Yesterday I was reading the copy on the back of my cat food box:
“BRAND NAME Cat Food is a delicious combination of the finest ingredients to help satisfy the fussiest of felines.”
It got me thinking about my own idea for a cat food brand:
I’d call it ‘Honest Cat Food’.
(Though ‘Meow Chow’ came within a, er, whisker of being picked.)
I’d cut costs by firing the designer, and making it a text-only box design.
And on the box, it’d say:
“Honest Cat Food is a cheap mash-up of the random crap we had left over on the factory floor. But at least it’ll keep your cat alive. Because let’s face it, your cat’s not fussy: it eats grass and licks its own butt. And you’ll save money!”
🙀
… what, you don’t like?
Hey, I’d buy it.
(Then again, I’m allergic to my two cats, and find the act of feeding them to be a royal nuisance.)
However, the general buyer of cat food does not think like me.
That’s why they’re willing to pay ridiculous prices to buy cans of meat slop because they have a fat, fluffy white cat on the label, next to some Michelin-grade sashimi and “Luxury Selections” written in a swanky serif font.
(As Seth Godin writes: if cat food is really for cats … why doesn’t it come in mouse flavour?)
It really comes down to this:
Good copy tells a story that makes people want what you have.
And when you do it right, they’re willing to pay more to have it.
Of course, this isn’t just a copywriting thing.
It’s actually an offer thing and a positioning thing, disguised as a copywriting thing.
But thankfully, I have mastered all those things.
So as long as you, too, have an Honest business (doesn’t need to be Honest Cat Food), you can jump on the waitlist to know when I can help sell your thing:
Yes, Daniel, put me on your waitlist to write the copy for my cat food box — uh, I mean my product
Daniel
P.S. I showed my wife (an unequivocal cat person) this email. Then I asked her: “Would you buy Honest Cat Food?”
Hayley’s response:
“Uh … it doesn’t … look very nice?”
Guess I’ll just keep paying too much for cat food, then.
😿