Do you notice how I talk to you?
It’s very casual.
I’m not your lawyer. I’m your best friend at happy hour.
If that’s one end of copywriting, David Oglivy is the other.
They’re the most famous ad agency on the planet.
“When Fortune published an article about me and titled it: ‘Is David Ogilvy A Genius?,’ I asked my lawyer to sue the editor for the question mark.”
David Oglivy was confident, and had an intolerance for laziness.
“We sell, or else” he’d say.
He was serious.
How Oglivy wrote for the toughest customers with “How to create financial advertising that sells”
He wrote a whole sales letter to the most serious industry in the world: finance. Giving away his best lessons. For free.
He composes a masterclass in knowing your audience.
Let’s take a look.
How to craft a clear, compelling narrative
In this case:
“We are the authority on financial advertising. Here are 12 things we’ve learned.”
Simple, concise, and backed by their data.
They deliver on their title. There’s no clickbait.
For the financial audience, this is critical.
Speaking of…
Speak your audience’s language to build trust
Stability. Trust. Truth. Honesty. Information. Transparency. Understanding.
These words come up over, and over, and over again in this sales letter.
The financial world doesn’t work without trust. Any bank is asking consumers to trust them with their most precious thing; their money.
Oglivy knows this. He spends 25% of the sales letter on trust.
It’s the language of the industry.
Show you know your customer.
Give your best advice without a price tag
You all know that one guy.
The startup bro who “has the best idea bro I swear”. He just needs you to sign an NDA first.
Bullshit.
Give your best ideas away for free. Everything you learn is a lesson to someone else.
In this letter Oglivy gives away SO MUCH strategy.
Is he worried? Not in the slightest.
His customers aren’t trying to cheap out on their advertising. They want to spend. They want the best.
Sure, a regional bank might steal some alpha. That’s nothing compared to the credibility and customers he’ll bring in.
Trust me. Do not gatekeep your lessons.
Craft a killer headline, and spend at least 30% of your time on writing it
“Well sell, or else” isn’t just catchy.
It’s dead simple.
Your headline should be, too. Because 80% of people won’t read past it.
Lucky for you, it’s easy to generate a good headline.
Write 25 different variations of your headline.
Use different hooks, formats, anything. Then, send it to a friend.
Whichever one they’re most interested in is the one you pick.
Do not skimp on this. No one will read your last sentence if your first one sucks.
Use testimonials and case studies to show your credibility to your customer
Easier said than done, right?
Let me reach into my “mindblowing customer review” folder and pull out a few dozen.
Look, read this letter, and it’ll be clear to you that they’ve got a ton of prestigious customers.
Every lesson they teach has a new customer success story.
Let’s say you’re not there yet. You can still show you know your stuff.
Cite statistics. Use examples from other companies that are doing similar things to what you’re doing. You can even use your own stories, even if they don’t involve customers.
This is how you build trust and credibility.
Now that you’re here…
You might as well check out the best words I’ve come across.
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