In emotional direct response marketing and copywriting, it’s a central principle to focus not only the results that people will get from your product or service…
…but also the feelings they will experience.
While left-brain types like myself may not necessarily like it…
..the fact is that we humans are very much emotionally driven and emotions play a much larger role in decision making than we might acknowledge.
BUT…there’s something else too to keep in mind about the human psyche as my good mate and master copywriter Pete Godfrey explains in this guest post…
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What Are You Really Selling?
I’ve talked long and hard about this point over the years… that you’ve got to sell the end result of your product… you’ve gotta sell how your clients will feel once they’ve achieved or experienced the benefits of your product. For example: Don’t sell a diet book, sell sexiness and self-confidence. Don’t sell Life Insurance, sell peace of mind. Don’t sell marketing strategies to business owners, sell them cash flow. By now, hopefully, you get this. But there’s more to this that I rarely mention.
If you’ve studied history, in particular the people of influence, and if you’ve read and studied “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene, then you know, people have an insatiable almost child-like appetite for Magic and Magic Powers.
In advertising, we call this the Magic Pill; and the closer your pitch is to the Magic Pill generally the more sales you make.
If you’ve ever seen the Giant Tomato ad displayed in many catalogues you’ve seen the Magic Pill in action. If you’ve ever seen the ad on TV for Bio Magnetics, an underlay you put on your bed full of magnets and you wake up without pain, then you’ve seen the Magic Pill demonstrated right before your eyes.
Point is, folks don’t want to know the mechanics of what your “thing” does. They want the intangible magic benefits your “thing” gives them. If you’re in the advice giving business, and this applies to anyone from a Business Coach to a Naturopath, they don’t want to know how you do your “thing”, they’d prefer to believe you are their magic rabbit’s foot, that you possess secrets and powers only you can provide. If you’re selling Real Estate, they just want to know you can sell their house, at the price they want, in the time-frame they want.
You can fight me on this, shake your head and tell me your clients are smarter and more sophisticated than this. But you’d be wrong.
People are people and we haven’t changed that much over the years. To ignore the power of magic and secrets and secret powers is to ignore the way people have been managed and controlled and influenced since the beginnings of time. Folks are looking for certainty in uncertain times. Give it to them with a magical twist.
PS: Never underestimate the power of curiosity.
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With more than a decade of experience in the marketing arena, Pete Godfrey, AKA “The Wizard of Words”, has developed a keen eye as to what it takes to succeed in business. As one of Australia’s most successful and highest paid copywriters, Pete has the uncanny ability to turn the written word into money. That’s why clients stand in line and almost beg him to do their promotions.
His client list contains many of the world’s savviest entrepreneurs including Mal Emery, Pat Mesiti, Tom Caraccio and Rowena Helps, Rick Otton, Daryl and Andrew Grant, Bill Zheng, Matt and Amanda Clarkson, Roberta Faddoul and many others. This “working class rebel made good” is also a copywriting trainer, having trained hundreds of budding copywriters including Bret Thomson, Bill Dimitrovski, Kevin Francis and Steve Plummer.
Pete also writes an offline, 12-page monthly newsletter called The Emotional Ad Writing & Marketing Letter (http://www.emotionaladwritingletter.com ) for Business Owners, Sales Professionals and Entrepreneurs. His irreverent style and no bullshit attitude offends some, attracts others. To see more on Pete and to get a FREE Bonus copy of his valuable report – “The Ultimate Copywriting & Marketing Secret” valued at a very real $99… go to his blog at http://www.petegodfrey.com