For The Copywriter Who Doesn't Settle For Being Average

I believe you're getting too focused on the verbage and the superficial techniques and that you missed the core principle in this swipe file.

It's not about making some ballsy, puffed up claim that anybody and his cousin can mimic in their ads. It's something called "Positioning" - or "Angle Selling."

Positioning, is creating a brand new category in the reader's mind, one which only your product can occupy -- a category which you can be the leader in. Not only does saturation NOT nullify this principle, it makes it more effective.

Marketers who don't grasp this can only look at what everyone else is doing and mimic it, or try to convince you that they're "better." But if they don't absorb the principle behind the trends, they'll always be riding the coattails of the people who are CREATING the trends by reinventing what the product means to the consumer.

Bottom line, change what the product means to the customer, and you might as well have invented a brand new species of product. Some examples are:

1) Blueblockers: Joe Sugarman re-positioning a lousy pair of sunglasses as a full visual experience that could actually give you better eyesight.
2) George Foreman Grill: George Foremen re-positioning a counter-top grill as a weight loss program.
3) Juice man: a blender re-positioned as a revolutionary tool for improving your health, energy level and even fighting disease.
4) The Snuggie: a friggin' robe turned around backwards and sold as a good night's sleep.
5) Subway: regular ol' sub sandwiches re-positioned as a weight loss program.
6) The Diamond: OMG, do some research on this one. BRILLIANT marketing job in turning what was once just another precious stone into a symbol of genuine love. The markups on this one are damn near criminal.

Most of these ^ products were failing when some marketing genius got a hold of them and redefined what they meant to the customer. They "opted out" of the "here's how we're better" struggle and set themselves in a category of their own. Sure, someone else can jump on the "me too" bandwagon, claiming to offer the same thing.

But in many cases, the marketer who FIRST secures that position in the customer's mind, puts themselves at the top of a mountain which the copycats will have a hell of a time climbing.

I could give dozens of other examples, but if you're interested in reading more about this, grab one of Jack Trout's books on positioning. He has several books on the topic, the first of which was written in the "old school" era, and a few newer ones which have been written about how the SAME principle applies to the new market.

The trick is to look past the specific examples shared and to look at the underlying principle. The examples themselves WILL go out of date. But the core principle and thought process which gave birth to them will not.