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…