Evaluation: The Specificity Challenge
If the problem with most of the advertising out there is lazy communication, then logic would tell you that good advertising can be created by implementing the opposite of lazy communication...and the opposite of lazy communication is precise communication. Specific communication. Deliberate communication. Specificity is one of the most valuable tools of the master communicator. You must master it if you want to write advertising that really sells. The key to putting this all together is to challenge yourself to be specific when presenting your case. Think about an attorney. If you were on trial for murder and your attorney's job was to get you off, he would pummel you with question after question after question to pull out all of the intricate details of your story so he could use them to your advantage. If your attorney asked you where you were on the night of the murder and you said that you were out with some friends, do you think that the attorney would stand in front of the jury and say, "He couldn't have done it, he was out with some friends."? Of course not. He would use a questioning methodology to find out all of the intricate details. He'd want to know exactly where you were. What time exactly were you there? Who exactly you were with? What exactly were you doing? Who else, exactly, saw you there? Where were you before you got there? Where did you go after you left? What exactly were you wearing? Do you have any receipts of any kind to prove you were where you said you were? Where would you normally be during that time?
These kinds of questions would allow your attorney to piece together a defense based on the details of what you told him. He could say to the jury, "Bob could not have possibly done it because he left his house at 6:45 pm and drove in his black Ford Mustang to his friend John's house and picked him up at 6:55, after which they went to McDonald's on 3rd street where the manager and clerk said they saw him because they remembered his green plaid shirt. Here is his receipt for a Quarter Pounder with no cheese and no onions and super size fries and a large Sprite. They then left McDonald's and arrived at basketball practice at the gym on 9th Street at 7:45 where 18 different people remember seeing him - including the coach. He remained at the practice until 9:30 when it ended and he stayed afterward with John and six other people. He arrived home at 10:05 where his wife was watching the evening news and waiting for him with an apple pie." That's a little more compelling than "He was out with some friends.
More tomorrow for how to apply this to you marketing.
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When Marketing You Must Be Specific - Adult B2B Marketing Tip
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