How’s it going Bob?

It happens every day.  A colleague or acquaintance will say something like, “How’s it going Bob?” as they pass by you.  (Or whatever your name is)

Here’s how they expect you to reply:

• Pretty good
• Can’t complain
• Still kickin’!

But what if you said something like:

• Best day of my life.
• Groovy, baby!
• It couldn’t be better even if I were twins.
• Sunny and 75.

More memorable, right?  I bet they’d at least think about you longer than 1.7 seconds.

It’s the same way with any sales message or ad copy you write.  If you say something that’s expected, you can expect to be forgettable.  What’s the last thing in the world that I want to be?  Forgettable.  What’s the last thing in the world that I want my business clients to be?  Forgettable.  In order to be unforgettable, you’ve got to smack the heck out of what people expect.

You don’t have to be a “weirdo” to do this.  Just think about all the things that people might anticipate you’ll say, and say something you suspect they won’t anticipate.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes practice.  But if you’re writing a sales message or an advertisement of some kind for your product or service, at least you’ve got the luxury of getting out your red pen, re-reading, x-ing out a few things, scribbling here and there, and making it better before you finalize it.

If you write something that you feel might offend an extreme few…you’ve probably got a winner.  One of my “writing heroes” Roy H. Williams said, “The risk of insult, is the price of clarity.  Conventional ads get conventional results.”  I would rather dazzle 9,996 people, and offend 4, rather than be forgettable to 10,000 people.

So, try this one out.  When someone says, “What’dya know?”  Tell them “The moon has no wind.”  They’ll almost come to a stop, and have a look on their face that you’ve never seen before.  Will they remember you that day?  Yes.

Are your sales messages blending in with all the rest?  You might want to change that.

Have a groovy day!

Duane Christensen

Non-Fat Advertising blog

I’m a marketing guy, ad writer, and business grower. I write this marketing blog because I’m on a mission to help local businesses get more from their advertising bucks. I also wrote a  a no-nonsense book about how to take a bigger slice of market share with better advertising. It’s called “Take a Bigger Slice”.