Copywriting

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).

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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.

Do Your Readers Have Goldfish Attention Spans?

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People’s attention spans are shorter than ever… or are they?

So-called “experts” report that human attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish. So how do they explain that millions of people regularly spend 90 minutes watching a movie… and even longer reading Harry Potter books (which could be measured in inches instead of number of pages).

What’s really going on here?

I recently shot a video to explain why attention spans APPEAR to be shrinking and, more importantly, I several suggestions for overcoming this obstacle, including:

  • what your readers absolutely will not stand for when reading your emails… which is one of the reasons people ignore 90% of the messages that land in their inboxes
  • 4 strategies that keep an audience hanging on every word you share — 3 of which almost no one is telling you about
  • what you have to stop BEING in order to move up the ladder into “Approachable Expert” status and keep readers from tuning you out.

This was a livestreamed video; that will become obvious when you watch. I think it’s pretty good, though. And you can put these ideas to work right away and start increasing the length and quality of attention you get from your list.

By the way, a recent analysis of billions emails by Litmus Email Analytics shows that email attention spans actually INCREASED by 7% between 2011 and 2016. Kinda goes against the prevailing theory, doesn’t it?

Just in case you’re not big on watching videos, let me break down the 4 strategies I talked about.

1) You have to spend more time talking about IMPORTANT and INTERESTING things. Not important to you, necessarily, but important to your reader.

We all love talking about ourselves, but readers need to see how what you write benefits them.

2) Commit to telling more stories. People love hearing stories. As long as they’re not drawn-out and boring, people are more than happy to sit and listen. Much longer than they’re likely to read raw information.

Naturally, you still have to tie your stories back to what’s important/interesting for the reader.

More details are better. More emotions are better. More sensory information is usually better.

Help the reader feel like he was really there.

3) Become a personality. Show off your unique characteristics. Be likeable. Be despicable. Just don’t be boring.

We all form bonds with people we spend time with — even if we never meet them in person. Psychologists have a term for that: parasocial relationships. Think about it. You probably feel a little bit like you’re friends with your favorite TV characters. You almost believe that you know them. You definitely empathize with them.

You can achieve the same kind of connections with your audience. But you have to put your personality on display.

4) Demonstrate the points you make. Offer proof (or at least evidence) that what you’re saying is true. That you’re the real deal.

Now, go forth — win and defend the attention of your email list.

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.

Science of Copywriting: Blab with Lamar Tyler

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Copywriting Blab with Lamar Tyler

For me, Lamar Tyler is one of my top answers to the question “If you could spend an hour with one person/celebrity, who would it be?” I have a TON of respect and admiration for Lamar’s business acumen, leadership and brilliance. Plus, he’s one of the coolest guys you’d ever want to meet.

Last weekend, I got my hour with The Man.

Lamar hosted the inaugural Traffic, Sales and Profit Lunch and Learn series on Blab, and I had the honor of being his guest. We discussed a lot of topics close to my heart, like:

  • What is a unique selling proposition (USP)?
  • How do I make people want what I sell?
  • The differences in writing emails, landing pages, general web copy, etc.
  • The most painful mistakes people make when writing copy
  • When it’s time to hire a professional copywriter
  • “Why can’t I find a good copywriter?”
  • and plenty more.

I also revealed the most powerful characteristics of email copywriting — and why some people should NOT hire a copywriter to write their emails for them. (I’ve told potential clients on multiple occasions I couldn’t do better than what they’re doing.)

Check it out: The Science of Copy Lunch & Learn

An Important Point I Didn’t Get to Make in the Interview

I realized after the Blab that I forgot an significant point when we talked about why it’s sometimes difficult to find a good copywriter. If you’re expecting a stranger to instantly create a miraculous transformation of your business, you might be expecting too much.

Your copywriter isn’t (necessarily) weak just because he can’t make your boring offer exciting…or make a dead mailing list suddenly spring to life.

I’ve often quipped that I do work miracles, just not on demand. (Yes, I’ve said it to potential clients.) Even copy that seems brilliant doesn’t work 100% of the time. Believe me, I know from embarrassing experience. All of the pros have. For optimal results, you have to make the right offer to the right audience at the right time.

On the other hand, a great offer or a hot list can make even a pedestrian copywriter look like a superstar…

Resources mentioned during the conversation:

Lamar’s Traffic, Sales and Profits private Facebook Group

Bencivenga Bullets

The Gary Halbert Letter

Sprint Stole Verizon’s Spokesperson. So What?

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Sprint Marketing

You almost have to give someone at Sprint a standing ovation for their recent advertising campaign featuring your Verizon’s “Can you hear me now” guy, Paul Marcarelli.

It’s the advertising equivalent of a judo hip toss.

Verizon is the big bully with more than 2X Sprint’s subscriber base. A lot of money was spent to make Marcarelli the face of the company (as well as the butt of their jokes). Now underdog Sprint is using Verizon’s own “brand equity” against itself.

One of the cleverest advertising coups in recent memory.

I’m convinced these campaigns won’t save Sprint’s sinking ship. I’m also convinced YOU can profit by studying what’s happening here.

Here’s What Sprint Did Right

The commercials are attention-grabbing. The first time you see THE Verizon guy playing for the other team, it’s nearly impossible to ignore.

  • Your brain has to try make sense of it
  • There’s controversy: what made Marcarelli go Benedict Arnold and switch to Sprint? (Turns out, it’s not call quality)
  • It’s funny in an “Oh no he didn’t” kind of way

It’s critical to hold your audience’s attention long enough to tell them what they need to know. That’s what gives you the opportunity to generate interest and desire.

There’s no rational reason for it, but “celebrities” almost always bring a level of trust to the products/services/brands they’re attached to. Over time, spokespeople can become (niche) celebrities and garner familiarity, likeability and trust.

At Halloween, Flo from Progressive is more popular than Dracula.

The ads are also focused on a value proposition: 50% cost savings. That seems to be the only thing Sprint has to offer…

Why It Won’t Make a Difference

— Sprint provides inferior service.  They’re even admitting that fact in these commercials.

Even if this advertising campaign effort brings in a lot of new subscribers (Q4 projections indicate otherwise), the business loses big time when people cancel their service due to poor quality service. This is a long-time problem Sprint hasn’t fixed.

— No one wants the 50% Off plan. Sprint’s CEO has stated the company will probably stop promoting this low-priced plan in the near future. Potential subscribers are looking for features they can’t get at that price.

The profit margins on this plan are so thin that they virtually guarantee a continuation of low-quality service in the future.

Quick Takeaways That Will Make a Difference for YOU

1) Provide great service. Or team up with/outsource to someone who can deliver great service where you’re weak.

2) Find out what your target market wants and offer it to them — in a way that highlights the benefits valuable to THEM.

3) Set your prices at a level that empowers you to a) offer great service and b) invest back into your business. You can discount yourself right out of business!

You don’t have to have a million dollar marketing budget to put those ideas into practice!

Field Notes from My $6 Million Year

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Email Marketing Field Notes

Over the past 12 months, I’ve written copy that’s generated over $6 million in sales (that I know of) for my clients. The weapon of choice has been email marketing.

That number is not meant to impress you, but to reassure you that what I’m about to share with you has been proven to work in the real world

I’m not sharing what I’ve heard about, but what I’ve experienced firsthand.

This could probably be a book, but I’ll keep it brief for now and we can dive into some details in the Email Copywriting Corner Facebook group if you’re interested. (You’ll have to request access if you’re not already a member.)

Here are a few of the most important lessons I learned, relearned or doubled down on this year:

1) Don’t assume you know your audience

Ask questions, do surveys, but most importantly, pay attention to the actions they take when interacting with your content.

  • What kind of subject lines do they open?
  • Where do they click?
  • What length seems to work best?
  • What kind of offers do they respond to?
  • What totally bombs?

2) Test a lot of (wildly different) things

This ties to the previous idea. You can’t measure the relative effectiveness of one proposition against another unless they’re different enough to be unmistakable from each other. That’s especially true when you don’t have tens of thousands of people seeing and reacting to the message.

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. You can still test a red button vs. a blue one, but that’s not where breakthroughs are going to happen.

One example from early this year was a ~300 word email pointing to a long sales page vs. a 1500 word email going to an order form. In this particular instance, the long email outperformed the short one by 5X. This one baffled the heck out of me!

On the other hand, some of the highest converting landing pages I’ve seen only have one sentence on them. Different ideas work on different offerings, even with the same audience. That’s why you have to keep testing!

Customers vote with their money - Richard Armstrong
Customers tell you the truth by what they BUY. I stole this slide from Richard Armstrong’s AWAI keynote

3) Quality is better than quantity

Not every company agrees. Even some of the clients I’ve worked with don’t agree. You can treat list building as a pure “numbers game” and bring in the maximum number of people with vague or misleading squeeze pages and hope some of them will eventually become good customers or clients. I believe and have generally found that being “for” a specific audience, with specific promises and a distinct voice will bring in far smaller numbers of far superior readers/prospects.

4) The most important thing is the offer, or more specifically, your Audience-Offer Alignment

Strong copy can only do so much for you. Selling something people want is much more important — and easier than convince them to buy something that doesn’t obviously fit into their plans/priorities.

5) Your reader responds how you train him to respond — starting with how you acquired him

If you bring in subscribers with a fear-based offer or lead magnet, that sets the stage for what they’ll expect in the future. It may be difficult to pivot later. If you offer discounts at the end of every month, they won’t respond to offers early in the month. If you always extend your deadline, they won’t take them (or you) seriously.

Brian Kurtz wrote a great article exploring this point, with a Gary Bencivenga/Boardroom case study.

Clarity and consistency are necessary for building trust and setting appropriate expectations. Variety is critical for maintaining interest and curiosity.

6) People are getting smarter, so response is harder than ever to get

Many marketers are resorting to gimmicks to overcome our instant delete reflexes: bait and switch subject lines and body copy. Using “re:” and one-word subject lines to catch you off guard and get the click.

Those tactics do work — but they’re getting less effective every day because you can only fool someone so many times. Use such techniques sparingly. Rather, strive to be truly valuable, interesting and trustworthy to your readers.

In other words, don’t try to be slick. It’s a bad long-term plan — and it’s not great in the near-term, either.

 7) Stories sell

You’ve heard it a thousand times, and it’s no less true now than it was the first time. Personal stories, historical anecdotes, even fun little facts get people reading, keep them interested and neutralize their resistance, at least temporarily.

I’ve seen the addition of a narrative element double clickthrough rates and triple conversion rates vs. straight product description or marketing talk.

8) Sequences, not single shots

Give yourself more shots by communicating in sequences rather than single blasts. And if you connect one email to the next, you can increase readership and compound the persuasive power of the campaign as a whole.

Just remember to test this. One of the most recent tests I did pitted a single email vs. two email, one-day offer — and the single email outpeformed by about 20%.

9) Urgency works like nothing else

Most people procrastinate as if their sanity depends on it. Deadlines move people to action. Open invitations are often ignored.

10) Customer Lifetime Value is the ultimate metric — not open rates or CTR

As Clayton Makepeace told me, if you’re making money on the front end, you’re doing it wrong!

David Deutsch Parris Lampropoulos Clayton Makepeace copywriting
Sitting on stage with direct response titans Clayton Makepeace, David Deutsch and Parris Lampropoulos at an AWAI event

This isn’t necessarily a set-in-cement rule. The point is to abstain from worrying so much about what it costs to acquire customers. Focus on getting as many of the right people on your files as possible. With the right back end, the cost per acquisition is a relatively small matter.

Many entrepreneurs and marketers are too focused on the front end costs. Clayton’s advice is an attempt to rearrange that thinking.

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As I mentioned near the beginning, there’s a conversation about these ideas in the Email Copywriting Corner group. If you’re interested in digging in a little more or sharing your experiences, you can do that in the Facebook group.

Maybe Hope Really Is a Strategy (Copywriting Tip #10)

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Quick Copywriting Tip #10: Make your copy empowering, not condemning or depressing.

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


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

In campaigns I’ve worked over the past few months, I’ve boosted orders as much as 25 to 40% by providing valuable tips, actionable recommendations, etc. right in the sales message instead of just “selling.”.

Quality educational content proves that

  1. you actually know what you’re talking about — you’re not just a product-pusher and
  2. begins to demonstrate to the reader that HE CAN DO THIS, that this can actually work for him.

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

When you instill real hope, you win an important victory — and the long-term benefits accrue for both you and your reader.

I got an email a couple weeks ago gets it terribly wrong, I think:

good luck copywriting tip

The “expert” shared some valuable tips, then implied I’d struggle to implement them successfully without his on-going help.

Seriously?

I have no problem with sales pressure and urgency, but if this is a big turn-off. At least for me.

So be careful how you approach this. In the long-run, it pays off to be genuinely helpful.

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Read all 13 Quick Copywriting Tips here.

The Donnie Bryant Method for Research

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daily profit podcast on copywriting research

I recently had the good fortune to appear on Jason Wellington Strachan’s new show, the Daily Profit Podcast.

Jason, also known as the Copywriting Prince, reached out to me to talk about “the Donnie Bryant Method” for creating/discovering big ideas for your copy projects. According to me (and pretty much any other big name copywriter you can think of), the Big Idea is the most important part of any marketing message.

For example, here’s what David Ogilvy has to say on the subject:

“You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas. It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”

More than “power words,” magic persuasive templates or fancy graphics, your marketing needs to be built on the foundation of a compelling big idea.

I hate to spoil the interview — which you can listen to on the below — but there’s no real “method” to big idea hunt.

What I do is…

  • read a lot, every day
  • research like I’m working on a Ph.D. dissertation
  • and try to form unique connections that will hit home for a particular audience.

By my most recent calculations, I spend about 6 hours a day reading. (Most days, I spend about 2-3 hours writing.)

Books, competitive intelligence, product knowledge stuff, news, copywriting and marketing stuff, etc.

Why? Because I very rarely come up with good ideas – I find them.

That’s true of every great copywriter, by the way. 

Reading and researching is how I make sure my brain has the raw material to make those big idea connections. To quote Ogilvy again:

“Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science, and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process.”

Even though I’ve let the cat out of the proverbial bag regarding the podcast, there’s still some valuable content in there. Give it a listen today. 

I also have recorded a quick overview of my research method as part of an expert roundup on effective copywriting. Check it out below.

Miracles, by Definition (Copywriting Tip #9)

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Quick Copywriting Tip #9: Better Products Make for Better Copy.

These days, when people ask for advice about how to “fix” their sales copy, the first question I usually ask is…

Does anyone actually want to buy this?

Sounds like a jerk question. Some people are offended when I ask it. I’m not trying to be a jerk. But this is THE question.

If people don’t already want the product or the result it produces, there isn’t much point in talking about the copy. There has to be at least a modicum of desire.

Example from my city (Bourbonnais, IL): How does a funeral home sell complimentary bus trips? What copy changes could make this appealing?

copywriting tip offers

Last year, there was a client I really wanted to work with. At some point during our conversation, I told the president of the company “I can’t work miracles on demand. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve got the wrong guy.”

Miracles, by definition, cannot be produced on demand. There are a few copywriters who come close.

Good products — products targeted at specific needs — need fewer miracles. They make copy better almost by default.

If your product doesn’t meet the market where it’s at...if no one signs up for the complimentary funeral parlor bus trip… don’t automatically blame the copy.

Find out what people want and make that. Give your copywriter something to work with.

According to Gary Bencivenga, this is the 9-word secret so powerful that it has built more fortunes than any other principle in marketing: “A gifted product is mightier than a gifted pen.“

Have a productive day!

P.S. Any creative ideas about how to sell those bus trips??? 🙂
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Check out all 13 Quick Copywriting Tips.