Making An Impression: How To Train Your Customers To Memorize A Message That Makes A Sale

“A memory is what's left when something happens and does not completely un-happen.”
–Edward de Bono

By John Forde

How do you craft a sales message your customer just can't forget?

It sounds like a marketer’s dream.

Take the soda company, Coca Cola.

Maybe you're old enough to remember the famous commercial. You know the one. Picture a sun-dappled hilltop, hundreds of free-wheelin' folk coming together, voices rising in a chorus …

"I'd like to teach the world to sing …"

The people join hands. They're smiling. The happy pills are kicking in.

"In perfect harmony …"

It was such a popular commercial, in fact, when Coke tried to test other campaigns, viewers wrote in begging them to put the "teach the world" commercial back on the air.

Oh, they remembered it alright.

Trouble was it didn't sell much Coca Cola.

So there's your first lesson.

It's not so hard to get the customer to remember something, for instance, a catchy tagline. What's tough is getting them to internalize a message that actually leads to immediate sales of your product.

In Coke's case, they caught a break when marketing engineer Sergio Zyman came along. His first sweeping change was to dump the ambiguous "brand awareness" strategy. Forget making people "feel happy" about the idea of Coke, he told the company's top dogs. Let's sit down and figure out why they really drink the stuff.

Maybe, you think, it's just soda we're talking about. They drink it because they're thirsty. But Zyman the taskmaster pushed his team hard. And, God bless 'em, they came up with no fewer than 35 reasons Coke had an appeal to customers over other brands.

So what did he do?

Zyman helped an ad agency conjure up 35 different ads to capitalize on those "hot-button" hooks already existing in Coca Cola's target audience. Suddenly they were back in business.  Market-share exploded.

Yes, you're saying, but we're still only talking about soda. We're also talking about TV and radio advertising. And most of us, yours truly included, aren't in the business of selling or producing either.

Doesn't matter.

Because the example spills over with lots of lessons, for any marketer.

Here's one of them …

BE VALUABLE: The Zyman campaign found 35 ways to show how Coke made you feel good on a hot day, went great with a hot dog at the ball park, was a reward worth having after a day of hard work, etc. 

It's no accident "benefit" is a watchword for copywriters and other selling professionals.

Think about it. Who are you most likely to remember?  The friend that always helps you out … or the one who's never done you a lick of good?

Here's another lesson you can lift …

BE CLEAR: I admit it … personally, I love a winding maze of ideas.  But nothing pulls better than a simple, well-focused message. Coke's "teach the world to sing" campaign didn't do the work it was supposed to because it wasn't clear about any connection to the product.

And by the way, listen carefully here, because by simple and well-focused, I don't necessarily mean 'be brief' either. Rather, I mean taking the extra time to find the bulls-eye before you fire your first shot.

There's one really best idea that bridges the gap between you and the customer. You're a pro because you've learned how to find it, pounce on it, and express it clearly. It's that simple.

Does that mean you can no longer write long copy?

Not at all. A long message that feels short and tight is often -- some will say always -- much stronger and more effective than a short message that feels long or disjointed with the sale you're trying to make.

Here's another lesson you can take away …

BE FIRST: And by "be first" I don't necessarily mean you have to be the first to come up with the product. The power is in being first to make the strong claim.

The breakthrough marketing book "Positioning - The Battle For the Mind" made the case. Remember Betamax? It was leagues better than VHS videotapes. But VHS found a way to get in front of the public eye more efficiently.

The same for Windows and the PC versus Apple.  I've used both. I don't care what position anybody else wants to take, Apple -- hands down -- produces a better machine and a better operating system.

But Gates and Microsoft worked out a distribution deal at the very start that got them out there and into the public psyche much faster, on a much wider scale. They marketed better by making the claims people wanted to hear, where and when they were around to hear them.

Here's another secret to crafting an action-inspiring, memorable message …

INVENT A NEW TERM: Miller brewing was nearly a no-show among a certain beer market demographic. Then, in 1986, someone took a look at their beer brewing process and realized that their main Miller brand was "cold filtered."

Was it the only cold-filtered beer of its day? Not at all. Cold filtering is a common brewing technique. But Miller was among the first to start using the term in their ads and it was an instant hit.

Sales of Miller beer soared on the "news."

Copywriter Gary Hennerberg pulled off a similar coup in 2002, when he took a gig trying to help the Collin Street Bakery of Corsicana, Texas boost their sales of holiday fruitcakes.

How do you make fruitcakes sound new?

Gary did his research. He found out that one thing Collin Street Bakery did that no others could claim was that they used native Texas pecans, from riverside trees planted as far back as the Civil War, instead of using the more common commercial orchard variety.

And that was the ticket.

Gary not only wrote up copy about the trees. He changed the name of the product to "Native Texas Pecan Cakes" instead. Sales soared 60%.

BE EMOTIONAL: Ask anybody what makes them buy - logic or emotion. Most will tell you they're thinking, reasoning, rational buyers. They weigh all the options. They make checklists and read brochures.

And only then, resting head on chin with furrowed brow and carefully considered figures splayed on the scrap paper before them, do they make a decision to buy.

Baloney.

Emotion is what stirs the buyer's reflex. Every time. It's also the easiest pathway into a prospect's memory bank. In short, if you want a product to be remembered, first you have to stir the heart.

Still don't buy it?

Okay, let's get ironic and try looking at the rational explanation. Emotion raises adrenaline.  Adrenaline kick starts your brain's amygdala.  The amygdala wakes up your hippocampus.  Your hippocampus pours the foundations for building a memory.  And when you recall that memory vividly, well, you get all emotional about what you're remembering all over again.

Make sense?

Another memorable message secret …

BE VIVID: Don't you hate it when you get a client who won't let you write 'strong?'  Yeah, me too.  Fortunately, those clients don't usually last long.  And for good reason. 

Anyone who's spent a fair amount of time on this earth has learned that it's passion that makes the world go round.  In copy, that means strong verbs.  Gutsy promises.  Bold opinions. 

Shrinking violets get trampled.

Here's another tip …

BE REPETITIVE: If you want people to internalize your key message long before they get to the order form, repeat it. Often.

Sad to say, many people just aren't as observant as we want them to be.  They're not dumb, just busy.  Ergo, to get a good message remembered, flaunt it.

Especially if it's well connected to your offer.

I've seen 16-page sales letters re-state the offer 6 and 7 times over. So don't be shy about saying the same thing twice … or more than twice.

TELL THE STORY NOBODY ELSE IS TELLING: Here's another lesson from the brewing trade. If you've done your homework, you know about Claude Hopkins.

Hopkins is the genius who wrote the short but powerful "Scientific Advertising" tome back in the 1920s. David Ogilvy made all the new hires to his famous ad agency read it seven times.

Hopkins was also the brilliant copywriter who helped Schlitz Beer, then the number five brand in the U.S., rocket into first place. How? After a visit to the Schlitz Brewery, Hopkins had seen what rigorous steps the company took to keep the beer pure and clean during the brewing process.

How come, he asked, you don't tell your customers you're doing this? Because every other beer company does it too, came the answer. Yes, but they don't tell this story either, said Hopkins.  He pounded out an ad that laid down all the rich details and Schlitz sales took off.

BE LARGER THAN LIFE: Quick, what's the relevance of your product in the scheme of the universe?  Nothing, you say? Hogwash. The closer you can get to 'galactic' without sounding ludicrous, the better; "Just a vacuum? Why Madam, we're talking about a whole new way of LIFE!  Allow me to demonstrate …"

CLOSE HARD: You've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times. Every good sale closes with a crystal-clear, clarion call to action. In yours, you want to tell them -- in no uncertain terms -- HOW to buy …

"Pick up your phone.  Dial this number.  Claire will answer.  Tell her this …"

You want to remind them directly WHY to buy …

"Remember, in 9 out 10 tests, only 'Blink Ocular Itching Cream' stopped uncontrollable eyelid twitches without causing blindness."

And of course, you want to do all this with enough urgency to get the buyer to act now. Because if they don't do it now, you know what happens. It goes into the in-basket … which then gets dumped into the out-basket … which ultimately spills over into the waste-basket. You don't want that to happen. So you urge them to buy now, before time runs out …

"I'm not sure how long supplies will last.  We didn't expect this much demand.  So I hope I'll hear from you today … if not sooner."

And don't be squeamish about it. Some study somewhere showed you've got about 14 days at MOST before even the most memorable sales message slips into the ether of information onslaught. Personally, those stats seem generous.

So there you have it.

Be memorable or be forgotten.

The ball is in your court.

Contributed by John Forde
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™

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