You should know by now that the idea is worth more than anything else you have to work with. Getting all the right and correct information is good but without that idea, without the compelling direction, your marketing will be less than powerful, less than satisfactory, and just flat-out less.

There are many tools that can help you be creative and help you use your imagination to construct a marketing campaign that brings results and lasts the test of time. One such tool is Ad Slants. Let’s talk about the “Advice” Ad Slant.

Initially, it will be useful if you can keep in mind that even though these are Headline Starter categories, these groups serve as the basis of a whole ad – even the whole campaign. The “accordion” principle holds for these slants as well. The basic structure can give rise to a complex plan, it just depends on how much information you want to pack in as well as how much time and space you have and need. Truly these slants are a one word statement of the entire plan, hence their power in aiding you to get the idea.

Each slant is chosen using a set of requirements or common situations. These situations come from properties of the company you are marketing and from situations in the typical prospect’s lives. This is how you will narrow down your choice of slants; the Advice Slant is the same.

The Advice Slant

So how do we know when to use this particular slant? You would want to use this slant in the following situations:

• The prospect is faced with a new situation or twist on a situation.

• He/she doesn’t know what to do and is faced with a decision.

• He/she lacks information or has very little information.

• He/she needs opinions and options upon which to judge.

• He/she is actively searching for information and getting some but not all.

• The outcome is important, but perhaps not absolutely critical.

• The information you have is not necessarily negative or positive – perhaps more directive.

You really don’t have to be super inspired to choose the right slant. Just fit the situation to the bill, so to speak. As long as you have some of those situations, you can and should choose this slant.

For example, you are a chimney sweep company. They are a service so you could default to the Advice Slant right away. But let’s describe the typical prospect’s situation first.

• The typical prospect has never had a chimney sweep come to the house.

• The typical prospect has never seen marketing for a sweep or if they have, it was a postcard with the usual menu style information.

• Chimney sweeping is not a familiar service, most people don’t know a sweeper personally nor have they ever really thought about it.

• The outcome, if your chimney is blocked, is pretty important. You can’t light a fire until you get the problem fixed.

• The prospect might not know exactly what the problem is and he/she needs some additional information.

Does that sound like a reasonable situation? Perhaps those of you up north would be more familiar, but overall the situation stands. If so, the Advice Slant would be perfect.

Now that we have identified the right slant, we need to come up with what type of information or evidence would be best. Or better said, the slants indicate what the ad and campaign would be best validated by. In the case of the Advice Slant, there are three sources of validation (evidence):

• Statistics

• Reports

• 3rd party groups or individuals with credibility within the field

In addition, each slant comes with the associated headlines as well. Not surprisingly then, here are some suggested headlines to work off of.

Should You Take It Back To The Photo Shop? How To Tell If The Processor Is To Blame For Your Bad Snapshot

Right And Wrong Farming Methods – And Little Pointers That Will Increase Your Profits

The Secret Of Making People Like You

Here is the headline I wrote for the chimney sweep:

Advice To Homeowners With A Blocked Up Chimney…
Don’t Buy From The First Guy You Find

Now how many different directions could this take? Where could we go from there? Here are a few ideas:

• There are organizations (3rd parties) for protecting and informing people on blocked chimneys. Can you say National Chimney Sweep Guild? Borrow information from their site.

• Did you know in a northern state last year, there were 23,600 houses burned down because of blocked chimneys? You could pass along that info; use it in a postcard to prospects and how they can tell if their chimney needs sweeping.

• Did you also know that the type of wood used can speed up the blockage? Again, the basis for another advice ad. Could be used with our headline here.

• At the home page of the Chimney Safety Institute of America, you can find volumes of information that would be appropriate to use.

Point of the matter is, just by choosing the slant you set your foot on the right path, all you have to do is follow it to its logical conclusion. No brilliance, no inspirational flashes, no deep dark meditation until the light turns on in you head. Just follow the line till it’s played out.

One caution: you will still need a bit of imagination. You will still need to explore the options of the slant. But it boils down to organizing the information you can get with the push of a button.