Cashvertising: How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone (Cashvertising Series)

order to influence beliefs, advertisers use images and statistics that appeal either to emotions, such as fear, humor, or guilt (affecting the right-hemisphere, creative brain), or to the consumer’s intellect, through factual evidence and examples (affecting the left-hemisphere, logical brain). When you do this, you present your audience with an al

It is possible to blow away three-quarters of our readers simply by choosing the wrong type. If you rely on words to sell, that should concern you deeply. —Colin Wheildon, author of Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes?

They all want to know the answer to the big question, “What’s in it for me?” or the acronym, “WIIFM.” Until they know the WIIFM, they’re not only hesitant to make the deal, but they’re also reluctant to even raise their hands in response to my question asking if they have a $20 bill! This hints at the fear that accompanies many buying decisions: th

“the fear appeal is most effective when: 1. It scares the hell out of people. 2. It offers a specific recommendation for overcoming the fear-aroused threat. 3. The recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat. 4. The message recipient believes that he or she can perform the recommended action.”

The point? No matter how slick a salesperson, no matter how beautiful an ad, if they don’t cause people to take action, they’re both a lousy investment. An ad that only informs and doesn’t move people to buy is like a salesperson who can’t close.

Write to the chimpanzee brain. Simply. Directly. —Eugene Schwartz

Let’s now look at the 17 foundational principles of consumer psychology. In Chapter 2, I teach you what they are, why they work, and how you can use them to help sell your products and services.

As advertisers, we need to motivate people to take action right now. We don’t want them to wait, or think about it, or put off the decision until the “later” that never comes. You want them to whip out their credit cards and order now And it’s not simply a matter of asking for the order—any good salesperson knows to do that. It’s a matter of gettin

Step #4—Determine the average number of syllables per word: Divide the total syllables by the number of words. Step #5—Figure the average number of words per sentence: Divide the number of words by the number of sentences. The result—whew!—is your readability score. Your ad gets only a fraction of their intelligence … people won’t study your ad car