The Hindu Business Line : `Three major feature highlights' are enough

Excitement, news, and a compelling call to action. These are the `three essential ingredients' of `a successful marketing campaign,' according to Steve Cone.

To illustrate, he cites the following 1913 ad placed by Sir Ernest Shackleton `in several London newspapers for volunteers for his upcoming South Pole expedition': "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

Shackleton had hoped to attract 50-75 inquiries; but 5,000 hearty souls responded! "All three elements for promotional success ... wrapped up in just 26 words," comments Cone in Steal These Ideas, from Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com) .

The book is a collection of `hundreds of real-world ideas you can act on to improve your marketing and your career.' Such as, that `all successful, well-known brands are usually described in one or two words.'

The first brand warranty application had only two words, `sine cere', tagged onto the marble that Roman merchants sold. The phrase, which eventually formed the root of English `sincerely,' meant in Roman times `without wax,' that is, `pure and free from cracks filled in with wax.'

Says Cone, "Truly great brands have four qualities in common. They are inspirational, indispensable, dependable, and unique." Most advertising is `dull, and sometimes even stupid and insulting,' he rues. "Who can blame people for skipping over commercials, changing radio stations, or leafing past ads in magazines if they are bored?"

Create a unique selling proposition, urges the author. "The best USPs often are discovered by accident. Epiphanies are not planned events and it is important to capture those out-of-the-box thoughts when they occur." A tag line that Cone came up with for `a dentist friend' was `something no other dentist ever says out loud.' What was that? "You Come First. Your Teeth Come Second."

Whatever the product or service, `three major feature highlights' are enough to give the potential customer info to make `a serious buy decision.' The USP can take the form of `a short mission statement' or `a visual representation of your product.'

What if your spokesperson does something really bad? A real worry, this is, in the light of drug test results, as of cricketers recently! "Don't be afraid to use people just because there is a risk of their image becoming tarnished at some future date," counsels Cone. "If trouble happens, just move on. Consumers will too."

The operative word for ads is not just that they must be `seen'; readability is also important, insists the book. "Pick up any magazine and try to read the ads. The vast majority, say 85-90 per cent, are in sans serif type (type without feet), with typeface so small that your eye really cannot adjust." Do you know that `More than five times as many readers are likely to show good comprehension when a serif body type is used instead of sans serif'?

Four principles that Cone nudges you to `steal' from People magazine, `the most successful paid-subscription magazine in history,' when making `compelling marketing materials' are: One, pictures of real people, rather than nameless models; two, captions with pictures, always; three, concise writing; and four; `plenty of white space on every page so the eye can digest what's there.'

A must-read unless you want to let the competition lap up all the takeaways!

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali