Chapter 20
Scientific Advertising – A name that helps

There is great advantage in a name that tells a story. The name is usually prominently displayed. To justify the space it occupies, it should aid the advertising. Some such names are almost complete advertisements in themselves. May Breath is such a name. Cream of Wheat is another. That name alone has been worth a fortune. Other examples are Dutch Cleanser, Cuticura, Dynashine, Minute Tapioca, 3-in-one Oil, Holeproof, Alcorub, etc.

Such names may be protected, yet the name itself describes the product, so it makes a valuable display.

Other coined names are meaningless. Some examples are Kodak, Karo, Mazda, Sapolio, Vaseline, Kotex, Lux, Postum, etc. They can be protected, and long-continued advertising may give them a meaning. When this is accomplished they become very valuable. But the great majority of them never attain status.

Such names do not aid the advertising. It is very doubtful if they justify display. The service of the product, not the name, is the important thing in advertising. A vast amount of space is wasted in displaying names and pictures which tell no selling story. The tendency of modern advertising is to eliminate waste.

Other coined names signify ingredients which anyone may use. Examples are Syrup of Figs, Coconut Oil Shampoo, Tar Soap, Palmolive Soap, etc.

Such products may dominate a market if the price is reasonable, but they must to a degree meet competition. They invite substitution. They are naturally classified with other products which have like ingredients, so the price must remain in that class.

Toasted Corn Flakes and Malted Milk are examples of unfortunate names. In each of those cases one advertiser created a new demand. When the demand was created, others shared it because they could use the name. The originators depended only on a brand. It is interesting to speculate on how much more profitable a coined name might have been.

On a patented product it must be remembered that the right to a name expires with that patent. Names like Castoria, Aspirin, Shredded Wheat Biscuit, etc., have become common property.

This is a very serious point to consider. It often makes a patent an undesirable protection.

Another serious fault in coined names is frivolity. In seeking uniqueness one gets something trivial. And that is a fatal handicap in a serious product. It almost prohibits respect.

When a product must be called by a common name, the best auxiliary name is a man’s name. It is much better than a coined name, for it shows that some man is proud of his creation.

Thus the question of a name is of serious importance in laying the foundations of a new undertaking. Some names have become the chief factors in success. Some have lost for their originators four-fifths of the trade they developed.

Chapter 21
Scientific Advertising – Good business

A rapid stream ran by the writers boyhood home. The stream turned a wooden wheel and the wheel ran a mill. Under that primitive method, all but a fraction of the streams potentiality went to waste.

Then someone applied scientific methods to that stream put in a turbine and dynamos. Now, with no more water, no more power, it runs a large manufacturing plant.

We think of that steam when we see wasted advertising power. And we see it everywhere hundreds of examples. Enormous potentialities millions of circulation used to turn a mill-wheel. While others use that same power with manifold effect.

We see countless ads running year after year which we know to be unprofitable. Men spending five dollars to do what one dollar might do. Men getting back 30 percent of their cost when they might get 150 percent. And the facts could be easily proved.

We see wasted space, frivolity, clever conceits, entertainment. Costly pages filled with palaver which, if employed by a salesman, would reflect on his sanity. But those ads are always unkeyed. The money is spent blindly, merely to satisfy some advertising whim.

Not new advertisers only. Many an old advertiser has little or no idea of his advertising results. The business is growing through many efforts combined, and advertising is given its share of the credit.

An advertiser of many years standing, spending as high as $700,000 per year, told the writer he did not know whether his advertising was worth anything or not. Sometimes he thought that his business would be just as large without it.

The writer replied, I do know. Your advertising is utterly unprofitable, and I could prove it to you in one week. End an ad with an offer to pay five dollars to anyone who writes you that he read the ad through. The scarcity of replies will amaze you.

Think what a confession that millions of dollars being spent without knowledge of results. Such a policy applied to all factors in a business would bring ruin in short order.

You see other ads which you may not like as well. They may seem crowded or verbose. They are not attractive to you, for you are seeking something to admire, something to entertain. But you will note that those ads are keyed. The probability is that out of scores of traced ads the type which you see has paid the best.

Many other ads which are not keyed now were keyed at the beginning. They are based on known statistics. They won on a small scale before they ever ran on large scale. Those advertisers are utilizing their enormous powers in full.

Advertising is prima facie evidence that the man who pays believes that advertising is good. It has brought great results to others, it must be good for him. So he takes it like some secret tonic which others have endorsed. If the business thrives, the tonic gets credit. Otherwise, the failure is due to fate.

That seems almost unbelievable. Even a storekeeper who inserts a twenty-dollar ad knows whether it pays or not. Every line of a big store’s ad is charged to the proper department. And every inch used must the next day justify its cost.

Yet most national advertising is done without justification. It is merely presumed to pay. A little test might show a way to multiply returns.

Such methods, still so prevalent, are not very far from their end. The advertising men who practice them see the writing on the wall. The time is fast coming when men who spend money are going to know what they get. Good business and efficiency will be applied to advertising. Men and methods will be measured by the known returns, and only competent men can survive.

Only one hour ago an old advertising man said to the writer, “The day for our type is done. Bunk has lost its power. Sophistry is being displaced by actuality. And I tremble at the trend.”

So do hundreds tremble. Enormous advertising is being done along scientific lines. Its success is common knowledge. Advertisers along other lines will not much longer be content.

We who can meet the test welcome these changed conditions. Advertisers will multiply when they see that advertising can be safe and sure. Small expenditures made on a guess will grow to big ones on a certainty. Our line of business will be finer, cleaner, when the gamble is removed. And we shall be prouder of it when we are judged on merit

There you have it.

The secrets to successful marketing and advertising.

Now I highly suggest you print out all the chapters and read them at least 10 times over the next 12 months.

Each time you read Scientific Advertising you’ll pick up one more idea, and it could very well be the ideas that changes everything in your life.

To your continued success
Sandy Barris

Are your employees tracking every phone call and treating each call as a sales opportunity?

If your business is like many other, you probably don’t know the answers to these important questions.

The following secret is a great technique to find out if your employees actually are following the procedures that they have been trained to follow. (You do have a training program in place, don’t you?)

Have a family member or an associate call your business and ask a few simple questions about your products/services.

You may be shocked and appalled at the answers that they receive. You may begin to realize how much business you are losing every day.

Make test calls on a regular basis, record them, and play them back to your employees. Then, have your employees help you to develop telephone scripts that answer all of the “frequently asked questions” that they receive from your clients and prospects.

You also should train them to sell “accessory” or “add-on” or “back end” items. These could add up to an additional thirty percent or more in sales.

“Would You Like Fry’s With That?”
“Would You like one fork or two with your desert?”

Develop a tracking system to find out whether or not your marketing efforts actually are profitable.

Be very careful, your employees can intentionally or mistakenly sabotage your marketing campaigns by not properly tracking incoming phone calls, on-line orders, or walk-in customers.

You may have a winning marketing idea, but if you do not have the data to support its profitability, then you may think that it isn’t working and cancel it.

Do you encourage your employees to read or listen to basic sales and marketing information? It’s amazing how many businesses do not talk to their employees about these important subjects. Not doing so is a big mistake.

Many of my clients have made it mandatory for their employees to read various sales and marketing materials.

When these employees have finished with the materials, they are directed by my clients to take a small test that confirms that they have actually read, understood, and will implement the marketing ideas.

Ultimately, this basic training will help your employees to understand your marketing methods. This should improve their understanding of how you run your business and lead to increased sales and profits.

Make all of the training courses and use of the training materials mandatory to remain an employee of your company.

If you need outside help with training, get it. This training will pay for itself with lots of additional business from both new and current customers.

If you need help locating good training for your staff, try your local library or give me a call at (248) 335-8080.

What are you doing to train your employees properly?

It is very important to think in terms of what your business can do for the prospective customer.

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the first marketing effort that you should think about for your business. Your USP is written to separate your business from your competition. It does this by telling the world what is unique about the product/service that your business offers.

Your USP should create tension, desire, and urgency in the reader’s mind. Written in one clear, concise sentence, your USP should be the essence of what you are offering.

Your USP should come immediately to your client’s mind when s/he thinks of your products/services.

Can you provide three compelling reasons for doing business with your company? For example, “Fast, cheap, and good” or “Simple, easy, and lucrative.” Your USP then should answer these questions: “How fast?” “Why is it easy?” “What’s so cost effective about it?”

Your USP should be good enough to be used as a headline in any of your marketing efforts. The best USPs are written so tightly that not a single word can be changed.

Here are some examples of great USPs:
“Good to the Last Drop;”
“Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking;”
“Fresh Hot Pizza Delivered in 30 Minutes, Guaranteed;”
“Because So Much Is Riding on Your Tires.”

I bet that you can name the companies to which these USPs belong.

Does your business have a concise, unique, and effective USP?

Why should someone buy your products/services?

Dan Kennedy, the author of many marketing and business books, including How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneurs Guide (Plume, 1996), asks an important question: “Why should I choose your business/products/service over any/every other competitive option available to me?”

This question should help you to open up your mind and get you thinking about your USP. It should give your customers a complete answer to this question.

Does yours?

If you have a problem answering the vital question of why someone should choose to do business with your company, then it will be even harder for your clients and prospects to answer it. This will make it hard for him/her to buy whatever it is that you are selling.

Do you know if your customers realize why they should be buying from your company?

What are the benefits of your products/services?

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with anything unique about your business, so it may be easier for you to express the benefits that you offer to your clients.
H. Brad Antin and Alan Antin, the authors ofSecrets from the Lost Art of Common Sense Marketing (Antin Marketing Group, 1992), have devised an alternative to developing your USP.

They call it a “Statement of Benefit,” or SOB.

Ask yourself, what are the real benefits that people get when they buy from me? Dig deep. Try to identify the biggest benefit of, or the hidden benefits in, doing business with you.

Only after you learn the real reasons why people decide to buy from you can you package and present your information to your buyers from their own perspective. When you do this, you can crush the competition.

When your client or prospect is looking for an answer to a specific problem, your SOB should be able to answer it. Here are two examples of great SOBs: “When it Absolutely, Positively Has to Be There Overnight” and “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand.” Your SOB should lead your client or prospect to you.

What “benefits” solve your client’s problems?