Be specific rather than general

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Cornish Steve

Cornish Steve

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Jul 4, 2005
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  • #1
    Last night, I attended a meeting of an Honor Society to which I belong (something uniquely American, but it's not unlike a networking meeting). The guest speaker was very good and talked about the importance of referrals.

    One of the things she said was rather interesting. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like this: "If you sell a book entitled 'Financial Security', you may sell 1,000 copies. If you name the book 'Financial Security for Women', you'll sell more copies. If you call it 'Financial Security for Women over 40', you'll sell even more copies. And so on. In other words, the more specific you make the book title, the more copies you'll sell.

    Apparently, this phenomenon is backed up by credible research data. In your experience, have you found it beneficial to be specific rather than general? I can't say I'd thought about it before.
     
    T

    Tw Installations

  • #3
    I'm not an expert but I think the more specific you are the better, A couple of examples that I use in my business which i got from James Caan's book ( dragons den)

    When i write my quotes I say the price is £5041.16 as opposed to £5000 which sounds like its been rounded up, dont ask me the pyscology behind this but it DOES work?? The more specific you are the better and im landing more jobs because of it - such a simple thing aswell putting in a pounds and few pence.

    Also within my web copy I have "Kitchens available within 48hrs" as opposssed to "kitchens available in 2 days"

    James caan mentioned something in his book about when he wanted to meet somebody, if he said to the person get me at 2 o'clock outside the church there was a good chance the person would turn up at 5 past 2.

    Now if he said to the person meet me at 12 minutes past 2 at the church Because he was so specific the person would be there on time.

    The above example is probably not anything like he said it but its along similar lines - I think

    I dont know how this works but its a good one for sure

    Tommy
     
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    Scott-Copywriter

    Scott-Copywriter

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    May 11, 2006
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  • #4
    Depends on the product and market really, as well as your own marketing skills.

    Being more specific does work as it makes it more appealing to a target prospect. However when you make it more specific, you reduce your channels of marketing and reduce your target market size. You end up getting selling more because you take a bigger chunk out of this smaller target market.

    The problem is, if you don't have the marketing skills to hit this smaller target market, then you won't make use of it's potential. For many people it's easier to hit a much wider target market, even if the full size of it isn't efficiently used.
     
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    An Oasis

    An Oasis

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    Oct 3, 2006
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  • #5
    Cornish Steve said:
    Last night, I attended a meeting of an Honor Society to which I belong (something uniquely American, but it's not unlike a networking meeting). The guest speaker was very good and talked about the importance of referrals.

    One of the things she said was rather interesting. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like this: "If you sell a book entitled 'Financial Security', you may sell 1,000 copies. If you name the book 'Financial Security for Women', you'll sell more copies. If you call it 'Financial Security for Women over 40', you'll sell even more copies. And so on. In other words, the more specific you make the book title, the more copies you'll sell.

    Apparently, this phenomenon is backed up by credible research data. In your experience, have you found it beneficial to be specific rather than general? I can't say I'd thought about it before.
    Click to expand...

    Sounds more like marginalising to me. Show me the money!
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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  • #6
    This principle is described in a couple of books and reports; I'll try to track them down for you (because I'd like to read them myself). Many people think they'll make more money by posting a general message - because it applies to a much bigger audience. It's counter-intuitive to market to a much smaller target audience, but apparently the much higher response rate more than justifies that decision. In the example I gave above, presumably you'd make the most money by publishing a range of book: "Financial Security for Working Women Over 40", "Financial Security for Retired Women over 50", "Financial Security for Professional Couples", and so on.
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

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    Jul 4, 2005
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    Atlanta, Georgia, USA (formerly Cornwall, UK)
  • #7
    Tw Installations said:
    When i write my quotes I say the price is £5041.16 as opposed to £5000...Also within my web copy I have "Kitchens available within 48hrs" as opposssed to "kitchens available in 2 days"...meet me at 12 minutes past 2
    Click to expand...
    These are interesting examples. Thanks for quoting them.
     
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    directmarketingadvice

    directmarketingadvice

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    Aug 2, 2005
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  • #8
    Gary Halbert wrote about this a long time ago:

    Suppose you were writing an ad about a book that tells how to buy real estate with no money down. Your headline might look something like this:

    How To Buy Real Estate
    With No Money Down    ​


    Now let's boogie. Try this on for size!

    How To Buy L.A. Real Estate
    With No Money Down​

    Much better, eh? As a matter of fact I did write an ad for such a book and I did customize the ad and it did work much better.
    Click to expand...
     
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    directmarketingadvice

    directmarketingadvice

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  • #9
    Also...

    Cornish Steve said:
    but it was something like this: "If you sell a book entitled 'Financial Security', you may sell 1,000 copies. If you name the book 'Financial Security for Women', you'll sell more copies. If you call it 'Financial Security for Women over 40', you'll sell even more copies. And so on. In other words, the more specific you make the book title, the more copies you'll sell.
    Click to expand...

    The first title has no USP. The second has a weak USP and the 3rd a stronger USP.

    Steve
     
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    D

    Deliberator

  • #10
    My adverts have always carried strong, targeted and very specific messaging resulting usually in good responses. That is the result of honing though, I have to say, over the years !

    It's a very good point that Cornish has brought up. Nice one
     
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