Is Being Inner-Focused Hurting Your Business?

In the course of my copywriting consulting practice I routinely review advertising copy for prospective clients using a special ten-point system that checks for the key components needed for maximum results.

One interesting benefit of using this system is that it allows me to objectively evaluate an ad from the perspective of a person reading the ad.

Unfortunately, all too often, ads are not written from the perspective of the reader — meaning they are not outer-focused. Instead, many ads seem to be written with an inner-focus — meaning solely for the benefit of the advertiser.

For example, I reviewed a full-page magazine ad for a bank with the headline,

"Go ahead, judge us by the company we keep."

The rest of the ad simply displayed the logos of five of the bank's customers, followed by the bank’s logo and contact info at the bottom.

This is what I call an ego ad. It's 100% inner-focused. By that I mean, it's all about the bank and its other customers, with no mention of any benefit for potential NEW customers.

I guess the idea is that a reader is supposed to be impressed that the bank has these other customers. I guess the bank's management thinks that should be enough reason for a new company to use them.

This is a classic example of an inner-focused ad that is all about the advertiser and provides no reason at all for people to read it. There's absolutely nothing in it for the reader.

What was really eye-opening was that most of the other ads in this business magazine suffered from the same flaw: “Inner-Focus.”

Now, if you don't care whether or not people respond to your advertising or if you just want to boost your ego, this kind of ad is perfect.

On the other hand, if you want to get actual results from your advertising, then you absolutely must write your ads from the perspective of what's in it for the reader, instead of what's in it for you.

You may have heard of the AIDA formula for writing ads:

Attention - Interest - Desire - Action

This is a good rule of thumb to use when creating your ads. (I discuss this in greater depth in my June 17 blog post entitled, Copywriting tips that increase advertising response rates.)

You must get attention with a headline or equivalent that speaks to readers in a way that suggests a solution for a problem they might have that you can solve. And your headline must be specific and targeted to the market you want to reach.

"Go ahead, judge us by the company we keep" could apply to ANY company in ANY industry and, therefore, appeals to no one specifically.

While knowing who the advertising bank's customers are might be interesting to the bank's competitors, new potential customers really don't care! Therefore, when writing an ad, you must create attention in a way that will appeal to new customers.

The bank ad completely lacked the third and fourth components: desire and action.

There was nothing at all in the ad that would even remotely stimulate a potential customer to want to do business with this bank.

And finally, there was no call-to-action, meaning no statement of what a person is supposed to DO after reading the ad. I guess the bank assumed that people would want to come in based on the company they keep. Would that make you dash right in for a loan or to open up a new account?

The point is, if you want your ads to work; if you want them to motivate qualified people to seek you out, you absolutely positively MUST make sure your ads are outer-focused. They MUST clearly and convincingly convey what's in it for the reader if he or she reads the ad and takes your most desired action.

If you want a constructive review of your ad using the ten-point system, call Ben Edwards at (617) 670-1888, ext. 1 to arrange for a complimentary no-obligation evaluation. The worst that can happen is that your advertising will be more effective.