Copywriters: Why Do These Ads Work?

I've been into martial arts and anything physical all my life, so I know why they appeal to me.

From what I understand, you're pretty much the same. Don't they appeal to you?

Think about it. It's a macho thing.

In most niches, the highest percentage of people are looking for quick and easy. Plus they don't want to leave their comfort zone.

Alex

The one lost me at hazardous journey and small wages.

People do want fast and quick results without doing a lot of work.

Speaking from a perspective that might appeal to people that are looking to join the military. It's one of those "be the best" mentalities that the military will enforce into you (when you're not getting yelled at during uniform inspection )

I believe those ads work because it's persenting a challenge. I know people like myself, who hear someone rambling on about "dude, there's no way you can do *insert something crazy here*". I'm one of the first people in my group to jump up and go "challenge accepted". *fixes tie*

When you think about it, this is kind of like the Rich Jerk's ads when he was promoting his eBook. Some of his ads stated things like the following:

"Yeah, I may be ugly but at least I'm rich. Don't be ugly and broke, click here." It was something along those lines but I loved it.

He had a whole barrage of insults and things that made you wonder "why on Earth would anyone want to be insulted?"

The Military stands for a status and people who join the military are usually looking for a challenge. When I went through basic, I welcomed the pain of basic training in Fort Benning, GA, because I knew how proud my family would be of me and it was something I personally wanted to prove I could do.

It's usually the most controversial or the most off the wall headlines that tend to grab attention and convert the best.

Can you imagine if the Marine Corps used headlines like

"hey, join the marines, we'll feed you and stuff."
"If you join the marines, we'll teach you to shoot and run."

I almost considered training myself to go for 18x or the SFAS program (becoming a Green Beret) because of the absurd challenge it presented itself when I was in. Ultimately I didn't because of a lack of motivation and the dedication to live in the woods training for 2 years but I've always been curious of these types of ads.

Is it the pure motivation to prove themselves to other people or is it to prove themselves to themselves?

When a challenge is presented, many people will want to stand up and take it on but when you're recruiting for a job that has a chance of being killed in hostile territory, you have to be creative and truth in advertising sometimes works for those types of jobs.

I don't think anyone would believe or join up if the ad stated something like

"JOIN THE MARINES! It's like Disneyland, but more fun!"

However, as for the IM community, I'm a bit on the flip side as to whether those kind of ads will work or not. I'm sure there are exceptions and I think it largely depends on the type of consumer you're marketing to.

The people eating up $7 products more than likely aren't looking for a challenge or for anything that's going to test them. They want a magic lamp, which is pretty common for those types of products but there are some products that I could see it working on.

Can you imagine a $7 product being advertised like this:

"This will be a lot of hard work, but it will make you a killing!"

Compared to a $7 product being advertised like this:

"Make $500 a day doing only 1 hour of work a day!"

Now obviously, that type of clientele is far more inclined to buy the product advertised off of the second headline. I really think it depends on the type of clientele you're targeting and marketing to.

People looking to join the Marines are obviously looking for a challenge and they're looking to have their limits tested.

I joined the army and don't get me wrong, we had a few people in the company who joined because they thought the Army was going to be a vacation, but they got their wake up call very shortly after joining.

Much like those people who buy $7 products hoping for a magical lamp that just spits out money, those people get their wake up call relatively early as well.

Corey

Consider the new trend in extreme fitness - obstacle course races like Tough Mudder.

Why do anti-benefits work? As pointed out above, a lot of it is about the challenge, about how the reader sees himself (or herself). There are also lots of faddish things happening around the globe (or at least in the states) at the moment...this racing being one of them. The obsession with the zombie apocalypse, or any kind of apocalypse for that matter, being another.

There's a TV show on NBC called Revolution - that show makes me want to start hoarding guns and food and working out like crazy.

Read this from Perry Marshall:

Selling the Impossible Proposition

Read Sean's Article Course Sales Letter

Article Writing Course: How To Write Articles - Psychotactics - Big and Small Business Ideas

It seems like the ads are using reverse psychology. A new twist to a headline. It aims for those that are tough. Like macho men.

I think it's called pushing the testosterone button.

...You might be surprised that the "tough, hellish and almost impossible" theme can work in other niches.

Particularly when everyone is "promising" - quick and easy.

And people find out it isn't.

They can be very responsive when they see a different Ad with brutal honestly.


Steve

I don't think 'anti-benefit' describes these ads at all.

The drive to accomplish, the drive to explore, heroism, challenge, and whatever underlies those motivations, is huge. Our species wouldn't be where we are now without that.

When the opportunity is right -- then you appeal to these drivers.

The opportunity is right when the truth of the product relates to those drivers. And when people with a lot of that drive are the right people to get on board.

Lots of people recognise that real accomplishment takes a lot of getting.

'Anti-benefit', I feel, puts the cart before the horse.

The truth of the product is about accomplishment and associated hardship.

The ad gets attention. And the right people for the product really want to know more.

There's your 'Attention' and 'Interest' of AIDA.

Those people are driven by that appeal. So to my mind, it is a benefit for those people. Not an 'anti-benefit'.

Yes, honesty works.

I was speaking with a client about a postcard campaign. I've had and have wonderful success with them.

To be fair the client knows this, but has never done them before - so my pitch went...

"You've got a great service Mrs Client and together we can make it irresistible. But you're so right, people aren't spending like they used to. Times are tough and to make it even worse, they've just had their christmas costs. And anything left may have been spent in the new year sales. Your 5,000 Postcards are going through the letterboxes of people who never asked for them and at least 4,750 will no doubt go straight in the bin (aka trash). Even though I'll write you the best Ad I can, there's absolutely no guarantee it'll work. Would you like to give it a go?"

(Bit of a silence)

"Yes, Steve, when can we start?"


Steve

These types of ads work for a couple reasons:

1. They stand out from the standard ads and so they
get ATTENTION. By just being different they get you
reading them.

2. Emphasizing the pain is a tactic often referred to
as a "damaging admission". If you tell the negatives
then it makes you seem more credible in the eyes
of your prospect. It's like giving the disadvantages
on a product in a review.

3. It's a form of "take away selling". It says "this
is not for you" so you want it more. We all want
what we can't have. (The first time I asked my
wife to marry me she said, "No". Could you
imagine that?)

And both of the examples you gave have primarily
men as the target audience. Men love a challenge.

-Ray Edwards

Yeah, I think some people forget that honesty is the best policy when it comes to creating sales copy.

Both get-rich-quick and what you are calling anti-benefit ads, exploit the need for esteem in Maslow's hierarchy.


The difference lies in target's Big Five personality trait profile.

Specifically, in the dimensions of openness and conscientiousness.


Here are two videos that illustrate the difference.

This one represents the internal dialogue of a person who buys products promising to turn something or other into a cash spewing ATM machine.

High openness. Low conscientiousness.



This one is an anthem for the type of person who would run away with Shackleton.

High openness. High conscientiousness.

I'd like to add that while these definitely get their appeal from the challenge they represent, I would think a bit of humor is responsible for it as well. I don't think the target audience (a majority at least) is naive enough to think either the military or a lethal arctic expedition is anything less than challenging. Ads like these though make it so blunt it's funny.

It's like Gimli's line from Return of the King.