It's virtually always more response-effective to build your marketing message around positive benefit appeals than to focus primarily on the negative ... fear.
For example, the ad headline ... "Untreated Gum Disease Can Kill You!" ... is a negative approach, using fear to try to persuade prospects to take action. It very often causes mental discomfort for the reader which may cause him to avoid thinking about it. Or s/he might remember the "Kill You" part of the headline in association with your name and forget the "Gum Disease" part.
The headline ... "Eliminate Your Gum Disease ... Feel Better, Live Longer." ... is a positive benefits approach to the same problem.
If you're disappointed with the response to your ads, direct mail, radio spots, etc., analyze carefully to see if you're using a more negative, rather than positive, message. If so, try the positive approach.
Does positive always outpull negative? Not always ... but typically it does (probably 9 out of ten times).
Copyright 2007 by Galen Stilson
