The Creative Process

Last month we introduced you to the secret direct mail formula.

This month we are introducing you to another important formula…one that's apparently as unknown as the direct mail formula.

It's the formula used by a select few marketers when creating direct response print ads.

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FORMULA?

It's readily available in any number of marketing books and on several websites.

This being the case, why would a company run an expensive, full-page direct response ad that fails to follow the formula?

Only one page separated the two full-page direct response ads shown in the sidebar. Both appeared in the November 2007 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine – Eastland Shoes on page 261 followed by Bose on page 263.

While both ads were created as direct response ads, one should generate significantly more sales than the other.

Glancing at both, which ad format would you choose to sell your product and why? If you're uncertain, continue reading.

HINT #1: The only goal of a direct response ad is to SELL the product.

HINT #2: One of the fastest ways to identify a direct response ad is to see if it follows the formula known as "The Motivating Sequence."

THE MOTIVATING SEQUENCE

"The Motivating Sequence" is found in Chapter 5 of Robert W. Bly's 2002 book, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Direct Marketing. Bly writes, "The copy in virtually all direct marketing promotions follows a well-established formula for persuasive writing known as 'The Motivating Sequence.' The steps are as follows:

1. "Get attention.
2. "Identify the problem or need.
3. "Position your product as the solution or answer.
4. "Prove your product is the best solution or answer.
5. "Ask for the order."

Step number five is the call to action...where you tell consumers what it is you want them to do.

You'll discover these five steps were used by the creative team that developed the Bose ad.

By the way, The Motivating Sequence is simply a more detailed version of the famous AIDA marketing principle, taught in Direct Marketing 101. AIDA provides the basic steps marketers must follow to persuade a prospect to become a customer:

Attention – get attention
Interest – generate interest
Desire – create desire
Action – ask for action

Okay...so did you choose the Bose ad? If so, congratulations!

JOE SUGARMAN ON DIRECT RESPONSE ADS

In his 2007 copywriting book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, veteran copywriter Joe Sugarman commented on direct response print ads, "Print ads are among the most difficult of all forms of direct marketing.

"On a single page, in two dimensions, located in a medium with hundreds of competing messages and without sound and motion, you've got to entice a person to start reading your ad, convey the complete story of your product or service and then convince the person to reach for the phone and order.

"To understand this process and to effectively implement it requires a lot of experience and skill."  

From your editor's perspective, brands consistently doing the best job of creating direct response ads to sell products are:

1. Bose electronics
2. Select Comfort's Sleep Number bed
3. Omaha Steaks
4. Oreck vacuum cleaners and air filtering units

You can find full-page ads from all four companies in assorted magazines and newspapers.

Although there are no banks listed above, bank marketers should be following the same formula when creating newspaper ads.

This ad comparison is an excellent example of why companies should be using direct response experts, and not general media agency personnel or in-house marketing generalists, to develop ads and other marketing materials where the goal is to maximize the volume of immediate sales.

After all, isn’t the primary goal of your marketing efforts to sell stuff?