Marketing

“No, YOU have a consistency problem”

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copywriting consistency habits

Habits are hard to break. Harder than freezer meat.

That’s one of the reasons marketing can be hard work.

The difficulty of a marketer’s job is rooted in the dark nature of habitual behavior.

The habitual behavior of your should-be buyers, to be specific.

Let me explain what I mean.

You’ve probably read Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence — or you’ve at least heard of it. So you’re probably familiar with the principles of commitment and consistency.

People like to be seen as consistent. They want to feel consistent.

Marketers try to leverage that fact by seeking “micro-commitments” and “progressive series of agreement.”

There’s value in those concepts.

But listen…

These are attempts to produce consistency. The truth is, your prospects are already consistent.

Freezer meat consistent.

Therein lies the problem — and the opportunity.

Your potential customers are consistently, habitually doing the same things over and over again.

Buying the same things over and over again.

If they’re buying from you, hallelujah! If they’re buying from the other guy… ouch.

More than that, they’re avoiding doing the same things over and over again — and consistently rejecting the same kinds of offers.

So, let me ask you a couple questions:

1.
Do you think it’s smarter to get someone to micro-commit their way to consistently buy from you…

Or should you target people who are already consistently buying the types of products you sell?

2.
Should you spend all your time chasing new customers and weeding out the ones who stubbornly refuse to commit to what’s clearly the best option for them?

Or does it make sense to focus on (or develop) hyper-responsive buyers who already have habits that make you say “Hallelujah”?

Think about it.

Then do something about it.

Sell Me Their Eyeballs

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Your competition is more brutal than you may have realized.

Mostly because your biggest competitors probably aren’t who you think they are…   

I’ll share a tiny example, then a giant one.

Some years back, the Illinois Small Business Development Center used to bring me in to teach marketing during its entrepreneurial training programs.

Part of the job was to help the trainees understand what they’d face out there in the real world — and give them tools to win.

I remember one young guy named Omar. He was brimming with energy and ambition. He wanted to open a smoothie shop with healthy food alternatives for high schoolers.

Good stuff.

He was the first trainee to go over his assignment aloud during class.

While talking about his business plan, he listed his main competitors as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds.

Now, it’s hard to be the person who bursts the bubble of anyone so full of excitement… but that was the job.

I told him — in front of the entire class (they needed to hear this too)…

…that he was wrong.

Starbucks may have been his most visible competition.

But Omar’s smoothies would have to compete with every other rival fighting for the attention and dollars of his target audience.

And Lord knows teenagers have their eyes divided between a lot of sugar-coated options.

His healthy, pricey smoothies would have to earn their way onto the priority list.

Not just against other beverages the teens were already in the habit of buying…

But against ALL snacks… fashion items… gasoline for their cars, etc.

That competition is fierce — and I wanted Omar and the others to understand the scale of the battle they were engaged in.

That’s the small example.

The giant example gets the point much faster.

It’s this quote from Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix.

entertaining copywriting

At Netflix, we are competing for our customers’ time, so our competitors include Snapchat, YouTube, sleep, etc.”

Sleep is hard to beat.

But it’s even harder when you don’t know that’s what you’re fighting against.

Do the research. Find out what you’re really competing with.

Adjust your game plan… and play to win.

And before you go, here are 7 tips for writing eyeball-wrangling headlines and subject lines:


3 Persuasion Lessons You Won’t Find in Copywriting Books

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stack of copywriting books

“What’s the biggest mistake copywriters make that destroys their conversions?”

When I’m out speaking, doing workshops or online trainings, that’s one of the questions that comes up almost every time. 

It’s hard to give just one ultimate copy faux pas. There are so many… and they can be extremely costly.

Some are obvious:

  • Focusing on your company or product instead of your prospect
  • Writing about features instead of benefits
  • Using technical jargon and stuffy, corporate language when you should write conversationally.

Other mistakes are much less obvious. I want to talk about three of them today. 

You’re not likely to find these mentioned in copywriting books. In fact, you probably won’t learn about them in many higher-priced courses, either. 

They’re hard won on the battlefield of direct response… where seemingly small slip-ups can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Why is no one teaching these persuasion lessons? 

Because they’re not sexy. And they’re not easy to sum up in tweet-sized sound bites. 

But if you’re willing to dig a little deeper than most of your peers, this hidden wisdom can change everything for you.

Lesson #1: Your USP’s Magnetic Power Doesn’t Come From You

Copywriting and general marketing books often make a big deal out of finding and communicating your unique selling proposition (USP) or unique value proposition. And rightly so. Establishing your business, product or service as unique in the marketplace is important. 

But we’ve tried to make USPs simple, even mechanical.

A + B = C

Target Audience + Problem + Solution = USP

In the process of making formulas like these, marketers have completely missed the point.

No matter what it seems like, the most important characteristic of a USP isn’t its uniqueness. Customers don’t buy a product simply because it’s different.

Today, there are more options than ever before to solve every conceivable problem or satisfy any desire. 

People buy because a product or solution is uniquely suited to fulfill their specific desire.

A USP is not what’s magnetic. The attraction comes from within the would-be buyer himself.

To quote psychotherapist Anthony de Mello, “We see people and things not as they are, but as we are.”

Customers see your products as THEY are. Their desires and beliefs dictate how they perceive your business and your USP.

Here’s what that means for you. 

When writing sales copy, it’s usually a mistake to spend too much time focused on what you (or your client, as the case may be) think is unique about the product.

It’s far more powerful to highlight that specific need or desire that drives your ideal customer into the market in the first place. 

Write copy that awakens that desire… that shows them you understand that pain at a deep level. This helps the reader convince himself that what you’re offering is uniquely suited for his situation. 

Force-feeding your “one of a kind” product is more likely to create magnetic repulsion — the exact opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Lesson #2: Copy Should Empower Readers (Even If the Message Starts With Negative Emotions)

You may already know the fear of loss is emotionally twice as powerful as the positive anticipation of gain.

That’s one of the major reasons fear-based copy can be so effective. When done well, it grabs attention, earns buy-in from the reader and prepares them for the hope of salvation… in your product or service.

Many entrepreneurs shy away from the negative stuff in copy. They don’t want to be fearmongers and scare potential buyers away.

Big mistake. 

Those businesses lose out on sales — and they allow readers to underestimate the severity and imminence of the problems they face. 

That being said, you can go too far with fear and pain. 

Rather, fear and pain are great for opening copy and when you’re closing the sale (fear of missing out)…

But in the middle of the message, we’ve found it boosts response to add empowering content to the main body of the sales piece. 

One of the most effective ways to empower your reader… to make it easier for him to take the next step toward his desired outcome… is to add an educational element to your copy.

In my own split testing, I’ve seen conversions jump as much as 25–40% by providing valuable tips, actionable recommendations, etc., right in the sales message instead of just “selling.”

Other great copywriters, including the legendary Gary Bencivenga, have reported similar results. 

If the reader benefits just from reading the marketing message, you’ve made the sale before the sale.

Quality educational content…

  • Establishes you as an authority on the subject
  • Differentiates you from peddlers who only care about making the sale and
  • Begins to demonstrate to the reader that HE CAN DO THIS, that this can actually work for him.

When you’ve done it right, a sense of hope may begin to form in the reader’s mind: hope that the result he imagines can finally become reality.

In so doing you win an important victory — and the long-term benefits accrue for both you and your reader.

Lesson #3: The “Who” Matters More Than the “What”

I hope the overstatement here is obvious. 

The most important characteristic of sales copy is that the product or service being promoted is something prospects actually want to buy.

But more than most marketers and entrepreneurs realize, the person the message is coming from is often a powerful sales multiplier.

You need to be the kind of personality your readers like. Someone they want to be around and hear from.

Someone they want to buy from. 

Think about celebrities the media are obsessed with. The ones whose faces are on magazine covers everywhere you go. A big percentage of the population drops whatever they’re doing to pay attention to these personalities.

You can give your readers a chance to become THAT interested in you. 

Put your unique idiosyncrasies on display. 

Show the reader you share certain values, i.e., you’re in the “same club.” That kind of affinity is one of the best shortcuts for writing persuasive sales copy.

This is why many financial newsletters come from a conservative or libertarian perspective.

The newsletter audiences tend to be older and more conservative, so the copy speaks that language. 

As divisive as politics can be, it can bond people together like Gorilla Glue when you’re on the same side. 

That sort of affinity turbocharges copy. It’s hard to teach that in copywriting books because different audiences have different affinity hooks.

It’s your job as a copywriter and marketer to find them.

When you share values in common (or at least appear to), when you’re on the same side and when you’re promoting a product or service that’s uniquely suited to scratch the itch that’s been driving your reader crazy…

… the sales copy feels more like a conversation between friends than anything else. 

This can skyrocket sales today (front and back end) AND increase loyalty over time. Even if the reader doesn’t buy from you today, he’s much more likely to keep reading your adventures whenever you send them out. 

By earning this loyalty, you get to sell to the reader time after time. More sales conversations equal more sales. And yet it feels less like selling to the reader.

Dive in and Reap the Benefits

These concepts don’t necessarily work with fill-in-the-blank templates. They require some customer research… and some creative thinking on your part. 

But I can tell you, based on tens of millions of dollars in products sold, these lessons can make all the difference in the world.

“Infotainment” Is on Life Support

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copywriting infotainment

If you want to be an effective marketer and an influential force in the lives of your ideal customers, it will be well worth your time to understand what I’m about to tell you.

And incredibly costly if you don’t. 

Let’s start with a few facts:

1) Your readers can get information on your topic from a million sources. Maybe more. 

Chances are, they’re already overwhelmed by the amount of information they already have (and are continually bombarded with). 

Simply being “unique” isn’t enough anymore.

Neither is being “better.” (Most potential buyers can’t tell whose info is better anyway.)

2) You readers can get entertainment from a million sources.

And let’s face it. Netflix and ESPN are hard to beat. 

For these reasons, “infotainment” based marketing is on shaky footing. 

It is useful to be informative and entertaining. In fact, I believe entertainment, in one form or another, is non-negotiable for entrepreneurs and marketers today. 

But, again, it’s not enough. 

The most powerful marketing I see are the messages that connect your would-be buyers with MEANING. 

Last summer I wrote a promotion that transformed my client’s entire business. 

The heart of the promotion was a long-form video sales letter that sold a low-priced front-end product. Up until that point, the client struggled a little to get front-end buyers, and those buyers generally took a long time to convert to one of the back-end products. 

The sales video, along with the emails and ads that drove traffic to it, connected the viewer to meaning in two ways: 

  • he would stop being a victim of the big Wall Street firms (we showed him 6 barely-legal ways they were already emptying his pocket), and
  • he’d become the hero his family needs to make it successfully through difficult times.

Note the emotional impetus isn’t what he’s going to get. It’s who he’s going to become.

A victor instead of a victim. A giant-slayer.  A provider and protector his family respects and admires.

My video destroyed the previous version in terms of front-end sales. The number of buyers who took the upsell skyrocketed, too (without changing the upsell copy at all). 

Suddenly, my client could buy traffic and be profitable in days… where it used to take months to break even.  

The company’s revenue tripled in 12 months. 

You don’t have to be a professional copywriter to use this principle to become an ever-more influential figure in the lives of your audience. 

Regularly help your should-be buyers see themselves becoming the heroic version of themselves they dream of being… because they work with you. 

No matter what you sell, there are deeper meanings at the foundation. That’s where the strongest, most enduring emotions are rooted. 

Connect your customers to those deeper meanings, and even Netflix will have a hard time competing with you. 

One Little-Known Key Unlocks Your Influence

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Unlock Influence

There’s one pain point every single one of your would-be customers is painfully aware of:

The pervasive complexity of life in the 21st century.

Whether they use these words or not, every one of them craves more simplicity in some area of his or her life. (Or more likely, almost every part.)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be a simplifier in your area of awesomeness.

Do that — and communicate it well — and your power to influence will stun you.

Keep in mind, there’s an important difference between simple and easy.

For example, “97 Easy Ways to Save Money” is NOT simple.

There may be a ton of value there. Someone who has tried everything may still find a new idea worth trying among the 97.

But people don’t want 97 ways to save money, really.

They want 3 ways to save money. Or, better still, the single most effective way to save money… the one trick that will save so much money they don’t have to do anything else.

That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

With that in mind, here are 3 things you can do to increase your simplifier status:

  1) Eliminate the clutter. Your reader has an overwhelming array of options and choices to make in every segment of his. As the expert, you have the ability to tell him which options will give him the best results, and which he can flat-out ignore.

Thinking is hard work; most people avoid it at all costs. If you can earn someone’s trust, he’ll gladly allow you to do some of his thinking for him.

  2) Make fewer recommendations & communicate them with conviction. Again, don’t give people new instructions and new systems every week. 97 ways to do anything is intimidating. Spend most of your time talking about a few powerful ideas. Come back to them continually.

It’s much easier to trust someone when he seems 100% certain about what he’s recommending. So speak with conviction!

Here’s the one we really want you to grasp. This is single most important thing you can do establish yourself as a simplifier for your audience.

entrepreneurs mission copywriting

  3) Establish a core “operating system” or personal philosophy.

Your followers should quickly be able to figure out what you stand for, what you KNOW works.

That means YOU need to know what you stand for. What’s the one phrase you’d like to be known for? Decide on that, then pick a small number of big ideas to revolve around your philosophical core.

Your intense focus will make you unique. More to the point…

  • you’ll be simpler to understand
  • your recommendations will be simpler to follow
  • your “brand” will be simpler to categorize, so you’ll fit into the mind of your readers/listeners/viewers more distinctly
  • your expertise won’t be diluted. Your reader’s mind automatically divides your perceived authority by the number of things you claim to be an authority on. You’ve never heard of a neurosurgeon who’s also an expert heart surgeon.

So the message is simple:

Strive to make your would-be customer’s life simpler (not just easier).

You can do it.

Here’s a helpful analogy:

What Really Makes Your Customers Tick (Here’s a Hint)

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Robb Report’s December issue shared a study I found utterly fascinating and a little surprising.

You will find it instructive…as long as you don’t let a few caveats distract you.

Every other year, the U.S. Trust does a survey of high-net worth households to learn about their charitable giving.

In addition to how much they donate and what organizations are raking in the biggest piles of cash — which is also both surprising and instructive — the survey tried to uncover the motivations behind it all.

The results shines a unique light on what drives people to make the decisions they do.

Here’s a quick summary of key findings that give us insight we can apply to our emails and other persuasion efforts:

1) By far, the top reason cited for making donations is the alignment of the cause/organization with their personal values — more than 12 times more than a good sales pitch. **

2) In fact, a compelling pitch is the least influential cause mentioned in this survey.

3) The top 3 reasons are all about the giver, not the organization, cause or even the perception of need.

(Which is part of the reason Stanford University’s endowment receives more funds than St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by a wide margin).

Takeaway: It is extremely important for you to gain an intimate understanding of what really matters to your audience. Self-identity is the core from which decisions are made…and the lens through which we all see the world.

4) Association with another institution (affinity, endorsements, joint ventures) is an open door to influence.

5) Giving your would-be donor/buyer first-hand experience of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it is a powerful way to shift his perspective in a favorable way toward your business, organization or cause.

Caveats (for those who’d like to quibble):

a. Donations and purchases aren’t the same. And the motivations for giving huge gifts may be different than for small ones.

b. Millionaires may be different than non-millionaires in many ways. So these takeaways may not transfer directly.

c. Surveys are flawed because responses may not be entirely honest. People answer in ways that are flattering to themselves and supportive of their self-image.

d. Compelling sales pitches are definitely more persuasive than this survey indicates. Or at least they can be.

How do I know? Because a good sales pitch communicate the alignment with personal values, makes the donor aware of affiliations and paints the picture of need.

** In my experience, people often underestimate the impact of a well-structured sales pitch. When they make their emotional decision and justify it with logic, they’re often hesitant to admit they were won over by a pitch. They’d prefer to imagine they discovered something that lines up with what they were already thinking of doing (which, of course, is what a good pitch does).

— — —

TD;LR…

People make decisions based on their personal values and their self-image more than any other factor. As an entrepreneur and marketer, you must discover those values you share with ideal clients and align your offer with those values.

Or find someone who’s already actively looking for what you sell.

Kobe Bryant’s Triangle Offense of Copy

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The LA Lakers retired my pretend cousin’s jersey last night.

Actually, they retired two jerseys for the two numbers he wore while he played.

Here’s a little trivia for you.

In addition to Kobe’s legendary basketball career, did you know he’s also started and sold an advertising agency… directed many of the Nike commercials he starred in, and is now involved in all kinds of marketing activities for his own company and others?

Yep.

Kobe is likely to go down in history as a Hall of Fame athlete and ad man.

Earlier this year, he spilled the beans on his Triangle Offense of storytelling and copywriting. I’ll let him tell you in his own words:

—–
“The product and the messaging must be one and the same, right? It’s like a triangle approach I take with all storytelling…

1) What is the essence of the product? What is the product here to do? What is the messaging that we want to represent?
2) How can we best communicate that plainly and simply?
3) And thirdly, how do both of those things relate to human nature as a whole?

If those three things align, then I know we have the right messaging.”
—–

It’s hard to beat that simple formula.

Get down to the core, emotional benefits. Share those benefits with clarity as they related to human nature and psychology.

The only thing I would add here is that you can go beyond general human nature and address the specific nature, dreams and desires of your specific target audience.

Of course, Kobe knows that. He just didn’t say it in this interview.

Should You Use Shame in Your Copy?

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I rarely feel embarrassed, but this got me.

After running around town with my family the other day, I came home to find a lovely note hanging on my door…

Apparently, one of my neighbors uses TruGreen, and while Danny was making that lawn beautiful, he wanted to tell me how bad mine looks.

It stings a little.

I’m all about taking responsibility, but it’s NOT my fault the weeds are out of control.

You see, I’ve been paying a lawn maintenance company since last summer. Weed control is their job. So it’s frustrating to have another lawn care provider tell me I’m paying for a crappy job.

Will TruGreen get my business because of this door hanger? No.

But it may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, that camel being my resistance.

Here’s the lesson you can use in your sales copy:

The right message delivered at the right time is critical. But if you’re counting on a single shot to make the sale, you’ve stacked the odds against your own selling success.

TruGreen has been sending me direct mail since 2010. They’ve bragged about being keeping PGA golf courses looking pristine.

I’ve never considered hiring them because one relative’s bad experience.

But they keep showing up, looking professional… and I can’t help but wonder if that one burnt lawn was an anomaly.

Then they hit me with the “free lawn evaluation” and the door hanger diagnosing my grass’ disastrous condition.

Now I’m seriously considering making the switch.

Moral of the story: fortune is in the follow-up.

Give Your Copy the TruGreen Treatment in 6 Easy Applications

1) Sell what people already know they need or desperately want

It’s easy to push our thing onto people who think/know will benefit from it. That’s not really how selling works.

Go to an audience who wants the result you provide and half of the job of selling is already done!

2) Apply social pressure

“While in the neighborhood…” on the door hanger really means “I couldn’t help but notice that dandelions are dominating your lawn. Your neighbors probably notice, too.”

Telling your prospects that people are judging them is a low blow. But it works like crazy.

If you’re committed to helping them get the results they need, prepare to pull out all the stops.

3) Hit the pain points

If the TruGreen sign talked about making my lawn glorious, I would’ve ignored it. Pointing out the (obvious) problems grabbed my attention and forced me to consider a change.

4) Get specific

I knew my yard had more weeds than high schools have hormones. Still, the door hanger’s detailed breakdown adds credibility and helps me appreciate the severity of the situation.

5) Get personal

See Danny’s handwritten note.

6) Use “free” to get your foot in the door

That free lawn evaluation gives me an easy, low risk way to get more information. And for TruGreen to make a full-on sales pitch.

How are you offering free value to start conversations with your should-be buyers?

Being first is good. But you can still make a fortune cleaning up the mess other providers leave behind.

Work on getting your message right and keep presenting your unique brilliance to the right people. Incumbents get tossed out on their bums all the time.

Controversial Advice for the Smartest Guy in the Room

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There’s a common piece of of wisdom that says

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

It’s really BAD advice.

Firstly, it doesn’t even make sense. No matter what room you’re in, SOMEONE has to be the smartest person there. The instant that guy or gal leaves, the next smartest person takes the top spot. Which means now he’s in the wrong room, right?

Secondly, there are countless areas to be smart in. Should a nuclear physicist leave a business mastermind group filled with college dropouts?

Thirdly, the room where you’re “smarter” than everyone else is the room where you can help the most people. And get paid for it.

Plus, sometimes you just can’t help it. You’re too doggone smart. Maybe you’re at the top of the cerebral pyramid in most of the rooms you walk into.

It’s probably not a great idea to spend all your time looking for people to pour into you (which sounds selfish to me) instead of investing more time into building a solid platform on your brilliance.

Once you’ve decided to set up shop where you’re always the smartest person in the room — where you can help people live better lives (in whatever unique way you make that happen) — email is a darn good way to establish and maintain a relationship with those people… and move them to take the action required to reach their goals.

If your marketing doesn’t set you up as the smartest guy in a room other people are desperate to be in, you may want to re-think how you’re doing things.

Handle your business.

P.S. Humility really is a virtue. And it’s not polite to get “too big for your britches,” as Grandma says.

But “politeness” may be preventing you from realizing your potential.

Most people who reach high levels of success in business have sizable egos. It almost seems to be a requirement. It takes a full tank of confidence to chase after something big, something difficult…to believe YOU (of all people) could be the one to step out and make it happen.

It’s okay to be the smartest person in a room.

That said, go build your own room to make sure that’s usually the case.

The Only Place to Start Your Stories

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Stories Start Here Waldorf Astoria

Last week, I did a Facebook Live video explaining that all stories are not created equal. We talked about a story-based email sequence/landing page combo I just wrote that, in the client’s words, “murdered” the long-standing control. “Murdered” meaning “more than doubled sales.”

(If you’re not a member of the Email Copywriting Corner Facebook group, you missed it.)

Today I wanted to give you a little more insight into writing stories that sell. I’d like to illustrate with a fictional story that created a real-life story. Everything will come together at the end.

_____

Once upon a time in a land called Zamunda, a handsome prince left home to avoid marrying a woman his parents picked for him. The prince wanted to find true love for himself.

Before the king and queen “rescued” their son in the faraway city, they checked into the royal suite at the Waldorf Astoria…
_____

You may recognize this story as the plot of the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America. When she was a little girl, Coming to America was one of my wife’s favorite movies (mine, too). And even though the Waldorf played a tiny role in the film, my wife dreamed of staying in a room at the storied hotel someday.

The dream came true this past weekend, after nearly 28 years of waiting.

She woke up on the 15th floor of the Waldorf Astoria Chicago on her birthday.

Bryants at Waldorf Chicago

Where All Stories Should Begin

When you write emails with the ultimate goal of selling something (product, service or idea), it is critical that you begin with aspiration.

Getting a room at the Waldorf was one of my wife’s lifelong aspirations. The moment I learned about it, it became MY aspiration to make her dream come true.

Your reader aspires to:

  •     earn more money without abandoning his family 20 hours a day
  •     have gorgeous, healthy hair her friends secretly envy
  •     retire comfortably and ON TIME
  •     find true love without flying from Zamunda to some faraway land
  •     get rid of back pain without surgery
  •     …or whatever.

Connect – and connect quickly – with your reader by telling stories that tap into their specific aspirations. Yes, problems work too; people aspire to live without their struggles.

Your stories introduce them to a world where their aspirations can be realized…make it seem eminently possible and even easy…with the help of your product or service of course.

No hard-selling necessary.