FDMA: Your car and your DM message wont run on plain water. Thursday, February 19, 2004 Herschell Go

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FDMAYour car and your DM message wont run on
plain water.Thursday, February 19,
2004 Herschell Gordon Lewis
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What is the differencebetween3andthree?
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Sorry, you wont hear them during this diatribe

• Paradigm
• Proactive
• Win-win
• Game plan
• 24/7
• Fast track
• Customer-centric

• At the end of the day
• Core competency
• Think outside the box
• Knowledge-based
• On the same page

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Avoid these plain water words in
force-communication messages

• quality
• service
• value
• needs (as noun)

• Remember,
• Whats more
• means business
• When it comes to

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Trends for the 21st century

• Increasing informality
• Increasingly emphatic persuasion
• Inclusion of validation
• Promise of fast action

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What is a more emotional word or phrase than

• commence
• utilize
• omit
• receive
• we would like to
• large
• you incur no risk
• circular
• donate

• purchase
• fortunate
• requested
• I write concerning
• we shall
• error
• perhaps
• however
• humorous

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What is the difference between

• autumn and fall
• at last and finally
• sexy and sensual
• nude and naked
• made and manufactured
• manufactured by and built by

• immediately and at once
• reply and respond
• insincere and not sincere
• eager and anxious
• audience and viewers
• died and passed away

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The Emotion over Intellect RuleWhen emotion
and intellect come into conflict, emotion always
wins.

• The significance of this rule
• An emotion-based sales argument will outsell an
  intellect-based sales argument.

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The three bases of success in direct
response writing 1.Verisimilitude 2.Clarity 3.
Benefit
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Benefit inforce-communicationnot, "What will
it do?"but, "What will it do for me?"
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The Law of TensesPresent tense outsells future
tense because the present is now, and your
prospect wants benefits now.
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Present tense is more relevant than either future
tense or past tense. Use past tense to establish
a historical base. Use present tense to
establish position.
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"If you think that..." is a more potent opening
than "If you thought that..." because present
tense implies an immediate change of current
attitude past tense suggests that whatever
follows will be a revision of history.
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Tying future to present tells the reader"This
will be for all eternity."Compare the meanings
of these two approachesThis is the seventh
notification we've sent you. It's the last
one.or...This is the seventh notification we've
sent you. It will be the last one.
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Emotion outsells Intellect...Benefits are more
emotional than features...So benefits outsell
features.
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Whenis superior to Iffor suggestingsomething
will happen.Ifis superior to Whenfor
suggestingsomething will not happen.
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Superiority of the definite over the indefinite

• The gem in each earring is a full carat.
• The gem in each earring is one full carat.

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The Generic Determination RuleThe generic
determines reaction more than the numbers.

• More Less
• Half a quart One pint
• Half a kilo 500 grams
• One hour 60 minutes
• One day 24 hours
• One month 30 days
• One mile 5,280 feet
• Half a pound 8 ounces

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The Chronology RuleWhen chronology is within
the experiential background of the message
recipient, number of years is a more powerful
selling weapon than dates.

• So in the year 2004
• "A history of success since 1989" is weaker
  than...
• "A 15-year history of success." Why?

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Information optimizingDirecting or changing
the readers or viewers or listeners perception
without changing the facts.
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Information optimizingWhen should you
useasterisks()in selling copy?Never.
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Information optimizingTheRestoration/Preserva
tion RuleWhen promoting personal improvement
products,restoration outpulls preservation.
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Information optimizingParity AdvertisingThe
statement seems to imply superiority but actually
only claims parity... "No bank pays higher
interest" Nobody sells for less" "We'll meet
any discount price."
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The three components of successful
force-communication

• Basic psychology
• Vocabulary suppression
• Salesmanship equivalent to that of a vacuum
  cleaner salesman in a department store

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Watch that punctuation!A woman without her man
is nothing is itor

• A woman, without her man, is nothing.

• A woman without her, man is nothing.

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The First Great Law

• Reach and influence,
• at the lowest possible cost,
• the most people
• who can and will respond.

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The Second Great Law

• In this Age of Skepticism,
• cleverness
• for the sake of cleverness
• may well be a liability,
• rather than an asset.

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The Third Great Law

• E2 0

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The Fourth Great Law

• Tell your target-individual
• what to do.

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The Clarity Commandment

• When you choose words and phrases for
• force-communication, clarity is paramount.
• Dont let any other component of the
  communications mix interfere with it.

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A tipFor clarity, When listing two parallel
items, and one has a qualifier, list the one
without the qualifier first. Example helps you
diet and quit smoking ...NOT helps you quit
smoking and diet
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The five great motivators

• Fear
• Exclusivity
• Greed
• Guilt
• Need for approval

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Soft motivatorsConvenienceandPleasure
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Motivator forfund raisers,extremist
organizationAnger
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Possibleadditional motivatorsas the 21st
centuryevolvesEnvyStatus(Does status
differfrom exclusivity?)
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The Rule ofNegative SubtletyThe effectiveness
of a direct response message whose purpose is to
sell somethingdecreases in direct ratioto an
increase in subtlety.
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First Sub-rule ofNegative SubtletyA sales
argument loses impact in direct ratioto an
increase in subtlety.
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A nasty developmentin theSopranosnon-culture
ofcommunicationIn your faceadvertising
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TheShock DiminutionRuleShock diminishesin
exact ratioto repetition.
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Trigger-words for seniors

• Discount
• Buy direct
• Young
• Have a problem with...
• Do you remember how WHATEVER used to be?
• Have you considered?

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For print, mail, or e-mail to seniors

• 1. No type smaller than 10-point.
• 2. Response must be easy.
• 3. Include a coupon with ample room to make
  entries, or an easy Click here.
• 4. Suggest a discount or bargain.
• 5. Appear to appeal to logic.
• 6. Don't make a long story short.

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Some logicalrulesforeffective
letter-writing(and much e-mail)
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Keep your first sentenceshort.
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No paragraphslonger thanseven lines.
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Single spacethe letter.Double spacebetween
paragraphs.
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In a letter longer than one page,dontend a
paragraph at the bottom of any page except the
last.(Why?)
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Dontsneak upon the reader.Fireyour biggest
gunfirst.(Imperative for e-mail.)
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Tired of Dear Friend?Try one of these

• Good morning!
• Hi.
• Dear Colleague,
• Dear Tennis Nut,
• Dear Fellow Tennis Nut,
• This will be a good day, NAME!
• If youre like I am, NAME
• (When should you use
• only the first name?)

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Tired of Dear Friend?Try one of these

• Private memo to NAME
• Im writing in haste, NAME, because
• NAME, did you ever imagine
• News bulletin for NAME
• NAME, a small favor, please?
• (When should you use
• only the first name?)

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How doesHi.Differ fromHi!?
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What is wrong with this first sentence?

• Over one trillion dollars is spent by
  manufacturing companies each year on materials,
  equipment, and services.

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If you enclose two letters in your mailing,don't
put a p.s. on both of them.
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An absolute truism of force-communicationSpecif
icsoutpullgeneralizations.
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How would you make these sentences more emotional?

• I need your aid.
• My story is at an end.
• Can you donate 25?
• We regret the error concerning your account.
• A reply from you would be appreciated.
• If you are dissatisfied, simply return it.
• Enclosed please find the pertinent information.

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What is the difference between

• 100
• 100.
• 100.00
• 100!
• 100.00!
• One hundred dollars
• A hundred bucks

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For offers with a highly emotional flavor, if
you include a response device which emphasizes
responding by mail you may actually damage
response.
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Plural references say to the reader You're one
of the mob.Singular references say to the
reader Only you.Which one will do a better
selling job?
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Use singular to suggest exclusivityYoull save
on anything you see in these pages.Use a
collective noun to suggest universalityYoull
save on everything you see in these pages.
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NEVERapologizein direct response space ads or
direct mail.BUT in e-mail, an apology can
bypass spam filters.
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The Celebrity Endorsement Rule

• In business-to-business copy, user endorsements
  are usually stronger than celebrity endorsements.
  In consumer copy, endorsement by a celebrity
  unrelated to the type of product or service you
  sell probably is a waste of money.

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For an investment fund? Youve gotta be kidding.
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Time for just one basic rulefor e-mail marketing
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You can capitalize on this truism

• The Web is price-driven.

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The online incentive that outpulls all
othersButspam filters will kill it in the
e-mail subject line.

• FREE
• SHIPPING

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NEVERsend a message thats a 100 download, with
no upfront motivators.WHY?Because 34 million
online visitors will see this on their
screenand a huge percentage will hit the
delete key
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Did you know

• Adding the recipients name to the Subject line
  usually increases response.
• Whether html, illustration, or straight text
  pulls best depends on individual and specific
  circumstances.
• There is no point in sending teaser e-mail.

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An oddity worth testingMoving click
here?UP?in the textusually increasesresponse.
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Last words today on e-mail Want to defeat
spam-filters? Dont use these inthe subject line

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Or these

• free/complimentary
• loan
• cash
• save/saving
• increase/size
• mortgage/loan
• Win
• (ALL CAPS HEADING)

• Viagra
• compare
• approved/approval
• buy/own
• sale/discount
• prize
• Fun
• Click here (in the text (sob)

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Positivesusually outpullnegatives.So
dontstart your selling argumentwithDont.
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AYes/No optionwill increase
response.BUTSmart marketers knowhow to
wordthe No option.
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The Illustration Agreement Rule

• Illustration should agree with what we are
  selling, not with headline copy.

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The Active/Passive Rule

• Unless you specifically want to avoid reader
  involvement in your message, always write in the
  active voice.

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A dozen implicitly weak words and phrases

• administration
• approximately
• define
• earn
• facilitate
• features

• formulate
• indeed
• needs (as noun)
• product
• respond
• work

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A dozen words and phrases with power

• not sold in stores
• first time offered
• good only until DATE
• Dont miss out
• Ill look for your order
• Try it at our risk

• free
• free gift
• limited time
• right now
• surprise
• hot