Maxim #19:
Prove It with Pictures
Dear Marketing Maven,
As I’ve mentioned, the most common cause of advertising failure is launching a product that people don’t want. But the second most-frequent cause is failure to harness powerful proof elements.
If you’re a marketer or copywriter who wants to outsell your competition consistently, artfully execute what I emphasized in Maxim #10—Prioritize Your Proof.
That’s why in the last several Maxims, I’ve included outstanding examples of ads that have succeeded magnificently because, in different ways, they harnessed the unparalleled persuasive power of proof to maximize response.
Today’s Maxim is about visual proof.
Why?
Because…
Seeing is believing, and the eyes are the shortest path to the brain
Let me give you an example…
For many years before I retired, one of my clients was Rodale, publishers of the venerable monthly magazine, Prevention, a treasure trove of outstanding advice on health, nutrition, and exercise for women aged 35 and up.
Rodale asked me to help them promote a book entitled, “Growing Younger,” featuring a terrific collection of tips for any woman who wants to look and feel her best at any age. This collection of tips was so outstanding because they came from highly-respected doctors and experts in natural health, beauty, and exercise.
I wanted my promotion to do more than just describe these tips. I feared my verbal descriptions could seem like just another collection of claims without proof.
So I asked the good folks at Prevention to help me prove our case. I asked them to put out a call for women who look younger than their age because they practice Prevention's recommendations, the best of which were now collected in this outstanding new book.
I insisted on two conditions for our special group of models.
First, the women I was looking for were not the glamorous young faces from fashion magazines, but real-life women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who look and feel great for their age and who practice Prevention's favorite health and beauty secrets.
Second, the women we photograph must be willing to share their real names and ages in our promotion.
A great group of women stepped forth, and we filled the promotion with their photos, revealing their actual names, ages, and, in their own words, how good they felt about themselves and their lives.
Result: the book became one of the biggest best-sellers in Prevention's history.
Click on the link below if you’d like to see the promotion and the gracious women who proudly wore their years the way others wear diamonds—with confidence and delight.
I believe that having these women in the promotion, showing how it’s possible to look and feel terrific at any age, was the single biggest factor in the book’s enormous success.
I invite you to click below to see for yourself how photos can drive belief and response much higher … because seeing is believing, and the eyes are the shortest path to the brain.
Sincere wishes for a good life and (always!) higher response,
Gary Bencivenga
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