#1. START WITH WHAT THE PROSPECT WANTS
Most marketing falls short for one reason: it focuses on the product or service. The inevitable result of this line of thinking is a list of FEATURES that may or may not be of interest to anyone except the marketer. Start, instead, with the benefits the prospect wants. This requires research, interviews, brainstorming and multi-industry experience to look at what’s selling through the eyes of the potential customer. But this is the only way to develop the best CUSTOMER BENEFITS that make sales and profits SKYROCKET!
#2. FORGET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE
To get a response breakthrough, forget about what has always been done … and what everybody else in the industry does. That’s tunnel vision. Look at the copywriting with a fresh set of eyes and a wide-open mind. The fact is, if a business keeps doing what it’s always done, they’ll keep getting the same results. Remember, the 8-word battle cry of a dying company is, “that’s the way we have always done it.” Be different … be bold … be original. Use your imagination to create a breakthrough.
#3. PROMISE TO GIVE THE PROSPECT EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS MOST
Great copywriting is great salesmanship in print. The best salespeople find out what the prospect wants most … and then promise to deliver it. Write as if you were the prospect. What benefit does the prospect want most from this product? What end result? What hidden benefit? What would be the ultimate benefit? Once the most important benefits are determined, start with them and keep stressing them throughout the copy … and prove them with specific facts, a guarantee, and a no-risk offer.
#4. MAKE A GREAT OFFER
The offer includes the product, product name, price, terms, payment options, ordering information, bonuses, and guarantee. The right offer can double, even triple response, so it pays to put a lot of thought into this … and continually test.
#5. CREATE A “DYNAMITE” HEADLINE TO GET MORE RESPONSE
Legendary copywriter John Caples saw response to an ad increase by 19 ½ TIMES simply with a different headline and no other copy changes. The headline must feature the benefit(s) the prospect wants most in a specific, easily digestible, believable way. Try to use the magic words of guaranteed, new, secret, fast, easy and free. It also helps to include a strong offer in the headline. For example, if it’s known that your prospect’s main desire is to save time, and the product will do that for them, tell them boldly and specifically like this: “SAVE 6 HOURS EVERY WEEK … OR YOU WON’T PAY A DIME!”
#6. USE AS MUCH COPY AS IS NEEDED
Don’t try to write “long” or “short” copy. Instead focus on the benefits the prospect should know and write as much or as little as is needed to convey all of these benefits. Don’t be afraid of longer copy. When the copy is full of excitement and benefits that the reader wants, he will read every word of it and the response will be much higher.
#7. USE AN AUTHORITY, EXPERT OR CELEBRITY IF APPROPRIATE
More people will read, believe and order from copy when it comes from someone they perceive as an authority. For example, one company selling health products recently tested the exact same sales letter coming from the company president vs. coming from an M.D. The M.D. letter pulled 62% more orders!
#8. USE TODAY’S VISUAL SOCIETY AS AN ADVANTAGE
We live in the MTV society where people’s attention span is about as short as a newborn baby’s. To get maximum response, copywriting must look very easy to read and be visually appealing. In addition, it must be exciting, up-beat, passionate and enthusiastic! It must get the reader excited and interested enough to act NOW!
#9. WRITE THE CLOSING PARAGRAPH AND P.S. FIRST
By the time most writers get to these critically important pieces, they’ve run out of gas and can barely get them written. For high-impact copy, write these first. Be sure to close hard in both of these telling the reader what he’ll lose if he doesn’t respond now.
#10. COVER ALL THE BASES – WRITE TO A PERSON WHO:
Requires a large benefit promise to get their attention. Doesn’t like to take risks. Is skeptical. Is not very self-motivated. Must be thoroughly convinced and excited to take the action you want.
#11. TELL THE READER WHAT TO DO
Many people who are interested will never respond to the copy due to inertia. They just haven’t been motivated enough to take action. The way great copy motivates them to action is with benefits, excitement and by TELLING THEM EXACTLY WHAT THEY SHOULD DO over and over again throughout the copy. We live in a world of slogans and images. We are inundated by ads on TV with vague slogans that say “Just Do It,” and we’re left wondering just what it is we’re supposed to do. In direct marketing such appeals are doomed to failure. We must be specific, never vague. We must repeatedly and unashamedly ask for the order or the phone call or whatever specific action we want.
#12. BE CREATIVE, BUT DON’T BE CUTE
Most copywriters try to be too clever … to be humorous … to get attention with “clever” photos, headlines and copy. Response from this type of “clever” copy is awful. The only reason people buy anything is to gain an advantage, or to get a benefit they want. To be successful in marketing, use creativity to focus on how best to present the end-user benefits of the product or service.
There are the 12 copywriting secrets that can double the response to your advertising and marketing.