Direct response copywriter pushes the “Ouch!” button

Ivan Levison —
Direct Mail, E-mail and Advertising Copywriting

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THE LEVISON LETTER
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Action Ideas For Better Direct Mail,
E-mail, Web Sites & Advertising

Published by
Ivan Levison, Direct Response Copywriting

June, 2008
Volume: 23 Number: 6

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I Feel Your Pain -
How To Push The "Ouch" Button
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How's your breath?

Is it sweet and pleasant? Or when you talk, do people wince and stagger backwards?

Now, as you can guess, I'm not really worried about your personal hygiene. But I AM
concerned about how effectively you're selling your product or service. Which is why
I'm going to take a quick look at an old Listerine mouthwash advertising campaign that
I think will prove instructive. Here's the story . . .

Years ago, when Listerine's ad agency first got the account, they obviously could
have positioned the product in an infinite number of ways. (Just as you can position
YOUR product or service in an infinite number of ways.) They could have positioned
Listerine as the inexpensive mouthwash, the premium mouthwash, the great-tasting
mouthwash, the super-powerful mouthwash . . . You get the point.

Which way did the agency go? They chose to position Listerine as the mouthwash that
could prevent "halitosis."

Yup. They found out that the scientific word for nasty breath was halitosis and then
began a campaign designed to convince everyone that they were at risk for this dread
disease. If you had halitosis, everyone would talk about you behind your back. The only
way to avoid being a pariah was to keep rinsing with Listerine. The advertising agency
used the tag line:

"He said, that she said, that he had halitosis!"

The result? Listerine mouthwash flew off the shelf.

Yes. Fear and pain are wonderful motivators, and those of us who market high-tech
products have it a lot easier than the makers of Listerine. We don't have to manufacture
pain. Our users have to deal with it every day!

Everyone from the humble home user, who has to suffer crashes, to the IT professional,
trying to keep a network humming, knows pain first hand.

What I want to suggest is that when you're selling prospects, acknowledge the pain
they're in, show them that you understand what they're up against, and explain how
you can help them solve their toughest problems.

Where's a good place to start?

How about right at the beginning of your letter or e-mail. That's the perfect place to
let your readers know that you identify with their problems. Let me give you just two
examples of how you can use pain to create an immediate bond with your readers.
(Example #1 was written for individual PC users. Example #2, written back in 1997,
was addressed to MIS professionals.)

Example #1:

Dear Ivan:

Imagine that you're sitting in front of your computer, surfing the Web, jumping from
site to site . . .

Suddenly you land at a Web page that's loaded with valuable information you know
you want to save and use. What options do you have?

You can print out the page, but that doesn't get you very much.

You can create a bookmark and go back on line every time you want to check it
out -- a royal pain in the neck.

Or you can use new DocuMagix HotPage!

That's right. HotPage is a powerful companion to Netscape Navigator that lets you
put all the information in Web pages to
work for you!

Example #2:

Dear Ivan:

If you're an MIS professional, you face two extremely difficult problems:

Problem #1: Deploying mission-critical applications to hundreds or thousands of
users is a nightmare. It wastes endless hours of precious time and costs your company
a ton of money.

Problem #2: Your remote users are getting poor performance. If they're accessing
mission-critical applications over remote node and branch office connections, they're
going s-----l-----o-----w.

That's why it's so important for you to take a WinFrame Test Drive right now.

You see, WinFrame extends mission-critical Windows applications to remote users
over existing enterprise networks, corporate Intranets, and the Internet. Best of all,
you can deploy these apps to hundreds, or even thousands of users in a matter of
minutes. That's right -- minutes!

The take-away message this month? Don't start your letter or e-mail by talking about
how great your company or product is. Begin by demonstrating that you understand
your readers' pain and you're halfway to a sale!

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How To Get In Touch
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Ivan Levison
Direct Response Copywriting
14 Los Cerros Drive
Greenbrae, CA 94904

Phone: (415) 461-0672
Fax: (415) 461-7738
E-mail: ivan@levison.com
Web Site: http://www.levison.com

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