Over 100 years ago, ad man, John Kennedy, famously defined advertising as:

“Salesmanship In Print.”

And while I don’t 100% agree with that definition — as it over-emphasizes “reason why” selling and dismisses the importance of bonding and distinctiveness — there’s still a lot of truth in it.

Persuasive principles that work in sales can also work very powerful in advertising messaging.

Take the classic copywriting formula of Pain-Agitate-Solution.

  1. Identify and evoke a pain (or problem) the prospect suffers from
  2. Focus on the pain and “agitate,” causing the customer to recall and freshly feel the frustration, anger, embarrassment, loss, etc. caused by that particular pain.
  3. Provide the solution and show how much better life will be with the solution.

Consult most any TV Infomercial to see this formula in action.

So now that we’ve covered the formula, how do you supercharge it?

Remember and apply The Universal Appeals.

  1. It’s not your fault, and
  2. You are special

By all means, identify and agitate the pain — but give your audience a psychological out.

It’s “not your fault” that you’re experiencing these difficulties.

Why?

Depends on the case, but reasons why “it’s not your fault” could range from:

  • The experts / industry lied to you or set you up for failure
  • Everybody in your position experiences them
  • You’re experiencing them precisely because you’re special

Then, when you present the solution, offer it up as an ideal solution for special people, just like your prospect.

For example:

You’re probably tired of being on the Pay-Per-Crack treadmill, where you are paying more and more for digital leads of low quality, just to keep your growing company fed with new business.

And that’s not your fault because PPC is always the first step of new business to get leads, and it’s a mix of the industry’s greed and fierce competition that keeps costs high and steadily rising higher.

Moreover, it’s almost impossible to get high-quality leads from customers who only hear about you when they’re actively ready to buy.

And that means PPC leads are all-but-guaranteed to be low quality.

The good news is that if you’re looking for a solution instead of complaining about it, you’re one of the few business owners smart enough to consider alternatives like branding.

Granted, it’s not easy. But if it was easy, everyone would do it. Which is precisely what makes it your secret weapon

Because business owner capable of investing in long-term branding are the smart ones who will eventually take charge of their lead-flow and grow to dominate their business.

Just so long as they’re smart enough to partner with an expert in guiding owner-operated businesses like theirs in launching effective mass media branding campaigns powered by high-impact ads.

And that’s how you supercharge your sales message.

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