Smashvertising: How to Crush Your Competition with Ads that Buyers Can’t Resist

By Drew Eric Whitman

From Drew Eric Whitman (aka “Dr. Direct!”), the bestselling author of Cashvertising, comes a fun and accessible graphic novel on consumer psychology. Smashvertising is a heavy-content, real-world business seminar in graphic-novel style, created especially for today’s video-dominant learners to show what pushes consumers to react—and buy.
 
No matter what you sell—or how you sell it—this practical, visual book will reveal scores of powerful techniques about advertising psychology that top-gun ad pros use to persuade people to buy, buy, buy like crazy. Whether you’re a traditional retailer or running your business via social media, Smashvertising will teach you how to write and design ads that consumers can’t resist. Presented as a real-world business seminar in graphic-novel style, Smashvertising has been created especially for today’s video-dominant learners to show what pushes consumers to react—and buy.
 
The fact is, your “sucky” ads contain invisible mistakes—such as ambiguous headlines or bad design—that affect your readers on an unconscious level. Result? They don’t buy . . . and you wonder why! Stop the insanity! Instead, harness the effective methods of consumer psychology, proven through decades of experimentation and hundreds of millions of dollars of real-world testing. With Smashvertising you’ll learn

• how to write bulletproof ad copy like today’s hottest online marketing experts
• how to use consumer psychology to crank out fiery ads, emails, websites, and more
• how to smoke your competition using direct-response concepts proven over decades with real-world experimentation
• the exact best days and times to send emails for maximum response
• how to ethically use psychology to motivate people to click that BUY button and pull out their credit cards
• social media tricks for writing personally magnetic headlines
• how to use price hooks to instantly boost ad readership
• and so much more

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser
• Release date: Sep 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9781633412927

Drew Eric Whitman

Drew Eric Whitman (a.k.a. “Dr. Direct”) is known internationally as a dynamic consultant and trainer who smashes old advertising myths like a china-shop bull. Teaching the psychology behind the response for more than 37 years, he worked for the direct-marketing division of the largest ad agency in Philadelphia, was senior copywriter for the country’s leading direct-to-the-consumer insurance company, and associate copy chief for catalog giant Day-Timers. His work has been used by companies ranging from small retail shops to giant, multi-million dollar corporations, including: the Advertising Specialty Institute, American Legion, Amoco, and Texaco, and many others. As a popular speaker at marketing conferences worldwide, his intensive AdPOWER! Clinic teaches business people how to use consumer psychology to boost the effectiveness of their ads, emails, brochures, sales letters, Websites, and more. Visit Drew online at  DrewEricWhitman.com.

Book preview

Drew's Welcome Message

Ready to blast your advertising to the next level? This book will help you do it.

When I wrote the first Cashvertising back in 2008, I didn't know it would take the advertising world by storm. That little book has been translated into a dozen languages and is currently the highest-rated advertising book of its kind on Amazon, with well over a thousand reviews and an average five-star rating.

The reason for its popularity? Not because it's entertainingly written, although that certainly contributed to its success. Boring books suck. (Actually, boring anything sucks.) But boring is especially bad when you're trying to learn. It's like attending a seminar. You go for the information—the data—but unless it's also entertaining, it's just a snoozefest. While the speaker drones on and on, you start thinking about pizza . . . island vacations . . . or a nice fluffy bed you can fall onto.

Cashvertising is popular primarily because of its practicality. People buy it because they want to learn how to put more money in their pockets.

Good news: I wrote this book in exactly the same way. I begin by giving you the foundational basis for what's to follow, then we dive right into the how-tos. And, just like the original Cashvertising this book is not intended to be a scholarly tome. I've written it like a friendly and personal one-on-one consultation. Like it's just you and me sitting together, discussing how to improve what you're currently doing.

The Fun Way to Boost Your Advertising Skills

Are you tired of reading through dense pages of text just to grasp the concept of advertising?

Do you find yourself easily bored with traditional learning methods? If so, it's time to switch things up and try something new!

Enter SMASHVERTISING and its unique graphic-novel format for business training. This innovative approach is not only more entertaining but also more effective in engaging your brain and helping you remember what you learned.

It's like attending a live seminar, where the speaker uses illustrations, anecdotes, and storytelling to bring their message to life. That's exactly what you'll experience when reading SMASHVERTISING! Every page is loaded with engaging illustrations to draw you into the ideas and expand your mind. It's the closest thing you'll find in print to attending a live presentation.

Why is this format so effective? It's because your brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. The combination of illustrations, storytelling, and practical data creates a far more entertaining and engaging learning experience than text alone. It is also a revolutionary approach to business training—as traditional methods are often dry and boring, while a graphic novel brings the material to life . . . it's just more fun!

That being said, this book is not for everyone. (Maybe it's not for you.) Maybe you already know a bunch of the things in the following pages. Maybe—after reading it—you'll say, I know this . . . I know that. Or, This doesn't apply . . . that doesn't apply.

That's like going into a restaurant and looking to find fault. Believe me, you will. The food will come out wrong . . . it will be cold. The table will be sticky . . . the server will have an attitude . . . the air-conditioning vents will be blowing on the back of your neck . . . you'll smell the cleaning fluid in the bathroom toilets, . . . and so on. Ugh. So much for a pleasant dining experience.

Instead—just as I suggest to participants in my seminars—try to have an open mind. Look for what will work, rather than simply trying to find that which will not.

"Let yourself be open and life will be easier.

A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed."

—Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book

The good news is that everything in the following pages doesn't need to apply exactly to you for you to benefit enormously. Just one single idea, properly applied, could make a huge difference for you. Apply more than one—as many as you see fit—and you could totally revolutionize your business . . . and—KA-CHING!—your bank account.

Do You Know These Facts About Creating Powerful SMASHVERTISING?

Welcome to SMASHVERTISING!

Hello and Welcome! Your SMASHVERTISING Seminar is about to begin!

My first book — CASHVERTISING — taught tens of thousands of people—in a dozen different languages—the hidden psychology that makes advertising work.

But some people just want the facts... FAST! And that's what SMASHVERTISING! is all about. So...

FIRST, here's my promise to you.

By the end of this seminar, You'll know more about how to create powerfully effective advertising than 99% of your competition.

Now fasten your seatbelt... open your mind... and let's get started!

This is your brain.

It's a wet, squishy 3-pound mass that's 70% water and the fattiest organ in your body.

This amazing 6-inch-long organ contains approximately one hundred billion neurons... equal to the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

It produces a whopping 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. (Mostly negative, according to research.)

All the while, performing a zillion critical tasks to keep you alive and functioning.

No applause... just throw money.

It simultaneously controls your thinking, memory, speech, and movement.

It keeps your heart beating... your lungs breathing... your wounds healing...