OUTRAGEOUS ADVERTISING that’s outrageously successful

In 2002, after speaking to about 250 retailers at a seminar in Las Vegas, the editor of a major menswear magazine, MR Magazine, approached me and said he’d like to deliver my message to his readers and asked if he could do a feature on me.

Of course I did what anyone should do when presented with an opportunity to promote his or her business … I jumped on it!

As I was standing there speaking to the editor, one of the attendees who overhead the conversation approached us and stated, “That’s a great idea. Bill is out to save the retail world.”

And so an idea was born. I told the editor I would love to have a story written about what I teach, but, of course, I wanted it to get noticed. So I suggested that we present it somewhat OUTRAGEOUSLY.

He quickly agreed. (Little did he know that for an opportunity to have a featured story about me I would have agreed to just about anything.)

I remembered what the retailer said about me being out to save the retail world. And the first thing that popped into my head was Superman, who was out to save the world from mass destruction.

So I decided that, for the sake of this article, I would become the Superman of Marketing.

Here’s what I did. I rented a Superman costume and borrowed a pair of Clark Kent glasses from my good friend (and optometrist extraordinaire) Dr. Marc Attman, and I brought in a professional photographer to take the picture of me coming out of a phone booth, just like the real Superman.

So everything was in place except for the phone booth, which turned out to be difficult to find. So difficult, in fact, that if the real Superman were called into action today, he would be faced with a real problem. Clark Kent would probably have to go change in a bathroom stall or something in order to save the world in our modern phone booth-less times.

Finally, I found the solution at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which has an old phone booth on display.

And it turned out great. The photo of me in a Superman costume idea took my message, which would have been displayed prominently but probably in a pedestrian manner, and made it memorable. It relays a much better story than if I am not in the outfit.

And by going the extra mile to present the message, it was effective and memorable—and it led to some great exposure for me.

And yes, I did go the extra mile … more than you’d think. Often when I show a photo during a seminar, someone walks up to me and asks about the grimace on my face in the photo.

The truth is that underneath my suit, I was wearing the entire Superman costume and those tights were so uncomfortable that … well, it really was going the extra mile.

And so my message is that there are a lot of ways to go the extra mile when you use OUTRAGEOUS advertising. After starting, of course, with a headline, an offer, and a deadline—the essential elements from chapter 5—you can do more.

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

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OUTRAGEOUS resource

I think you’ll find the information that appeared in the featured article in MR Magazine very helpful to your business, regardless of what business you’re in. So I’ve reprinted it for you in appendix C at the end of this book.

Make sure you pay close attention to “The 10 Biggest Advertising Mistakes Made by Retailers” and the 3-STEP BUSINESS BUILDING FORMULA. Just insert the category of business you’re in whenever I refer to retailer.

If you really want to make money, you can take it further by paying attention to how you present your message.

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OUTRAGEOUS exercise

Obviously dressing up like a superhero is not the only way you can make yourself stand out from your competition. Look at the categories below and visualize how you can present OUTRAGEOUSLY differently to convey what you or your company stands for. This is a great time to think creatively. OUTRAGEOUSLY creative!

• As a superhero

• As a rock star

• As a politician

• As a famous actor or actress

• As a famous athlete

• As a (fill-in-the-blank)

response boosters

Beyond the critical components of OUTRAGEOUS advertising, there are optional components that will enhance response even more.

While they do not have to be used every time, you’ll find that when properly used, they become BIG RESPONSE BOOSTERS.

personalize it

People love to hear the sound of their own name. Not only do they like to hear it, but they also like to see it in print, and that is especially true when it comes to advertising. Your name makes you feel like someone is writing specifically to you.

Therefore, putting your customers’ names in your advertising is a very smart thing and relatively easy to do today given all the “wiz-bang” equipment and software available to printers and mailing houses.

You can increase response by as much as 30 percent by using personalization, and it typically always pays for itself.

As I suggested in chapter 4, you should already be building or acquiring (or both) a good customer list anyway, so if you have this pertinent information, why not use the one part that will generate the highest response—the person’s name.

Of course, when you combine using a name with some OUTRAGEOUS techniques, it helps matters even more. For instance, let’s say your name is Steve. Would you like to get mail addressed to “Dear Resident,” or would you be more compelled to open something a little different?

Let me show you a great example of exactly what I mean by this, one that I used in my own retail stores.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to have an end-of-season sale for my menswear stores. Now you’ve probably heard of a “Buy-One-Get-One-Free” sale, but unfortunately, everybody has heard of them and they are no longer special.

Instead, I came up with an OUTRAGEOUS twist to this sale. I decided to conduct a “Buy – 1 – Get – 1 – For – 5¢” Sale. And then I gave away a nickel.

I wrote a sales letter and placed it into a 6-inch by 9-inch window envelope where the recipients could see their names from the outside. And they could also see the shiny nickel that was attached to the letter.

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OUTRAGEOUS resource

You can get large window envelopes and all sorts of hard-to-find OUTRAGEOUS envelopes from www.uline.com. Nickels are available from your local bank (sorry I couldn’t help myself with the OUTRAGEOUS sarcasm about the nickel resource).

Who would send a nickel in the mail? Wouldn’t someone try to steal your mail before it got to the intended recipient?

I’ve actually sent them a couple of times, and they always seem to arrive just fine. And when they do, they have great success.

You’ll notice a few things when you look at my nickel mailing. Of course you notice the nickel and the hand-drawn arrow pointing to the nickel.

Yes, I am not just asking any random customer, but I am asking Steve himself to “DISCOVER WHY GAGE FIRST CLASS MENSWEAR IS SENDING YOU THIS?”

The elements, as you hopefully are beginning to notice, all start to fit together. OUTRAGEOUSLY!

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

Notice that I used Steve’s name twice in this letter. The first time was in the headline, which is the number-one most read part of any ad, and the other time was in the salutation. I often will personalize a headline because I find it really grabs the reader’s attention. Using it more than once is even more effective.

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OUTRAGEOUS boost

Since people’s names have different numbers of letters in them, you want to always place the personalization on a separate line or at the beginning or end of the line. That way it always will fit.

Of course, salutations in a letter are also a great place to personalize since people are already used to looking for their names in a salutation.

Yet, often a salutation that you’ll find in most sales letters is “Dear Friend” or “Dear Customer.” I used “Dear Steve,” and that is much more personal and inevitably leads to the recipient—Steve—feeling as if this letter was created just for him.

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

Personalization can be used just about anywhere, and I have seen many clever applications.

For example, Rory Fatt, who is the number-one most celebrated marketing coach, once gave away a brand-new car, and in order to advertise the giveaway, he sent out oversized postcards with a photo of the car and the recipient’s name on the car’s license plate. The lesson is that when you can find a place to put someone’s name that makes sense, use it.

Obviously, another great place to use personalization is in e-mails. You can personalize the subject line and the salutation easily. Typically this increases response from people who will open your e-mail and read its content.

Just about any software that allows you to send out e-mails allows you to upload a file and easily personalize the e-mails for you.

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OUTRAGEOUS boost

When personalizing the subject line of an e-mail, keep it to fifty characters or less. That way the entire message can be seen once someone checks the e-mail.

double readership path

The thing that probably caught Steve’s eye to begin with from the nickel mailing that I just showed you was the nickel. A nickel in the mail? That’s OUTRAGEOUS.

Look again at that first page of the nickel mailer. It is not some sea of print but rather a visually enticing reach into the mind of the customer.

First, of course, there is the nickel. A nickel in the mail! Then there is a hand-drawn circle around the boldfaced offer:

Plus there are two different hand-drawn arrows, small print, big print, bold print, a numbered list, and a boldfaced reminder that goes onto the other side. Yes, the next side continues the message.

And each line mentioning a different product with the same nickel deal is finished with a checkmark. But wait, there’s more, and that’s exactly what you see next in big bold:

Of course, between there is more print, always more for the customer to read that will help to convince him or her exactly how great this is.

But graphically, this bold phrase in the middle of the page catches your eye. And it leads to a coupon with a photo of the aforementioned free gift. (For more on gifts, see chapter 8.) And still, there is room for my signature and an italicized list of P.S. #1 through P.S. #5 that includes, of course, the deadline.

Finally, at the bottom of the second page is all the pertinent information, including the company logo, credit cards accepted, address, phone number, and Web site.

Of course, if you write a two-page sales letter (or a twenty-page or a two-paragraph letter), you must have something to say that is relevant to the customer. The words you choose and how you present them are important.

A lot of copywriting is human psychology. Knowing how the mind works, what trigger words to use, and how to present information in specific ways that cause people to buy is key.

And so when you are designing any campaign, you don’t want a piecemeal approach, but instead you are going after an overall look, feel, and theme to it that makes it cohesive and also gives the pieces their individual power if they are the only parts seen.

And although this is not specifically a copywriting book, I am giving many examples featuring all the elements of good copywriting. So, for example, on the first page of the nickel mailer, you can see that it is clearly built for what professional copywriters refer to as a “double readership path.”

Think about how you would read any kind of advertisement. Your eyes will scan it very quickly and determine whether or not it interests you. In the case of my nickel mailing, you’d probably notice the headline, the nickel, and a few of the other featured parts of the letter such as the handwritten font and subheads.

And by using short sentences, long sentences, and an appeal to the reader with the idea of a free gift, the letter is readable and entertaining, and it reaches many trigger points.

I just described to you the double readership path. This is the path that readers will take to see if they are interested in what you are saying to them. Then, if you grab their interest, they will read the letter in its entirety or at least until they decide whether this is for them.

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OUTRAGEOUS boost

People often resist writing long-form sales letters though they will typically outperform shorter sales messages because “the more you tell, the more you sell.” The double readership path allows you to write longer sales letters and capture the readers when they scan for information that grabs their attention.

Let me provide you with a couple of OUTRAGEOUS examples that illustrate the double readership path.

puzzle piece mailer

In August 2006, I helped a client, Keith Lee, put on a retail conference and expo, and as the conference was approaching, he still had a few more seats available and a list of customers he knew would be interested in attending.

He puzzled over what to do. He knew he could get a better response if he could just come up with a way to solve …

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

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OUTRAGEOUS resource

You can get puzzle pieces from the 3D Mail Results company. Visit their Web site at: www.OUTRAGEOUS-advertising.com/3DMailings.

First, you see the puzzle piece and the words “I’m puzzled,” and soon you learn that the puzzle piece can win you a cruise. After looking closely at the puzzle piece, your eyes scan the page and you see a paper-clipped handwritten note from me urging you to hurry. This is not only a double readership path, but actually a form of double testimonial by adding my voice into the sales letter.

This is a great example of how the double readership path is perfectly utilized for longer copy. In this case, the sales letter was sixteen pages. As you scan Keith’s sales letter, notice the elements of this letter that catch your eyes. You see the puzzle piece, the paper-clipped handwritten note, bold words, larger font, different fonts, shaded boxes, photos, etc., and the more you see, the deeper you want to read.

rubber band mailer

Dr. Greg Nielsen, mentioned more than once in this book, is a brilliant marketer who knows how to translate a simple idea that everyone knows about into a brilliant marketing technique.

And everyone knows that you put a rubber band around your wrist to remind yourself of something. Well, Dr. Nielsen thought it would be good if he helped his customers remind themselves that they may have unused health benefits expiring soon.

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

Clearly this is a great example of the double readership path. The rubber band is taped to the first page of the letter along with all of the graphic enhancements (headline, test in a box, bolding, lists, subheads, etc.) that are designed to grab your attention.

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OUTRAGEOUS exercise

Give your sales letter to someone to read, having blacked out everything that is not featured cosmetically or graphically, and then see if he or she can get the complete concept of what you are offering. If he or she can, you’ve achieved the double readership path.

Although Dr. Nielsen did not use personalization in his sales letter, he did do something very interesting. Actually it was OUTRAGEOUSLY interesting.

Instead of Dr. Nielsen himself sending out the letter, he sent it out as a staff memo. It comes from Doctor Nielsen’s staff, but wait, look closer—“(just Marie this time)” is in the return address.

Wow. Most likely, his patients know Marie, and so it’s been personalized. Marie sent this. This is a great example of an inexpensive form of personalization.

Graphically, obviously, the rubber band and layout of the “staff memo” bring a lot of attention. And the copy—this personal letter from Marie—is conversational and helpful, and it gives a great reason why the rubber band is there.

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OUTRAGEOUS boost

Items that are attached to your sales messages such as a nickel, a puzzle piece, and a rubber band are called GRABBERS because they “grab” the recipients’ attention. Grabbers are another tool to increase response and should be used as often as possible. As you can see, they don’t need to be fancy or expensive. Heck, you can’t get much less expensive than taping a rubber band to a piece of paper! For more details about grabbers, see chapter 13.

photos & illustrations

I did exactly that. Then I created a great headline that included a reason why I was in the straitjacket. I added some crazy graphics onto an oversized postcard and mailed it out.

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

Crazy? You betcha! It was crazy fun watching the customers roll through the doors at my stores.

Now I want you to do something. Take a look at the crazy straitjacket postcard and imagine it without the photo of me in the straitjacket.

The photo of me really helps to relay the story much better than if the photo was not there. That is exactly how to use photos to your advantage in your OUTRAGEOUS advertising.

You want them to enhance your stories. Remember the old saying that a picture can tell a thousand words. Well, I’m not sure they can tell a thousand words, but they sure can deliver a much clearer message.

I love using pictures in my advertising. It’s not beneath me to portray myself in a way that will make customers and prospects notice. Instead, it’s fun.

bill behind bars

Once I had a photo taken of me standing behind a wrought iron fence holding a black mug in my hand with a chain wrapped around my wrists.

This was a simple way to snap a picture that made it look like I was in, of all places … prison!!!

I used this photo in one of the most successful ads I ever ran for my retail stores, and I took quite a bit of good-natured ribbing from my customers at the same time (as you’d expect).

First, let’s look at the envelope that the OUTRAGEOUS advertisement went out in.

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

The few words on that envelope are enough to make you want to look inside because it makes you wonder what people are calling “illegal.” And then you open the envelope, and on the first page of a flyer (on next page), you see me behind bars.

There I am, coffee cup in hand, banging on the bars because I am imprisoned for selling at:

Once again, this is a great example of how you can have a lot of fun and make a strong point at the same time.

Quickly, a comparison is made as if on a large-font quiz, and the checkmark is placed in the proper box—the box that says, “Shop at Gage and save some REAL MONEY.”

You can see this in full color when you claim your FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

And then it becomes a letter to a preferred customer and friend explaining (using double readership path) that this is the “MOST GENEROUS OFFER WE HAVE EVER MADE.”

It goes on to describe the offer and then use humorous memorable language calling my coupons “ethical bribes.” Finally, this page has a hand-drawn arrow pointing the reader to look inside for more.

Once the sales letter is opened, fourteen photos of merchandise appear with a description of each. And under it all is a question-and-answer section explaining the sale.

Finally, one more feature of this page is the handwriting, which is used to emphasize, in a personal way, what needs to be pointed out—such as the name brands.

And then the final page comes back to the ethical bribes. It offers a recap list and four final points to remember.

The entire letter is filled with information for all kinds of readers. There are graphics—even funny graphics of me behind bars—that originally catch your attention in an OUTRAGEOUS way, and then I show the offer in a way that backs up my OUTRAGEOUS claim.

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OUTRAGEOUS boost

When using photos, try to place captions beneath them in order to further enhance your story. People have been trained by newspapers and magazines to read captions beneath photos. In fact, in those media it is the second most read part of an article (second to the headline). As you can see beneath the photo of me behind bars, I wrote a caption that read, “BILL GLAZER BEHIND BARS: Gage Menswear Owner is mistakenly jailed. Local authorities suspected Gage’s low prices hinted towards illegal activity by the 56-year-old store.”

illustrations - no b.s.

You can also use illustrations just as effectively. For example, Dan Kennedy, my business partner at Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, is famous for his no B.S. approach as well as for writing the monthly No B.S. Marketing Letter—(which is the number-one most read marketing newsletter on the planet).

An illustration, a cartoon character of Dan sitting on top of a bull, with a caption beneath it is often shown in the newsletter. A real photo of Dan sitting on top of a bull has also been used, but results actually have shown that in this case, the cartoon Dan wins out.

Dan Kennedy’s famous cartoon sitting on top of a bull, illustrating the no B.S. approach that he’s famous for.

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OUTRAGEOUS resource

You can take a FREE test-drive of two full months of Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Letter and “ELITE” Gold Membership at www.dankennedy.com.

copydoodles

One of my best secrets for increasing response to all of my OUTRAGEOUS advertising is a simple-to-use software program that you install on your computer called CopyDoodles.

You’ve probably noticed several times in the examples that I’ve been showing you handwritten graphics and fonts that make the copy look much more interesting.

Mike Capuzzi, a member of one of my VIP Coaching Groups, realized that these little interesting additions to his advertisements substantially increased response, so he created hundreds and hundreds for his own use.

When others saw them, they literally begged him to make them available, and he created an easy-to-use tool as the ultimate shortcut.

In fact, I rarely write anything anymore where I don’t use them. This includes: