The Secret of “The Golden Thread,” Part 1
To ensure that their copy is tight and compelling, Master copywriters use a technique known as “The Golden Thread” – a technique that most run-of-the-mill copywriters don’t even know about.
When you apply the secret of The Golden Thread, you instantly grab your prospect’s attention and compel him to read your promotion right through until the very end. And, at that point, he’s so persuaded by your words that he (almost) has no choice but to buy your product.
How The Golden Thread Works
As a copywriter who understands AWAI’s basic secrets of writing powerful copy, you know that people don’t buy products and services for what they are. They buy for the emotional needs they satisfy … what we call a prospect’s “core complex.”
Compelling copy appeals to the prospect’s emotions – getting him to believe, in his gut, that your product/service can relieve the fears that keep him awake at night … or satisfy the dreams that fill his head during the day. Compelling copy appeals to his right brain, the part of the brain that operates on an intuitive, emotional level.
When you’ve woven an emotional appeal throughout your entire package – from the envelope teaser to the last word on the last page – you’ve used The Golden Thread to do that.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re selling a male nutritional supplement that improves prostate function and also burns fat.
The core complex for your prospect (an active, 61-year-old, married man) is made up of fear, embarrassment, vanity, and pride.
So you’d make promises to him that this supplement would eliminate his fears about all the health problems an enlarged prostate can cause. He won’t have to worry about being embarrassed by the symptoms that bedevil men with that problem.
You’d also promise that when he walks down the street, women will look at his trim body and smile, while other men his age will be jealous.
Now, The Golden Thread is NOT just about weaving your promise(s) throughout the copy (although that’s important). It’s about appealing directly to your prospect’s emotions.
Here’s the difference.
If you’re selling a financial newsletter, your main promise could relate to making tons of money. But making tons of money is not an emotional appeal. It’s much more of an intellectual, left-brain appeal.
On the other hand, the perks that money brings have some very strong emotional attachments: pride (“I’ve made it!”), vanity (“I’m better than the other guys who haven’t made it!”), security (“I won’t have to eat cat food in my retirement!”), sexiness (“I’m rich – and women think wealthy men are sexy!”), and many others.
When woven through the copy, it’s these emotional connections to the promise – these appeals to the prospect’s fears, ego, joys, and desires – that make up The Golden Thread.
How The Golden Thread Can Break
However, if you’re not careful, The Golden Thread can break – especially when you’re writing longer copy.
It’s not too difficult to keep the emotional appeal moving forward in 2- to 4-page copy. But when you get into longer copy – 12, 18, 24 pages – that emotional thread can easily go limp or snap. Particularly when you get into the very important, but left-brain-focused, proof section of your package.
Getting back to the male nutritional supplement …
In trying to prove that the supplement really works, it’s easy to get bogged down in citing scientific and medical journals. Or in talking about how the prostate works. Or in giving a mini-course in biochemistry.
Now, all of these aspects of the proof can be very important. But if they get in the way of The Golden Thread, your prospect will lose interest in what you have to say and will stop reading. And not buy the product.
The key is to craft the proof section (and, of course, the entire sales letter) in such a way that you carry your appeal to the emotions right through it. Sometimes obviously. Sometimes subtly.
Next week, we’ll examine ways to weave The Golden Thread – the emotional appeal – right through difficult parts of your letter. We’ll also show you how to discover when The Golden Thread is going slack or is about to break … and how to fix it when it does.
How to Land Clients in 21 Days with Just Your Computer
How do I land my first client? It’s a question every aspiring freelancer asks eventually. Now, there’s a proven system for landing clients that removes the guesswork. Best of all? No cold calling. Learn More »
“I was thrilled to find I’d broken the $20K mark with minimal effort, but more than that it was incredibly satisfying to know I’d earned that money independently - using only my mind and a computer.”
If yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world you choose to be.
Get Nick Usborne’s step-by-step system for creating money-making information websites.
In just 6 hours and 35 minutes, you can be in business earning $60 – $150 an hour writing simple resumes.
Learn the secrets behind succeeding in this in-demand career.
The work is plentiful … the pay scales are generous and the competition is scarce!
Get the answers to the hundreds of questions and concerns commonly asked in specific, step-by-step details.
Use this eight-step plan to make the leap from aspiring copywriter to professional copywriter this year.
Let your fellow AWAI members show you firsthand the easiest, most powerful way to land your first client … BEFORE you finish the program.
Writing for the web is a huge opportunity for copywriters. Let web expert Nick Usborne show you how to write blockbuster web copy in record time … even if you're a complete internet “rookie”!
It’s an opportunity to make $50,000, $75,000, $100,000 a year or more … working just a few hours a day.
A once complicated profession is now something you can do on a standard computer – even if you have little or no “artistic” ability.
It’s one thing to have a website. But if your website can’t be found by the search engines, it may as well not exist.
The Internet creates new income possibilities every day. The biggest among them: online video marketing.
Get the very techniques top-performing copywriters use to rattle off one groundbreaking control after another.
In his new book, Michael Masterson teaches you his very own formula for powerful persuasion and how to apply it to direct mail sales letters as well as online promotions.
Where is the link to part 2?
Ros – September 16, 2010 at 9:45 am
Part 2 is the first item listed under the related content below.
Josh – September 16, 2010 at 4:47 pm