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A
Note from Mitch |
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Featured
Article: The 21 Most Powerful Copywriting Rules of
All Time |
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Tip
of the Week |
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Market
Place |
Dear Subscriber,
It's been an exciting
week as I have just had the honor of signing the publishing
contract for my 4th book, this one on Internet Marketing.
For those of you who have followed my writing career you may
know that the first three were on psychology topics and were
called When Parents Love Too Much, When Is Enough Enough and
Six Keys To Creating The Life You Desire. I had the fortune
to have these books published in 21 countries. I'll
keep you posted as we get closer to the
publication date.
In
the course of developing an online business,
every once in awhile you meet an exceptional
person. This week I had the pleasure of
meeting Online Marketing Superstar Joe Vitale.
In addition to being a master copywriter
and marketer, he is a great person and I'm
happy to announce we'll be featuring some
of his ideas in today's article.
I
think you'll find his article, 21
Most Powerful Copywriting Rules of All Time, not
only illuminating but profitable for your
business. At the end of the article you
will see a link to an upcoming webcast that
I recommend you check out.
I hope you enjoy this issue and find it very helpful for your
business!
To Your
Success,
Mitch
P.S.
We're always interested in your comments and feedback on this
ezine. If it has stimulated some thoughts, let
us know.
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Quote For The Day:
"In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In business it’s
differentiate, differentiate, differentiate." --
Robert Goizueta
The 21 Most Powerful Copywriting Rules of All Time
by Joe Vitale
1. Know your USP.
USP = Unique Selling Proposition = a one line statement
(proposition) that explains (sells) how your product or service differs (unique)
from the competition. You can't know it unless you research your product as well
as your competition. What does Federal Express say? Dove soap? You must know
your basic offer before you can begin to persuade anyone to accept it.
2. Use layout that supports copy.
Graphics, fonts, and layouts don't sell, but they can help
bring attention to your sales message. Use proven formats. Look at the famous
Maxwell Sackheim ad in my book, The AMA Complete Guide to
Small Business Advertising. Consider an advertorial style. It can get
80% more attention than any other ad layout. You must know the form your sales
message will take before you begin to draft your actual message. Knowing you are
about to write a classified ad will lead you to write differently than if you
were about to write a sales letter or a display ad.
3. Create a riveting and relevant headline.
Round-up your prospects with a headline that makes them sit up
and take notice. Best place to see good headlines is on the cover of Reader's
Digest. See my AMA advertising book for 30 ways to write headlines. A
headline calls out your readers. A change in headline can bring 19 times
more response.
4. Write simply, directly, and in the conversational style
of your prospects.
Who are you trying to reach? Housewives, business executives,
children? You must know the type of person you are writing to. Write to one
person from that group and you will speak to all people in that group. Forget
trying to impress people, win writing awards, or please a past English teacher.
Good copy often violates the rules of English but still makes the sale.
5. So that -- ?
Write of the benefits, not the features. A feature generally
describes a product; a benefit generally explains what the product does for you.
A good way to write about benefits would be to keep saying you get this...and
the product does this...so that you get.... Look at Kodak. People don't buy
film for the pictures they create. They are buying memories. Look at their
advertising and you'll barely see film anywhere. What you will see are family
reunions, graduations, weddings, etc. You get film which helps you take pictures
so that you get memories. Keep asking So that -- ? to dig up benefits. For
example, This computer is a 486...so that...you get a computer that is twice
the speed of other computers...so that...you can get twice the work done in the
same amount of time...so that....you are free to have longer lunches, make more
calls, or focus on something else.
6. Use emotional appeal.
People buy for emotional reasons and justify with logic. Gene
Schwartz wrote an ad that ran for 20 years and sold so many flowers it exhausted
nurseries. It's packed with emotional appeal. It read in part:
When you put this into the Earth, and you jump back
(quickly), it explodes into flowers. And everybody in your neighborhood comes
and they look. And people take home blooms because you've got so many you could
never find a house big enough to put them. And you've become the gardening
expert for the entire neighborhood.
7. Demolish the five basic objections within your copy:
- I don't have enough time.
- I don't have enough money.
- It won't work for me.
- I don't believe you.
- I don't need it.
8. Activate your writing.
Whenever you write the words "is," "was," "are," or "to be,"
train yourself to stop and change them to something more active. "The meeting is
tonight" sounds dead; "The meeting starts at 7 PM sharp tonight" feels clear,
direct and alive. "Clair Sullivan is the finest promoter in the country" doesn't
convey the excitement that "Clair Sullivan creates corporate events better than
anyone else on the planet" does.
9. Tell them something they don't know.
Fascinate your readers. The more you tell, the more you sell.
Long copy usually works better than short copy, as long as the copy holds
interest. After all, people read whole books. They will read your copy IF it
interests them.
10. Seduce the reader into continued reading.
Keep your reader reading any way you can. Questions, unfinished
sentences, involving statements, sub-heads, bulleted points, quizzes, all work.
These techniques also handle the skimmers who just glance at your copy,
as well as the word-for-word readers.
11. Say collie.
Be specific. Whenever you write something vague, such as "they
say," or "later on," or "many," train yourself to stop and rewrite those phrases
into something more concrete, such as: "Mark Weisser said...", or "Saturday at
noon" or "Seven people agreed." Don't say dog when you can say
collie.
12. Overwhelm with testimonials
Get as many testimonials as you can. The more specific, the
more convincing. In short, deliver proof that your claim is for real.
13. Remove the risk!
Give a guarantee. Less than 2% of your customers will ever ask
for their money back, so offering a guarantee is a safe risk. Here's the
guarantee from my book, The Seven Lost Secrets
of Success:
Use these seven principles for six months. If you're out of
work, you'll find a job. If you're employed, you'll get a raise. If you're in
business, you'll see a whopping 25% jump in revenues -- or return this book and
your receipt for a full cash refund!
14. Ask for the order
Too much copy these days never asks anyone to buy anything.
Sales copy should SELL. Use a coupon as a way to signal readers that you want
their business and to remind yourself to always ask for the order (or at least
to ask people to contact you or remember you).
15. Use magic words.
There are certain words which have been proven to help get
attention. If you just string these words together, they sound like fluff. But
weave them into your sentences, along with your facts, and they become powerful:
Announcing, astonishing, exciting, exclusive, fantastic,
fascinating, first, free, guaranteed, incredible, initial, improved, love,
limited offer, powerful, phenomenal, revealing, revolutionary, special,
successful, super, time-sensitive, unique, urgent, wonderful, you, breakthrough,
introducing, new, and how-to.
And consider the connotations of the words you use:
workshop sounds like hard work while seminar sounds easier. Read
sounds hard while look over sounds easy. Write sounds
difficult while jot down sounds easy. Be aware of the psychological
implications of the words and phrases you use.
16. Get pumped up!
Show your excitement for your product. If you aren't pumped up
about it, why not? Enthusiasm sells.
17. Rewrite and test ruthlessly.
Test. Test. Test. A change of one word can increase response
250%. Sackheim tested his famous ad at least six times before he found the
headline and format that worked. Most copy isn't written in one day. You have to
write, rewrite, edit, rewrite, test, and test again. Keep asking yourself,
Would I buy this product? and Have I said everything to make the
sale?
18. State a believable deadline.
Most people won't take any immediate action unless there exists
a sound reason to do so. Deadlines help, as long as your deadline sounds
credible.
19. Instantaneous satisfaction!
Everything should be nearly instantaneous because we want
instant gratification. Toll-free numbers and fax numbers help. If you're
marketing on the Web, include a link or a button that makes it easy for your readers to order.
20. Sincerity sells.
Don't offer fluff, mislead, or lie to your prospects. Tell them
the truth.While rarely done, it actually helps sales to admit a weakness or a
fault. Remember the ad, These neckties aren't very pretty, but they're a
steal at a nickel each! Tell the truth in a fascinating way.
21. Copy your copy from the best.
Read excellent copy, write it out word-for-word in your own
hand to get a feel for its rhythm, and memorize the following books:
-
The Copywriter's Handbook by Bob Bly
-
The
AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising by Joe Vitale
-
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
Joe is President of
Hypnotic Marketing, Inc. He has written
books for the American Marketing Association and the American
Management Association. He wrote the only business book on P.T. Barnum, in
There's A Customer Born Every Minute. His most recent book, co-authored
with Jo Han Mok, is The E-Code: 47 Secrets for Making Money Online Almost
Instantly Visit MrFire.com
to find out more.
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