Advertising Success With A Personal Touch

I have recently been testing a couple of new ad campaigns. I was pretty convinced that I had good headlines, but I was not getting the responses that I was looking for.

I decided to go back and look through some previous ad campaigns. I looked at both successful campaigns and also some that had to have major tweaks before they were successful.

A recurring theme kept creeping up. Most of the successful ads all had something in common. A personal touch. The majority of the failed ads were missing the same ingredient.

Personal Touch? Something that the prospective customer can identify with.

I know, you are thinking that you should always try to write your ads so the prospective customer can identify.

Yes, that is true but this is that little something special that can make or break your ads.

Here are a couple of examples of what I am talking about.

One of the old campaigns that I was looking at, jumped out and hit home.

This was such a simple thing but made the difference between a so-so ad and a tremendously successful campaign.

It was actually a television ad but it proves the point. This company was introducing a new product. I helped write the copy and we auditioned a number of young ladies to read the copy.

The lady young lady that we chose, had a wonderful voice and we were totally convinced that we had a hit on our hands.

The gentleman who owned the company grew up in the southeast and wanted to start the campaign there.

It was a bomb. I spent a couple of days going over and over the ad copy. One night, I woke out of a dead sleep with the answer. The young lady was brilliant but she did not have a Southern Accent.

This one change turned it into a massive success. We then proceeded to use this knowledge to run successful campaigns nation wide.

I know that most of you are not advertising on television but the principles are the same.

Just a little bit of the personal touch was the difference between success and failure.

I am going to give you another example.

I had an advertiser a couple of months ago who ran a Solo Ad that did very poorly. He was new in the marketing business and had ran this same Solo Ad to a few ezines and was not any richer for the experience.

I took a look at what he was advertising and actually ended up buying the product. I loved it.

I wrote the guy and told him that the product he was advertising was very nice. He said that he was still not getting a very productive response with the ad.

The ad itself was actually pretty good. I suggested that he try personalizing the ad a little more.

He took this same ad and started making a nice weekly check.

How did he personalize it you ask? He added a couple of sentences.

One mentions the name of the ezine that he is running the ad in.

The other mentions the first name of the individual who publishes the ezine that he is advertising in.

Too simple you say. Tell that to my friend. He tells me that he carries a piece of paper in his pocket that simply says * Personal Touch *

Simple is the difference between being successful and wishing you were.

About the Author

Raymond Johnston Jr is the editor and publisher of Money For Hire Ezine. You can subscribe on his website at moneyforhire.com or:

rdj@televar.com
http://www.moneyforhire.com