Clarity is the New Creativity
In the language of academics:
The central executive of working memory is the new battleground for marketers. Writers are successfully surprising Broca, thereby gaining the momentary attention of the public, but an absence of salience remains.
In the language of newscasters:
Are your ads gaining the attention of the public but failing to get results? Find out why and learn exactly what you can do about it. Stay tuned for complete details. (Insert commercial break here.)
In the language of the street:
Ads have gotten more creative, but they haven’t gotten more convincing. This sucks for advertisers and the public isn’t helped by it, either.
In the language of clarity:
Can your product be differentiated?
Can you point out that difference quickly?
Can you explain why the difference matters?
This is effective marketing.
To differentiate your product powerfully and clearly:
1. See it though the eyes of the public. (Insiders have too much knowledge.)
2. Ignore everything that doesn’t matter.
3. Focus on what the public actually cares about.
4. Say it in the fewest possible words.
5. Close the loopholes by anticipating the customer’s unspoken questions.
Have a great week.
Roy H. Williams
Need some help with this? If you need to write radio ads or web copy that sells products and services, I'm delighted beyond words to announce a new class at Wizard Academy:
Writing for Radio and the Internet will be taught by Chris Maddock and Jeff Sexton, the most effective teachers of persuasive ad copy I've ever encountered. Chris has been a stellar associate of mine for the past 12 years. You might remember him from chapter 66 of The Wizard of Ads, (1998) “Pointing Chris Like a Gun.” For 3 years Jeff Sexton was the beloved instructor of How to Write Powerfully and Clearly, Wizard Academy's always-sold-out online writing course, then he was hired away by Jeff and Bryan Eisenberg to become a famous persuasion architect at Future Now. Maddock and Sexton are strong together. Be one of the first 13 to sign up and you'll be staying in Engelbrecht House with all your meals at no charge. Be number 14 and it's a hotel and a restaurant for you. At your own expense. Ponder long and you ponder wrong. If you want to call Tamara and ask how many have already signed up, you'll find her at (512) 295-5700. Good luck.
If you're a business owner come to Ocean’s 11 – Build Your Business, March 18-20. Instead of teaching you how to do all the things I talked about in today's memo, I'm simply going to do them for you, with you and to you, resulting in a significantly revised paradigm for all your future advertising. Come to this workshop and tomorrow's marketing will pay higher dividends than it has in the past. A room in Engelbrecht House and all your meals will be provided, but only 11 companies can be accepted.
Look in the Archives of the Monday Morning Memo and you'll see that this is the 7th consecutive week that I've given you tightly focused advice about growing you business. I did this because I have deep concerns about the business environment for the balance of '08 and most of '09.
But life is more than business…
Fair Warning: Next week's MMMemo won't have a thing to do with business. (But I think you might enjoy it anyway.) And the rabbit hole will go several stories deep. Dive into it and you'll find yourself knee-deep in happy rabbits.