Eugene Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising (1966) is widely regarded as the most influential work on direct-response marketing and consumer psychology ever written. Rather than focusing on creative flair, Schwartz provides a scientific framework for connecting a product to the pre-existing desires of a market.
The prospect knows they have a problem (e.g., "I can't sleep at night"), but they don't know there is a solution. breakthrough+advertising+by+eugene+schwartz+pdf
Second Stage: Competitors enter. You must enlarge the claim (e.g., "Lose 20 pounds in 10 days"). Strategy: Your headline should name the problem or symptom
He writes that the genius of advertising is not making people want something. It is crystallizing a desire that is already floating in the culture. "I can't sleep at night")