Maxim #10:
Prioritize Your Proof!
Dear Marketing Maven,
In our last issue on how to conduct your marketing and copywriting research, we focused on your product.
In this issue, we’ll focus on an equally important subject: your proof.
Problem is, most ads are strong on promise but weak on proof.
That’s a huge mistake because…
Nobody Buys without Belief
In your research, I strongly urge you to devote a large portion of your time to uncovering all possible proof elements that are appropriate for your product and market, including:
- Powerful demonstrations, case histories, independent tests, awards, certifications, side-by-side comparisons of features, etc. that help prove your product’s superiority and uniqueness.
- Endorsements from influencers and highly respected authorities in your field.
- Social media proof which these days is often more influential for many groups than expert endorsements.
- Customer testimonials—the more specific and credible, the better.
- Affirming a strongly-held belief or viewpoint in your marketplace and showing how your product or service syncs perfectly with it.
- Projecting a corporate brand and culture of honesty and integrity. As the great David Ogilvy counseled, “Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.”
- Admitting a flaw. Speaking of David Ogilvy, he loved to tell the story of how he once purchased a chair from an antique dealer. The dealer, before finalizing the sale, pointed out a small scratch on the chair that Ogilvy hadn’t noticed. With that simple honest gesture, the dealer won Ogilvy’s trust and repeat business for life. (I suspect this may have proven quite profitable for the dealer when Ogilvy furnished the famous castle he purchased, Château de Touffou, in Bonnes, France, where he entertained gatherings of advertising luminaries.)
- Reasons why your product is superior, backed by solid proof and illustrated with graphs, test results, unique mechanisms, statements of independent industry leaders and heavy users, etc.
- Specialization within a niche positions you and your product as superior to more general solutions. Everyone knows that when you need brain surgery, you don’t want a GP.
- Favorable reviews and quotes from respected authorities.
- An impressive client list when appropriate.
- Unique or patented product features or designs that ensure superior results.
- Experiencing the product with the senses, such as smelling the fragrance at the perfume counter in a store, or seeing the suit of clothes on the model, or test-driving the car. These are proof elements, too.
- Familiarity with the major problems, lingo, and “pain points” of your target market combined with solutions this market is yearning for.
In my experience, the biggest cause of advertising failure is launching a product that people don’t want. But the second most-frequent cause is inadequate attention to marshaling your most powerful proof elements.
Stated another way, after being sure to launch products that people really want, strengthening your proof usually provides your most reliable way to increase response and create a breakthrough.
Even when at its strongest, your proof can’t always be expected to bring a prospect to complete belief and absence of any doubt. But it must inspire enough belief to create at least a credible hope that your promise may well prove true.
As you can see, the research I recommend takes time, but there’s no substitute for it. In your next Maxim, you’ll receive my favorite ways to research your market to be sure your ad will be on target.
In the meantime, always remember during your research phase…
Maxim #10:
Prioritize Your Proof!
Sincere wishes for a good life and (always!) higher response,

Gary Bencivenga
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