What exactly is advertising anyway?

Dear Marketing Maven,

To do anything well, you first must know exactly what it is you’re supposed to be doing.

Today’s Maxim will focus on what you’re supposed to be doing as a copywriter or advertiser. Future Maxims will focus on how.

Maxim #3:
Great advertising is expert salesmanship multiplied by a mass medium.

Far too many people in advertising literally don’t know what they’re doing.

Judging by the ads they produce—especially ads that are not measured by scientifically traceable results and actual sales—many copywriters labor under the illusion that the purpose of advertising is to get applause or win awards, entertain, tell a joke, make puns, keep the client’s name before the public or build awareness.

Such copywriters are clueless, and their ads show it.

What’s the reason for such malpractice? In the words of my copy chief quoted in Maxim #2: “Most copywriters have never read—let alone memorized!—the core teachings of the greatest advertising masters of all time.”

Today’s Maxim comes directly from the greatest advertising master ever.

He was Claude Hopkins, author of the book, Scientific Advertising, first published in 1923. Decades later, the legendary David Ogilvy, often called “The father of advertising” and one of the most brilliant copywriters of all time, said this of Hopkins’ book:

“Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he or she has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life…

“Every time I see a bad advertisement, I say to myself, ‘The person who wrote this copy has never read Claude Hopkins.’ If you read this book of his, you will never write another bad advertisement—and never approve one either.”

So my most important advice for you today is—get a copy of Claude Hopkins’ book and read it seven times!

And what is the greatest principle Hopkins teaches in Scientific Advertising? Hopkins answers this question in the title of chapter two: “Just Salesmanship,” where he writes:

“To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments, one must start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship…

“The difference is only in degree. Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesperson talks to one. It involves corresponding cost ... Therefore every ad should be a super-salesman!”

Two powerful implications for any copywriter...

1. If you fully embrace this definition and master its execution, you can greatly leverage your income. That’s because your sales presentations (ads) enjoy the immense leverage of mass media. One-on-one salespeople must laboriously make their presentations to prospects in person, one at a time. This severely limits the number of prospects they can convert into buyers. And that limits their income potential. But with advertising, you can benefit from the immense leverage of persuading many thousands—even millions—of prospects at once! This means that your compensation can be massively leveraged as well, especially if you have your own ad agency or freelance copywriting business … or if you’re a marketer or entrepreneur who knows how to create strong-selling ads or elicit them from others.


2. Understanding today’s Maxim also means you can greatly leverage your selling skills by studying the techniques of the most successful one-on-one salespeople. Many copywriters seek to learn their craft exclusively from advertising books or courses, and mostly from the guidance of the people they work for. That’s all well and good. But in my career, much of my success has come from another direction—that is, by also studying the techniques of the world’s top one-on-one salespeople and figuring out how to apply their persuasive principles to copywriting.

This is an extremely powerful yet mostly overlooked way to create breakthroughs in your copywriting skills and results. Start discovering the most persuasive strategies and tactics of the most successful salespeople, and you will greatly improve your advertising persuasion skills.

At first blush, you may resist this strategy because you loathe the notion of becoming an annoying, overly outgoing “salesperson” who relentlessly pushes and nags people to do what they don’t feel like doing.

Have no fear. As you’ll see, the most persuasive salespeople (and copywriters) don’t behave that way. Just the reverse. They’re successful because they have a genuine interest in helping others achieve their goals and solve their problems in ways that are easy and highly rewarding for their customers. In effect, they put their customers’ problems, needs, and desires before their own in their presentations.

In your next Maxim, you’ll receive a crystal-clear guiding principle for doing this most effectively. Memorize and habitually practice this Maxim and you’ll become one of the most persuasive people on earth. You’ll see.

For now, remember today’s top tip from the greatest advertising copywriter of all time:

Maxim #3:
Great advertising is expert salesmanship multiplied by a mass medium.

And if you don’t own a copy of Claude Hopkins’ book Scientific Advertising, get one immediately! It’s a slim, inexpensive volume available at Amazon and elsewhere. Once you receive it, I strongly urge you to heed the advice of the great David Ogilvy: Read it seven times.

I worked for Mr. Ogilvy. He wasn’t joking. Seven times.

Sincere wishes for a good life and (always!) higher response,

Gary Bencivenga

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