Cashvertising
Read in 23 min.
Listen in 28 min.
Learn the key ideas of the book by Drew Eric Whitman

Cashvertising

Psychology applied to advertising

Cashvertising - as the name suggests - reminds us that advertising only has one objective: to generate profit. We can write the advert of the century, but if it doesn't turn out to be profitable, we will have wasted our time, money and energy. This book reveals the techniques used by the biggest ad agencies to create effective adverts; techniques that are based on an understanding of human psychology. In his book, Cashvertising, Drew Eric Whitman shows us the mechanisms that drive people to make a purchase and he invites us to use them to convince and influence people’s purchasing choices, bearing in mind that all this is only possible if our products keep  the promises we make in our adverts. 

Cashvertising
Read in 23 min.
Listen in 28 min.
IDEA CHIAVE 1/12

In order to sell we need to understand the psychology of our consumer and leverage one of their “Life Force 8” human impulses

Advertising has one objective: to sell. Anyone who writes advertising copy, does so with the aim of convincing people to buy their products or services; it is as simple as that. It may seem like an easy task, yet in reality it is anything but, because most of the advertising that is created, passes completely unobserved before the tired eyes of the public.

This happens because most people who work in the advertising sector ignore the thought process that motivates people to buy. All too often these ad men are so busy thinking about how to boost their own ego that they end up creating campaigns that don’t work and do not fulfil the main objective, which is to make a profit.

Many adverts – far too many – talk about how lovely the product is, how professional the company is and how modern a structure they have, but they forget one small detail: people are only interested in themselves! They want to know what those products and services can do for them, how they are going to make their lives easier, more fun or more satisfying. If we take a good look at most of the adverts we see today, we will realise that they are not centred on the consumer and their needs, and that they completely ignore the concept of basic desires.

Human beings are biologically programmed with these eight core desires, or “Life Force 8”. These are very basic needs that have to do with our needs for survival, to enjoy food and drink, and to be free from fear, pain and danger. They have to do with our natural desire for sex, to live in comfortable conditions, to feel superior to others, to take care of our loved ones and to protect them and be approved by others.

These are simple needs that we all have, and no advert should ever ignore them. In order for it to be effective, an advert must play on one of these core desires. The copy must be able to create an image of the product in the customer’s mind, and this image should then create the need to satisfy the desire that the product promises to fulfil.

Once a potential client wishes to satisfy a particular need, we need to convince them that our product is just what they are looking for, and provide proof of our credibility, in order to obtain their trust. Once we have that trust, we need to use our advert to push the client to make the purchase, and that is the only objective of advertising.

To reach this final objective – of our client purchasing our product – understanding the psychology of the consumer is not only important, it is essential.

  

The key ideas of "Cashvertising"

01.
In order to sell we need to understand the psychology of our consumer and leverage one of their “Life Force 8” human impulses
02.
Fear and the ego are two strong motivators to convince people to buy
03.
We need to be credible: transfer strategy is based on the use of images and concepts that refer to people or institutes worthy of respect
04.
Consumers also choose their purchases based on future objectives – sometimes based on logic, other times on impulse
05.
Writing to make sure that people understand: the key to effective communication
06.
Talk about benefits and make sure the most important ones feature in the title
07.
People read captions under images rather than advertising copy
08.
We need to select evocative adjectives that are able to convey clear images
09.
The more you say, the more you sell, as long as the message is communicated well!
10.
Colours influence people, let’s remember this when we are in the creative stage
11.
Quotes
12.
Take-home message
 
 
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