Be OPEN to More Sales
Education-based advertising is all the rage. But trying to educate someone into becoming a buyer is very expensive.
- First, you have to convince them there’s a problem.
- Then, you have to convince them there’s a solution.
- Then, you have to convince them that your solution is the best solution.
- Then, you have to convince them that your solution is worth more to them than the money they have in their pocket.
That’s a lot to convince someone of in one piece of advertising.
Why go through all that education-based marketing? Especially when there are plenty of people out there, who are already two-thirds of the way to being your perfect buyer?
That’s where OPEN advertising comes into play.
I credit this concept of open advertising to Ray Edwards. He’s one of my favorite copywriters out there and he taught me this concept. It’s the idea that OPEN stands for:
- O: Oblivious.
- P: Pondering
- E: Engaged
- N: Needs
These are the four different types of people you can advertise to.
Imagine you’re selling a bottle of Advil and you’ve got four different people that you can tell about it. But you can only tell one of those four people.
Do you spend your time, energy, and money, trying to sell to someone who’s in the O – Oblivious – category?
Someone who’s never had a headache in their life, or even ever heard of a headache.
Do you go after somebody in the P – Pondering – category?
Maybe they’ve heard of a headache before, but they’ve never experienced one for themself. They’re pondering. But are they worth advertising to?
Do you go after the E – Engaged – people?
These are the people who’ve had headaches pretty frequently over the last couple of years. Maybe they’ve had one recently and they’re actively engaged in looking for a solution.
Do you put your efforts and advertising dollars into going after the N – Needs – people?
These people have a headache, a migraine, right now, and they need your solution.
You’ve got all four groups of people out there, but you’ve only got enough money to advertise to some of them.
Who do you target?
Do you target the Oblivious people? The Pondering people?
Or, do you target the Engaged people? The Needs people?
If you want the best return on your ad spend, you only advertise to the Engaged people and the Needs people.
Selling to someone who already knows they need what you have to offer is way easier than trying to convince someone they need it… and then convince them to buy.
For the most part, education-based advertising is a huge waste of money.
Only go after those high-hanging fruit people, after you’ve tapped out the market of low-hanging fruit.
Advertise to the people who are already two-thirds of the way to a purchase.
You barely have to educate them. You don’t have to manipulate them into buying. You just have to give them a few reasons why they should buy from you, rather than from your competition.
This is a much easier thing to do with your advertising.
Avoid the Oblivious people. Avoid the Pondering people. Go after the Engaged people. Go after the Needs people.
That way you’re OPEN to getting more sales.