more about L and J later. First...
Like most forums only about one in ten people actually register or post...most are lurkers and lookers...
Dien (or Phil?) or anyone else...someone has a great set of "cartoon" characters that visit forums...I have it bookmarked somewhere...just a warning...if someone posts a link...you'll not only lol but you'll spend some time there too...
Anyhow...Lurker #4/emailer wrote this:
"What are the spiders, snakes and mice of the Internet? How do I use that salesmanship in print?"
good question L4email guy...but before I answer that question...let me fill in a few blanks.
In person you can "read" a person...somewhat. You can pace, mirror use all the technique you can muster...and MAYBE, you'll get the response you want. Only a gun to the head gets 100% compliance...and maybe even then someone will say NO...
In PRINT (web) your rapport comes from knowing your reader.
If I'm writing copy the first thing I need to know is
who is going to read it? And
Why?
HOW do they get the message (or ad)?
When?
Where?
If it is a product or service, I have to understand this person and know everything about them I can find out.
In newspaper ads where it is more or less a shotgun approach, you want to catch the attention of a certain reader...and curiosity can do that...and when coupled with benefit...then it is sort of a prescreen process.
I use "charged coupling" if I can. Two words or concepts that have opposing meanings and some emotional element.
Amazing Dry Water Discovery is THE Fountain of Youth sort of thing...if appropriate. It of course depends if I'm writing for me or a client.
Anyhow...in PRINT you have to get their attention. In fact, here is a formula I learned that is used by THREE major marketing companies to teach their junior copywriters. Get this and your copy skills improve dramatically.
STOP and grab a pen and a blank piece of paper, your life is about to change:
Write this out in your own handwriting and tape it to your monitor. READ it at least 3 times before you ever begin to write anything that you want to influence others:
"Regardless of the glory of your writing, in marketing it is all meaningless to people who have paid NO attention to it. Always remember: PEOPLE DO NOT READ PRINT ADS or Brochures unless it holds some INTEREST to them.
You've got to do EVERTHING in your power to INTEREST them, not just with your headline or attention grabber, but your copy must keep them interested all the way until they purchase.
What are people interested in?
1- THEMSELVES.
2- How your offering benefits them.
3- The importance of the benefits.
4- Not being ripped off.
5- Why they should buy RIGHT NOW.
Your job is to simply address these 5 areas."
That is about a 100 million dollar course in copywriting right there. And I'll even make it more valuable with this;
Financial freedom comes from tapping into an existing market. Making any money at all for that matter.
So a few simplistic ways to look at it is this:
A. Find a market (niche)
B. Conceive an offer
C. Put your offer in FRONT of the market.
OR:
Find a group with a high passion index on a subject.
Create or acquire a product to offer it.
Get some traffic to see your offer (buy it)
Balance your checkbook.
OR: (as in Ben Suarez's Net Profit Generation System NPGS formula)
PROSPECT
PRODUCT
PROMOTION
MEDIA
Back to the post...
Sell is a FOUR LETTER word to most people...the majority would rather be bitten by rabid skunks than have to SELL something to somebody.
In person the sales process is 100 times easier for the trained, practiced and focused salesperson because you can confront the other person's objections, hesitations and often control their STATE of Mind too.
HARDER to do in print. So you have to know how to get their attention, keep it, arouse a desire and know the exact action you want them to take.
ALL the King's horses and all the King's men make their money doing that.
So to answer the question about what are the Snakes, Spiders and Mice of the Internet...they are what the PROSPECT (TARGET) has in her mind that keeps her from going into the field to pick her own flowers.
It is a simple, effective and affordable solution to a problem she never really thought much about until someone brought it to her attention. OR a problem or situation she understands fully and needs guidance in getting a
satisfying resolution...
and Dien, that brings me back to Linda and Janet...and the key to it all is a SATISFYING resolution
to a PROBLEM they didn't even know existed until I gazed deep into their eyes and they saw the moon (or was that just a reflection of my Timex pocket watch I picked up at the junk store cause I thought every hypnotist should have one...HA!)
Gordon Jay Alexander