I’ll bet this headline got your attention. It’s a prime example of how punctuation can change everything about your copy…so you should take special care to do it right.
Take another look at the headline:
Woman without her man is nothing
How would you punctuate this? Can you figure out how a simple change in punctuation would dramatically change its meaning? You’ll find the solution by following this rule…
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Let’s look at a common copy blunder: You'll got a fantastic product or service. You sit down to write your sales copy and extol the virtues of this great product or service. You read through it and something seems wrong. It seems a little forced; maybe a little harsh. What’s not working? You could be bragging. Bragging is when you stop writing direct response copy and simply repeat how wonderful your product is in a myriad of ways. Bragging about your product or service is not only bad salesmanship, it’s counterproductive. Bragging creates red flags in the eyes of your prospect. Believability is hindered and it’s a big turnoff to readership and to response. So how do you tout the great benefits of your product or service without bragging? Here are some ways to make your case:
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Any product or service has weaknesses that prospects are concerned about. A major online and offline direct marketing copy technique is addressing these negatives...but not by glossing over them. Instead, much can be gained by confronting them and turning them into benefits. If you're selling, for example, a health supplement that hasn't been FDA approved, don't just sweep that fact under the carpet with an asterisk.* Instead, you could bill it as a benefit. “A product so revolutionary, the FDA hasn't even approved it yet!”
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Always remember compelling, powerful, motivational copy will anticipate the questions of a prospect and answer the question before the prospect even has time to worry about it. Before you write a word of online or offline copy, start by tapping into your prospects' concerns: What do they need? What is keeping them up at night? How can your product or service make their life easier? And most importantly...why should they choose your product or service over your competition? If you can't answer all these questions, your campaign is bound to suffer. In direct marketing, you must anticipate your prospects' apprehensions and answer their questions. Once you have the answers, you're armed to craft great copy. Here are 3 examples of sentences in which the prospects' questions are being answered:
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One of the major direct response copy blunders is writing from a corporate or company point of view. This is true for direct mail, website, email and any marketing communications. It breaks not only one, but two golden rules of direct response copywriting: Write from one person to one person...and the importance of “you”-driven copy. Chances are, if you’re writing from a company perspective, it’s “we” directed. The fact is, writing from a company point of view is colder, more distant and ensures depressed response. To generate outstanding response, write copy from one voice, such as a spokesperson or company president. It humanizes your copy and presents an authority to your prospect. It also injects personality into your campaign.
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When you sit down to write your direct response copy, it's poison to think of writing to just any group of people. You shouldn't write to a group or a company, you should only write to an "individual." How do you write to the individual? In the business-to-business world, consider what is their position in the company? What is their income? What about their family life, their work life? Their hobbies? What are the pressures and stresses they feel at work? Are they male or female? How old are they? How long have they been on the job? You need to speak directly to them.
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In any direct marketing piece, your challenge is to gain the prospect’s trust in a matter of minutes. Once you get the prospect to open the envelope, read the email or visit your website—your copy needs to do its job of building the trust between you and your prospect. This is why it is critical to offer specifics to support your product or service. The fact is—generalities kill response, but specifics increase response. Giving detailed information makes you more credible and trustworthy. It gives your prospects the assurance they need to believe in your product or service. Here are three examples of sentences without specifics and with:
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When you write your direct mail letter, magalog, website or email copy, you need to follow an important direct response copy rule. This rule is to use an “active voice.” Here are 3 examples of active voice versus nonactive voice:
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Always approach copywriting from a position of authority. The feel of the copy, the tone, the energy—must come across as authoritative. Authoritative copy is copy that uses specific information, details, figures and facts that will resonate. Your prospects must feel that the voice behind the copy knows the subject matter and speaks with authority. Your readers must feel confident that the copy is speaking to them with conviction. Your copy has to relate to their challenges and solve their concerns.
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One way to supercharge your response is to take a newsworthy topic that relates to your product or service and integrate it into your sales copy. What is going on in your prospect’s mind? Think about a hot business, political or current issue that is being talked about on the news, in magazines or in the papers—an issue that your prospect will recognize, be curious about and be interested in.
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In the past couple of issues, I’ve discussed how critical it is to choose your words carefully when writing copy for your direct marketing campaign—both online and offline. In case you missed last week’s issue, visit www.cdmginc.com/dmuarchives. This week, I'm going to tell you about words you shouldn’t use—“words of doubt.”
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In last week’s issue, I discussed how to use “hot words” when creating copy for your direct response campaign. These are words that I suggested using to get your product noticed—words that make it virtually impossible for your prospects to ignore your product or service. In case you missed last week’s issue, visit www.cdmginc.com/dmuarchives. Check out my list of hot words located in the Direct Response Copy Tip of the Week. So now let's talk about “power words.” This is one of my favorite elements of direct marketing copywriting because these are the encouraging words that make your prospects take action.
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When writing copy for your direct marketing campaign, you only have a few minutes or even a few seconds to grab the attention of your prospects. That’s why you must choose your words carefully. As they read, the copy must continue to arouse their interest. Avoid anemic copy and generalities. For example do not say or indicate that:
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Often, it is the simplest of rules that can have the most dramatic effect on your direct marketing campaign. Indenting is a small but powerful rule to follow when constructing both online and offline copy. A direct marketing rule-of-thumb calls for indenting paragraphs 3 to 5 characters. (Microsoft Word's default of 0.5 inches looks amateurish and puts too much white space between words on the first line.) Research has proven that your reader’s eye is able to focus better when you indent every paragraph.
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In the last couple of issues, I talked to you about the danger of complicated words and complicated sentences in both online and hard copy campaigns. But believe it or not, there is something worse: complicated paragraphs. You never want your consumer or prospect to have to reread one of your paragraphs or, even worse, not attempt to read it at all. Keep it simpleYou need to remember, regardless of who your audience is or how well-educated you think they are, your paragraphs should be at a ninth-grade reading level.
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Most of your prospects won’t take the time to read a sentence more than once. So make sure every sentence in your direct marketing campaign hits home the first time around. Last week, I gave you some insight about using complicated words and the damage they can cause to your copy. Well, the same rings true of complicated sentences. In writing offline and online direct marketing copy, keeping your sentences simple is an important rule to remember.
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In writing marketing copy, I’ve written to PhDs and I've written to plumbers. I have written to those who are highly educated and I have written to people who haven’t graduated from high school. Creating powerful copy without confusionWhat I’ve learned is that to have the most powerful copy and the highest readership, your copy should be aimed at the ninth-grade reading level. Never use complicated words or words that may not be commonly known.
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It’s a known fact that superlatives are counterproductive to your direct marketing campaign. It’s a known fact that superlatives are counterproductive to your direct marketing campaign. Clear, concise and compelling words, sentences and paragraphs are the basic building blocks behind effective direct marketing. Choose your words based on facts, not hypeFor example, when creating copy for the outside of an envelope, don’t say, “Our product is the best in the industry.” Instead say, “Studies have shown our product outperformed our nearest competitor by 25%.” Raving about your product is a must. But hyping it up without the facts will damage your response, and more important, you will lose the trust of your prospect.
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Whether you are writing online or offline copy, one key to success is observing, quantifying and understanding human psychology. Over time, it's been proven that people have reacted positively or negatively depending on how they feel emotionally to different tactics and strategies. Knowing how to speak directly to your prospects' needs Regardless of who you are marketing to, it is crucial that you apply human psychology in your copy. Whether you are communicating via a mailing piece, website, TV or radio, your copy it needs to speak to the emotions of your prospect.
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When reviewing copy, remember that one of the things that distinguishes a winner from a loser, or a campaign that is mediocre from one that is great, is the amount of specifics and details that are put into the direct marketing package, email or website. Get to the point with specificsGeneralities result in anemic copy. And the bottom line is, specifics sell, generalities do not. Never say, “Our research and development costs are approximately a million dollars.” Instead say, “Our research and development costs were $992,422,00.” You should use specifics in percentages. Don’t say, “80% of the users increased their productivity.” Instead say, “83% of the users increased their productivity.”
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