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Looking for an overview of Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman? What are his fundamental advertising techniques?
Advertising coach Drew Whitman claims many advertisers put a lot of money into ads but see little return on their investments. In Ca$hvertising, he claims that he can help you turn your mediocre ads into money-making machines by letting you in on one big secret.
Read on for a brief overview of Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman.
Ca$hvertising Book Overview
Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman offers insider tips and tricks on how to craft the most compelling, money-generating ads for your business. In the book, Whitman argues that most advertisers don’t recognize that their ads must address eight core human needs (like the need to stay alive, find nourishment, and have a community) to gain the attention of consumers. They thus produce poor advertising that consumers easily look past.
However, if you can create ads that address those core human needs using any of the 13 advertising techniques Whitman presents, your ad is virtually guaranteed to garner attention and bring in sales. We’ve consolidated Whitman’s original list of 50+ techniques into this smaller list, which still covers his most critical and actionable advice.
Ca$hvertising author Drew Eric Whitman is an advertising expert who leads seminars on effective advertising, consults for businesses, and offers creative services. He’s created ads for several large organizations and is also the author of BrainScripts for Sales Success.
Whitman’s Fundamentals of Advertising
In Ca$hvertising, Drew Eric Whitman argues that before you create any form of advertisement, you must understand the fundamental rule of advertising: Your ads must address the eight core needs that motivate all humans (what Whitman calls the Life-Force 8). These desires are biologically programmed into us, and all humans have them until they die. Therefore, if your advertising addresses these needs, it will always draw the attention of audiences. These needs are:
- Stay alive, live longer, and live a happier life
- Eat and drink well
- Avoid fear and threats to your life
- Find a sexual partner
- Live safely and comfortably
- Match or exceed your peers in status
- Take care of your near and dear
- Be accepted by society
Whitman’s Advertising Techniques
Now that you know your ads must address the eight core human needs to be successful, let’s look at some of Drew Eric Whitman’s advertising techniques in Ca$hvertising that will increase the effectiveness of your ads.
Instill Fear in Your Audience and Show Your Product Eradicates that Fear
According to Drew Eric Whitman’s Ca$hvertising, one of the best ways to sell a product is to provoke a fear in your audience that your product can eradicate. People are strongly motivated to avoid things they fear, and if your product can help them do that, they’ll want to buy it. Fears include fear of loss, fear for your health, fear of damage to your ego and self-esteem, and so on.
Align Your Product With Your Customer’s Current or Aspirational Image of Themselves
One selling technique that Drew Eric Whitman describes in Ca$hvertising is to align your product with the current positive image your audience has of themselves or the aspirational image they’d like to have of themselves. This is effective and easy because we have built-in perceptions of ourselves—for instance as serious, sexy, or rugged. When you identify those images and associate your product with them, consumers will feel your product helps reinforce their desired self-image and will buy it, claims Whitman.
Show What the Product’s Ultimate, Most Important Benefit Is to Your Customer
Another technique is to show the product’s ultimate and most important benefit to the consumer, asserts Whitman. A product’s benefits are the reason customers buy it, so clearly show these in your ad.
Importantly, the benefit of a product is different from its functions. Functions are the practical things a product does: clean your windows, for instance, if you sell window cleaner. A benefit is the feeling of happiness, efficiency, or peace the customer hopes to get from the product: the joy of having sparkling windows and knowing these will impress passers-by, for example.
Therefore, in ads, explain to readers how they’ll benefit from your product—how the product will make their lives easier, more efficient, or more enjoyable. Always highlight the greatest benefit to readers first, both in an image and the ad’s headline.
Compare Your Product Favorably Against Your Competitor’s
Whitman recommends using competitors’ inferior products to strengthen the position of yours. When comparing your product to a competitor’s, be specific about how yours is better: Specificity helps convince the reader you’re right. You can draw a comparison in three steps:
- Warn the consumer of the inferior products other brands are trying to sell them. For instance, you might say: “My competitor will try to get you to believe their cheap light bulbs are just as good as ours.”
- Offer an unconvincing argument in favor of your competitor’s inferior products. This weak argument encourages prospects to perceive the competitor’s product as unacceptable. You might thus say: “Those cheap light bulbs may be fine if you don’t mind irrevocably damaging your eyes.”
- Advocate for your own position and product. This builds on the customer’s existing distaste for the competitor’s product. “But that’s not how we do things at our company. We believe every room should be brightly lit…”
Pose Questions in Your Copy to Get Readers Thinking
Another technique in Ca$hvertising relies on posing questions, writes Drew Eric Whitman. Use questions, including rhetorical questions, to prompt audiences to think about your product more than they might otherwise, counsels Whitman. Rhetorical questions aren’t always effective as selling tools, and some feel they never reliably work. However, Whitman contends that rhetorical questions can encourage audiences to simply spend an additional moment thinking about your product, thus cementing its place in their minds. Literal questions can also make readers want to know the answer to the question and continue reading to find it.
For instance, if you ask the rhetorical question, “Wouldn’t life be better with a bag of Mandy’s BBQ chips?” you prompt your audience to reflect on this question, making them think about your brand for a moment longer, and hopefully helping them recall it when they’re in a buying situation. If you conversely ask a literal question, like: “Do you know what peoples’ favorite chip flavor is?” the reader will want to know the answer and keep reading.
Rely More on Either Facts and Figures or Emotion and Positive Association
Lean on either logic and facts or emotion and positive association, depending on the product, advises Whitman. People make buying decisions differently, depending on what they’re buying: When purchasing something critical to their livelihoods—a car, a house, and so on—they think logically and based on facts. When contemplating the purchase of something less important—apps, snacks, and so on—they’re guided by emotion.
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Here's what you'll find in our full Ca$hvertising summary:
- How to turn your mediocre ads into money-making machines
- 13 techniques to create compelling ads that address customers' needs
- Why fear is a strong motivator that increases sales
