Never sell sausages
Finding the right proposition
A wise old London agency planner once told me something I shall never forget. He said, ‘Andy, always sell the sizzle, never the sausage…’
And it’s so true. The prospect of the sizzle is what usually motivates the purchase. Agencies exist simply to find that tangible ‘sizzle’, and present it in the most appealing fashion possible – to make your product or service more attractive and desirable.
The very excellent copywriter Dave Harland made great waves on LinkedIn a while back with his concept of selling ‘sausage on toast’ (keeping on the sausage theme). His straightforward premise was this: the better he expressed the inherent quality of the sausages and the bread, the more alluring he made the copy sound – and the more you could charge customers for your sausage on toast. A simple yet hugely effective metaphor about the power of ‘sizzle’ (and the value of good copy).
The search for the sizzle begins with the development of a credible marketing strategy. Some people really don’t appreciate the value of doing that sort of homework, and/or don’t think it’s necessary – but proper research, market appreciation and insight is behind every great campaign you’ve ever seen. Outwardly simple, easily understood, memorable campaigns simply don’t happen by chance. And of course people don’t set out to make bad/bland advertising, yet there is way too much of it out there. Rather than doing a mediocre job, why not do something brilliant?
Moreover my job is not to make people think ‘What a great ad!’ but to make people think ‘What a great product!’. That’s a crucial distinction. So if you’d like to be producing exciting, meaningful and productive communications you might think about contacting me – I know, love and respect the strategic planning process that will unearth brilliant insights, and you should too. Because that’s how you win business from your rivals.