Date: April 4th 2007
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Lingerie Has In Common With Great Headlines."
3 Steps To Increasing Sales
Overnight With
The Persuasive Power Of
Personality
Six weeks
ago I received a phone call from an information marketer at his wit’s
end. He’d invested several thousand dollars in custom copy for his
services but it wasn’t getting the job done. It wasn’t closing
sales or even generating viable leads.
He’d
poured over every word, every principle, every tactic he knew of for writing
great copy and the usual suspects were all present and accounted for.
The
headline, subheads, pain, benefits, anchor tags, specificity, simplicity, NLP
phrases, bonuses, guarantees, you name it, it was all there. Intrigued, I asked
what he was hoping I could do.
“Anything!”
he said. “Just make it WORK!”
So, bleeding heart that I am, and despite being on deadline for four
other projects, I told him to send the material over. I’d work a little later that
evening and see if I could diagnose the problem. Two minutes later, his copy
was in my inbox.
That
evening, curled up with my two kitties and The
Singing Bowls of Shangri-la playing in the background, I delved in. Less than 10 minutes into reading the
material out loud and one cat-nap later (3 if you count my cats dozing off
too) I’d diagnosed the
problem—it was the antidote to insomnia!
It was “skeleton writing”—technically
superior, foundationally strong, but completely and utterly devoid of any life,
personality or charisma. John Caples describes this bugaboo
best in his book, “Tested Advertising Methods.”
“Everybody knows that you can
tame a wild horse and make the animal useful. But it is impossible to put life
into a dead horse. The same is true of advertising copy.”
Long story
short, after much massaging, tweaking and substantial rewriting, we managed to
breathe life into the new copy.
So how do you avoid the time, energy and monetary expense of such an easy
mistake? By keeping
these 3 steps in mind when you write:
- Get Jazzed
- Write to a specific person
- Be conversational
Step 1
Before you
so much as think about picking up a pen or tapping on that keyboard, the first step is getting your head
straight. That means getting pumped, psyched and exhilarated by what
you’re going to write. How?
I usually
start with an affirmation that goes something like this,
“Everything I write turns to
gold. Even now, unstoppable creative juices are coursing through my veins,
compelling me to write copy that thrills and excites my client while closing
loads more sales. And so it is.”
I repeat it
several times out loud with enthusiasm and energy in my voice. I FEEL
what I want the readers to FEEL when they read my copy. I focus on that
feeling, I become that feeling and then I write.
Try it.
You’ll be surprised how easily it comes to you and how your copy begins
to take on a story-like quality your readers just can’t resist!
Step 2
Always, always, always write to a
specific, singular person you can envision in your mind. How do you do that? By starting with the basics.
First write
down everything you can think of to describe this person:
Age
Height
Weight
Eye and hair color
Hobbies
Income
Family dynamics
Profession
Type of house
Buying habits
Sports
Favorite vacation spot
You get the
idea. Make this person as real as possible in your mind then write your copy as
though you’re writing a letter, postcard, whatever to him or her. You can
even use the same person for every product or service you have.
Now, before
you balk, let me say I know how counterintuitive this is.
You’re thinking, “But all my clients aren’t the same! Not a
single one of them has all those characteristics in common!”
Doesn’t matter. You see when you write to a specific person, your copy automatically sounds more
personal, congenial and approachable. It AUTOMATICALLY becomes more
readable and engaging. And that’s what you want, right? It doesn’t
matter who you envision because it isn’t that person who shows up in the
copy, it’s you. Your personality, your attitude, your
presence as it would be if you were talking to a real live person. Got
it?
Step 3
Be conversational. Once you get the first two steps
down, this is a piece of cake. Just pretend you’re talking to a buddy,
friend or relative when you write.
Quick and Easy Tips for Getting Conversational
ü
Use
everyday language
ü
Use
simple words and sentence structure
ü
Write
in second person
ü
Don’t
go on and on about how fantastic you are
ü
Don’t
stress about proper grammar
There you
have it, The Persuasive Power Of Personality 3 Steps To
Increasing Sales Overnight.
1. Get Jazzed
2. Write to a specific person
3 . Be conversational
Stay tuned
for next month’s article on Why Website Writing Breaks The Rules.
To your
success,
Lina
Penalosa
The Write Solution
Phn: 757-377-1244
Fax: 757-299-8355
P.S. To sign
up for “Copy Champ,” a FREE bi-weekly e-zine
for business owners who want simple, easy-to-follow tips for creating marketing
copy using the Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy copywriting
formula, please send an e-mail to: lina@thewritesolutionllc.com or leave a message at 757-377-1244.
What Does Lingerie Have In Common With Great Headlines?
Everything.
Still
don’t see it? Let me connect the dots for you.
Imagine
walking through your local mall. You’re on a mission and come Hades or
high water you’re gonna accomplish it……..when
through no conscious decision of your own, your head snaps to the right, your
swift stride slams into a slow-motion vortex and your eyeballs stare, riveted
to the scantily clad mannequins in Victoria Secret’s window.
Laugh if
you like, but you know it’s true. There isn’t a man or woman alive
who DOESN’T look twice at slinky slips and risqué lingerie when
so strategically staged.
So what do great headlines have in
common with lingerie?
Three things.
- They get your attention.
- They stop you in your tracks.
- They make you want to know more.
That’s
the theoretical explanation. Here’s the practical one broken down by “Rules,” “Key
Words,” “Examples,” and “Formulas”…
Headline Rules
- Immediately, succinctly and
clearly answer the only question
prospects care about, “What’s in it for me?”
- If you have news, such as a new
product or new way to use an old product, play it up BIG in your headline.
- Avoid curiosity-based headlines. Curiosity is great when used
with either option listed above, but it can’t get the job done all
by its little lonesome.
- Try to communicate that your
solution is a quicker or easier way to get what the prospect wants.
- Your headline is a hook, not a fishing rod.
Don’t ask it to do more than its job.
Key Words
At last Free You Gift
Finally How Sex Instantly
New Why Money Get
Now Who
else… Guaranteed Surprising
Announcing Which Easy Yes
Introducing Wanted Save Discover
Examples
What Do School Teachers And Sumo Wrestlers
Have In Common?
7 Ways To Sell
Your House Faster And For More Money
Who Ever Heard Of 17,000 Blooms From A
Single Plant?
The Truth About
Homeowner’s Insurance
What Every Woman Should Know About Bargain
Shopping
How To Skyrocket
Your Website Traffic
How A Bald-Headed Barber Saved My Hair!
Who Else Wants A Whiter
Which Of These Car Buying Mistakes Will You
Make?
The Top 13 Mistakes Self Publishing Authors
Make.
To The Woman Who Will Settle For Nothing
Less Than The Presidency Of Her Firm.
How To Prevent
Online Identity Theft
All Skydiving Instructors Are Not Created
Equal
If
The Hidden Fortune In
Your Worthless Tech Stocks
Formulas
1. What Do _(your product or service)__
And __(unexpected comparison)__
Have In Common?
2. Who Ever
Heard Of __(unexpected something)_ From A __(your product or service)_?
3. The Truth (“solve a problem” or “get a result”).
4. What Every __(your audience)__ Should Know About __(your product or service)_.
5. How To Skyrocket Your __(benefit)__.
6. Which Of These _(area of concern)_ Mistakes Will You Make?
7. The Top __(X #)_ Mistakes _(your audience)_ Make.
8. To The _(your audience)_ Who Will Settle For Nothing Less Than The __(benefit)__.
9. How To Prevent __(pain)__.
10. All __(subject of article) Are
Not Created Equal
11. If _______, then _______.
12. The Hidden Fortune In Your __(unusual place)__.
There you
have it. A down and dirty synopsis of:
ü
What a headline should do
ü
What words will have the greatest
impact in your headlines
ü
What a great headline looks like
ü
Easy formulas for creating your own
profit producing headlines
Stay tuned
for next month’s article on The Power
of Personality.
To your
success,
Lina
Penalosa
The Write Solution
Phn: 757-377-1244
Fax: 757-299-8355
P.S. To sign
up for “Copy Champ,” a FREE bi-weekly e-zine
for business owners who want simple, easy-to-follow tips for creating marketing
copy using the Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy copywriting
formula, please send an e-mail to: lina@thewritesolutionllc.com or leave a message at 757-377-1244.
P.P.S. What others are saying about Lina Penalosa and The
Write Solution…
“I’ve used Lina on several occasions to
create my own revenue-producing sales letters and couldn’t be happier.
She takes care of all the grunt-work, works quickly, produces fantastic copy
that sells my products and requires very little from me in the process. I
can’t begin to imagine how much time and money her services have saved
me!”
--Lee Milteer, International Business Coach
and Speaker
“If you want someone who gets the Dan Kennedy-style
of copywriting and creating long sales letter, Lina is the writer you want. She
does more than take care of the interviewing, testimonial gathering, layout,
color scheme, photo placement and of course the writing. She’ll save you
a small fortune…not to mention your sanity. Her prices are more than
reasonable and when I add up the cost of doing it myself---well, let’s
just say I’ve saved thousands of dollars on each project!”
--Stephen Oliver, Martial Arts Marketing Expert
and Owner of Mile High Karate Schools
“Lina is one of the best
creative talents I've worked with. She has a no-nonsense attitude and never
makes excuses. She just gets the work done and quickly. There’s no
hand-holding or baby-sitting required. I ask for something. I pay for it. I get
it. Her approach is thoughtful and organized and once I’ve assigned
something to her, I can forget about it and move on to the next item on my
to-do list.”
--
)