Book Summary: Cashvertising

Book Summary: Cashvertising
10/31/14 10:17 PM
RATKO
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September 25, 2012 By Ratko
Ca$hvertising is basically a collection of many copywriting, persuasion, and

direct-response principles. Most of the sections in the book were presented
in list form, which made it easier to summarize. For more background and
depth on each section, its best to read the book (not an affiliate link).
In my opinion, its a must-read for any marketer. The summary below is
perfect for use as a reference and guide to keep on hand when writing copy
or looking for angles on positioning and messaging.
What People Really Want

Life Force 8:
1) Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension.
http://www.ratko.org/cashvertising-summary/
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2) Enjoyment of food and beverages.

3) Freedom from fear, pain, and danger.
4) Sexual companionship.
5) Comfortable living conditions.
6) To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Jones.
7) Care and protection of loved ones.
8) Social approval.
People buy because of emotion and justify with logic. Force an emotional by
touching on a basic want or need.
9 Learned Human Wants:

1) To be informed.
2) Curiosity.
3) Cleanliness of body and surroundings.
4) Efficiency.
5) Convenience.
6) Dependability / quality.
7) Expression of beauty and style.
8) Economy / profit.
9) Bargains.
17 Foundational Principles of Consumer Psychology:

1) The Fear Factor Selling the Scare. Fear sells. It drives them to spend money. Fear causes
stress. Stress causes action. Tap existing fears.
Four Ingredient Recipe for Using Fear:
1. It scares the hell out of people.
2. It offers a specific recommendation for overcoming the fear-aroused threat.
3. The recommended action is perceived as effective for reducing the threat.
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4. The message recipient believes that he or she can perform the recommended action.
(Fear can also paralyze. Use specific, believable recommendations. Use fears that are specific
and widely recognized.)
2) Ego Morphing Instant Identification. By purchasing the right stuff we enhance our own
egos and rationalize away. AKA. Retail therapy.
3) Transfer Credibility by Osmosis. Symbols, images, or ideas. Cues. Institutions, celebrities,
authorities. Experts i.e. White lab coats.
4) The Bandwagon Effect Give Them Something To Jump On. Consensus-ImpliesCorrectness heuristic. People want to belong.
1. Aspirational group to which youd LIKE to belong.
2. Associative group to which you SHARE ideals and values.
3. Dissociative group to which you DO NOT WANT to belong.
5) The Means-End Chain The Critical Core. Dont buy for what it does today but for what
it will do tomorrow! Future objective.
6) The Transtheoretical Model Persuasion Step by Step.
Stage 1 Pre-contemplation: ignorant of your products existence.
Stage 2 Contemplation: aware and thought about using it.
Stage 3 Preparation: thinking about buying from you, but need information about benefits.
Stage 4 Action: Heres my credit card.
Stage 5 Maintenance: continue to buy again and again. part of their daily lives.
1. Create ads that address all five stages.
2. Create a series of ads that progress over a period of time from stage one to stage five.
7) The Inoculation Theory Make Them Prefer You for Life. Give them arguments against
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competitors. Our competitors will tell you

8) Belief Re-Ranking Change Their Reality. Appeal to either emotions like fear, humor, or
guilt or factual evidence and examples.
9) The Elaboration Likelihood Model Adjust Their Attitude. Cues feel good, but Central
Processing makes them PREFER you.
Two Routes to Change:
1. Central Route persuading using logic, reasoning, and deep thinking. AKA. creating
Preference
2. Peripheral Route persuading using the association of pleasant thoughts and positive
images. AKA. Cues
Central Route Processing: pour on the facts, stats, evidence, testimonials, studies, reports, and
case histories. Weave an argument.
Peripheral Route Processing: load your ads full of colorful, pleasant images, humorous or
popular subject matter, or celebrities. Visual anchors.
10) The 6 Weapons of Influence Shortcuts to Persuasion.
1. Comparison: The power of your peers. Bandwagon effect. Social proof. Need to belong.
Everybody is doing it.
2. Liking: The Balance Theory. I like you take my money! Attractive people have greater
influence. Consider trustworthy and likeable.
3. Authority: Cracking the code of credibility. Mental shortcut. Man in the white lab coat.
4. Reciprocation: What goes around comes around profitably! Free samples and giving
stuff away creates goodwill and obligation.
5. Commitment/consistency: The Four Walls technique. Box them in. Elicit small actions
and yes responses that cultivate to a larger request.
6. Scarcity: Get em while they last! One day sale, limited offer, one while supplies last, first
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come first served, etc.

11) Message Organization Attaining Critical Clarity. Ads must be organized and wellstructured. Confusing ads and creatives wont sell anything.
12) Examples vs. Statistics And the Winner is Examples by far. Emotion is the key to
sales. Testimonials and endorsements are more engaging.
13) Message Sideness Dual Role Persuasion. Talk about both you and your competitors.
14) Repetition and Redundancy The Familiarity Factor. People dont start seeing your ad
until you run it seven times.
15) Rhetorical Questions Interesting, Arent They? Arent you glad you used Dial? How
do you spell relief? What would you do for a Klondike?
16) Evidence Quick! Sell Me The Facts! Evidence can be facts, figures, testimonials,
endorsements, research, charts, videos. As long as its real.
17) Heuristics Serving Billions of Lazy Brains Daily. Length implies strength. Long copy
pages, lots of media, testimonials, etc. Long = good.
Ad Agency Secrets: 41 Proven Techniques:

1) The Psychology of Simplicity Use words effectively. Write so people can understand.
1. Use Short, Simple Words. No $10 words. 5th grade level preferred.
2. The Shorter Your Sentences, the Better Express only one thought in a sentence. No
more.
3. The Short, Short Paragraph Trick Limit regular paragraphs to 4-5 short sentences. Less
in some cases (1-2) for easy reading.
4. Pile on Personal Pronouns I, you, me, he, she, him, they, them, etc. Gives human flavor.
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Write to the chimpanzee brain. Simply. Directly.

-Eugene Schwartz
Limit your opening paragraph to a maximum of eleven words.

-David Ogilvy
2) Bombard Your Readers With Benefits Benefits are what you get from attributes.
Consumers buy based on what the product will do for them, not on what
ingredients it has.
-Newspaper Association of America
Tell me quick and tell me true, or else, dear friend, the hell with you.
Not how this product came to be, but what the damn thing does for me.
-Anonymous
3) Put Your Biggest Benefit In Your Headline Always. Keep under 6-9 words. 12 Max.
Best is 3 or less.
Unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your
money.
-David Ogilvy
Short headlines enjoy higher readership than long headlines. As headlines grow,
readership shrinks.
-Starch Research
4) Crank Up The Scarcity Hard deadline: Sale Ends August 21st. Soft deadline:
Quantities limited. First 100 Buyers only!
5) 22 Psychologically Potent Headline Starters:
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There are four important qualities that a good headline may possess. They are: 1.
Self-interest. 2. News. 3. Curiosity. 4. Quick, easy way.
-John Caples
1. FREE: Free Book Shows You How to Write Sneaky Advertising That
2. NEW: Powerful New Seminar Teaches
3. AT LAST: At Last.. A Bakery That Only Uses
4. THIS: This New Invention Stops
5. ANNOUNCING: Announcing The Hottest New Sandwich
6. WARNING!: Warning! Some Dog Groomers Wrap a Noose
7. JUST RELEASED: Just Released: Psychologists Study Reveals Little-Known
8. NOW: Now You Can Stop Any Attacker
9. HERES: Heres How A 95-Pound Granny..
10. THESE: These Three Very Italian Men Make a Pizza
11. WHICH OF: Which of these Hot Bodies Would YOU Like to Show Off
12. FINALLY: Finally A Self-Improvement Seminar..
13. LOOK: Look! Now You Can Buy Cotton Candy
14. PRESENTING: Presenting the Easiest Way Ever to
15. INTRODUCING: Introducing the Only Ice Stand in Philly
16. HOW: How to Sing Like an American Idol in 90 Days
17. AMAZING: Amazing New DVD Lowers Your Blood Pressure
18. DO YOU: Do You Know How to Stop a Wild Dog Attack
19. WOULD YOU: Would You Trade $5 For x
20. CAN YOU: Can You Be Sure Your Child Wont
21. IF YOU: If You Hate Cleaning Your Pool,
22. STARTING TODAY: Starting Today You Can Dance 97% Better
6) 12 Ways To Lure Your Readers Into Your Copy:
Example Headline: Just Released! Psychologists Study Reveals Little-Known Speaking
Patterns That Immediately Put Rude Salespeople in Their Place.
1. Continue the Thought In The Headline: You know the rude salespeople we mean. The
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ones with the big mouths

2. Ask a Question: How would you handle yourself in a situation like this?
3. Quote a Respected Authority: According to communication psychologist R. Butler
Sinclair, there
4. Give Em a Free Taste: The next time youre confronted by a pushy salesperson, do this:
Wait until
5. Challenge Them to Prove it Works: Heres what we want you to do. Read pages 8 and 9
of this book no more. Then go..
6. Start with a Story of Skepticism: When we first received the manuscript from the author,
we were skeptical
7. Tell What Others are Saying (Bandwagon Effect): Testimonials: Nobody hates obnoxious
salespeople more than I do..
8. Play Reporter: Philadelphia, PA A New York psychologist
9. Get Personal With You, You, You: Have you ever been hassled Do you hate when
people Would you like to know
10. Tell a Dramatic Story: According to communication psychologist R. Butler Sinclair,
theres no longer any need for anyone to feel intimidated.
11. Give Super-Detailed Specs: This amazing new book a hefty 8.511-inch leatherbound, hardcover beauty, is jamed packed over 443 pages..
12. Lure Them With a Very Short Sentence: Dont you hate it? It makes me sick.
7) 360-Degrees of Attention-Getting Power Use circle-shaped ads instead of common
square/rectangular.
8) The Reverse-Type Pitfall - Dont do it. Reverse-type is light words on dark background.
9) Crush Your Competition With Extreme Specificity Be extremely specific and
descriptive when describing your product/service.
10) The Famous Ogilvy Principle Start body copy with a Drop Initial. Massive over-sized
letter. Always run pics with captions!
11) The Psychology of Typefaces Sans-serif for online (Arial, Verdana) and Serif for print
(Helvetica, Times, etc.)
12) Insist on the Pro-Design Difference Use a real graphic designer. Period.
13) The Power of Questions They captivate and cause open loops in peoples brains.
14) The Granny Rule of Direct Mail Relate to your reader. Talk to them like a friend and
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make them like you.

15) The Psychology of Social Proof People believe testimonials. Always use them!
16) The Guillotine Principle Use pictures of heads and faces in ads. Preferably smiling and
relevant to the offer.
17) PVAs The Easy Way to Boost the Power of Your Copy Powerful Visual Adjectives.
Rake in $2500 Cash Weekly!
18) Directing Mental Movies
1. Visual words (sight)
2. Auditory words (sound)
3. Kinaesthetic words (feeling or emotions)
4. Olfactory words (smell)
5. Gustatory words (taste)
19) Battling Human Inertia Get people to take ACTION!
1. Make it easy to act.
2. Ask for action.
20) Establish Your Unique Selling Proposition Tell them the real reason why they should
PREFER you! Be serious and descriptive!
Dont try to be amusing. Spending money is a serious matter.

-Claude Hopkins
21) Buy Your Own Island Dont pay for a full-page ad. Use a Half-Page Island, which is a
centered half-page ad that takes up space.
22) Authority Positioning Become an authority in your industry. Share all of your expertise in
free reports and guest posts.
23) A Sales Letter in Surveys Clothing Ask questions about their relationship to your
product. Thank you for participation is OFFER.
24) Power Your Ads With Pictures Ads with 50% visuals = 30% recall rate. Ads with 75%
visuals = 50% recall rate. Show the product + in use.
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Seven Best Types of Photos

1. Children and babies.
2. Mothers and babies.
3. Groups of adults.
4. Animals.
5. Sports scenes.
6. Celebrities.
7. Food
25) Grab em With Grabbers Use something like a dollar bill or shot of change to grab
attention. Tailor to niche.
26) Long Copy vs. Short Long copy consistently outsells short. 2-hour sales visit vs. 5minute visit. Who closes more?
27) Offer Testing Find out what they want and give it to them. If they dont like your offer,
change it!
28) Survey Power What do people want? Ask them! Incentivize surveys. It all begins with
research. Make it easy to reply.
29) Editorial Energizers Make your ads look like News Editorials. Camouflage
It has been found that the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement, and
the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop and read.
-David Ogilvy
30) The Coupon Persuader Add a broken coupon style border to graphic ads. People are
conditioned. Use Double Coupons! Light yellow bg tint.
31) 7 Online Response Boosters 1. Best Frequency for E-Mailing 31-35% => 1/week 18% => 2-3/week 13% =>
1/month
2. CTRs What to Expect Declining for email. 1% for poorly crafted to rented lists. 20%+
for highly appealing offers to house list.
3. HTML vs Text 60% have the ability to see HTML. HTML gets 200% better response
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rate. Some people block HTML. Must split test.

4. Best Way to Get Emails Opened (60%+ is excellent open-rate) 1. Familiar Sender.
2. Subject line must have their name. 3. Targeted offer.
5. Ad Size and Readership Leaderboards and Skyscrapers outperform regular banners.
Large > small. DHTML > non-interactive.
6. Animation Click-Through Booster Animated = 15% higher than non-animated.
Movement catches attention.
7. Mystery Ads Score High Click-Throughs but low conversions to sales. Poor
targeting. Dont confuse clicks for sales.
32) Multi-page Your Way to Success (only applies to print)
33) Guarantees that Guarantee Higher Response Use Guarantees generously. Buyers
feel vulnerable. Use a long and strong guarantee.
34) The Psychology of Size Bigger ads perform better.
35) The Psychology of Page and Section Positioning Generally just doesnt matter. Ad
creative matters most.
A good ad will get noticed irrespective of its position within the newspaper.
-Roper Starch Worldwide
36) The Fantastic Four (only applies to print)

37) Consumer Color Preferences and How Color Affects Readership 1. Blue. 2. Red. 3.
Green. The older the bluer. Best combo: Blue-Yellow then Blue-Red
38) The Psychology of Pricing Odd pricing conveys value ($77.95) Even pricing conveys
quality ($1,000) Helps justify sale for teeterers.
39) The Psychology of Color Darker is heavier Apparent weight is higher as you get
darker. White, yellow, green are lightest.
40) Wrap Your Ads in White Wrap your ads with lots of white space. It garners way more
attention. Pro tip.
41) Give Yourself a Cleverectomy In advertising, its not clever to be clever. Sell the
benefits. No clever word jokes.
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Boost Your Ad Response

22 Response Superchargers:
1) Forget style sell instead!
2) Scream Free Information!
3) Write short sentences and keep them reading.
4) Use short, simple words.
5) Write long copy.
6) Boil it down, cut out the fluff!
7) Stir up desire by piling on the benefits.
8) Show what youre selling action shots are best.
9) Get personal! Say: you, you, you.
10) Use selling subheads to break up long copy.
11) Put selling captions under your photos.
12) Write powerful visual adjectives to create mental movies.
13) Sell your product, not your competitors.
14) Dont hold back, give them the full sell now!
15) Always include testimonials!
16) Make it ridiculously easy to act.
17) Include a response coupon to encourage action.
18) Set a deadline to break inertia. (Expires: December 4, 2009)
19) Offer a free gift for quick replies.
20) Say the words Order Now!
21) Offer free shipping.
22) Boost response 50% or more with a Bill me or credit option.
9 Ways to Convey Value:

1) Scream Sale!
2) Give them a coupon.
3) Diminish the price: Less than a cup of coffee a day.
4) Explain why the price is low. Our boss ordered too many!
5) Amortize it: Just $1.25 a day
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6) Boost the value: Tell what its worth, not only what it costs.
7) Tell how much others have paid (and were happy to do so!)
8) Create a sense of scarcity with deadlines.
9) Employ psychological pricing.
13 Ways to Make Buying Easy:

1) Give your street, email, and Web address.
2) Give your phone number.
3) Provide street directions and parking advice.
4) Say Its Easy to Order
5) Accept phone orders.
6) Accept mail orders.
7) Accept online orders.
8) Accept fax orders.
9) Accept credit cards.
10) Accept personal cheques.
11) Get a toll-free phone number.
12) Include a long, strong guarantee longer than your competitions.
13) Offer install payments for products more than $15 (3 easy payments of just $10.99),
shown to boost response 15%.
11 Ways to Boost Coupon Returns:

1) Tell them in the headline or subhead to return the coupon.
2) Say Buy 1 Get 1 Free instead of 50% Off.
3) Use a Big FREE! at the top of your ad.
4) Tell what the coupon brings; say it again inside the coupon itself.
5) Show what the coupon brings with a small photo or illustration.
6) Use a BOLD coupon border.
7) Set a hard (firm date) or soft deadline (The first 100 people)
8) Provide check boxes to get people involved.
9) Say Valuable Coupon at the top.
10) Give sufficient room for fill-ins.
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11) Point to the coupon with bold arrows.
46-Point Killer Ad Checklist

Headline
1) _ Does it feature your products biggest benefit? (The #1 Most Important Rule)
2) _ Is it a real grabber? Does it elicit an emotional response?
3) _ Does it use any of the 22 Potent Headline Starts shown above?
4) _ Is it significantly larger than your body copy? Boldfaced too?
5) _ Is it powerful enough to get people to read your body copy?
6) _ Does it make some kind of offer?
7) _ Is it authoritative and not wimpy?
8) _ Is the headline set in Initial Caps. (e.g. This Is Initial Caps) Use ALL CAPS only if 5 words or
less.
9) _ Is it in quotes? This can boost reading 25%.
Body Copy First Sentence

10) _ Are you using body copy jump-starters from above?
11) _ Does it naturally flow from the headline?
12) _ Does it get right into the benefits, and not about company bragging?
13) _ Does it almost force them to read the second sentence?
14) _ Is you one of the first few words?
Body Copy General

15) _ Does it focus on how the reader will benefit?
16) _ Does it tell your readers why they should buy from you rather than competitor?
17) _ Is your product/service exciting? Does your ad sound exciting?
18) _ Does it progress methodically and logically? 1. Get attention. 2. Stimulate interest. 3. Build
desire. 4. Offer proof. 5. Ask for action.
19) _ Are you trying to sell only one product at a time?
20) _ Do you use selling subheads to break up long copy blocks?
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21) _ Is the copy colorful, sprinkled with power visual adjectives where appropriate?
22) _ Is it believable? (Not overblown or ridiculous.)
23) _ Is it respectful of the reader and not insulting to his or her intelligence?
24) _ Is it emotional? Does it create emotion?
25) _ Do you use the principal of extreme specificity?
26) _ Are your words, sentences, and paragraphs short? Simple words?
27) _ Is your web copy set in a sans-serif typeface such as Arial or Verdana?
28) _ Do you tell your readers what you want them to do in super-simple way? 1. Clip this
coupon. 2. Bring it to our store by Aug 21. 3. Save 50%.
29) _ Do you outright ask for the sale?
30) _ Did you set a deadline, if appropriate?
31) _ If you have a lot of benefits, do you list them in bullet or numbered list form?
32) _ Do you use testimonials? If you dont have them, get them!
33) _ Is your business name and phone number large and instantly noticible?
34) _ Did you include your logo?
35) _ Do you give directions, maps, and landmarks, if necessary?
36) _ Did you key your ad to better track responses?
Layout and Design

37) _ Did a professional designer produce your ad? (Not a layout person)
38) _ Is your headline big and bold?
39) _ Is the headline broken at the right words?
40) _ Is the ad easy to read? Is their a focus?
41) _ Is their sufficient white space? Did you wrap in white?
42) _ Did you indent your paragraphs? Makes reading easier.
43) _ Is the number of separate elements kept to a minimum?
44) _ Do you use art (photos and illustrations) relevant to your sales message?
45) _ Did you use a minimum number of type styles? (One or two; three max!)
46) _ Do you feature a picture of a person looking at you?
We dont know a millionth of one percent about anything.

-Thomas A. Edison
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[NOTE: I originally published this summary in early 2010 on the WickedFire affiliate marketing
forum, which is only readable by forum members, so I decided to republish it here for easier
access.]
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Filed Under: Books
Comments
Jason Brown says

February 23, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Ratko,
Who were you on Wickedfire? Im eliquid there and have been a member since 2007.
Just found your blog and was looking over your notes on Ca$hvertising here that I am
making into a Mindmap.
Hit me up sometime on my blog over at leanvertising.com
Page 16 of 18
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