…or “Help! The copy isn’t performing! What do I do now?”
Got an email from Michel Fortin (well, his autoresponder, really!) yesterday about a post on his blog titled…
“Are Bottlenecks Clogging Your Sales?”
I was a little surprised because…
…I recalled seeing this post before.
Indeed, it was originally published some time ago.
So, perhaps a “glitch” in the autoresponder…
…but taking this as a sign of synchronicity I decided to take a look at the post again.
Now, conventional wisdom holds that the headline is the first thing to test in an ad.
Michel begs to differ somewhat and he explains what testing a headline really tells you in the post.
Well worth reading the whole thing.
Now, this must be something of a “Topic du Jour” because what do I find on Clayton Makepeace’s blog today but a post from Derek Gehl…
“10 Questions You NEED To Ask If Your Website Isn’t Making Any Sales”.
Problems aren’t always to do with the copy, of course.
In fact, in most cases it’s either a strategic problem (wrong market or wrong offer) or a traffic problem (you simply don’t have enough of the right kind).
However, as a copywriter your job is…
…to fix problems!
So you need to be not “just” a copywriter but a marketing expert as well.
Perhaps I should do an interview with David Garfinkel or someone like that on “Marketing Essentials Every Copywriter Needs To Know”.
Post a comment if you think that would be a good idea.
Finally for today, we have a real “live” case study of what to do to fix a problem.
The great Clayton Makepeace had a confession in his blog on Monday.
He got his butt kicked in a recent test!
Hard to believe, but true.
Hey, it happens to the best.
But Clayton didn’t take it lying down.
No Siree!
After licking his wounds he went back and analysed the piece…and the letter that beat him.
After rigorously dissecting the letter and a rewrite…
…results were vastly improved.
(In fact, the new copy performed 2.7 times better than the first version and beat the competition by 50%).
And now he has posted a “Before and After” case study “The Eye of The Tiger – A Study In Persistence”.
Can’t believe Clayton published this. Grab it before he changes his mind.
The original post is here at “The Eye of The Tiger” (better called “Learn From Your Mistakes For Bigger Winners” – now there’s a BIG mindset lesson).