Is There Such A Thing As Scientific Advertising?

"Understanding And Using These Simple Concepts Can Revolutionize The Advertising Industry in Any Country

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal. -Elbert Hubbard

Over 400 million dollars is spent every year on advertising in Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately approximately 90 percent of it is wasted money. Most advertisers may as well burn their money to keep the mosquitoes away because in the end they get about the same result. It is so bad that even the advertising that works are not maximized to its fullest potential.

There is a perception in this country that advertising is mostly unscientific. The idea is just to place an ad in the newspapers, magazines or write a script for television or radio and see what happens. In the hard print industry circulation is measured by the actual numbers of copies printed not sold or distributed. Rarely is anything tested or modified to measure the changes. Very little is monitored. The only thing that business owner can point to is the number of inquiries produced by the ad or visits to their business place. Stats on how many became customers and the volume of sale that transpired is hardly ever monitored.

Quite a few honest owners will tell you that sometimes they bomb. Meaning the response did not even pay for the cost of the advertisement. The ad agent response is that something went wrong but that could be fixed if it was tried in a different way. The crux of the challenge is that most business owners although they have been advertising for years have never taken the time to find out the right way to do it. Advertising can be scientific.

There is no excuse for someone in the advertising industry not understanding the concept of scientific advertising. In fact a very good criterion for choosing an advertising agent or agency is to ask this question. “Have you read the book, ‘Scientific Advertising’ by Claude Hopkins?” You can make your decision based on their answer to that one question. There are fundamental concepts in this book when applied to the advertising industry in Trinidad can literally transform what presently exist now.

This book was written in the 1920s so its now in the public domain it can be downloaded and read anytime so there is no excuse other than plain laziness that any business person who is spending thousands of dollars on advertising should not take the time to read it. It will literally save you thousands of wasted dollars. In fact, it is even more important that all advertising agents, agencies and others involved in preparing ads, writing copy or in any way involved in advertising should make it mandatory reading. Here is what the preeminent twentieth century advertising legend David Ogilvy had to say about this book.

"Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times."

When Mr. Ogilvy wrote those words information overload was just beginning, today it has double or tripled. But it is still true. Understanding the concepts in this book as it relates to advertising and selling will save business owners thousands in ineffective advertising. Here is a simple example of one of Mr. Hopkins fundamental concepts. Putting it In my words, not his.

“Any advertiser who does not measure the results of his advertising is not in a position to have an intelligent conversation about advertising.” Simply saying that each advertisement that is placed in any medium should be tracked and measured and the results recorded. On agency owner was so taken back by a question on measuring advertisement his response was that it was the responsibility of the client to measure the effectiveness of an ad his agency placed. And this was by no means a small agency in the heart of Port of Spain.

The internet offers a host of tools for analyzing advertising campaigns but what is done offline is done to some extent online. Fact is not that the ability is absent but when the business owner does not know what to ask for he gets what is offered. One company based in Dubai, Toucan recognizes the huge potential in Trinidad is targeting companies in the Caribbean. Read here. Understanding the concepts in this book will even help if you advertise online.

Ok here is the deal. You can download a free copy of the book Scientific Advertising here. Or you can purchase an audio copy that I have recorded and burned on a CD. The price of the CD is $29.95 TTD. Its your choice, read the seven chapters one word at a time or listen to it over and over in your vehicle or at home while relaxing doing something else.

If you have the time to read this book more than once just download the free copy and read it. If not, send me an email and I will prepare a copy of the CD for you. Either way just get to it now. It is that important. Don’t spend another cent on advertising until your have read or listened to this book. And if your are in the advertising business and have not read it. It should be your top priority, it will help you immensely.

Thanks and Be Well