Copyright 2006 Daniel Levis

A website is one of the most powerful mediums of advertising expression. You have ultimate freedom and flexibility to create powerful sales messages using both words and pictures. But is a picture really worth a thousand words?

Perhaps, but pictures built up in the mind of your prospect with words are even more important.

If you want to captivate someone's imagination, paint a picture with your words. When the mind really thinks, it thinks in pictures. If you're not creating mental images to get your point across, you're missing out on a lot of potential. You're just not hitting the nail on the head.

You're not scoring points.

Involve your audience, by getting them visualizing. If they have a problem you can solve, they need to see themselves feeling the pain, and applying your solution in their minds eye.

Here's a formula to do just that.

Describe a current action that you're prospect would rather not be doing, followed by an alternative action that is the result of you're solution. For example, if you repair roofs for a living.

Tell your prospect..You can stop wondering and worrying about all that moisture seeping into the rafters, ruining the insulation, and rotting the structural integrity of you're home. Call today, for your f ree guide, "How to Contract Roofing Repairs". Within 30 minutes of getting your hands on this easy to understand 10 page report, you'll know exactly what questions to ask, how to spot so called tradesman that haven't a clue, and what to watch out for when it comes to outright slime ball con artists. A must read for anyone interested in getting a fair deal, from a reputable expert that gets the job done right so you can relax.

One of the keys to creating mental imagery is to use action words. In the above example wondering, worrying, seeping, ruining, rotting, getting your hands on, ask, spot, watch out for, getting, and relax, are all verbs that spark images. The adjectives, easy to understand, so-called, slime ball, fair, and reputable, also aid in creating the visualization.

Now you would think that with the reputation the home repair industry has that somebody would have an ad just like this one in the yellow pages. I had a look in mine, and there's not one. Just a bunch of me too, we are the best, get your name out there, fluff.

What does that tell you? Could you apply something like this to your own business? It's a simple, repeatable, crush the competition formula that can be applied to almost anything. Just cut and paste.

Analogy is another powerful tool for creating mental images. If you are trying to get your point across, so your prospect can understand how she will benefit, and be in a position to take action, relate the benefits of your product to something that's already familiar.

One of my favorites is the Shampoo commercial where the girl is moaning in the shower, while she washes her hair. That's how good it feels to wash your hair with that stuff.

Use action words, adjectives, analogy, and story telling to get your point across, and watch your business grow!

Now some of you might be thinking, this wont work for me, I sell high-ticket items to sophisticated corporate buyers. They wont relate to this stuff.

I can tell you categorically that these principles are universal. All you need to do to apply them in literally any situation is flavor them appropriately. They actually work even better in stuffy corporate environments, because the run of the mill marketing used in those situations is so painfully dry, boring, and frankly downright awful.

One of the supreme keys to successful advertising is the engagement of the active imagination. You must actively engage your reader to process your message, and the way to do that is through mental imagery. Storytelling, analogy, metaphor, and action verbs are your tools. Start putting them to work!