Cashvertising summary

Let’s start out with a freaky fact: it doesn’t matter how often you wash your sheets; they’re still the perfect breeding ground for hideous dust mites who lay their eggs in your pillows and mattresses. Imagine how they crawl over your skin while you sleep, nibbling at your skin flakes and perhaps crawling up your nose, inducing a nasty allergy attack.

Scary, isn’t it? Not to mention gross.

When was the last time you bought something in the hopes that it would make you look better? We all do that from time to time.

That’s because we want to showcase whatever traits we have that are regarded by society as desirable. Remember: according to the LF8, we all want to be appreciated by those around us.   

How can you convince people that your products are better than your competitors’? You may say it a thousand times in your ads, but will potential customers actually believe you? Getting them to believe means earning their trust, and that requires authority.

One way to create authority is to transfer it from other people or institutions to your products. There are certain institutions – the church, the scientific community, national agencies – that people have learned to trust. If you can get one of these institutions to publicly support your product or service, then their authority is effectively transferred to you.

Why do real estate ads look so different from ads for ice cream or cosmetics? The answer lies in our psychology.

Social psychologists have discovered that we don’t make all buying decisions the same way. Rather, the more relevant a decision is for our personal lives, the more likely we are to ponder our options.

60 percent of all people who read ads skip over everything but the headline. Thus, the words you begin with are critical for your ad’s success. Luckily, there are some tricks you can use to entice people into reading on.

First, put the biggest benefits in the headline – the things that add value to your prospects’ lives. The one thing your prospects care about is: What will this product do for me? Consequently, benefits are the most convincing argument for your product, and you should mention them first.

Images can make or break an ad. Look at the ads in your favorite magazine. Do you notice many faces?

It’s no coincidence that many ads use pictures of the human face, and there are several good reasons to use them in your ads.

There are more flavors of ice cream than we can reasonably count, and yet, most of us prefer the same few varieties. Same goes for colors: we can discern several million hues, and yet most of us prefer the same colors and color combinations.

Many experiments have been conducted on the subject, and researchers have learned enough to rank our generally preferred colors. Most people prefer the color blue, followed by red and then green.

People today seem busier and less patient than ever before. For that reason, many marketers believe that no one has the time or inclination to read long copy. Instead, they would advise you to keep your copy short. While this sounds totally reasonable, it’s not actually true. But why?

Long copy, as long as it’s well written, satisfies all kinds of readers. If people are really interested in your product, they’ll likely want to learn more about it. The more information you provide in your copy, the more likely you are to convince them to take action.

People spend lots of time thinking about where to place their ads. Will it get more attention on the top of the page, on the left side or on the right, or at the bottom? Don’t worry: recent studies have found all the answers.

While marketers may have very strong opinions about where to place your ads, the truth is, it doesn’t matter much. In fact, Starch and the National Magazine, among other researchers, have all concluded that it is the ad itself that matters most.