How To Write... Like... You Talk (And why you'd better be doing this if you want to sell!)
Dear Friend,
You know most direct mail... display ads... and other sales copy, sounds more like the IRS tax code, than an inviting (let alone exciting) piece of good news your prospects would ever have any inclination to even START reading, let alone finish reading.
I'll be talking more speicfically about this at the Information Marketing Expo U.K. in London on October 1st and 2nd -- http://www.kingofcopy.com/informationmarketingexpo
But for now, know that if you want to make yourself a fistful of cash, then your sales copy’s got to be conversational... easy on the eyes... and simple on the brain.
Your prospect’s life is w-a-a-y too complicated on its own, for them to start dedicating any “extra” brain power, to having to understand or dissect your ad.
So write like you talk:
Make sure you keep things simple...
get rid of ALL the 5-dollar words... and get straight to the point!
For example, here’s part of a letter I got in the mail today, verbatim, from a mortgage company:
“Even when it’s just not convenient to call about a First Guaranty New Day home equity loan, you can get the process started in minutes online anytime - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! So don’t let your busy schedule stop you from getting a great rate on a home equity loan, go online now.”
Go online now and do what? Where? How?
You know what stuff like this sounds like, to people who actually read it?
It sounds like a television commercial -- you're kind of "watching" it -- but you're not really "listening" to it, know what I mean?
And is that how you’d actually talk to someone if you were trying to sell them a home loan? If you did, you'd be about as interesting as a small soap dish.
But I digress...
Don’t you think your prospects would be a LOT more motivated to respond to your ad, if it said something like this instead?
| “Look, nowadays it seems like everybody and their mother’s trying to pitch you to get your new home purchase, or your home refinancing from them, right?
And that’s all good and everything, but the bottom line is... if you do want a new line of cred.it, all YOU want to know are three things: 1. First, can you qualify? 2. Second, how much is it going to cost you each month, and for how long are you going to have to pay? 3. And lastly... what’s the lowest interest rate you can get? That's it, right? Well, I’ve got GREAT news for you!: If you qualify, First Guaranty has set up a fast and easy new “EZ Home Lending Form”, that takes literally 17 seconds to fill out, and it tells you exactly what you want to know, one... two... three. Simple as that. Then, after you get your numbers, YOU get to decide what to do next. Sounds easy, right? That’s because it is. So if you want to get your hands on this "EZ Home Lending Form"... if you qualify, all you need to do is go to “blah-blah-blah Dot com”, and while you’re there, why don’t you grab a copy of this curious FREE Report, called “7 Things You Must Know About How The Big Lenders Are Ripping You Off On Your Home loans!” |
Now assuming you were in the market for a new home equity loan, isn’t that a LOT more enticing than the first... I don't really want to call it an "ad"... but... you know what I'm referring to here, right?
Oh, and don’t worry about your prospects not thinking you’re “smart” because you’re not using “big words.”
Letting them know what’s in it for them... and not wasting their time... IS smart -- trying to impress them with how much you know, is self-centered and aggravating.
Remember, the quality of your work, and your integrity... is mutually exclusive from how you market yourself.
The purpose of your marketing, is to open doors for yourself, and that’s it.
It's how well you perform, that keeps those doors open... or not.
So don’t confuse the style of your marketing, with the style of your actual work.
O.K.?
Now go sell something,
Craig Garber
Any comments?
Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!
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| “Craig Garber is America's top direct-response copywriter. Join the ranks of Garber's swelling list of global VIP's who subscribe to his unconventional weekly marketing moments, and discover how to dramatically boost your sales and improve the response to your sales copy, on his website at http://www.kingofcopy.com. Copyright © Craig Garber. All rights reserved.” |