"Scientific Advertising" by Claude C Hopkins

This book was penned by Calude C Hopkins in that era when it was just the beginning of advertising. But it is relevant or rather important even today.

He points out clearly

"The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached
the status of a science"

As rightly said by many experts that concepts   of marketing will remain the same irrespective of any era or medium. Accordingly for a beginner like me, it becomes highly important to read and understand this book.

The following 21 chapters give you a total insight of what is advertising and it covers entire spectrum of issues clubbed together as a single unit which is hard to assimilate individually.

It begins with perspective of advertising industry as whole and how ground rules were laid over a period of time or rather evolved due to continuous changing nature of industry.

Get your basics right

Hopkins clearly emphasizes on the fact that the ultimate objective of advertising is to help sell & success will be quantifies and not measured philosophically. In giving analogy to sales man, he clearly states that to be successful have all the qualities of successful salesman. And advertiser has to connect the company with customer whose interest is paramount by studying the consumer.

In order to sell successful, brand has to realize that they need to offer services by fulfilling the need of customer not by selling it purely as a product.

Hopkins give example of Mail order advertising to warn advertisers to be connected to basics and work on ground step by step and systematically manage their finances by keeping simple rules and focus on benefits in the end by earning their place because it requires continuous quality campaign.

Advertising is successful only when they capture the attention of the potential customer by making readable & suitable Headlines. It is not required to be complicated which can be ignored but eye-catchy  because he clearly says that irrespective of how good your product is Headlines catch eyeballs.

What’s in Customer’s mind

Chapter by chapter Hopkins makes you understand that reading the customers mind is very important by understanding the psychology of the customer which requires advertisers to think from customer’s point of view by stating specific facts which are acceptable and they should provide an effective complete story which compels them to read it again.

Now, he starts his focus on the campaign side by explaining the importance of available resources by stating that use of art form and judicious use of every inch is very important because the whole campaign cost is very high as it is necessary to connect to target audience. Any failure in pursuing a creative art form or depiction of wrong info or info in wrong manner can destroy the brand which is greater than advertising campaign.

On ground strategy- Matching action with words

Next step is creating a strategy so that you a clear direction of what your campaign will go by considering all forces like competition, potential of brand as well as on ground situation of supply chain and the most critical the advertiser should be completely be informed of what they are promoting .

After the potential customer is identified then it is time to match words with action by interacting with interested people & offering them samples which and offers which encourages them to buy the product . And it most critical to take ground situation in mind in terms of available dealership and physical distribution in mind because what you advertise and if you not deliver in terms of distributing  any offers or samples or coupons , but you should deliver it.

Hopkins now talks about basic points to fundamental points of increasing sales on ground because on ground efforts are to be matched with campaign to be run. Before scaling up the campaign it has to be tested with a suitable sample & analysed its effectiveness. He also emphasized that the tricky issue of relationship with dealers has to be sorted out because dealers also think of their own profit but you have think of maximizing overall sales not individually.

Warnings

In order to differentiate from others you need not to be eccentric or showcase anything extra-ordinary. One has to clearly understand that work which appeals differentiates from others. One has to be consistent in its approach, mannerism and style which connects ,since changing your brand strategy is like changing personality every time which does not inspire confidence in customers.

And never attack your competitor because it is not sustainable because people want whats unique in your brand and not what is wrong with another.

Summing Up

Mr Hopkins says that believe in your work and bring efficiency and good work and by being competent. He also states that letter writing is an important piece of advertising and it has to be carefully articulated how to dispatch & respond to the letter that you send.

He ultimately sums it up saying that you/your brand should have an identity and should be recognized by a name which customers can connect otherwise your whole campaign will go waste.

On that note if you read this book, you will clear your head and hit the ground running and start your campaign. Happy Advertising