact you.

 

How?

Appeal to their underlying need.

Underlying????

Yes. Underlying…

 

…Most people have a need, and then they have an underlying need.

 

What’s the difference?

 

I’ll give you an example…

…A guy walks into a hardware store…

… He buys a drill…

You guessed it…

…He needed a drill. But what was his underlying need?

You think he woke up that morning, and decided…

…”Hey. I think I’ll buy a drill today. I’ve always wanted a drill.”

No…

…He had an underlying need…

…He needed a hole in something!

A wall. A piece of wood. A piece of metal. Whatever it was…

…he needed to make a hole. In order to make the hole, he needed to buy a drill.

 

So, although his need was for a drill when he walked into the hardware store, his underlying need was for a hole.

 

If you can find your prospective client’s underlying need, you are 90% on your way to writing a killer ad.

 

Now consider this…

…The guy walks into the hardware store. he sees a wall with about 20 different drills. Big ones. Small ones. Medium ones. Yellow ones. Blue ones. Black ones. etc. etc.

 

Each drill has an ad from the manufacturer below it. Each one describes the features of the drill…

…”This drill has hammer action“…

…”This drill has depth measurement“…

…and below one drill, the following ad appears…

…”This drill makes perfectly round holes effortlessly in any material, and it will even suck up the dirt while you’re making the hole“…

So what was the guy’s underlying need again? Absolutely. He needed a hole. This drill was going to give him the hole effortlessly, and even clean up after him.

 

Starting to get the picture?

 

To write a killer ad, you have to appeal to your prospective client’s UNDERLYING needs…

…and you will blow your competition out of the water everytime.

 

Our next topic…

…“How To Get Repeat Business”…