Male Enhancement

It so happened once, not too long ago, that I needed new tires for my car.  So I headed down to Goodyear, owned by a longtime friend of the family.  This guy does a pretty good job of keeping his customers entertained while we wait to get our cars back.

'Customers', here in east Tennessee, refers to 'good old boys'.  So I went in to the waiting area, set up like a den of sorts.  Cheap wood paneling.  *Genuine* leather sofas and chairs.  Television.  And something to interest me.

Along one wall there is a bookshelf with stacks of old magazines.  Real red-neck stuff.  Cars, guns, fishing.  Sports illustrated for the pretentious. 

For me, this is a gold mine.  I could pick up any magazine, sniff out the back issues, and start comparing ads.  We did this several weeks ago together.  If I find an ad placed in multiple issues, I know I've found a winner.  If it's not especially well written, I can consider getting into that market and running a competing ad. One category stood out.

The best ads, by far, were for – this is where I exploit the headline – Male Enhancement.  (You were waiting for that, weren't you.)  Two of the three were personality driven, in the style and format of the host magazine.  The third was more conventional, of the type you might see for those 'commemorative clocks' that run occasionally in USA Weekend. 

In this case, the strongest ad appeared first, followed by a knock-off.  Let's talk copywriting strategy for a moment.  When you consider your positioning, you notice that there are other positions you must reject.  The luxury line cannot also be the low cost leader.  If you want to dominate your industry, especially if you're in a newly developing field, etc., go ahead and take both positions.  But do it... with different companies.  It's another way to test your market, and to raise the cost of entry for would-be competitors.  Plus, you'll have a blast competing with yourself. 

So what made the ads so great?  Aside from adopting the advertorial strategy we discussed yesterday, these ads were told through a personality.   Going from memory, I believe one ad used the doctor as the personality – he used doctor's credibility with his own, um, empirical evidence.  The other used a doctor's endorsement, but the featured personality was everyday Joe-blow. 

You'll have to take my word for it, the pathos of these stories was something else!  Some master wordsmith was behind each, carefully keeping the language pg, while relating the humiliation.  Laying on the pain, while staying within the format of the magazine.  Hilarious... for some. 

I have used 'advertorials' to create awareness, for publicity and the like.  These ads sold.  Hard. 

Anyone who's been around copywriting knows that some of these guys pull in hundreds of thousands per week in revenue.  While dodging various government agencies, moving offices, etc.  But it's a testament to the power of copywriting.  Tapping into real human pain (talk about 'mass desire'), and offering a solution.  And proof, "There's a customer born every minute".

To your Copywriting Mastery,

Sheridan

P.S.  Having a personality sets you up for the narrative copywriting we discussed a few posts back. 

P.P.S.  Consider how this old strategy of knocking off your own copywriting/product/company could work for you, online.