| Dear Business Builder, | | | | But not if by focusing on them, you lose sight of your |
| I'm up to my eyeballs in copy cubs, and I love 'em to | | | | prospect. Or forget to fully dimensionalize your |
| death. | | | | product's benefits ... or trivialize your price ... or relieve |
| Every blessed one of them is a brilliant, gifted, | | | | your prospect's risk ... or create a powerful logic-driven |
| fresh-faced kid with a big dream in his or her heart | | | | call to action. |
| and an obsession for copywriting. And frankly, I'm | | | | And certainly not if by using the copywriting techniques |
| convinced that each one of them will go farther and | | | | we teach, you fail to consider how your prospect is |
| have far greater successes than I have. | | | | feeling as he moves through your copy. |
| For one thing, they're smarter than me ... better | | | | See, when you're writing sales copy, you only think |
| educated than I am ... and they already know far more | | | | you're alone and you only think it's a one-way |
| about copywriting than I ever will. | | | | conversation. In truth, you're talking to a real, live, |
| They've devoured every copywriting course, book, | | | | flesh-and-blood human being - your prospect - and he |
| seminar and e-zine they've been able to lay their | | | | has an unspoken response to everything you say. |
| hands on. | | | | Now, let's say you're shopping for something. I dunno ... |
| They've gobbled up copywriting rules, maxims, | | | | let's say a brand-new Porsche 911 Turbo. The |
| proverbs, templates and formulas like an army of | | | | salesman shakes your hand, then launches into an |
| starving Sumo wrestlers chowing down at a free | | | | obviously canned sales pitch. |
| buffet. | | | | You can tell he's practiced it endlessly in front of a |
| They've perused every new swipe and every new | | | | mirror. He's got his spiel down pat. Every word, every |
| insight as passionately as a furloughed sailor chases | | | | phrase, every inflection - even his body language is |
| skirts. | | | | flawless. |
| They can quote Hopkins, Caples, Reeves, Ogilvy and | | | | But it's almost like you're not even there ... |
| Schwartz chapter and verse. They can recite | | | | You ask questions; he doesn't hear you. You raise |
| everything Bencivenga, Halbert, Carlton, Masterson and | | | | objections; he ignores them. You question his facts; he |
| Makepeace have ever written. | | | | fails to address your skepticism. You become bored; |
| They remind me of race horses in the starting gate ... | | | | he doesn't notice. You grow impatient; he couldn't care |
| champing at the bit ... pawing the ground ... every | | | | less. |
| creative muscle in their bodies tensed, flexed and | | | | You feel trapped. You'd gladly chew your own arm |
| ready to explode into action at the slightest twitch of | | | | off just to get away from him. |
| the starter's trigger finger. | | | | He doesn't let that bother him, not even for a moment. |
| ... And the same damned thing happens every time I | | | | He's going to obey every rule, exercise every formula |
| give one of them his or her first assignment: | | | | and flesh out every template they taught him in |
| KABLOOEY! Their heads explode. | | | | Salesman School come hell or high water. |
| I can see the train wreck that's sure to follow even as | | | | He's going to deliver his sales pitch - his whole sales |
| we discuss their first assignment: | | | | pitch - even if it kills you. |
| The frenzied note-taking ... | | | | That's what your copy reads like when you focus on |
| The tortured expressions on their young faces as they | | | | rules and formulas instead of your prospect! |
| mentally juggle dozens of complex, seemingly | | | | And since you're selling in print, through the mail or over |
| contradictory rules they've learned by heart ... | | | | the Internet, your prospect doesn't have to chew his |
| The numbness in their eyes as they consider the | | | | arm off to shut you up: All he has to do is turn the |
| massive emotional and financial rewards they imagine | | | | page, close his browser or e-mail window or drop your |
| will follow if they get this right - and the consequences | | | | mail piece in the nearest trash can. |
| (too horrific to contemplate) if they screw this up. | | | | FREE AT LAST! |
| And I know what to expect: I can bet the farm the | | | | My advice: With the possible exception of the article |
| first draft will be ... | | | | you're reading right now ... |
| Days late ... | | | | ... If, when writing a first draft, you're thinking about |
| Four, five, even six times longer than it should be ... | | | | something I said (or any other copy coach said), you're |
| Crawling with recognizable formulas lifted from | | | | blowing it. |
| copywriting gurus and swipe files ... | | | | Big time. |
| Replete with presumptuous lectures on how my | | | | First drafts are for climbing inside your prospect's skin - |
| prospect feels now - and how he should feel after | | | | not mine or anyone else's. |
| enjoying the benefits the product provides ... | | | | That takes a laser-like focus on your prospect and |
| Teeming with non sequiturs, mixed metaphors and | | | | what he's thinking and feeling as he reads your sales |
| tortured similes ... | | | | message. |
| Packed with overused "power words" and | | | | And that takes a heckuva lot more than just |
| over-the-top claims and of course, exclamation points ... | | | | regurgitating slightly altered copy from a swipe file ... or |
| Devoid of a compelling lead (since it has been neatly | | | | making sure you've checked every item on someone |
| buried somewhere around page eight or nine) ... | | | | else's checklist ... or cramming round-peg sales |
| Flabby - prattling on for paragraphs on minor points | | | | arguments into square-peg formulas. |
| when a single sentence or a string of fascinations | | | | It takes intense, exhausting, rational, logical, sequential, |
| would get the message across much more quickly | | | | ORIGINAL thought. |
| and effectively ... | | | | In other words ... |
| Unfocused - the product will feel vague, ethereal, | | | | The act of creating a persuasive sales message is an |
| poorly defined ... the offer copy will seem like little more | | | | exercise in the creative application of logic to engage |
| than an afterthought ... and the call to action will be | | | | and move a human being to action. |
| virtually non-existent. | | | | It should be informed - but NEVER completely driven - |
| That's OK, though - it's not their fault: It's just that ... | | | | by copywriting techniques others have used. |
| COPYWRITING IS SO MUCH HARDR THESE | | | | So, when writing sales copy, forget the rules. Focus on |
| DAYS | | | | your prospect. |
| Back when I was getting started, writing sales copy | | | | Simply ask yourself, "What do I need to say to get his |
| was easy. We had the masters to guide us ... | | | | attention?" |
| Kennedy reminding us that, since sales copy is nothing | | | | "What do I need to say - and prove - to keep him |
| more than salesmanship in print, ad copy should simply | | | | reading?" |
| say the things a live salesman would say to his | | | | "What do I need to say to neutralize the objections |
| prospect ... | | | | he's most likely to have to buying now?" |
| Hopkins saying "Amen, brother!" then adding, "Your | | | | "What do I need to say to make "not ordering" seem |
| copy should also lift your product heads and shoulders | | | | like the dumbest decision he could possibly make?" |
| above the competition's," and ... | | | | Then, when writing the sales copy, use The Force - |
| Caples saying "I hear ya! And of course, you also need | | | | FEEL your way through your copy, asking yourself |
| to capture your prospect's attention, hold it throughout | | | | every paragraph or two, "If I was the prospect how |
| and compel him to act." | | | | would I be feeling right now? Would I feel bored? |
| Pretty simple, common-sense stuff really: When writing | | | | Skeptical? Like you're taking too long to get to the |
| sales copy, my job was simply to grab and hold my | | | | point? Or would I feel energized ... persuaded ... and |
| prospect's attention ... present the reasons why he | | | | anxious to buy?" |
| should buy - just like any good salesman would ... show | | | | When you shift your focus away from the copywriting |
| how my product is better than the alternatives ... and | | | | techniques you've learned, you free yourself to focus |
| forcibly ask for the sale. | | | | exclusively on your prospect. |
| In short, to create A-I-D-A: Attention, Interest, Desire, | | | | More than that: You free yourself to innovate - to |
| Action. | | | | discover new ways to engage your prospect and |
| THE CURSE OF A GREAT EDUCATION | | | | move him to action. You free yourself to become a |
| Today, most young writers I meet tend to think more | | | | legend that a future generation of copy cubs will |
| about all the copywriting techniques they've learned | | | | emulate. |
| than about what their prospects are thinking and | | | | And you know what else? You'll be surprised at how |
| feeling or how to motivate them to make a purchase. | | | | many of the lessons you've learned as a student of |
| Now, don't get me wrong - it's great that they have | | | | copywriting come to mind just when you need them to |
| these tools: Used properly, the tips, tricks and | | | | solve a problem you've spotted in your text. |
| techniques you're learning here in The Total Package | | | | But let those things be your servant; never your |
| and from other copywriting coaches will lift your | | | | master. |
| response and make you a bundle. | | | | |