Are you sophisticated?

How about your copywriting … and your prospect? And what does that really mean?

Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady,” touches on themes of lost innocence, disillusionment, and the pursuit of worldly pleasures. It’s not a happy song (though it’s hard not to feel happy listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing it).

They say into your early life romance came
And this heart of yours burned a flame
A flame that flickered one day and died away
Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes
You learned that fools in love soon grow wise
The years have changed you, somehow
I see you now
Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow, nonchalant
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant
Is that all you really want?
No, sophisticated lady,
I know, you miss the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh you cry
– Duke Ellington / Mitchell Parish / Irving Mills

Sophistication is at the heart of the song. It’s also a key to writing ads that sell. Keep reading to discover what sophistication means for your audience … and what Gene Schwartz says about using it to your advantage. We’ll start with the Oxford English Dictionary.

The Origins of Sophistication …

Sophisticated is a messy word in the OED. At first glance, it looks like an exceptionally bad thing to be.

There are three entries for sophisticate, from the medieval Latin, sophisticare. Going back further, the word originates in the Greek, sophia, or “wisdom.”

1 – The verb means to tamper with, adulterate, or quibble

2 – The adjective is equivalent to “sophisticated”

3 – The use of “sophisticate” as a noun originates in the USA and is defined simply as “A person with sophisticated tastes.”

The original Greek sophists were top experts known for traveling and teaching. The name was later used to refer to traveling teachers known for promoting relativistic morality.

By the time “sophisticated” made it to 20th-century England, it could mean tampering, adulterating, corrupting, or even falsifying or misrepresenting.

In copywriting, we don’t want to go there. If we do, there could be legal trouble ahead (have you ever seen those long lists of FTC actions taken against companies promising unbelievable weight loss in minuscule amounts of time?). No … Just no. And although renowned copywriters have promised that we need to get to the EDGE of believability to make great sales and profits, there’s a line.

“If you’re gonna use simile, analogy, metaphor, be descriptive and have some flowery adjectives and a few odd nouns and some engaging bits of dialogue or sentiment, then you’re sort of writing a novel, really. But rock lyrics are not really known for their sophistication.” – Ian Anderson

How Sophisticated is Your Sales Copy?

Turning next to Sophisticated, the adjective, we find both positive and negative connotations:

#1 – “mixed with a foreign substance, adulterated, impure”

#2 – “altered from or deprived of natural simplicity or innocence” (or referring to a text changed when it’s copied or printed)

#3 – falsified – not plain, honest, or straightforward – or even designed to deceive!

#4 – “Experienced, worldly, cultured, discriminating in taste or judgment.”

As writers, we DON’T want to be sophisticated in senses #2 and #3 of the word.

Keep it simple. In the age of sub-goldfish attention spans and constant messaging, notifications, and overflowing inboxes, your readers are more likely scanning than reading.

Regardless of how many times your elementary school teachers decried the loss of rich vocabulary in periodicals designed for 12-year-olds, aim for high readability. Clear, instant communication is essential for sales.

Related Video: Boost Your Readability with MS Word

Deception is bad for busines. The FTC isn’t your only concern. False promises and inconsistency destroy trust, which provides a foundation for sales and referrals. Deliver what you promise and back your products with solid guarantees, so your people will benefit, come back for more, and recommend you to their friends.

On the other hand, the right kind of sophistication creates powerful ads …

Appeal to a desire for exclusivity, quality, and good taste. These are powerful motivators for the right audience and product.

Finally, mixing and adulterating ideas leads to high-potency copy. Transform your product with Metaphors.

Or introduce a related idea that engages people’s emotions or fantasies. Bob Bly tells Clayton Makepeace in this interview about the time he brought a wild west quick-draw artist into a defense marketing booth at a trade show. Westinghouse was competing for a weapons contract for US army tanks, and the booth, which offered actual matches for visitors, became the “hit of the show.”

“The spirit’s foe in man has not been simplicity, but sophistication.” – George Santayana

How Sophisticated is your Audience?

In Breakthrough Advertising, Gene Schwartz divides prospects into 5 stages of sophistication. This kind of sophistication has nothing to do with diamonds, opera attendance, or your favorite cigar brand.

Each stage of sophistication corresponds to your prospect’s experience with and awareness of your product (#4 from above). And the sales copy you write must match your audience’s stage of sophistication.

There are five stages of sophistication, according to Schwartz:

1 – Are You Promoting a New Kind of Product? Keep It Simple.

If you’re the first to enter the market with a new product (this includes introducing an old product into a new market), keep your headline simple and direct. Lead with a big promise or need.

Example: “Firmer abs in just 20 minutes a day”

2 – Bigger, Better, Cheaper, and Faster

If you’re second in the market, make a bigger claim than your competition. This approach has a natural limit. As the claims become greater and creep toward the edge of believability, sales will drop, according to Schwartz.

Example: “Washboard abs in only 12 minutes a day”

3 – The “Mechanism”

In the third stage of sophistication, they’ve read the ads, heard the hype, seen the infomercials, bought a competing product … You can’t make your claim any better, and you’re still selling the same product. Lead with a new “mechanism.” Find the unique feature, process, or ingredient that makes your product better, faster, or stronger. Put it in your headline and show how it fulfills your big promise.

Example: “Get ripped in only 12 minutes per day with our new scientifically-engineered ab-sculptor”

4 – The Devil is in The Details …

When the third stage ad starts to fail, your product has reached the fourth stage. Here, you need to give more details about the mechanism itself.

Example: “The Ab-Max Pro isolates the 3 critical muscles that give you a firmer, more sculpted appearance while building core strength”

5 – “He’s Dead, Jim.”

The fifth stage of sophistication is not certain death for marketers. It’s a new challenge. Benefits, superiority, and mechanisms no longer work. You must now appeal to a feeling or image your prospect wants to identify with.

Example: We see the Ab-Max man’s exquisitely ripped torso as he climbs a steep rock face and/or walks along the shore surrounded by beautiful women. (Other examples: the rugged masculinity of the Marlboro Man or the tanned Mediterranean Bain de Soleil woman.)

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