Claude Hopkins.
A legend in the advertising world.
His work has influenced pretty much all of the top direct response marketers. Pretty much every top marketer I know have an old beat to you know what copy of his book, Scientific Advertising, lurking somewhere in their office.
The book was originally published in 1923. But don’t let that turn your nose up at it. The principles he teaches are still highly relevant for anyone today who wants to get others to buy your products, services, ideas, etc.
I could easily do a whole 6 months of articles just on the nuggets I can pull outta Scientific Advertising. However, I’ll stick to just one for now.
Claude wrote…
“Use pictures only to attract those who may profit you. Use them only when they form a better selling argument than the same amount of space set in type.”
Now remember when Claude wrote this there was no Internet. (Oh the horror! How did they ever survive in such a cruel world!)
He was talking about using pictures in print ads.
That said, his advice is even MORE important in today’s digital world.
Web designers often plaster big fancy images or videos on their web sites and landing pages. And, more often than not, these are just cheesy stock photos that add nothing to the business’ sales pitch.
It’s just a lazy way to fill up space. And it often fills up the prime real estate on the web page. Sure, it may look pretty, but does it really “attract those who may profit you”?
Could, perchance, that space be better used with a strong call-to-action, guarantee, irresistible offer, summary of key benefits, etc?
Well, if one of those things are replacing the usual stock imagery, the answer is YES!
To be sure, pictures can certainly enhance your sales pitch. And I’ve used them plenty o’ times on landing pages for clients.
But there were used and placed strategically to enhance the ad copy and help get the lead, download, sale, etc.
Just something to think about next time some web designer tries to turn your website into Wall Art instead of the sales machine it’s supposed to be.
