Friday 30 November 2007

Lessons from History

What a Seventeenth Century Frenchman Can Teach Us About Business

Hello again

Isn't it odd how one thing leads to another? Or, how something totally unrelated can give you insight into a problem that was already on your mind - producing a solution from a direction you never expected?

While it's great to find a solution in an unlikely place, it's also good to have something confirmed by an unlikely source. Even from seventeenth century France.

One of the best ways to quickly build a business is through arranging joint ventures with people who have the ingredient you currently lack. That might be a product that you can sell to your list or to a market you have access to, or it can be the market for a product you already have.

But why should anyone help you?

Well, by and large, successful people are incredibly generous if you ask for help. But there is a limit, not least to their time, so they can't possibly help everyone who asks. And they are in business, and the first thing a business person asks, when they have their business hat on, is 'What's in it for me?' In fact, that's the first thing your customers ask, as well, so selling a joint venture proposition to a potential partner is very similar to selling a product to a customer.

That Frenchman, Jean de La Bruyere (1645-1696) had this to say:

'The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours.'

Promoting their interests, in our case, means helping to build their business and their fortune. (For the general public, their interests may be something other than business or finance, like relieving their pain, for example.) But now your 'market' is much smaller, so you need your success rate to be much higher. Which means you have to be very clear exactly what's in it for them and make sure it's something very good!

For most new businesses, finding customers is the major issue. For an online marketer, those customers are probably already in someone's list. Your job, then, is to persuade the list owner that it's in their interests to promote your product.

Not just that it's a great product.

Not just that you're a great person.

Not just that you need the money!

But, that it's in their interests. More than that, they'll want to see some evidence that the product sells well and easily, has few returns and will enhance their reputation if they promote it. They may not have time to evaluate the product for themselves, or to create the sales copy.

So, if you have a product you'd like to promote through one or more joint ventures, you need to be able to show them results from your marketing efforts.

You'll need a sales page that converts visitors into customers - before you approach potential partners. Test this by driving traffic to it using Adsense, MSN Live or similar, as well as free methods like blogs, forums and social networking sites. Then your list owner knows they'll get decent sales when they send their customers there. Two percent conversion is quite reasonable for untargeted traffic, ten times that is desirable for pre-qualified visitors.

Be able to show few if any returns, and most of all, show them they'll make good money! You'll usually have to offer at least 50% commission to a jv partner, more to a top marketer.

Your product must be a good 'fit' with their list, and it must offer something new or unique or offer it in a new and better way.

Put those things in place, though, and you've a much better chance of convincing someone your product is worth promoting.

Getting the attention of your potential partner is another matter. I'll cover that next time!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

Tuesday 27 November 2007

I Know, I Know...

Why the Best Information is More Than Just Learned.

Hello again.

No, I'm not trying to be smug, but there I some things I've learned and there are some things I know. The same will be true for you, too.

The difference is this: the things we learn, are things we've learned to be true, with a pretty high degree of confidence, whereas the things we know are those things we've actually experienced in the real world.

Just as a man can never know how it feels to give birth, however much he reads about it and however empathetic and sensitive he is, so you and I can never really know the things we read about but don't experience for ourselves.

And when it comes to transmitting that knowledge to other people, the difference can be hard to hide. Somehow, real experience, whether we mention it explicitly or not, gives a real authority to a piece of information. Mere knowledge, while it may be equally comprehensive in detail and just as accurate, can often lack that authority.

So it is with information products. The feeling may be hard to pin down, but sometimes we know that a product lacks authority, even though it's superficially impressive (and accurate, valid and useful). We can't always put our finger on just why that is, but it's there nonetheless.

So, when you're creating an information product, it's not always enough to have devoured every bit of information you could get your hands on, if you haven't actually used that information in real life. That's why we can all write and speak with greater authority on subjects we've been involved in for years - it's real knowledge, not learning.

Can you turn some of your real, hard-won knowledge into a genuine, authoritative information product? Will that be more valuable, thanks to your authority, than an apparently more valuable piece of learned information?

It's worth thinking about. Knowledge is power, but real knowledge is power with real authority.

Roy Everitt, Writing for Results

PS. Some of the most successful information products are actually produced very quickly, by people with the wit and foresight to learn all about the latest software, for example, by testing and trying it out, then writing or speaking about it. Often, these users' guides and how-to's become an essential must-buy or bonus item for anyone buying the original product.

You can see these in book stores - the 'for Dummies' books are excellent examples, but they are still book shop books, with the inevitable publishing, printing and distribution delays. Online, the equivalent ebooks have been known to appear in days or even hours after the launch of a product.

Saturday 24 November 2007

Chris Starts a Stampede

Hello.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a new product I'd seen, by Chris Freville, called 'Web 2.0 Stampede' - a product I was more than happy to endorse.

Having met Chris at Robert Puddy's event at Coventry (the same one where I met both David Congreave and Alex Jeffreys - do you get the impression that was a great event?), he straight away got back in touch with a review copy of Web 2.0 Stampede.

Sometimes, 'professionally written' products are a disappointment. Some writers just can't write (yet thrive anyway), while some well-written products are devoid of good, useful content. Chris's product, on the other hand, ticked all the boxes. It was, generally, excellently written (it falls away slightly at the end, perhaps), is jam-packed with good, useful and original content, and it's set out in a way that makes it all easy to use.

So, it's hardly surprising that the Web 2.0 Stampede sale page has had thousands of hits, because I know a lot of big-name marketers were also happy to endorse the book to their lists, plus he's had a lot of complimentary comments on various forums and blogs. You'll find a link to Web 2.0 Stampede to the right of this article.

If you haven't seen it yet, get there now. Web 2.0 is not going anywhere but up. You'll be wise to go with it!

Roy Everitt, Writing for results

PS. See what all the fuss is about! Click on the blue banner ad to the right to go to Web 2.0 Stampede.

Friday 23 November 2007

Be Ahead of the Crowd

Stick With Me!

Hello, once again.

One of the major benefits of networking to the extent Jacqui and I do, especially now we're well past the 'novice' stage, is that we often get asked to help in the launch of a new product. Because, to do that, we usually have to see a pre-launch edition of whatever we're helping to launch. So we're among the first people to see the new product.

Which is an advantage in itself, because it means we can put new products into action as soon as they're released, while everyone else is still finding out about them.

It also means I can give you advance notice of the really interesting stuff, so you're ready to grab it and get in ahead of the main wave the moment it goes on sale.

Now, a few days ago I told you about David Congreave and his new product, Lucid SEO. I met David at Coventry (actually, the hotel was in Meriden), and was immediately impressed. Another whom I met there was Alex Jeffreys, who is also very definitely going places.

Alex has been in business online for almost exactly a year and had an excellent first twelve months with his first product, 'Easy Profit Auctions'. To mark that anniversary, Alex's second product will be launched very soon. Putting into place everything he's learned in his first year (including not trying to launch a product at Thanksgiving!), Alex is confident this launch is going to be even more successful than his first, and his next twelve months will be even more lucrative than the last twelve.

Not surprisingly, Alex is determined to get everything spot-on for the big day, to the extent that he hasn't even released the name of his new product. But I can tell you it's an information product designed to help anyone who reads it and takes the lessons on board, wildly successful in Internet marketing.

As soon as Alex is ready for 'proper' pre-launch, as opposed to 'pre' pre-launch, I'll be able to tell you more. Meanwhile, I get to see it first, and I can tell you it's good!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. Getting advance copies of great new products is just one benefit of mixing with the successful and the up-and-coming. But as incidental benefits go, it's not bad. And if you're not networking, it's something else you're missing out on!

Thursday 22 November 2007

Grab Camtasia - Free!

Because I can't quite believe they meant to do this.

Hello again.

Excuse the urgency, but this is one opportunity that is genuinely too good to miss.

Camtasia - Free.

Yep - not a trial version or a freeware copy or a special, reduced-usability version, but Camtasia 3, absolutely free.

To get it, before they realise what they've done, go here to download the trial version: http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe to your desktop, or wherever.

Then go to this page and enter your details as requested, whereupon you'll be emailed a 'software key' (a password, really) by Techsmith that enables you to install Camtasia 3, absolutely free. Here's the page:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

I'd do it right away if I were you. Alright, so they'll offer you an upgrade to the latest version (version 5, I think), but it's very easy to ignore!

And if you're wondering what the hell Camtasia is, it's that very clever video-capture software that allows absolutely anyone to create a 'how to' video on their computer. Like 'How to build a website', or 'How to use Camtasia', for that matter. And since video is the 'must have' information product now, you'd be daft not to grab it.

Camtasia is a brilliant tool, and I promise I didn't hesitate to steal it!


Roy, Writing For Results

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Turning The Black Art into Science

Hello

You know how some people have an air about them, of authority, confidence, ability?

Well, one of the more impressive people I've met on my networking travels recently is David Congreave. Not only does he have that air of confidence and ability, he also knows he's going places.

Even more impressive to me is that he seems to have mastered the black art of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to the extent that he's made it a practical science. One we can all follow, too. Not that he's working alone. Like most people who really make a go of Internet marketing, David has a couple of joint venture partners in this product.

What is SEO?

SEO helps you get your site high in the search engine rankings without paying loads for 'pay-per-click'. High ranking is vital for visibility, traffic and, ultimately, sales. So if you have any kind of website and want people to find it without paying the earth, you should think carefully about anything that helps you master SEO easily and quickly.

Last night David Congreave was on a teleseminar with very successful marketer Terry Telford (who I think he met at the same event) as part of his new product launch, for 'Lucid SEO'.

Tonight sees the launch proper. Go to http://www.lucid-seo.com/ now, and see just how impressive David's brand new product is.

Roy

PS. As with all these things, the people who put them into action first are the ones who tend to benefit the most. You can hardly do better than getting in on launch day!

PS. David also publishes The Nettle magazine, and now The Nettle 2. Google those and let me know if you're as impressed as I was.

Monday 19 November 2007

Boom is Busting Out All Over

Hello, once again.

From great ideas going missing (see last Thursday's post), I suddenly have three slightly less stupendous things I need to talk about. I'll stick to one for now...

On Friday, I mentioned the recession that's about to hit, and told you how great an opportunity that can be, as long as you know how to make the best of it.

But thoughts of recessions, depressions and weary, worn-down people reminded me of a story I heard quite some time ago, possibly from Dan Kennedy, possibly not.

It concerned a salesman of the old school (still with us, of course, despite 'everything' being online now), who was selling encyclopedias door to door. At one run down looking home, he was invited in. The couple sat him down and offered him a drink, making him feel very welcome. Clearly, they had very little money and hardly any possessions that didn't look old and tired. The carpet was threadbare, the cups and saucers didn't match, there was an ancient radio in the corner of the lounge, etc, etc.

But the husband wanted to buy his encyclopedias - the complete set of which would probably cost as much as the combined value of all their other possessions.

The salesman doubted they could afford them. More importantly, he didn't think they should. They should spend what little money they had on essentials, like food and fuel.

Still he wanted the books.

The salesman, very politely, said no, and decided he should leave.

At which, the gentle, mild mannered husband flew into a rage, chased him out of the house and down the street, shouting after him: 'Who are you to say what I can and can't afford? What business is it of yours to tell me what I should spend my money on?'

Who indeed?

There are people today, who insist they are trying to sell their products, but who nonetheless get squeamish about actually asking people for their money. 'They might not be able to afford it' is just another excuse we make for not trying very hard.

Our concern is whether the product is worth the money we ask for it - not whether someone else 'should' spend that money. It really is none of our business. We really know next to nothing about them. We must offer them good value and let them choose.

That's our job and that's all our job is...

And as an aside, who knows what value we might now put on all the information in those encyclopedias? They were probably a bargain, and it shows information marketing is nothing new!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. Speaking of progress (and valuable information), 'Web 2.0 Stampede' represents a large dollop of both, at a very affordable price, even in these apparently straightened times. Clck on the blue banner to the right, and take a look.

Friday 16 November 2007

If I Read it in The Papers...

...It must be true.

Apparently, there's a depression on the way. 'Everyone' is saying as much, so I guess it will happen, even if it wasn't going to before.

Sometimes, I think 'everyone' just gets a bit bored with doing okay from time to time...

But anyway, there's a recession on the way and it's great news.

Not for everyone, it's true. But for me, and for you, if we both play it smart.

Because the business I'm in thrives on difficult times and competition and even a shortage of cash. If that sounds counter-intuitive then you may be a marketing executive or the head of a company that's about to 'pull in its horns' in a vain attempt to ride out the recession.

I was born in the 1950's and, although the war was long over, the UK was still deep in debt as a result of it. The UK economy was struggling and a lot of prewar companies didn't survive.

Some, though, thrived.

Mysterious, eh? Some kind of conspiracy? Not really. The companies that thrived during the most difficult periods of the last hundred years (it was much the same in the decade or so after the first war) were the ones who invested in marketing, in a big way. Pretty much all the household names of the fifties and sixties became household names because they advertised - on commercial television, in newspapers and magazines and on commercial radio (mostly 'pirate' stations in the UK back then).

Their goods weren't cheaper and they weren't better - they were just there.

And most of them survived, while the firms who drew in their horns and tried to ride it out, very often didn't.

And, as marketing people, we owe it to our clients to remind them of the lessons of history. When there's a squeeze on, and money is tight, we all tend to spend it on the products that are most visible, and not on the ones that seem to disappear. If there are two items to choose from, we'll choose the one that's put in front of us.

For us, there's a simple lesson:

you must market yourself hard and persuade your clients to do the same. If they want to not just survive the recession, but thrive in it, they must out-sell the competition. Persuade them of that and, for you and your clients, the boom times are here!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

Thursday 15 November 2007

What's the Big Idea?

Hello again

A question for you: Are you an 'ideas' person?

Me, too.

I find ideas passing through my mind at the most inopportune moments. You know the times I mean: when you're in the bath, when you're driving, when someone or something else demands your attention.

Keeping a notebook handy isn't always an option. A voice recorder is sometimes a better idea. Telling the person we're with can help us remember. I never did tie a knot in my hankie...

So, at these moments, we can sometimes be forgiven for not committing the idea to any kind of lasting medium, and so, sadly, forgetting what it was.

Because the problem with passing ideas is that they so often seem to be just that - passing into our brains on one side and straight out of our brains on the other.

Which is all the more reason why we should all remember to take notes on the occasions when we can. When it's easy, convenient and not impolite to do so. I know that, you know that, we all know that.

So why do we so often forget to do it?

Because it's such a good idea?

That would explain why the brilliant idea I had for today's blog entry is apparently lost forever!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. Despite that mishap, today has been a very productive day, with a report written, our next major product a few steps nearer completion, another small project ready to send to the customer and a proposal in the air for yet another joint venture.

It keeps us busy...

And it's all such good fun!

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Selling Information Products

Hello

Just a quick one this evening...

As a copywriter, part of my business is in creating and marketing information products. In fact, the major products we're working on at Cinnamon Edge right now are information products to be marketed offline and online.

There's no doubt that the online option is the cheaper, easier option for beginners to the information product business. With that in mind I wrote a brief report about a year ago on how to get started online.

A few months ago I updated my beginners' guide and I've just made some more minor changes and posted it online HERE.

If you've been wanting to try your hand at info products but just don't know where to start, then start with my beginners' guide. It's totally free, you don't have to sign up for anything and it doesn't even need downloading.

Just read it on your screen, or feel free to print it and pass it on as you wish. Just keep my details intact if you do.

It's online and waiting for you right HERE.

UPDATE: Today saw the launch of a great new product that takes online marketing into the Web 2.0 age. And if that sounds a little intimidating, rest assured that Web 2.0 Stampede takes you every step of the way with Facebook, MySpace, etc, and every other manifestation of Web 2.0. I was lucky enough to get a preview copy, and it's brilliantly written. You can get your copy by clicking HERE.

Cheers for now,

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. If you're after some more advanced information, leave me a message here or email me here and I'll try to help. I look forward to hearing from you.

PPS. Don't forget, you can be amongst the first to get Web 2.0 Stampede here.

Monday 12 November 2007

If One Little Word Wasn't Impressive Enough

... How about one little letter?

A few weeks back (on 21st October) I told you how adding one little word to a client's shampoo label had saved the career of a struggling copywriter. To save you a trip through my archive, the word was 'repeat'.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how that almost doubled sales, or why almost every shampoo since then has used the same 'rinse and repeat' mantra. In fact, it's become a cliché for marketers too. As in, 'If it works once, do it again...'

But copywriters can trump 'one little word' with 'one little letter'. There are a few instances, but I'm grateful to the great Ted Nicholas for reminding me of this one: the letter 's'.

And the latest instance of a one letter change to a headline actually tripled the response.

The original headline read, 'Put Money in Your Pocket'

And the improved version was, 'Puts Money in Your Pocket'

Underestimating people's inherent laziness rarely disappoints. Just removing the idea that the product required some effort was enough to multiply response by three. And the change in the headline text is almost subliminal, suggesting that this is a non-conscious reaction, which straight away makes it even more interesting.

There's a lot of psychology in successful marketing. I'll return to the subject here from time to time.

Meanwhile, have you ever improved the response to an ad by changing one letter? More likely is that you've done it by removing the idea there's any work involved with your product. For instance, 'learning' and 'making' are work for most people, while 'discovering' and 'getting' sound easy and even accidental.

So, 'Learn How to Make Money' sounds much harder than 'Discover How to Get Rich', although there are other conscious and subconscious meanings in the phrases 'make money' and 'get rich' that complicate things!

Still, that's for another day, although if you've read much about wealth creation, you'll already know what I'm getting at...

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. To keep up with this and my many other trains of thought, subscribe to the blog, top right on this page.

PPS. Of course, the other lesson from the one letter change is in the value of testing, especially in your headlines.

Saturday 10 November 2007

What's He Got ...

... That I Haven't?

It seems a fair question to me. I mean, why should some people have all the luck, all the money, and that damn attitude that seems to say, 'I deserve it all'?

What do truly, exceptionally, mind-bogglingly successful people have that the rest of the population lacks?

What is it that divides the self-made 'haves' from the unmade 'have nots' (not counting those that inherited or otherwise got lucky)?

In short; what have they got that gets them everything else?

I think that's the wrong question, however we phrase it.

I think what they actually have is something missing.

Something like doubt, fear, uncertainty - or something that creates those unhelpful feelings, anyway.

I've finished Professor Daniel Gilbert's excellent book Stumbling on Happiness, and if you've read it too, you might well know what I'm talking about. You might have come to a similar conclusion already, anyway.

It's that mental process that seems 'unique to humans' - a dangerous phrase, as the Professor points out - which is so unreliable in most of us we really might be better off without it sometimes. It's called imagination.

It's imagination that shows us the worst possible consequences of an action, and it's imagination that makes us fearful for a child's safety when they're out of sight, even when keeping them in sight might put them in greater danger. It's imagination that makes us wonder 'What if I can't do it?'

And that's something that the most ballsy, seat-of-their-pants, outlandishly flamboyant and successful entrepreneurs in the world never seem to allow themselves to consider. Some of them don't seem able to conceive of the idea.

So, next time you're considering a new venture, and wondering 'Should I try this? What if I can't do it?' Stop imagining and just try!

Who actually knows what will happen if you do try? Not you, that's for sure.

And what's the worst that could happen?

No - don't answer that!

Unless you want to stay exactly where you are, that is.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

Thursday 8 November 2007

Networking Tips

Hello again

I make no apology for returning to the topic of networking, but I do apologise for extolling the virtues of networking without offering, up to now, much advice on how to go about it.

So, apology duly made, here are a few tips to make your networking easier and more productive. That's for you and for all the unlucky people you've hitherto pinned in their seats or trapped in a corner without due cause or reward.

Well, maybe you haven't, but here's the tips anyway:

  1. Know what you're there for. It's fun but it's also business. If you're trying to achieve nothing in particular then that's about all you'll achieve. Which is a waste of time and probably money.
  2. Know what you have to offer, and be open-minded about it. Make a mental list of your skills, talents and interests and try to be imaginative about how you might help other people.
  3. Know who else is there - find out in advance, if possible. By the 'who else' I mean the people you've been admiring, hoping to meet (should be the same) or hoping to avoid, and take the appropriate action.
  4. When you meet your 'hero', 'heroine' or useful contact, don't ask them for a favour (or a loan). Rather, be friendly, interested in them and what they're up to, get chatting and ask - and this is the critical bit - 'What can I do to help you in that?' or just 'What do you need to help you accomplish that?' After all, you may know someone else who can help them, even if you can't.

Networking is about giving, as much as or more than it is about receiving - at least directly. So be useful, helpful, friendly and open. What goes around truly does come around. To quote the BNI's ugly but true motto, 'Givers gain'.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Watch this space, or better still, subscribe to this blog, for exciting news about the best, most exciting and (if I have anything to do with it) most fun networking, masterminding* opportunity the Internet has yet seen.

PPS *'Networking' may or may not be a word (see previous posts), but 'masterminding' surely is, if not quite in this context...

Wednesday 7 November 2007

The Power of Now!

Hello

We're just back from Steve Foley's eConfex Buy to Let and HMO Summit at Heathrow, where we were helping Steve with some of the 'back of the room' stuff and a bit of fetching and carrying.

Needless to say, there was no time for reading while we were there, but I am halfway through an absolutely fascinating book by Daniel Gilbert, called 'Stumbling on Happiness'. It won the Royal Society's award for Science Book of 2007, no less. Although it is about happiness, it's also about a whole lot more and, being about how people think, it's full of lessons for all of us. That's whether you're interested in people generally or specifically interested in marketing.

One thing Professor Gilbert teaches us is how difficult we all find it to imagine accurately how we will feel about something in the future. In fact, it's an impossible feat. Today is so much more real than tomorrow, and even more so than next week, and so on.

Given a choice of getting something now and getting the same thing next week or later, we often value the instant gratification much more highly, in simple cash terms. Which is an important thing to consider for anyone selling his or her product from the stage at an event like the one we just helped at.

Because, as a general rule, those items are sold at a generous discount on the day. Organisers like to maximise sales on the day, because they're the sales they get a cut from, so the temptation is to encourage maximum sales by cutting prices. The usual message is that the goods will be back to full price tomorrow.

But from what the good professor has said, what should be happening is more like this:

'Buy my product today, and you can take it home with you, get right on with using it and have it working for you while everyone else is still awaiting delivery of theirs. And for only an extra ten percent! But I only have twelve here. If you order now for delivery by post you can get it for the normal price, but you will have to wait about a week for delivery. Remember, I only have twelve to take away today, for just ten percent more, and it's first come first served.'

In other words, instead of giving stuff away cheaply on the day, maybe canny marketers should be charging an appropriate premium for instant gratification. If the theory is correct, they ought to sell just as many and both they and the organiser will actually make more money.

It would be fascinating to see this tried for real and I'll be interested to hear your views or, indeed, your experience of someone trying this at an actual event.

It could be revolutionary...

Have you seen it or tried it? Let me know!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Professor Gilbert's 'Stumbling on Happiness' has a whole lot more to teach us about how the human brain works (and sometimes doesn't quite work). I'll be returning to it and a few more of his revolutionary lessons, and how I think they might be applied to marketing, in the near future. Subscribe to this site (top right of the page) and you'll not miss a thing!

Sunday 4 November 2007

The Number 1 List Building Secret

Hello again

In a conversation I had with a business partner on Friday, I was suddenly reminded that we were about to reveal to the world the number one list building secret - the method ALL the world's most successful marketers, without exception, use to build their massive lists ...


  • EVEN the ones who promote SEO
  • EVEN the ones who sell you Adwords guides
  • EVEN those who encourage you to create your own information products
  • EVEN the ones who own traffic exchanges
  • EVEN the ones who say you should sell products from mini-sites
  • AND EVEN the ones who say that viral marketing is the way forward
ALL use this method above all others to build their massive lists quickly and, most importantly, almost for free.

We will be using it too, very soon, to virtually guarantee fantastic results. And I'll be in a position to let you in on the secret just as soon as we go live...

Don't stay away too long, or you might miss it!

In fact, to make sure you don't miss our launch - the day when we reveal how the top gurus really make their money, and how you can copy them - subscribe to this website, using the form on the top right-hand side of the page.

Until next time,

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. I can let you in on one little secret, though - all this excitement came about as a result of ... you guessed it ... networking! And if you're not doing that, you really are missing a trick!

Thursday 1 November 2007

Why Long Copy Works

(and why it needn't matter if it doesn't)

It seems to be a perennial debate: long copy versus short copy. But most copywriters know from experience (and from reading the copywriting gurus) that long copy far outsells short copy, especially for high-ticket items.

Why?

Well, first let's look at why short copy might sometimes be better.

Business people are busy people. They don't have time to spend reading page after page of sales material, however excitingly written, before they decide whether or not to spend a few pounds or dollars. It just isn't cost effective – their time is too precious.

They'd be better off buying something a little less than perfect than wasting that precious time.

So, for a low priced item, short copy is the way to go. In fact, it might not be worth investing in a copywriter’s fees for a low cost item. Of course, if the item sells by the million it would be worth every penny, but that's another matter.

In short copy, there's a headline, a story, an offer and a call to action. Call them by other names if you will, but they're the essential elements, and the advantage to the customer is that they know exactly what your offer is, almost at a glance.

For higher-priced items, it's different. When someone is contemplating spending a lot of money (for them) they need to be convinced it's worth it. They may take a fair bit of persuading, but the time spent - yours and theirs - will be worth it if they can save or make the value of that time, plus the price of the product, many times over.

They may not make that calculation consciously, but on some level or other they will be making a judgement on whether you're wasting their time. Even before, that is, they decide whether they'll be wasting their cash buying your product.

Which is why, perversely, it needn't matter. So long as your long copy is constructed properly they can get all the short copy benefits, while you offer all the reassurance and potential persuasiveness of long copy.

You may spend page after page extolling the virtues and numerous irresistible benefits of your product, but a hurried and harassed businessperson needs to be able to scan your copy in seconds and deduce exactly what you're offering, how it can solve their problem and the price they'll have to pay.

Then, if they're interested, they’ll go back and read in more detail. And study after study shows that while long copy outsells short copy, it's the short copy 'scanned' version that the buyer actually sees first and on which they'll most likely base their decision to buy or not buy.

So, when you produce your long copy it needs to have exactly the same elements as your short copy.

In fact, at first sight it should actually look like short copy with a lot of extra detail between the essential bits!

So, you'll need:

· a headline, emphasising the main benefit

· body copy, explaining the product and its benefits

· the offer, which is the price plus bonuses and guarantees

· the close or call to action, made as easy as possible.

Each of these elements must be highlighted with a sub-heading so the busy reader can pick them out at a glance.

And here’s the critical part: those sub-heads must tell a coherent story on their own, to get the message across to the quick-scanning reader.

Here’s how legendary John Caples put it recently: “[Long or short] depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Generally speaking the more explaining you need to do to get your reader to understand the product’s benefits fully, or the more money it costs, the longer the copy you’ll need.
In many cases, longer copy will work best. But remember, it’s not because it’s long that it works. It still needs to be brief and succinct in the sense that it packs maximum meaning and benefit into each sentence … Distil it down as much as possible without omitting any of the points … of interest to the target market …then render the copy in logical chunks prefaced with powerful, curiosity inducing sub-heads that stop skimmers and skippers, drawing them into the copy. Finally … edit your sub-heads into a logical summary of your entire sales argument.”


So the details (detailing benefits remember), the credibility-building testimonials and explanations of why this is such a terrific never to be repeated offer, etc, all fit in between these compelling sub headings.

End with a PS - the ultimate short copy summarising all the above - and there you have it - long copy that works like short copy. But better!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

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