The “ABA” Rule of Advertising…
One of the best ways to get really good at advertising, is to study the guys who make the most money doing it. In the direct mail world, that’s guys like Agora publishing… Boardroom Reports… Weiss Research… and Lombardi publishing, just to name a few.
These guys are the absolute masters.
They hire the best writers in the world… send out hundreds of millions of pieces of mail a year, and track the results down to the penny.
They generate hundreds of millions a year in revenue and seem to get bigger and better every year.
Anyhow, there’s one particular thing they almost always do that makes them stand out from the massive pile of junk mail people receive that gets their mailings opened, read and responded.
And that is they observe the “ABA” Rule.
That is, they make their ads look like Anything But advertising.
That’s right. They write and design their ads to look like anything but what you’d typically expect from an advertiser.
They don’t have worthless coupons plastered on front of it… they don’t have cheesy slogans and ridiculous “branding” characters or logos everywhere… and they don’t scream advertising.
They take the opposite approach.
They make their advertising look like stuff you might be expecting in the mail from companies you already know, and would want to open.
Like books, magazines, newsletters you may have subscribed to, or
even Fed-ex or express ship envelopes that look very official.
The content inside also matches the appearance. The advertising is disguised to look like magazine content, with articles on different topics… it just so happens the end of each article has an offer or pitch for a subscription or product they happen to carry.
Their “books” have lots of great tips… but if you want their best tips, you have to send away for the book they advertise in the package.
It’s a far cry from a lot of the crap you see in your mail or inbox everyday. It stands out from the pizza fliers, coupon booklets, and cheesy postcards.
It looks valuable and most people hate to throw valuable things away unread.
Consider this the next time you write an ad…
Instead of making it a blatant pitch, consider how you can make it more informational, and seem like editorial content with a disguised sales pitch attached.
You may notice a nice jump in response.
Speaking of response…
If you have an ad campaign running currently that is doing well, but you’d like to see it do better… or if it’s a complete bust and you’re losing your shirt… go here for a personalized advertising critique. It’s one of the best ROI investments you might make this year, and it’s virtually zero risk.
BusinessBuildingTechnician.com
Business Growth Strategist/Copywriter/Coach
Inquiry@businessbuildingtechnician.com
Tags: advertising, copywriting, direct mail, direct marketing
