Selling Them Daisy
Posted by Sandy Fitzgerald
Have you ever heard about one of the most successful personal ads? It goes like this:
"SBF Seeks male companionship. Age and ethnicity unimportant. I'm a young, svelte good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods; riding in your pickup truck; hunting, camping, fishing trips. I love cozy winter nights spent lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Kiss me and I'm yours.
Call 555-XXXX and ask for Daisy."
According to the e-mail I got about this ad, almost 700 men called the number and asked f
or Daisy.
Little did they know that the ad was for an animal shelter and Daisy turned out to be a Labrador retriever that was up for adoption.
I 'm not saying that story is true. I'm sure it's some kind of Internet myth. However, it's a good example of the way that some people -- male or female -- believe everything they're told, especially if it's online.
As a successful marketing copywriter, it's your job to make your customers believe you. You need to be able to engage them and bring them into your website long enough to relate your company's message.
It's not about lying and misdirection. It's about choosing your words carefully enough that you want to make your potential customers read more.
And it's about telling them the truth so that they don't get a rude surprise once they call your company.
The above story is a funny one, but it points out just how much people believe what they want to believe when they read it on the Internet.
Is your writing sending out the kind of mixed messages that personal ad sent out? Does it sound like you're promising everything your customers dream of, only to have them open the door and find "Daisy" waiting for them? Here's what to remember:
- Be honest.
- Be concise.
- Don't make promises you can't keep.
- Don't sell them Halle Berry when you're really trying to give away Daisy.
There are ways to present your message and draw your customers into your company's abilities without seeming to make them promises that can't possibly be kept.
Let's say your company is in the business of selling swing sets for private backyards.
Now, even if the swing set is as great as the one the Obama girls got for their back yard at the White House, it's really not like the ones that are at a good municipal park.
So is it fair to imply, in your copy, that parents who buy these sets are helping their children have the most fun in their lives? Of course not.
But if you point out what's great about the swing set, including its cool spiral sliding board, the way you can hook up a sprinkler set to it to cool off, or even that they'll get lots of great outside exercise on it, then it's likely you'll hook the parents with the truth, rather than a half-truth.
And then when Mrs. Jones over across the street wants something for Susie to have fun with, those parents are likely to send her toward your company.