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How_To_Increase_Your_Web_Profits_by_`Cutting_the_Hype
| How To Increase Your Web Profits by `Cutting the Hype
Copyright © 2005 Ross Storey – http://bestwebcopy.zapz.biz
‘Hype’ is now an often used slang word which is short for
‘Hyperbole’, pronounced ‘Hy – per – bul – ee’, with the accent
on the ‘per’ (not ‘hyperbole’ as in ‘super- bowl’).
The dictionary definition of hyperbole is: Poetic or rhetorical
overstatement; exaggeration’, but it has now taken on a definite
negative meaning, especially when used in marketing and
advertising.
Let’s face, consumers in today’s 21st century western world are
‘advertised’ nearly to death. The average person is exposed to
hundreds of advertising and marketing messages every single day.
If they responded to them all, they would have little time for
anything else. And, today, more than ever before, time is money.
Like the ‘boy who cried wolf’ today’s consumers have developed
an aligator-like skin to protect them from this bombardment of
product and service claims. They literally tune out to protect
themselves from advertising that ‘yells and screams’ for their
attention.
It’s become like a bizarre competition, with advertisers seeking
to attract attention by becoming more and more outrageous, in
the vain hope that they will cut through the clutter of
competition. The internet equivalent to this is when people use
CAPITALS IN THEIR HEADLINES AND ADS; they are screaming in your
ear via the computer terminal.
Like their real-world counterparts, web advertisers who adopt
this tactic often suffer from the exact opposite response to
that they are seeking. People just switch off and ignore their
message. Rather than ‘cutting through the competitive flak’,
email, web page, Blog or newsletter ads that ‘yell’ with CAPITAL
LETTERS, are very likely to be totally ignored. That’s my
response, anyway.
And, advertisers who make ridiculous claims like ‘Do Nothing and
Earn $100,000 in One Week’ should be treated with the contempt
they deserve. Such claims only serve to insult peoples’
intelligence and reflect poorly on those making them.
I believe the success key today is to be polite; to be calm and
rational. Rather than ‘Hype-ing’ your message, try instead to
carefully highlight the specific benefits your product, service
or subscription brings to people who use them. One way to
highlight your message, without screaming, is simply to bold the
key words you want emphasized. This is much more civilized that
CAPITALISING them, and much easier for readers to digest.
As it says in ‘Desiderata’ (written by an anonymous author in
the 17th Century and famously found in ST Paul’sChurch,
Baltimore, dated 1692) ‘Go placidly amid the noise and haste &
remember what peace there may be in silence’…It goes on later to
say; ‘Avoid loud and aggressive persons, because they are
vexations to the spirit’.
Yes, the irony is that there’s very good advice for people in
the 21st century about how properly to use the internet, on the
wall of a church built more than 300 years ago.
So, don’t go about your web marketing by ‘vexing peoples’
spirit’, instead ‘go quietly’ and I willing to bet that your
internet profits will increase.
About the author:
Ross Storey is a 52-year-old public relations and marketing
consultant. http://bestwebcopy.zapz.biz
http://bestprographics.zapz.biz (Copyright © 2005 Ross Storey -
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