Key concepts from the book Breakthrough Advertising
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You may have heard of the book Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M Schwartz. Copies of this book (possibly even rip-off copies) have sold for hundreds of dollars on eBay and other such sites because it was out of print for decades but the information contained was like gold-dust. Luckily I became a proud owner of one such copy and I’m going to give you a sneak peak at two of the main marketing concepts that made Schwartz famous.
A round up of the key concepts from the illustrious book Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M. Schwartz
This book is famous for all the right reasons. Eugene M Schawartz was a genius ahead of his time who was behind some of the biggest and best direct response ads in the 50’s and 60’s which raked in millions of dollars (some say billions, even).
He literally wrote the bible on marketing, known as Breakthrough Advertising. It was out of print for years which is why it racked up a price tag of up to $900 on resale sites. It’s now back in print via Brian Kurtz who inherited the dual rights to it with Schwartz’s wife, and you can get a copy of it here (not an affiliate link).
There are 14 chapters in the book, all touching on various aspects of creating winning-copy, some of which are highlighted in most marketing educational materials found online.
Things like... knowing your prospects mind (ie. getting to know your ICA), obliterating objections, positioning your product and other such devices.
But there are two specific concepts that Eugene Schwartz developed that are attributed to him for creating or at least putting a label to.
Knowing these concepts will help you position your brand or products better in any marketing campaign as well as connect with your reader (potential customer) so they see your product as the only solution to their problem.
Stages of Awareness
This concept refers to how “aware” your potential client is of your product as the solution to their problem. There are 5 stages:
1. Unaware
When your potential customer is not yet aware of their problem they are in this stage. It is very difficult to market to this type of prospect because unless they know there is a problem to solve they won’t be seeking a solution. Often, brands harness this stage using brand awareness campaigns that stir desire rather than poke at a problem (because the problem is not yet defined).
2. Problem aware
This stage is when your potential customer knows they have a problem but they might not know what the solution is. They might be seeking it, or they might be suffering (or at least putting up with) their problem until a solution is presented or found.
3. Solution aware
This is when your potential client knows there is a solution to their problems and might be actively looking for the right one that fits their needs, budget or beliefs. Several products may fit the bill for this stage.
4. Product aware
Your prospect has identified a specific product, maybe even your product, as a solution to their needs, yet they may still have questions and are looking for proof and conviction that this will work for them.
5. Most aware
By now the customer knows and believes that your product and brand are right for them, they may need a little push to get them off the fence of buying, but this is usually the easiest state of awareness to market and where retargeting campaigns can be harnessed.
The trick is to identify what stage of awareness your readers is for any particular piece of copy or marketing material. Harnessing their state of awareness allows you to meet them where they are and guide them on a journey that gets them to the point of Most Aware so that they see your product as the best (and possibly only) solution to their problem.
You might be asking… but what if my product doesn’t solve a problem?
I’d hazard a guess that somewhere deep down in your potential customer’s psyche there IS a problem hiding there or at least a desire for something. You can turn their desire into a “problem” (ethically of course) by highlighting the fact that their desire is not yet actualised and to do that, they need to solve their problem (buy your product).
Whenever you start thinking up new marketing campaigns think about the stage of awareness your customer might be in. Wherever in this hierarchy they are, you’ll need to take them through the stages until they are Most Aware so you can ask for the sale and get it without any objections or hesitations.
Stages of Sophistication
The question that is asked in Breakthrough Advertising when it comes to understand your prospects “sophistication stage” is:
How many similar products have they been told about before?
Sophistication means how new is the idea of your product and how “jaded” is your prospect of past solutions tried or at least been exposed to?
First stage
This means you are first to market and your customer is unsophisticated. Your strategy would be a simple, direct approach to the claims of what your product can do. No need for fancy words or excessive marketing. When a customer finds a new solution to a problem, they’re more than happy to give it a go.
Second stage
If a product similar to yours has already claimed the spot as first in the market, then your claims to your product need to step it up a notch. Your customer has seen it before (the solution) so they need a little more convincing on why your product is better than the one first out of the gate. It’s the simple case of one-upmanship.
Third stage
In this stage your target market is pretty savvy to the solutions available, but what happens is regeneration. New customers enter the market place, old customers are seeking something different or new to try, or perhaps they’ve not got the results they wanted so they are seeking a different approach. They perhaps have become jaded and have trouble believing that a “real” solution exists, so they accept the status quo until your product surfaces as the new way to scratch the itch.
This means the positioning of your product needs to be considered a little more deeply. What makes your product different from all the others out there? What new angle can you explore to place your product in a different light to the others? What “device” or big idea can you attribute to how your product gets results?
Fourth stage
The third and fourth stages are similar to the first and second where the second stage elaborates on what is claimed in the first. But now, as of stage three we’ve introduced a big idea, once that “gets old” with the market and they’ve become sophisticated to this new angle, the next step is to elaborate on that, again using one-upmanship to do one better than the device used at stage three (and this can be used to one better your competition if they’ve nailed the market at stage three).
My take on these sophistication stages is that once stage one and two have passed, you will be in a perpetual cycle of going through stages three and four as you find new ways or ideas to position the product and then “one-up” the competition... then back to discovering or creating a new device/idea, then one-up again.
This is why marketing professionals have to always come to the table with fresh new ideas. And why you need to keep your mind open to new ways of positioning your products time and time again. Always keep a digital (or real) notebook handy to jot down any ideas you have. You’ll be surprised at how many ideas you’ll need to explore before hitting on the right angle for any marketing campaign you undertake.
The final stage
This stage is known as the “how to revive a dead product” stage.
Your market knows all the tricks of the trade, they don’t believe in your marketing and no longer want to be aware of your product. They still have the same problem but they’re now not interested in what you have to offer through your use of the “same old tactics”. At this point Schwartz suggests the way to combat this stage of sophistication is by connecting with the prospect at a deeper level by harnessing their identity.
Allowing your prospect to identify themselves in your campaigns allows them to see themselves as part of the story.
This stage is the one I find most interesting because from what I’ve seen and tested in my short time as a marketer is that using this tactic throughout ANY marketing, regardless of sophistication stage, creates the know-like-trust factor that is the holy grail of marketing.
So while Schwartz is correct in this final stage analysis (and there’s an interesting case study in the book on pg. 46) I truly believe this “tactic” of self identification should be present throughout any marketing approach.
It’s part of what I call The Method Actors Approach to writing copy… Stepping into the prospects shoes and identifying them throughout all the copy by using their pain points, desires, beliefs, motivations, and even their exact words through research and voice of customer data (VOC).
Another aspect of this stage is the re-imaging of the product or expansion to other target markets. This is an entirely different subject, so I won’t get into too much detail, but (as in the book’s case study of cigarettes) opening up the marketing to women where once they were solely marked to men allowed for the industry to double its prospective pool and thereby generate more revenue by just switching gears on the advertising.
And on that note, I’ll leave you with this.
Bonus lesson…
In the introduction to the book, Schwartz mentions the purpose of the headline of an ad (to gain attention and to keep the reader reading) and then he goes on to say…
...the body copy [..must] lead your prospect from agreement, to desire, to identification to the conviction that he [or she] must own your product…
Attention → Agreement → Desire → Identification → Conviction
This is a great concept for the journey your prospective customer takes during their purchasing decision. You’re welcome ;)
To dive deeper into the work or Eugene M. Schwartz, get your copy of Breakthrough Advertising here (not an affiliate link).
For more copywriting tips see the related content below:
The Best Copywriting Advice I Ever Received
How to Use Market Research and VOC to Your Advantage
What is the Importance of Copywriting?