Copywriting Secrets of the Pro’s–Part 2

by Ford Saeks | Jun 27, 2007 | Copywriting

In part one of this article I posed the question, “Can anyone write great copy?” I get asked that all the time, and I always say the same thing:

Yes. Most people already know how to do it!

That’s because most people already know how to tell stories… and storytelling is was great copywriting does. The reality is that if you can talk, you can write great copy. In part two, we continue our journey into the psychology and copywriting strategies that are used by the pros to generate millions of dollars in sales. We’ll explore more of the secrets that will help you craft compelling copy. One of the most critical – if not the most critical – elements you must master to be a great copywriter is the headline. Did you know that on average, five times as many people will read a headline as read the content of your copy? Unless your headline sells your product or service you may have wasted 90% of your money!

Why? Because it doesn’t matter how great your offer is, how compelling the body copy is, or what a bargain your price is. If you have a lousy headline, no one will read further to discover the other stuff. The headline also sets the tone of the copy, and puts the reader in a certain mindset before she even begins to read.

Let’s suppose your headline is something like:

How Badly is Your Lawyer Ripping You Off?

The reader is likely approaching the copy with an expectation of finding out something her lawyer doesn’t want her to know, with an expectation of uncovering ways that she can save some money.

So assuming your product can address these issues, your prospect is already predisposed to your offer before she’s read the first sentence! And that’s a pretty strong position to be in.

Your job is to grab your prospect’s attention. Anyone who is not a prospect isn’t important to your copy. For example, let’s say you are selling some kind of insurance for motorcycles. A good headline for you might be something as simple as:

ATTENTION MOTORCYCLE OWNERS!

Naturally anyone that doesn’t own a motorcycle will likely skip your ad. So what? You aren’t writing for everyone – you’re writing for qualified prospects.

Headlines and subheads help you get the prospect’s attention. They entice to into reading the rest of the message. This is more important today than any other time in advertising history because prospects have never been so distracted before, so bombarded with information, and so overwhelmed with stimuli.

There are probably as many different permutations of headlines as there are copywriters. But I believe that they can be grouped into some major categories. Each of these types serves its own purpose, depending on the product, service, concept or idea you are promoting.

You will likely find a type that you gravitate to, and it works well for you. That’s fine; you are naturally going with your strength. But be open to using other types occasionally, as the situation calls for them.

Types of Headlines

The Question Headline: Do You Make These Mistakes in English?

The News Headline: Amazing New Medical Breakthrough for Fat Loss

The Benefit Headline: Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days!

The Scare or Fear of Loss Headline: Act Now or Miss this Chance Forever!

The Intrigue Headline: Can You Pass the Prosperity Test?

The Testimonial Headline: “My Hair Started Growing Back in two Weeks!”

Headlines are not the only assault weapon in your arsenal of attention-grabbing actions. Subheads allow you to expand what you’re doing with your headline. You can bring in other elements, or simply continue what you started with the headline. Here’s a couple examples using some of our earlier headlines, but adding a subhead this time around:

Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days
Wear your new bikini next month!

Can You Pass the Prosperity Test?
Or are you destined to remain poor your whole life?

This next technique comes from my colleague and master copywriter, Bob Bly, to help you Rate and improve your Headlines using the 4U’s.

Please write down the words: Urgent    Unique    Ultra-Specific    Useful.

Then write these two headlines: “Free Ezine Subscription”

Leave a couple spaces… then write: “Get Targeted Traffic And Higher Sales …In Less Than 27 Days”

Now, using a scale of 1 through 4, with 1 being the weakest and 4 being the strongest, rate each headline according to the 4U’s.

“Free Ezine Subscription”
Is this headline Urgent? On a scale of 1-4? Nope. I give it a “1.”
Is it Unique? Hardly… another “1.”
Is it Ultra-Specific? Maybe a “2” because you know it’s free and
an ezine, but what is it about? Probably a “1” or “2.”
Is it Useful? Score another “1.” It’s not useful because you don’t
even know what it’s about.
The total score for this headline is only a 4 or 5 out of a possible
16. Not very good.

Repeat the process on the other headline…

“Get Targeted Traffic and Higher Sales… in Less Than
27 Days.
Is this headline Urgent?
Is it Unique?
Is it Ultra-Specific?
Is it Useful?

Sure it’d be great if all of your headlines scored 16, but it’s not about having all 4U’s in all categories. Use them to help improve your headlines and you’ll get better results.

Practice writing headlines using the six different types of headlines. Add subheads if you’re feeling especially creative!

Then look at your current marketing materials and website. Review your headlines and go rate them using the 4U’s. They don’t have to score all 4U’s, but this method will help you see were you can improve your headlines.

Easing Prospects into Your Body Copy

You need headlines that make the prospect read your subhead. And you need a subhead that makes them want to read your opening paragraph. And you need an opening paragraph that makes them want to read the next paragraph and the next. Every paragraph has the same function; to pull the reader through to the next one.

For most copywriters, the opening of a sales letter or ad is the hardest part. Once they get into the flow of the copy, they do fine. Many copywriters take a few paragraphs getting “warmed up.”

Unfortunately, those few paragraphs are likely to be the ones that drive away a large percentage of prospects.

No matter what medium you’re working in, your prospects are busy, skeptical, and distracted. Many open your sales letters over the trash. They scan a page in a magazine or newspaper before they commit to reading it. Their fingers are on their computer mouse ready to click or on the TV remote, just waiting to punch a button.

You don’t have time to warm up. You’ve only got a few seconds to grab them by the collar, throw them up against the wall, and shout, “This is important to YOU! Pay attention now!”

So that has to happen first with your headline – and then in your copy lead-in.

What’s the best way to cut right to the chase, and grab the prospect without meandering around, warming up?

I learned this secret from legendary copywriter and my business partner Randy Gage. You’ll want to start with one of his six body copy lead-in templates. Use any one of them, and you are immediately into the copy narrative. Once there, the copy will flow naturally. All are effective; it’s simply a case of deciding which one is appropriate for the offer that you are making.

Randy’s surefire body copy lead-in templates are:

• The Burning Question(s)
• The Invitation
• The “Behind the Scenes” Story
• The “YOU” approach
• The Take-Away

Here are some examples:

The Burning Question(s): “First, two questions, if I may…”
You can use one or more questions… but no more that three in most cases.

The Invitation: “You’re invited to be one of the first in your area to receive…”

The “Behind the Scenes” Story: “It was 8:00 on a Thursday morning. I arrived at my office to find…” or “Well it happened again. I proposed a marketing strategy to a new client who told me it wouldn’t work.”

The “You” Approach: “Executives like you are a very special breed. You’re the kind of person that…”

The Take-Away: “Odds are that you don’t even qualify for the offer I’m about to make. But on the slight chance that you do…”

So let’s review. First, if you’ve ever told a story to your friends or family, you have the makings of a great copywriter. Use these simple techniques to help paint a mental pictures of the joy the prospect will get by purchasing your product, or the hardship he’ll continue to endure without it.

You have a system now for writing effective headlines, subheads and lead-in body copy templates. Use the 4U’s to rate and improve your headlines too.

You don’t have to have a degree in English to be a copywriting pro! Practice, evaluate, and keep on practicing! You’ll know you’re copy is working when your prospects convert to customers.

Copywriting Secrets of the Pro’s–Part 1

by Ford Saeks | Jun 27, 2007 | Copywriting

Can anyone write great copy?

I get asked that all the time and always tell the person the same thing: Yes. Chances are you already know how to do it!

That’s because you already know how to tell stories, and great copywriters are great storytellers. The key is that you just have to learn the proper structure, and “unlearn” all the stuff your elementary and high school teachers taught you about writing.

If you ever made up a story for your children, you’re a copywriter. If you’ve ever gathered with friends as a teenager and told ghost stories, you can write copy. Great copywriters simply paint visual pictures of events. Events that happened in the past, events that may happen in the future, or events that won’t ever happen – unless you buy their product.

You either paint the picture of the joy the prospect will get using your product, or you paint the picture of the hardship he will continue to endure without it.

Why?

Because people love stories. No one is interested in dry facts and statistics about your product, but they’ll be captivated by copy that tells them how your product will impact their life. And the more emotion that you bring into that story, the more compelling it will be to your prospect.

The reality is, if you can talk, you can write great copy.

Your job as a copywriter is to get into your prospect’s head and learn intimately what is causing him a headache. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and find out what is keeping him awake at night. Then, if your product or service can help him – tell him that in no uncertain terms.

A plain, rational ad with all the logical reasons why your prospect should buy may not be enough. You’re going to need to break through the clutter of other marketing messages; the clutter in your prospect’s mind and his possible denial and apathy.

That requires copy with emotion – usually charged, and sometimes confrontational.

Master copywriters tend to be curious about life. They read a great deal, like to travel, have a variety of interests, find other people interesting, and they are very good listeners.

To be a great marketing copywriter understand that you should write like you talk – not in formal, perfect English, but in a clear, conversational style of writing.

There is no “right” way to write copy. The only real outcome you are looking for is “effective” copy. By that I mean copy that leads the prospect to buy your product or service. The more you write copy – the better you will get at it. As long as you practice your skills will improve!

A Few Copywriting Basics

You must become an expert on your product and service before you can attempt to write about it. You need to know your customers. Who are they? How to they behave? How to they buy? Make a list of the questions that you think the prospect has about your products/services. Write to one specific person in your target market.

Identify the inherent emotion in the situation. Is it fear, success or something else? Make a benefits list of your product or service so you’ll know how to capture attention.

In addition to these tips, here are 15 basic guidelines that develop these ideas a bit deeper. These are just guidelines. In part two of this article I’ll cover writing interesting headlines, subheads and body copy, but for now, get familiar with these steps.

15 Copywriting Tips

1. Benefits come first. Benefits are inherently about the prospect; the things he or she will get if they purchase your product or use your service. When you write about benefits, you’re writing about how the prospect will lose weight, get more energy, re-grow his hair, make money, save money, or find a way to bump off his mother-in-law without getting caught. The most effective copy leads with benefits, and validates with features. Features are the things about your product or service, such as “it has 300 hp,” “it contains 15 special vitamins,” or “open 24 hours.”

2. Validate with features. Benefits are personal and emotional – pride, satisfaction, prestige. Features are facts. A car’s 300-hp engine is a feature, it’s fast acceleration and feeling of exhilaration is the benefit. It’s critical that you understand the difference between benefits and features.

3. Create a compelling offer. Tell the whole story using “word pictures,” metaphors or stories to highlight the prospect’s problem and the solution your product/service provides.

4. Brain dump your first version, then edit later. If you attempt to edit while your being creative you’ll interrupt your flow. Let it all flow out during the creative process, and wait to edit and evaluate it later.

5. Write for ‘scanners’ and ‘readers.’ Use both short paragraphs, paragraph headings and bulleted lists for prospects who scan mailers, and longer, content-filled paragraphs for people who prefer to read your every word. You’ll need both types of copy to get both types of prospects to read your copy.

6. If you make a claim, be prepared to prove it!

7. Use bold, italics and underlining sparingly. The only purpose of the formatting is to help the reader get through the message. Abuse it and it loses its impact and is hard to read.

8. Use “flow devises.” Things like dramatic fragment sentences, split paragraphs at the bottom of the page, etc. keep your prospects reading.

9. Reveal a minor flaw. We did this with an inventory overstock and sold $25,000 in one weekend. When we placed orders for CD sets, there was a mix up on the purchase order and we ordered 1,000 instead of 500. So I wrote a sales letter e-mail on a Friday telling my list that they could benefit from our mistake and buy them at cost if they ordered in the next 24 hours.

10. Ask for the order. Use specific language and action steps to guide the reader to your desired conclusion – the sale.

11. Give an incentive to ‘act now.’ Offer a limited-time lower price, an extra gift or bonus, free shipping, etc. to sweeten the deal for your prospect.

12. Talk in “YOU” terms. Always write copy toward the prospect and their needs. Don’t fall into the “I” or “we” trap.

13. Present benefits before price . Don’t rush to name the price before you’ve told you’re your prospect why your product or service is so terrific. When you do reveal the price, briefly justify it.

14. State your guarantee after price. Guarantees reduce the prospect’s sense of risk, and aren’t used as often as you might fear.

15. Raise questions and provide answers. Think of probable questions your prospects might have, and then provide answers. An example could be “You’re probably thinking… how much does this cost?”

Other Copywriting Strategies to Consider

Give your copy “news” value – don’t be afraid to write it as if it was a newspaper article, a TV Special Report, an advertorial, catalog, magalog or even an infomercial. A great way is to model great copy used in another industry or medium. Just keep yours eyes open and pay attention – million-dollar ideas for copy are all around you!

I know we’ve covered a lot of ground already, so let’s end part one here. Think about what you’ve read and try putting these tips into practice on your next copywriting project. Remember, you’re telling a story… and the more often you tell it, the better you’ll be at it.