The Golden Thread – The Week in Review
January 27 – February 2, 2008
Welcome to The Golden Thread Online, your free e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every Saturday, you will receive this recap of all the strategies, insights and opportunities we send to you and your fellow AWAIers each week. Whether it’s a message from a fellow writer about how he landed a new client … a technique from a Master copywriter for writing a control … an insight into how to succeed in a new market … news of a brand new writing job or business opportunity for you … you’ll find it here in this easy-to-access and always available “Week in Review.”
In This Issue:
- Words of Copywriting Wisdom: Writing ‘til Your Head Hurts
Copywriting productivity tips from Bill Bonner. - “Can Someone Really Make Six Figures as a Copywriter?”
Theresa Frazier from the BBB asks the $100,000 question. - Are You Breaking the Cardinal Rule of Copywriting?
Master copywriter Paul Hollingshead explains the importance of focusing on the product’s benefits in your sales copy, rather than describing the product itself. - Quick Tip: Add “No-Doze Presentations” to Your List of Copywriting Services
Here’s how to use your copywriting skills to provide an extra service for your clients – creating effective, engaging presentations for sales reps and business execs.
Words of Copywriting Wisdom: Writing ‘til Your Head Hurts
“I write the Daily Reckoning every day. I start at 7:30 and work just on that without interruption … except for a cup of tea … until 11:00. It’s straight-out writing. Some days, I have two deadlines I have to hit … my DR deadline at 11:00 and then a couple of hours later the deadline for the weekly column I write for Money Week.
“What I’ve noticed is it’s best not to stop. If I stop for lunch or do something else, I get distracted and it’s hard getting back into writing mode. So for me … what works is to get into the groove of writing and not let anything distract me. I’ll keep at it and keep at it ‘til 3:00 in the afternoon, only stopping for cups of tea.
“I find that to be very productive … although I must say that sometimes by 2:00 I have a terrible headache. And when I find that I do have a headache, it’s best just to ignore it … because there’s nothing I can do about it. Actually … I feel like I do my best work when my head is hurting!”
“Can Someone Really Make Six Figures as a Copywriter?”
In case you’ve ever wondered if the Better Business Bureau checks on claims made by the companies it monitors, it does. They regularly review marketing materials … and, from time to time, ask for proof of promises.
Recently, Theresa Frazier from the BBB called and … like so many people … asked me the $100,000 question:
“Can someone really make six figures as a copywriter?”
I sent her to an impressive list of copywriters I know who do just that … including Carline Anglade-Cole … for independent verification. Carline sent me this note:
Katie,
Just got off the phone with the BBB. They wanted to know if I could really make $160K a year writing sales letters. I said “No, I can do it in a month” :-)
Carline
Are You Breaking the Cardinal Rule of Copywriting?
Recently I reviewed some copy from a copywriter who’s been writing for a while. It wasn’t bad. But it didn’t rise above the vast heap of promotions clamoring for attention.
So – as it stood – I knew it wouldn’t get read. And the product wouldn’t get sold.
The problem? Simply this: The copywriter was trying too hard to sell the product – by focusing too much on the product itself.
It’s a common mistake novice and B-level copywriters make. They put too much effort into describing the product … what it is … and how it works.
That’s not your job as a copywriter. It breaks the cardinal rule of copywriting: Keep the product invisible.
Michael Masterson calls this the “Secret of Transparency.” Your goal is to make your product transparent, or invisible, by focusing on the benefits and the ways the product improves your prospect’s life.
This is a VERY important copywriting rule.
Your reader doesn’t want another book, manual, or gadget. What he wants is to be successful … or wealthy … or healthy … or beautiful. Your job is to get to that “Aha!” moment where he’ll suddenly realize that what you’re selling will help him get there.
Let’s look at a concrete example. Imagine you’re selling a new personal success program written by a self-help guru. The basic promise of the program: “You can be successful without really trying, simply by switching on an internal mental switch.”
If you focus on the product from the beginning, you run a very real risk. First, your product will sound very ordinary – like so many programs out there. Second, your prospect – spurred by your copy – can easily go onto Amazon and buy a book making a similar promise. You made a sale. But the wrong one.
You Always Want Something Much Bigger and Much Better
You’re selling the secret to automatic success … in anything your prospect sets out to accomplish. You’re selling a “secret” that’s used by some of the world’s happiest and wealthiest people … something they learned very easily that transformed their lives.
Focus on your underlying big promise, which, in this example, might be simply “automatic success.” You do it by revealing just a little bit of the program here and there – and focusing on the benefits and the resulting impact these simple little secrets can have on your prospect’s life: wealth, success in business, better personal relationships – and that magnificent feeling of knowing that he can accomplish anything. All because he alters his thinking in a very small but profound way.
What you don’t want to write is a long-winded dissertation on the history of the program and how it works. This sort of approach gives the prospect too many chances to opt out. It’s boring to him because it isn’t about his needs, wants, desires, fears, or passions.
The bottom line is this. Your prospect needs to leave your letter convinced he’s found the “missing key” to his success. Your job as a copywriter is to make that happen. Finally he’s discovered what makes successful people successful. This is his lucky day. Had he not read this letter, he might not otherwise have ever known about it.
And now he wants more.
Don’t Forget About the Golden Thread
One more thing:
When you use the Secret of Transparency by keeping the product invisible and focusing on benefits, be sure to keep the golden thread – that central and main promise – taut throughout the copy. Always keep in mind that once you slip into explaining what the product is, it loses its luster. It becomes ordinary. And you risk having your prospect lose sight of the “big idea.”
And how do you find your product’s “big idea”? After doing all your research, step back and ask yourself “What’s the most exciting thing this product can do for me? What can it do for my prospect?” Then get excited about the product’s benefits – and share your enthusiasm with your prospect … in a very upbeat and conversational tone.
Adopting the Secret of Transparency may seem counter-intuitive. But when you apply it to your writing – while less-informed copywriters continue to focus on the product – your copy will be successful when your competitors’ copy fails.
And you will rise from B-level to A-level copywriter.
Quick Tip: Add “No-Doze Presentations” to Your List of Copywriting Services
Here’s an easy “extra service” you can offer your clients: creating effective, engaging presentations for them. (You know the kind I’m talking about. They’re typically done in PowerPoint these days … and can be real snooze-fests.)
You could be the answer to the prayers of many sales reps and business execs out there. Add to that list anyone who has to speak publically for business and civic engagements.
Creating a presentation is really no different than writing a sales letter. The speaker has to make a big promise … he has to offer proof … and he has to connect with his audience.
Here are a few reminders of how to approach this task:
- Most important: Know your audience. What do they need in their lives to be happy, more successful, better able to excel, etc.?
- What are the benefits of the presentation for them? Dig deep.
- Start with a strong promise at the beginning. Tell the audience what they’ll learn. But go further. Tell them how it will benefit them.
- Be specific. Details sell products. They also sell ideas.
- Show, don’t tell. Pictures – literal and figurative (stories) – help make your points.
- Prove what you’re trying to get across, but don’t do it solely with chars and graphs. (Boring!) Use real stories whenever you can.
- Make the “sale.” The end of any persuasive effort – letter, speech, or PowerPoint – must lead to action. Tell your audience what they need to do.
Follow this simple structure, and you’ll provide your clients with presentations that get results. They’ll thank you with repeat business.
[Ed. Note: Many PowerPoint presentations cause yawns and groans because they’re “just more of the same thing.” Combining your copywriting skills with imaginative approaches to presentation formatting and structure assures this will never happen to you. A great resource for this is a small, well-written book from New Riders: Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds.]
