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The goal today
is simple. That goal is to pull back the curtain and
show you how a professional copywriter creates the copy
that causes people to reach for their wallet or purse.
Copy you would normally have to pay for, only now you
can do it yourself.
Let me begin by saying how very much I hate hype. Hate
it. Loathe it. Don't want to read it and will not write
it. The pure fact of the matter is that it does not
take hype to sell products. It does take capturing a
person's attention, then their imagination, long enough
to help them see the desire they have for your product.
Here's the first foundational truth about copywriting.
The people who visit your site WANT to buy what you
sell. They have the desire now, or they wouldn't go
to your site. They didn't just wander by. They chose
your site because something interested them.
Your job now is to enhance that sense of DESIRE and
persuade them to take action now. Enhancing their desire
to benefit from what you offer. That's the name of the
game. Don't confuse desire with being convinced. Desire
creates sales, being convinced doesn't. I'm convinced
the Golden Gate Bridge is a fine bridge, but I don't
want to own it.
On the other hand, there's this very cool laptop I want
so bad I can taste it. I need a laptop like a hole in
the head, but I want it. You see, a person doesn't have
to need your product to buy it. They just have to want
it. Very few people really need a Palm Pilot, or a laptop,
or heated leather seats or an expensive ink pen when
the one the dry cleaner gives away still writes, but
they buy these things (and more) every day.
Why shouldn't they buy them from you?
With that in mind, consider the following five key points
to writing copy that gets results ... no matter what
product, service or opportunity you offer.
The five points are:
1. Sell with emotion, support with logic.
2. Be honest.
3. Be brief, but not too brief.
4. Ask for the order early ... and often.
5. Emulate, don't imitate.
The first point is so important, so foundational, that
I'm devoting this entire article to understanding how
this will work in your real world. If you get this first
step right you will see results even if you bobble the
other four. Without this one, the other four will have
to work overtime to get people to reach for the Visa.
Pay careful attention because this is where 99% of ineffective
copy fails to do it's job.
1. Left Brain -- Right Brain
People generally buy things in a very predictable way.
They make a decision to buy based on emotion and defend
or justify that decision with logic. Rarely do people
(even engineers!) buy in the reverse order. Memorize
this: People buy based on emotion, and defend or justify
that purchase with logic. That idea is the reason that
people buy. Period.
Let's take a closer look. Here is a quick example from
what is perhaps the best example of buying on emotion
and defending it with logic known to mankind ... the
world of new car sales.
Example #1
You go to the dealership one fine weekend just to 'see
what your trade-in is worth'. These sharks are not going
to sell you anything. You are there for facts, just
the facts. Not even shopping. Just getting information.
You were in the neighborhood anyway.
Then it happens. The smell of a new interior. The purr
of the engine. (You didn't really realize how loud your
old car is inside.) Then there's the shine of the new
paint job. Red. You always wanted red. You deserve red.
You want red! You can almost feel the pride swell inside
you as you imagine driving down your street for the
first time, your neighbors drooling with envy. 'Bonnie
must be doing well.' they say. 'She's always seemed
smart.' You can see the look on your friends faces as
you drive home for Christmas in your new RED car.
By golly, you ARE going to have red. You wanted red
in high school and got the old family junker. Remember
the embarrassment? You wanted red in college but your
idiot boyfriend talked you into black. Black! After
you dumped him you couldn't stand to even drive the
thing. It's red you want. It's red you've always wanted.
And you've waited long enough.
You drive home in your new red car. It smells good.
It sounds good. It looks good. You feel great! When
tightwad Fred asks how much you paid, you tell him that
the old junker you traded in needed an engine overhaul
and it just wasn't a good investment to repair the poor
thing. You were smart to buy now. In fact, you got the
much better end of the deal.
My friend, you just bought on emotion and defended the
purchase with logic.
What else does this happen with? As you read this list,
ask yourself how many times you've bought more than
you needed in one of these areas just because it 'felt
right'.
- Suits
- Dresses
- Homes
- Jewelry
- Stereo Equipment
- Computers
- Software ;)
Let's face it, we are a community of people who love
to compare. We compare how fast our cars go from zero
to sixty, how big the diamond is we gave our girl (or
she gave us!) how many square feet we have (never mind
there are two empty bedrooms). The list goes on and
on. Advertisers know this about us. When you are the
advertiser, you must know it too.
How can you apply this to your real world? Three simple
steps.
Step 1 - Get a legal pad now and write
down the five top things that make people want your
product. Focus on how they will feel, how others will
perceive them, how they will feel about themselves.
Remember, a feature is what something does. A benefit
is what it does for me. People want benefits. People
buy benefits. People will interrupt what they are doing
now to buy benefits.
Step 2 - Look at your selling copy
now, whether it's a web page, autoresponders, radio
ad copy, classifieds ... doesn't matter. Look at that
copy and see if the five emotional pressure points you
wrote down are in that copy. Does the copy move you?
Does it compel you to action? Does it tell you, in very
clear terms, what's in it for you? If you can't be objective,
solicit a friend to take a look.
Step 3 - Change portions of your copy
to add some punch. I'm not talking about a major rewrite,
just change some key areas to appeal to a person's emotions.
Help them imagine life with your product. The time they
will save. The money they will save. How good they will
look to
their peers. How great it will feel to finally (insert
benefit here).
Better yet, give them hints about what they can do with
that time and money. Here's a very short sample.
---------Begin sample------------
Our clients often save over $100 a month when they switch
to our widget. Imagine how good it will feel when YOU
begin to save $100 or more a month, just by choosing
our super-widget! That's over $1200 a year! What will
you do with your $1200?
- Pay off bills?
- Take a vacation?
- Pay for your child's college tuition?
- Finally have some 'mad' money just for you?
The choice is yours. Do what thousands of others have
done. Click here now to start saving today.
--------End sample----------------
Notice in the example above how the 'need to' and 'want
to' motivations alternate? We 'should' pay off bills
and pay for college. We 'want' to take a vacation and
spend money like a madman on a weekend pass just because
it feels so very good. By including both 'want to' and
'need to', this copy appeals to the broadest possible
audience. No matter what else your copy does, make sure
it appeals to a person's emotions. Remember, people
do what they want to do, not what they have to do.
If you have a hard time finding the emotional points
of your product, service or opportunity, remember that
people are moved by the promise of gain or the fear
of loss. Using those two super-motivators, it won't
be long before your copy will be charged with the emotional
electricity that creates orders and causes people to
take action now.
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Charlie Page is the owner of the Directory of Ezines,
the first and most comprehensive list of quality ezines
that accept advertising available on the Internet. Charlie
can show you how to sell more products and earn more
affiliate commissions using the Internet's #1 marketing
method ... ezine marketing!
CLICK HERE to learn more ...
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