"Cashvertising" by Drew Eric Whitman

Drew Eric Whitman is a longtime advertising and marketing specialist.

He utilizes psychology to break down the key components of why a consumer will buy one product over another.

Backed by extensive research and presented in an easily digestible format — Cashvertising is a marketer’s or seller’s potential roadmap in complicated and complex industries.

These are tried and true practices to grow, expand and optimize advertising copy.

Cashvertising will help you by using the psychology of a consumer to help you reach your customers’ “buttons” and compel them to buy.

“Cashvertising” In a Nutshell

After you’ve launched and your business is up and running, you’re working on the expansion phase.

Many marketers and advertisers find themselves at a loss for why most of their advertising efforts are not returning the results they were hoping for.

There isn’t an easy and simple fix: the issue is that many sellers are not advertising their product well.

Think Before You Advertise

Whitman tells us that well thought out and executed advertising can do wonders for your business’ bottom line. Effective ad copy needs to be persuasive, understand what the consumer wants and needs and then attempt to address those critical points.

Cashvertising, or “How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG Money Selling Anything to Anyone”, is focused on the principles of teaching sellers how to convince consumers to spend their hard-earned money.

Advertisers need to focus on the creation of their ad copy on being either intelligent or creative — which will help motivate people to purchase something they may not need (but now want).

The Most Common Misconception Is…

Large and small companies alike should not publish mediocre ad copy and then turn around and expect that millions of people will want to buy their product. Even major brands push terrible ad copy!

The product needs to have advertising copy that is scintillating (look it up). Words laden with adjectives and descriptors — that not only describes what’s being sold but evokes the other senses.

Don’t shy away from the good stuff (if it’s good).

More Copy is Often Better

Rather than try to condense your message down, try instead to be more visual and engaging with your advertising copy. You’re creating a movie in the consumer’s mind and it needs to be a blockbuster, not an indie flick.

Whitman also lays out the “Eight Desires” of human need (listed further down).

To be successful in your business’ marketing endeavors, the advertising copy needs to utilize descriptors of the “Eight Desires” to address components of human need (or what they crave and/or what they desire).

Finally, when writing ad copy Whitman suggests utilizing imagery and relatable examples in order to paint an irresistible picture in the reader’s mind. You are looking to drive people to buy, but the manner in which you say it matters.

Go online and understand the feelings and needs and actions of your target audience. Create content that the consumer actually wants and the rest will follow.

Bullet Point Value

Whitman lays out primary “Foundational Principles of Consumer Psychology”, which are some guidelines that need to be addressed in your advertising copy to be successful.

Here they are:

Your ad copy needs to create a mental movie in the consumer’s mind. They need to be able to imagine themselves actually using or taking part of your product or service.
The copy needs to invoke the fear factor, by giving a scenario that lays out a problem and in which your product becomes the solution to the fear.
When crafting your brand, make the situation seem as if your product is integral to your company’s identity, which will help you to influence consumer behavior with “ego morphing.”
Try to utilize already established, trusted institutions and people in order to create “Transfer Credibility”, in which your company’s credibility is grown off the established trust of an existing, credible company.
When establishing your marketing plan, lean into the “bandwagon effect” by linking your product to a group or association your target customer already identifies with, like Facebook groups or online communities or even in-person communities.
Keep in mind the perceived future returns a customer will receive with a “means-end chain” system when convincing a customer to buy your product. Will your customer believe this product will be the means to an end in relation to the problem in the market you are addressing?
Don’t create advertising bling: As a marketer, try to create advertisements that follow “persuasion step by step” through the product stage process, which goes through the unaware phase, the familiarity phase and a need/want/willingness to buy phase.
Sellers should attempt to reinforce deep-seated ideals and beliefs that customers already have, and support or strengthen the idea of supporting your product by establishing the relationship between their existing beliefs and your service.
The “Elaboration Likelihood Model” will help you to influence the attitude of the consumer, which is part of the familiarity phase, and is the phase you need to be converting people who passively know your product to those who are willing and able to buy. Either take the “central route” or the “peripheral route” process in your process while persuading the consumer to buy.
There are many “weapons of influence” when it comes to persuading someone to buy, and your job as a marketer or advertising agent is to activate and act on one or more of those persuasion categories (to belong, gifts, scarcity, etc.)
You need to establish credibility, and provide “Evidence” in the form of testimonials, scientific facts, etc. that show what you are offering is legitime and worth spending the time and/or money on. If someone does not believe the product will work, they will not buy it, and so credibility becomes a very important part of your advertising.

The Eight Desires

More life (extension); enjoyment of their lives; and to survive
Food and drink, and the enjoyment thereof
Removal or the nonexistence of pain, fear, and danger
Close, intimate relations (companionship, both of physical and sexual nature)
Living conditions that are comfortable and address their other needs (food, safety, comforts, etc.)
To live the “American Dream” and be successful – and more successful than their neighbors or peers
Loved ones or people they care deeply about, and the safety, protection and care of them
Approval from their peers, in societal or colloquial fashion

Putting It into Your Copy

Are you ready get moving?

Start off with making your advertising copy longer, more descriptive and more engaging. Does your advertising copy invoke a basic need/crave/want in the consumer’s life?

If not, rewrite it and add more adjectives and imagery. Remember – you’re painting a picture in the mind of the reader that will be compelling enough that the consumer will want to buy your product.

While you’re crafting your new advertising content, remember to never forget the “Eight Desires” and attempt to address and/or include them in any advertising copy that you write.

Try to include them in any piece of marketing or advertising that you undertake, from content marketing like blogging to advertising copy in newspapers or online to radio and beyond.

There are several techniques in “Cashvertising” will help you understand how to compel your audience and create effective ads.

Try using at least one of them in each advertisement that you create, experimenting as you go and running A/B tests to see which works best for your market.

Remember, it’s not just what you say, but you say it. How you are saying your message matters. Your ads should be clear, straightforward and have a defined (compelling) message.

After all, you’re asking someone to part ways with their hard-earned money for your product – show them why your service is worth it.

“Cashvertising” by Drew Eric Whitman