A 929-word Recipe to Cook up More Persuasive Copy
A gift for you today…
A .pdf copy of Scientific Advertising – the groundbreaking book by advertising pioneer Claude C. Hopkins.
Grab it here: tommail.me/sa
And then read Chapter 7: Being Specific.
Last week, I sent an email about the Great Moon Hoax (Marketing lessons from horny man-bats and two-legged beavers), archived here: tommail.me/moon.
Readers fell for the hoax, in part, because it described the flora and fauna on the moon with precision and specificity: Nine species of mammals. Thirty-eight species of trees. Nine species of “ovipara.” And detailed descriptions of the animals, down to their mating habits.
“The more specific the description, the more believable it is,” I noted.
Hopkins said it first: “Platitude and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They leave no impression whatever…(But) a definite statement is usually accepted. Actual figures are not generally discounted. Specific facts, when stated, have their full weight and effect.”
And then he offers several specific examples of advertisers who used specificity to grow sales.
Hopkins published Scientific Advertising in 1923. And its lessons still resonate today — 99 years later.
Come to think of it, this 99-year-old book is in the public domain, so I can share as much of it here as I wish.
You can still go to tommail.me/sa to grab the .pdf copy. Or, if you prefer to scroll, here’s Chapter 7 in all its glory. It’s 929 words long. Reading time: 3 minutes, 43 seconds (for those who read 250 words per minute).
Don't go away yet..
p.s. Coaches, authors, and consultants hire me to power-up their creative content and storytelling to captivate prospects, stand-out and book more business.
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