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How to Write Copy That Get's Results
Copyright
© Charlie Page
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.
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!
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