PDF Summary:Breakthrough Advertising, by Eugene M. Schwartz

The ultimate goal of copywriting is to craft advertisements that spur demand for what you’re selling. You do this by understanding what customers already need and framing your product as the only solution to fulfill these needs.

In the best-selling classic Breakthrough Advertising, renowned copywriter Eugene M. Schwartz offers timeless advice for crafting persuasive advertisements that convince customers to buy your products.

This guide walks you through Schwartz’s methods for writing advertisements that sell. You’ll come away knowing:

• Exactly what you need to understand about customers to craft successful advertisements
• Specific techniques you can use to create captivating headlines
• Persuasive methods you can apply to write compelling copy

Additionally, we’ll clarify Schwartz’s ideas with research from marketing professionals and suggest actionable strategies to help you integrate these concepts into your copywriting process.

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Awareness #1: Customers Don’t Feel Like They Need Your Product

The first level of product awareness represents customers who don’t recognize or acknowledge the need that your product satisfies. This means that they’re either unaware of your product or don’t care about it.

Schwartz suggests that your headline should echo an emotion or an attitude that they can identify with. You can then use your copy to educate them on why they need your product. For example, when advertising a dating app, you could use the headline, “Have you forgotten what it’s like to be in love?”

(Shortform note: Marketing experts expand on Schwartz’s advice for appealing to customers who don’t feel like they need your product. For a product to create a new desire in customers, it must have five characteristics: newness, surprise, intricacy, mystery, and an ability to raise questions in the customer. For example, the iPhone is a notable example of a product that created a customer desire that hadn’t existed before: Customers didn’t want hand-held computers that could make calls and browse the internet because they didn’t know it was possible. This changed in 2007 when Apple generated hype with an intriguing marketing campaign that showcased the product’s novelty.)

Awareness #2: Customers Feel a Need—But Don’t Know How to Fulfill It

The second level of product awareness represents customers who are aware that they require something to fulfill the specific need your product satisfies but they don’t yet know about any potential solutions—including yours.

Schwartz suggests that your headline clearly define the need you’re targeting, convince customers that they urgently need a solution, and then present your product as the inevitable solution. For example, “Are you tired of feeling alone and unwanted? Download our app and you’ll never be single again.”

(Shortform note: Marketing experts expand on Schwartz’s advice by suggesting that you’ll reach more customers at this stage of awareness if you present your advertisements online as informative content. Customers often scroll through various articles and blog posts as they search for potential solutions to fulfill their needs. Gain direct access to these customers by writing informative posts that provide them with the information they need—be sure to include relevant keywords so that your content appears high up in the search results. Then, frame your product as the best solution for fulfilling their needs and include a link to the product’s sales page.)

Awareness #3: Customers Know How They Want to Fulfill the Need Your Product Satisfies

The third level of product awareness represents customers who are aware of the need your product satisfies, and they know how they want to fulfill it. However, these customers don’t know that your product can provide the solution they seek.

Schwartz suggests that your headline should emphasize three points:

• A definition of the specific customer need
• Proof that it’s possible to fulfill that need
• An illustration of how your product fulfills that need.

For example, “Sick of bad dates? Sign up for [app name] where all the good ones hang out!”

(Shortform note: Be aware that even if you convince customers to read your copy, they might not progress from knowing what they want to buying what they want. This is because customers prefer to keep their options open instead of completing transactions. Browsing through advertisements involves imagining what it’s like to own different things. This process releases dopamine (the happy hormone) into your bloodstream and increases your desire to imagine more possibilities that make you feel good. However, this dopamine hit stops the moment you commit to one possibility. In other words, it feels more pleasurable to think about buying things than to actually buy them.)

Awareness #4: Customers Aren’t Sure About Your Product

The fourth level of product awareness represents customers who aren’t sure that your product can fulfill their needs. This is because they either don’t have enough information about your product, or they feel skeptical about the product information that they have seen.

To engage customers at this awareness level, Schwartz suggests that your headline should focus on achieving one of five objectives:

1) Reinforce their need for your product: For example, “Don’t waste your life waiting for the one.”

(Shortform note: Kaufman (The Personal MBA) offers a way to reinforce customer need for your product: Incorporate limitations into your advertisement. Achieve this by implying that the product has almost sold out—for example, “While stocks last.” Alternatively, set an expiration date on a discounted price—for example, “Valid until midnight tonight.” These tactics reinforce customers’ need for your product by suggesting that they’ll “lose out” if they don’t immediately complete the transaction.)

2) Emphasize how good life will be once they’ve purchased your product: For example, “Have fun finding the love of your life.”

(Shortform note: To effectively convey the future benefits of owning your product, customer service experts suggest that you express enthusiasm and a genuine interest in serving the needs of your customers. When customers feel like you genuinely care about meeting their needs, they’re more likely to believe that you’re capable of meeting their needs. For example, change, “Have fun finding the love of your life” to, “We really want you to have fun finding the love of your life!”)

3) Prove that your product can fulfill their need: For example, “Sparks more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other dating app.”

(Shortform note: The more evidence you provide to back up your claims, the more customers will perceive your advertisement as credible. This will influence them to trust your advertisement and your business, and might also make it possible for you to charge higher prices for your products. In one study, 71% of participants said they would prioritize buying from businesses they trusted, even if other businesses offered them cheaper deals.)

4) Clarify how your product fulfills their need: For example, “Find the perfect someone in your own city using GPS technology.”

(Shortform note: Brian Tracy (The Psychology of Selling) offers additional advice for using this tactic: Focus on what the product does rather than what it is. He explains that customers don’t care about product features or technical specifications. Rather, they only care about the end result—what benefits they’ll receive after buying the product. Therefore, headlines that place more emphasis on the benefit (easily find compatible and local dates) hook more customers than headlines that describe product features (GPS technology).)

5) Suppress any doubts or concerns they might have about your product: For example, “Find your match in six weeks or get a full refund.”

(Shortform note: Customers often have doubts or concerns about completing a purchase when they’re under the influence of a cognitive bias called loss aversion: the tendency to worry more about what they might lose than to feel hopeful about what they might gain. This means that customers tend to focus more on the amount of money that they might lose if the product fails to fulfill their needs, rather than the number of benefits they might enjoy if the product succeeds. Marketing experts suggest that you can restrict the influence of this bias by offering customers a risk-free way to learn more about your product—for instance, by offering free samples, trial periods, and discounts.)

Awareness #5: Customers Want Your Product

The fifth level of product awareness represents customers who already know about and want your product. They just require a little motivation to complete the purchase.

Schwartz suggests that since these customers already know about all of the features and benefits your product offers, your headline’s primary focus should be on incentivizing customers to complete the purchase. For example, “Sign up now to get 75% off!”

(Shortform note: Marketing experts refer to this type of motivational strategy as a call to action (CTA). According to them, an effective CTA starts with a command verb, uses words that provoke an emotional response, and provides a compelling reason to take the action. For example, “Sign up today and get 50% off your dream vacation.”)

Research Area #3: Customer Awareness of Your Competitors’ Products

Once you’ve figured out what your customers want and how aware they are of your product, find out how aware customers are of competitive products. This will help you determine how much emphasis to place on distinguishing your product from similar versions in the market.

Let’s explore Schwartz’s advice for distinguishing your product for two different types of customers:

1. Customers who are unaware of competitive products
2. Customers who are aware of competitive products

Customer Group #1: Unaware of Competitive Products

According to Schwartz, if customers aren’t aware of similar versions of your product, your headline should be as simple and direct as possible. For example, “Finally, an effortless way to find love!”

(Shortform note: Schwartz implies that having no competition makes it easier to attract customers. While there’s some truth to the claim, William M. Luther (The Marketing Plan) warns that there are higher costs involved in marketing a product that faces no competition. He explains that customers rely on what’s already in the market to provide the context they need to understand a product’s benefits. Without this understanding, they have no interest in the product. Therefore, businesses have to focus their marketing efforts on educating customers about why they should want the product before they can sell it. This results in higher costs because existing competitors would have already educated customers and built demand.)

Customer Group #2: Aware of Competitive Products

If customers are aware of a few similar versions of your product, Schwartz suggests that, instead of inventing a new headline, you simply expand on your competitors’ headlines and elaborate on why your product is better than all other versions. For example, if a competitor uses the headline, “An easy way to find love,” you can expand on their claim with: “The fastest and easiest way to find love.”

If customers are aware of many versions of your product, they won’t be as receptive to new advertisements—because they’ve already heard all of the claims and have lost interest in this type of product. Schwartz suggests two ways your headline can revive customer interest in your product:

1. Emphasize a new, distinct benefit to distinguish your product from what’s currently on the market. For example, “The only app to guarantee your perfect match in under 60 seconds!”
2. Express an emotion or attitude to appeal to these customers. For example, “For those who know that life should be better.”

(Shortform note: While the three research methods Schwartz suggests may help to distinguish your product, they’re unlikely to change how customers feel about the first competing product they learned about. According to Al Ries and Jack Trout (The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing), when consumers learn about a new product, they unconsciously perceive the brand that first introduced the product as synonymous with the product itself. For example, people often refer to tissues as Kleenex—because Kleenex was the first brand to offer facial tissues. This form of attachment makes it difficult for new brands to change how customers feel about established brands with existing products—even if the new brands offer superior products.)

Part #2: Write Persuasive Copy

We’ve just discussed three areas of customer research that will help you craft a compelling headline. The next part of creating an effective advertisement involves writing copy that builds on and reinforces the message in your headline. Schwartz offers four strategies for achieving this.

Copy Strategy #1: Evoke Customers’ Aspirations

Schwartz suggests that you consider the type of person your customers aspire to be or the lifestyle they want to have. Then, convince them that they’re very unlike this aspirational self because they’re missing something. Finally, show them how your product will help them feel, become, or appear more like the person they dream of becoming. This is effective because when you provoke a feeling of dissatisfaction, you prime customers to actively seek a solution. This makes it easier for you to convince them that your product is the “missing” thing that can “fix” them or enable them to truly become the person they aspire to be.

For example, include statements such as, “Aren’t you sick of always being the single one at parties?” and, “With this app, you’ll easily find someone that makes your friends jealous!”

(Shortform note: Kaufman (The Personal MBA) expands on why provoking a feeling of dissatisfaction makes customers more receptive to your product. According to him, even when customers want to improve something in their lives, they’re only receptive to products that claim to help them if they’re uncomfortable with their current situation. This is because people are more motivated to move away from discomfort than they are to move toward comfort. So, if they're comfortable with their situation, they won’t feel motivated to buy products that claim to change their lives. However, if you provoke feelings of dissatisfaction or discomfort, you’ll motivate them to seek relief—by buying your product.)

Copy Strategy #2: Explain Exactly How Your Product Fulfills Their Need

Explain exactly how different product features effectively fulfill the customer need you’re targeting. Schwartz suggests that you refer to the product analysis you’ve already completed—your list of all the materials used to create the product, the technical specifications, the aesthetic details, and all the different ways customers might want to use your product. Consider how you can frame these different features as proof that your product can effortlessly fulfill the customer’s need. For example, “Our unique algorithm ensures that every match is compatible.”

(Shortform note: Tracy (The Psychology of Selling) adds to Schwartz’s strategy with two pieces of advice for presenting product features as proof of a product’s effectiveness. First, introduce features one at a time to avoid overwhelming the customer with information. Second, use the following three-part structure: “Because of (feature), you can (benefit), which means (relevance).” This structure links the product feature to its benefit and then makes it relevant to the customer. For example, “Thanks to our unique algorithm (feature), you’ll only see profiles for compatible matches (benefit). This means you won’t waste any time finding your perfect match (relevance).”)

Copy Strategy #3: Use Endorsements to Prove Your Product’s Effectiveness

Schwartz recommends that you include recommendations from professional experts, testimonials from happy customers, or celebrity endorsements. This is effective because endorsements act as external validators or social proof that convince skeptical customers that your product can fulfill their unmet needs. For example, “[Celebrity] found the love of her life through our app and she couldn’t be happier.”

(Shortform note: Marketing experts confirm that testimonials and endorsements are an effective way to establish customer trust and increase sales. According to them, effective endorsements hinge on two factors. First, an endorsement’s success depends on how well you know your potential customers’ interests—this guides your decisions about what type of expert or endorser to look for. For example, if you know that your customers care about the environment, you’ll look for someone who has already expressed an interest in similar issues. Second, an effective endorsement depends on how authentic the endorsement seems—the easier it is for people to believe that the endorser actually uses your product or service, the more appealing it will be.)

Copy Strategy #4: Emphasize Your Product’s Superiority

Schwartz suggests that you point out weaknesses in competitors’ products and emphasize your product’s superiority to demonstrate that it’s the best option. This is effective because the more aware customers are of competitors’ products, the more help they need distinguishing between these products to figure out the best option. Therefore, emphasizing all of the ways your product does a better job than what competitors offer helps customers judge your product as the best option. For example, “Unlike other apps, we make sure user profiles are accurate so that you always know who you’re meeting.”

(Shortform note: According to Luther (The Marketing Plan), instead of focusing solely on what makes your product superior to competing products, you should also emphasize what your business does better than your competitors. This will help differentiate both your product and your business in a way that appeals to customers. To achieve this, consider how you want customers to perceive your business and what will influence them to choose you over competitors. For example, brands that target eco-conscious customers emphasize how much they donate to environmental programs. This implies that they’re more environmentally friendly than other businesses and that they care more about what matters to customers.)