You know what most advertising copy does?
It screams “buy this thing because it will clean your toilet right the hell now!” or “this gadget will immediately make your life 17% less awful!”
That right there is amateur hour garbage. Today focused benefits are for cowards.
The real magic happens when you shift people’s gaze to tomorrow.
To the glorious, shimmering future where they don’t just have a super clean toilet, but somehow transformed into a better version of themselves while they’re at it.
Consider it a form of psychological weaponry…
“Don’t buy my product for what it does for you today. Buy it for what it will do for you tomorrow.”
And there’s always a reason why it works…
People don’t just want stuff. They want better lives. They want transformation. They want to be the protagonist in their own hero’s journey, and your product is the magical amulet that gets them there.
Today benefits are transactions. Tomorrow benefits are promises of metamorphosis…
Don’t sell them a fitness program that makes them sweat today. Sell them the version of themselves that will exist in three months. Confident, strong, turning heads when they enter a room like some kind of magnificent beast.
Don’t sell them accounting software that organises receipts. Sell them the future where they’re financially independent, drinking mai tais on a beach while their perfectly automated business runs itself.
The present is mundane and boring. The future is where dreams live.
So next time you’re writing ad copy, don’t just paint a picture of immediate gratification. Sketch the silhouette of future glory. Make them see themselves transformed. Evolved. Ascended.
Stephen Walker
P.S. This technique pairs especially well with whiskey and existential dread.