The most important step of writing great copy comes way before the first word is written.
That step is your research. Getting clear on:
- Your prospect: how can you sell her if you don’t know who she is and how she thinks?
- Your product: how can you sell it if you don’t know how it changes her life?
- And your market: If you don’t know why your offer is unique, how will you rise above the clutter of your competition so your prospect buys from you RIGHT NOW?
For this short post, I’m going to focus on your prospect and how a simple tweak to your thought process can change your results dramatically. Then I’m going to share a personal example of how this tweak took my business to new incredible heights.
The Two Personas of Your Customer
Step 1: Is
This tweak is a two step process. First, you need to get clear on who your prospect is. This is the common strategy you read in most copywriting books (we’ll take it 1 step further). You need to know:
- The Big Three: Her top fears, biggest frustrations, and deepest desires
- Her demographics: her appearance, family life, occupation, and everything else relevant to forming a complete image of her in your mind
- Her emotional hot buttons you can ramp up her desires to achieve salvation (and buy)
- And the language and tone she uses to talk about her problem
The end goal for thinking over these points is to get explicitly clear on exactly who your prospect is… so you know exactly what to say (and how to say it) to exercise complete persuasive control over her.
Many successful business are built on this step alone. Because so many marketers skimp their research, taking this seriously will give you massive advantages over your competitors.
But don’t stop there. Not if you really want to take your sales to the next level…
Step 2: Wants to Be
Because your prospect has a second persona, one that she protects and likely only exists in her mind… and that’s who she aspires to be.
Your prospect isn’t going to buy your product to keep life as it is. No matter what you’re offering, she’s going to buy it to take her life to the next level of ease, joy, or prosperity.
Dudes buy sports cars to become James Bond. Moms buy cook books to become Martha Stewart or dinner party aficionados. You buy marketing products to become the Top Gun in your niche. I bought spinning class membership to become Lance Armstrong.
This aspirational persona is where you can exercise terrifying amounts of persuasion, because it shows you her end goal. It’s much, much deeper than this outer level of who she is.
For example, ask your friends about their life’s current state. A lot of times, their eyes glaze over as they recount what’s happening. But, talk to them about what they WANT to do, and notice the change. There’s much more buzz, hope, and energy. This is the emotional level you will tap by communicating to your prospect on her aspirational level.
Once you know where she wants to go, you know where you need to take her. All you must do then is show how your product takes her there.
So once you’ve completed Step 1 and know who your product is, you can move to step 2 to learn who she wants to be. Here’s how:
First, pull out your prospect research notes and read them slowly. Allow this persona to overtake and envelope your mind. Completely assume her identity, so you feel the same hopes, dreams, and fears as she does.
Now, in the mindset of your prospect, imagine where she wants to go. How does she want to feel? Focus your thinking on the kinds of values and experiences she desires. What does she dream her life looking like?
With this understanding, you can now reflect these desires back at her. Show her how you are already living the life of her dreams.
What type of environment does she want to exist in? Does she imagine life on the beach? In an immaculate house? Out at the bar surrounded by attractive friends? Film your videos in that environment.
- How does she want to be spoken to? Direct and aggressive? Calm and collected? Use that language and tone.
- What kind of experiences does she wish she was having? Show her you’re already having them.
- What lifestyle does she imagine? Show her how you’re living it.
- And show her how your product helped you get there… and can help her get there, too.
By speaking to and reflecting these desired feelings, values, and experiences back at her, you’re validating them. You’ll connect with her on a far deeper, emotional, and identity level than any of your competitors…
- You’re more likeable and more interesting to follow… so you keep her attention easier. She’ll read not only more of your messages, but larger portions of each message, too.
- You’re easier to trust because she sees her own identity reflected in you… so you face far less skepticism in anything you say.
- And you’re much easier to buy from because you represent the exact person she wants to become… so you experience far more (and far easier) sales growth.
The results come almost like magic, but it’s not magical at all. It’s a simple process of learning your prospect’s desired emotional destination, and showing how you can get her there.
An Illustrative (and Real) Story to Finish up
In August 2007 I launched my first product, a niche hookah pipe designed for the travel and party lifestyle.
We knew we had a great product (based on real feedback)… we knew exactly who would benefit from it… and we even bucked industry trend by adding a guarantee to make our offer unique.
I approached the release with high hopes.
And they were all dashed. Every single hope, crushed. Nary a sale came in that day.
Fast forward to our 2nd hookah model release in December 2009.
By this time, we know much more about WHY our customers were buying and the hopes this product embodied for them. We knew the experiences and lifestyle our prospect wished to achieve.
So in that sales letter, I reflected all these dreams back at my prospect. I showed her how this simple device made me the center of countless parties and social events, and how owning it brought me countless crazy travel adventures… the exact experiences she wanted for herself.
In essence, I showed her how owning this product let me live the life she dreamed about.
And that launch sold out in less than 14 hours, converting a massive 18% of our entire email list… and the product continues to bring reliable, steady sales to this day.
The copy isn’t extraordinary. No elaborate launch sequence. No affiliates, crazy pop ups, or up/down/cross sells.
Just a simple offer that showed why this new hookah was key to getting her where she wanted to go. I took the time to get clear on my prospect’s aspirations, and then validated and spoke to her on that level.
If you follow this simple 2-step process, chances are the same extraordinary results will happen to you, too.
Mike Williams is an entrepreneur and former freelance copywriter in Jersey City, New Jersey who runs an online hookah store and teaches an online copywriting course.
You really can double or triple your profits with the same amount of prospects and customers you already have.
And in a moment I’ll give you a real world example of how a business is about to be transformed by implementing this tactic.
You see, online, everybody focuses on getting more visitors to their site.
Traffic = money, right?
Not necessarily. You can easily increase your profits with a little shake-up of your current sales process.
This is something that seems to be a major oversight by a lot of my clients and partners.
Truth is — ignoring your business’s “back-end” is like throwing money away.
Think about it. You’ve already got your sales letter up and selling. A steady stream of traffic hits the site each day and you make sales and profit.
But you want more. So you go chasing after more traffic, more joint ventures and funnel more money into PPC campaigns.
But you don’t have to worry about any of that.
You can make more money right now simply by building a back-end to your product.
The hardest part of any business is getting new customers. So why not treat the ones you already have like royalty and… offer them more products.
The folks who have already bought from you are the easiest ones to see to (assuming your product met their needs) so why not upgrade them, offer them add-ons or follow-ups to their first purchase. Send special offers their way, exclusive to previous customers. There are tons of ways to do this.
You’ve probably come across One Time Offers. Those pesky little sales pages that pop-up after you’ve made a purchase.
Those things are maddeningly effective.
Your buyer is already in the buying mood, so they often can’t resist a juicy little extra.
No.1 On Clickbank But Still Leaving Money On The Table
My current client recently had the number 1 selling product on Clickbank (I don’t mean in its category, I mean across the whole of Clickbank.)
He’s making thousands of dollars per day on a $27 eBook.
But he’s leaving thousands more and — until I wafted the smelling salts under his nose — didn’t even realize it.
We’re putting together a one time offer of advanced videos for his product. In the next few weeks I fully expect him to start bathing in Clickbank checks.
And that’s from one carefully positioned One Time Offer. The amount of products he can pitch to his eye-wateringly huge list of buyers is frightening. But all he was concentrating on was getting new prospects to his front-end product.
Don’t make the same mistake.
Consider your entire sales machine. The money is there for the taking.
Video killed the copywriting star?
Not quite.
A few of my copywriting compadres are quaking in their boots. The reason?
Video is all the rage right now.
Sales letters with nothing but a few powerpoint slides and a voiceover are (in some cases) out-pulling traditional sales letters.
So does this mean the end of the “regular” sales letter?
Not likely. But I do think we’re seeing the evolution of selling online.
Sure, plain text sales letters which run on for 60+ pages can seem a little tiresome nowadays. But only if the copy is weak.
So why are some videos… with pretty flimsy copy… managing to out-perform the tried and trusted sales letter?
Novelty for one thing.
But it won’t be long before the market (especially in the internet marketing niche) become immune to the fresh, new appearance of video sales letters… just as it did with long-form sales letters.
And when that happens there’s only one thing that will save your sales.
Great copy.
It’s always been this way. Whether you’re communicating with a letter, an email, an Adwords ad, audio or video. It’s all copy.
So fear not my copywriting brothers… the skill to sell in print (or webpage, video or audio) will always be needed.
But here are two reasons why I think video sales letters are here to stay, even after the inital novelty has died down.
1) The Text/Audio Killer Combo
Back when I worked in shopping TV, the time the phones would ring the most were when we put up a “full screen graphic.
Namely, a slide detailing the features of the product.
There’s something about the text/audio combination that is utterly compelling. I guess it’s how we’re taught at school.
Now just imagine if those shopping channels knew how to write great bullets.
Then they’d be really cooking…
2) You Control The Sale
You and I both know… when a prospect hits a long-form sales letter, before long they’re scrolling down to the price.
With a video sales letter you can’t do that.
You can delay your prospect viewing the price until they’re fully jazzed and ready to buy.
It means your sales message has time to build and work the way you want it to.
For a copywriter this is heaven. For a product owner it means more conversions.
Let’s face it…
The sales letter video style is here to stay. It’s going to be fun watching things evolve further…
Sometimes inspiration just falls into my lap.
There I was, banging my head against the keyboard in frustration when an inspirational pdf appeared out of the blue.
My latest project was to write the copy for some pop-up software. Yeah you know, the same stuff that annoyed the heck out of you when you arrived on this blog.
Now using it is one thing, selling it… quite another.
How in the heck do you make pop-up software sound exciting, thrilling even?
Well at first I figured you can’t… it’s all about the testimonials, features and benefits. But there’s no way you can make pop-up software sound compelling, right?
Turns out I was wrong.
My inspiration for turning a simple pop-up ad into a no-holds-barred, rip-roaring rampage of sales copy came in the form of a Skype message.
A certain “underground” copy living legend (who worked alongside Jay Abraham don’t you know) sent me an ad for sh*ts and giggles.
As I read it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. I got that feeling of nervous excitement in my chest whenever I’m transported by a piece of writing (or is that just me?)
The ad painted gorgeous images in my mind, whipped up woozy feelings of elation in my body.
The subject of this masterly piece of prose? A cordless phone.
The ad was by Drew Kaplan, a true artist in the field. And since I don’t have the rights I daren’t reprint the ad here so you’ll just have to imagine how incredible the writing is.
Suffice to say when I saw what was possible with a cordless phone ad… writing about pop-up software became a walk in the park.
Thanks Drew, you just got me an awesome testimonial.
UPDATE: Just found the ad here —> Message Missile Unleashed
Most of my sales letters have been in the Internet Marketing/Biz Opp field.
It’s probably… along with, say, weight loss and dating… the most profitable niche in the world.
At least, there’s a ton of money floating around and folks happily snap up new releases even if they already have a bulging hard drive or overflowing bookshelves of unread courses.
(We’ll get into the “how” and “why” of that in another post. I’m not in the mood for grim insights into human nature today…)
But because I work in this field and because it’s so damn competitive…
Every single sales letter has to be polished to perfection, tweaked to within an inch of its cash-pulling life and… crucially… stand out from all the rest.
So I work extra hard to make sure my work feels fresh and new while still contained within proven, time-tested copywriting techniques.
But you know, sometimes you just have to come out with a “Who Else…” style headline or an “If… then” lead-in. (Trust me these are copy cliches of the highest order).
Because, although I believe writing copy is a mixture of art and science, sometimes you have to dispense with the fancy-pants artistic self-indulgence and stick with what’s proven.
Gary Halbert said it best…
I think it was his last ever seminar where he’s creating a letter live in front of the audience.
His pre-head is something like “Who else wants to slash strokes from their golf game in 24 hours flat…?”
So he asks the audience (and I’m paraphrasing here)… “anyone know why I used ‘who else’ in my pre-head?”
A few shout out… “because it gives the impression others have tried it…”
And… “it makes it more inclusive” there’s a lot of discussion and all the comments are correct.
But Gary replies…
“I used it because it’s been proven to work in 40 years of copywriting.”
He goes on to point out if those two words are proven and time-tested why come up with something new and risky?
Like the man says…
“Business is tricky enough as it is…”
On the phone with a couple of well-respected marketers last night and we were talking… squeeze pages.
I always get hopeful clients pointing me towards the latest Clickbank No.1 and pleading…
“Can you write me a sales letter just like that one?”
Of course, I know what they really mean…
“Can you write me a sales page that makes me as much money as that one?”
I mean… sure I can give you a sales page that LOOKS like the latest Clickbank No.1. Though I would never steal or copy another sales page as one unethical “marketer” recently asked me to do.
I can even give you a sales page that becomes a Clickbank No.1 and brings you a boatload of moolah but… you need certain other elements in place for that to happen.
Point is… “great copy alone does not a Clickbank No.1 make”
(Didn’t you know that’s an ancient proverb?)
Being a copywriter, I’ll be the first to tell you how vitally important great copy is.
In fact — it’s crucial to a successful launch.
But it’s still just a single cog in your all-conquering sales machine.
Show me a Clickbank No.1 product and I’ll show you a web page that is pummeled with hordes of traffic day and night.
Because to get the BIG money, you need copy that converts but you also need a lot of traffic. A truckload of eyeballs have to see the webpage before you can make a gazillion sales.
Obvious really.
And of course there are other factors too.
It helps (really helps) if you have a great offer. I mean… if you’re selling dross, it makes my job a lot harder and, frankly, you’re heading for refund city.
A great concept can help, the right price, a message to market match… the list goes on.
Copy is vitally important but it’s not a magic bullet.
If you want to sell anything successfully… you need to know who you’re selling to.
Of course, with an online sales letter or a direct mail piece, there’s no way to know exactly who’ll be reading your sales pitch. So…
It’s vital you conjure an image in your mind of the specific person who would most benefit from your product.
And I don’t mean some vague picture of ‘a guy in his 30’s who hates his job’. More the kind of guy who…
“Slumps into his office chair and stares at the same pile of paperwork he dreads each day.”
Get a vivid image of who you’re writing to and have a conversation with him… the sales copy will take care of itself.
…and other clichés. 
Hey, Matt here and welcome to my little ol’ blog.
Over the next few weeks, months and maybe even years, I’ll be sharing some blockbuster insights into the life of a copywriter, how to make a ton of money on the Internets and case studies on some of my most successful projects.
Glad to have you onboard.
Matt
