Insight #16: The Writers Workshop - Learn How To Say It Well

The great business philosopher Jim Rohn said it best in his lecture about communication. He was talking about personal communication - not about advertising. But the principle still holds true for that as well. He says to be a master communicator, all you have to do is follow this simple three-step process:

In terms of advertising, here’s what that means: Having something good to say means you’ve innovated your business sufficiently so you have something unique that’s worth advertising. Saying it well has to do with taking what you do well and saying it in your advertising in such a way that it gets people to notice and take action.

Here’s what you need to know about "saying it well": Advertising gives you great leverage on your dollars invested. The words you use and the way you use them in your ads can make all the difference between an ad that works and an ad that fails. It’s either an ad that makes you money or an ad that costs you money. The ads you’re going to be running will cost you the same amount of money, regardless of how well you say it. If you say it well and your ads make you rich, the price of the ads remain constant. If you say it poorly and go broke, the ad costs still don’t change. That’s why we’re going to spend so much time on the writer’s workshop and teach you how to say it well - so you can take advantage of the upside leverage that advertising offers you.

We don’t know if you’re planning on writing your own ads or not. Maybe you just want to learn how to evaluate whether or not your ad agency is doing a good job. Maybe you’d like to make useful suggestions to the people who write your ads. Or maybe you’re the one responsible for putting it all together for your company. If you’re responsible for the results of your company’s advertising, you’ll need to know how to effectively write your ads.

Remember just this one tidbit and it will be well worth the time you’ve invested in reading this article. The mind thinks in pictures. Not words, not ideas, not concepts, not abstracts. But in pictures. Hard to believe? Here’s an example. For a moment, think of a killer whale. Okay, what comes to mind? The words and letters k-i-l-l-e-r w-h-a-l-e? No, of course not. You had a picture of a large, black & white killer whale instantly pop into your mind. Now, think of the Eiffel Tower. What happened? A picture of a big, tall, pointy tower pops into your mind. The reason your mind throws a picture on your mental canvas is because you don’t think in words, you think in pictures.

Perhaps you think those were unfair examples because they’re both tangible objects. It makes sense to think of an object by picturing the object. But, how do you “picture” something in your mind when the something is more abstract or intangible. Well, let’s see if that’s true or not. Think of the word FAME. What happens? Do you think of the letters F-A-M-E? Or does your mind paint a mental picture instead? Maybe it’s a flashback to the old movie Fame. Or maybe you got a picture in your mind of one famous person or of many famous people. If so, who is it? A famous athlete? A movie star? A rock star? A president? Maybe your mental picture shows the camera flashes that result from being photographed a thousand times by the media. Or, maybe you see your picture on the cover of a magazine. It’s different for everybody. But for everybody, it’s a picture of some kind. Let’s try another. How about the word POLITICS? What picture do you get? What about the word RELIGION? What about the word CHARMING? SWEET? EVIL? FLEXIBLE? Get the picture? Your mind thinks in pictures

So the next logical question you probably have is, “SO WHAT”? What does that have to do with advertising? The answer? EVERYTHING. As an advertiser, your job is to create a mental picture in the minds of your prospects that will get them to:

c) take action. You’ve got to be the artist that paints the picture in the brain.

So you might think, “OK, that’s great. If the mind uses pictures, then we’ll just stick a bunch of pictures in our ads and that will do the trick. After all, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? We’ll put pictures in our ad that illustrate the points we’re trying to make and everyone will understand and take action.” Well, actually, that’s not exactly true. Here’s the problem with pictures in advertisements. Generally speaking, your interpretation of a picture and someone else’s interpretation of a picture might not be the same thing. The picture might be worth a thousand words. The question is which thousand words?

So now you’re wondering, “what’s the real recommendation here - pictures or no pictures?” Here’s the key. You can use specific words to create precise mental pictures that will get attention and tell your story far more effectively than any illustration or photograph ever can. You’ve got to become a skilled wordsmith that can use words to paint pictures on the mental canvas. Let’s discuss a few examples.

First, let’s look at a company that makes video game cabinets. A video game cabinet is basically the wooden box that houses a TV monitor and is used in gaming arcades. One of the biggest problems with these cabinets is that they’re subjected to a lot of abuse. They have to stand up to an army of 13-year-old-kids pounding on them all day long, month after month, years on end. The part of the cabinet particularly vulnerable to “wear & tear” is the control panel. It’s the part that’s about waist high on the cabinet where all the buttons, knobs, and joysticks are located. This company had engineered a cabinet with several reinforcements on the control panel that made it very durable and extremely resistant to breakage, even under the most abusive conditions. It was called the HS-27. People in the industry all knew what an HS-27 was.

For a moment, put on a marketing consultant hat and play along. Write an ad extolling the merit of the HS-27 video cabinet with its new, improved, reinforced control panel. What would you say? Remember, your job is to paint a mental picture for the reader. So what would you write?

If you ask around the factory, you would find out exactly HOW they tested the durability of the control panel. They simulated the worst punishment the control panel could ever possibly face. They had somebody literally stand on top of it and jump up and down repeatedly. And just to make sure that the test was true, they had their service manager, Mike, who weighed in at 272 pounds, be the one to do the jumping. Ah ha! There’s the idea. Are you already starting to get a mental picture built in your mind? The headline was then written in big, bold letters:

“We Had The Biggest, Fattest Guy We Could Find Jump Up And Down On Our HS-27 Control Panel For 12 Minutes…Just To Make Sure It Could Endure Any Punishment Your Customers Could Dish Out.”

Does that headline put a mental picture in your mind? Of course it does. You can vividly see this picture in your mind of a big fat guy jumping up and down on a video game cabinet and the cabinet standing up to the test. And here’s the best part: People who heard or read that headline got to paint the mental picture using their own images and scenes, which make the picture more vivid, real, and believable. Initially, the company was a little concerned about using the “Fat Guy” ad. They thought it might be viewed as being politically incorrect to talk about a “fat” guy. What if people complain? But, the words FAT GUY have the ability to create a certain picture in the mind that no other words could do. The ad ran without complaint and the results proved it worked. The ad generated a ton of attention and skyrocketed the sales of the HS-27 video game cabinet immediately.

A company that does pre-employment screening and background checks wanted an ad that emphasized how effective they were at screening out bad employees. They debated about what people really wanted from a pre-employment screening company. In general, they felt customers wanted the checks done fast, done accurately, etc. But what customers really want can all be summed up in one headline: “Now You Can Avoid Hiring Weirdos, Losers, And Lunatics.” The sub-headline provided a secondary benefit: “And Get All The Information You Need In Just Six Hours Or Less.” This definitely puts a very graphic picture in the mind of the human resources director or the personnel officer.

How about this example for creating a mental picture: “We Go The Extra Mile For Our Clients.” Okay, that was a trick question and you probably caught it! “We go the extra mile for our clients” leaves your brain looking for something concrete to grasp onto. It leaves you visually numb. It does a poor job of creating a mental picture. Why? Because it’s a platitude. A platitude is words or phrases that are drearily commonplace and predictable that lack power to evoke interest due to overuse and repetition, but nevertheless are stated as though they are original or significant. This headline falls right into this definition. There IS no picture. People will never respond.

Let’s take the example of a photography studio specializing in children’s portraits and senior pictures for high school students. For the last several years, they did what every other photographer on the face of the earth did concerning advertising. They sent out an oversized postcard with a bunch of pictures of beautiful people on the front with some kind of boring headline like, “Only the Best” or “Capture Your Style” or something that was trying to convey a message such as, “Come Get Your Photo Taken Here, And You’ll Look Beautiful Too.” The only problem with that kind of advertising is that it creates NO mental pictures. And, the actual photos on the postcard don’t really mean anything, since the person looking at them fully expects the promotional pictures to look good. In reality, everyone knows that even a horrible photographer has a few decent shots he can display to his prospects.

So here’s what the photographer, who followed the “mental picture” principle, sent out. It’s a postcard to the parents that contained only the following words:

“That’s What They’ll Say If You Get Caught Using The
Wrong Photographer.”

See how effective that is? See how that creates a vivid mental picture? It creates a mental impression that not only attracts attention but also hits a parent’s emotional hot-buttons. That’s the power of mental pictures. And you can create them for your product or service as well.

You can still use actual pictures effectively in an advertisement. It’s been done lots of times. But the key is to use the pictures in tandem with the appropriate words. Why? Because, the words are what ultimately create the MENTAL picture that describes the actual picture. The actual picture is open to many interpretations by the viewer. But, the mental picture created by specific, well-chosen words is not open to debate, is absolutely precise, and has very targeted meaning and interpretation.

Here’s another example. If you hold a lot of meetings or seminars, you probably get a lot of solicitations from meeting facilities. There’s a magazine and on-line resource called Meeting News. It’s one of those free subscription providers with a bunch of shallow, token articles existing solely as an advertising vehicle for resorts and meeting facilities. That being the case, you’d think the advertisers would be trying really hard to say just the right things to make the phones ring. It IS a very competitive environment in that magazine. Yet, almost every ad is selling the exact same thing: meeting space. And, the messages in the ads are all alike or, in some cases, a little confusing.

There was a full-page ad for Hilton Resorts dominated by a huge photograph. It showed an aerial view of a big green lawn with a dog that dug what looked like a half a dozen holes. The dog was currently situated near the middle of the page and was in the process of digging another hole. Remember our previous comment about a picture being worth a thousand words? The important thing is which thousand words? So what does the hole-digging dog say to you? What conclusion do you draw? Fortunately, Hilton was good enough to provide a headline to try to clarify. The headline read:

“At Hilton Direct, we’ll find the perfect meeting location for you, whether it’s 2,000 miles away or in your own backyard.”

Fine! The doggie’s looking for the perfect location to bury his bone (or to plan his next meeting). Does this make sense to you? The picture does a horrible job of getting to the main point across. After a thorough reading of the ad’s text, you are able to find the main point. Hidden way down deep in the copy is this tidbit. It says that Hilton has more than 500 properties all over the country which, we’re left to suppose, ensures there’s one nearby. By making just one call, you could presumably make your meeting plans for anywhere. So here’s the question. Why not just say that? Maybe they should have used the headline:

“Only One Resort Lets You Compare And Price Out 523 Different Meeting Facilities Nationwide With Just One Easy Phone Call. That’s Hilton Direct.”

Yes, there are probably better headlines they could use. But it’s better than the digging dog!

The place to paint the picture is in the mind. Not on the paper. Don’t assume, from these examples, that you have to use an inflammatory headline like the references to the Fat Guy or the Ugly Kids or the Don’t Hire Losers (although it can certainly help attract attention). Those are just examples to prove the point about creating mental pictures. Your ability to use words to create pictures in the minds of listeners will greatly enhance your chances of success. Most of the ads out there don’t effectively create mental pictures. Instead, they spew out verbal garbage. Instead of mental pictures, they create mental numbness. Spend your money wisely and do it the right way.

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