“You’ve got mail!”
That phrase blasted from the 10” cheapo
computer speakers that flank my 19” big boy monitor.
I don’t use AOL but I set my email client to “belt
out” the common phrase to let me know I have a new
batch of mail screaming down the pipe.
In that avalanche of mail that poured into
my mailbox like a broken-handled faucet, I noticed a
pieced of spam (gotta love the spam). This wasn’t’
just an ordinary piece of spam this was a high-tech,
glossy piece of spam – an html spam (the ones with
fancy pictures on it).
This spam was actually from someone I had
met in person and gotten my email address off a piece
of email I had sent to her and then put me into her
spam database without permission.
This piece of spam was a marketing lesson
that I needed to share with you…
The spam was nicely set up with a headline
and subheads, but since it was HTML and the headline
was an image the image took way too long to load and
I was already into the subhead (it was text) before
the headline even made its first showing.
The subhead (first thing I read) said, “Are
you trying to force round pegs into square holes?”
Now we’ve all heard this cliché line before and I’m
asking myself what the heck does it mean and what the
heck does it mean to me in the context of your
business???
Copywriting Tip #1
Don’t use cliché lines in your headlines and
sub headlines. We’ve all heard them before which
means we don’t take notice and they don’t cause us to
think. You need provocative headlines and subheads
that engage your reader and make them think about
themselves in terms of your business or
solution.
This was a question type of headline and
question type headlines are a strong headline option
– but, you must ask thought provoking, engaging
questions. Don’t waste your one opportunity to grab
your reader with a worn out, cliché, wet-noodle
question. Smash them over the head with something
that will engage them and get them wanting to read
the next line of copy.
Copywriting Tip #2
The sole purpose of your headline, subhead
and photo captions is to get the reader to read your
first sentence of copy!! This is the most important
step you can get them to take. If they just skim your
ad from top to bottom your chances that they take
your desired action is drastically
reduced.
You must get them to the first line of copy.
Your first line of copy should be short and its sole
job is to get them to read the next line of copy. The
second line of copy’s job is to get the reader to
read the next line – and so forth.
Your first two paragraphs of copy should be
short and non-threatening and should create a desire
for the prospect to keep reading through to the next
paragraph.
The copy should create a “slippery-slide”
down the copy to the call to action. All along the
copy should anticipate and answer any questions the
reader would come up with as they read.
This “slippery-slide” copy concept was
taught to me by Joe Sugarman. Joe is one of the all
time great direct response copywriters of our time.
He is the marketing master behind so huge product
success stories such as “Blu-Blocker
Sunglasses.”
Copywriting Tip #3
Have you ever been standing in a line for a
ride at Disney World or another busy theme park? Have
you ever noticed how the line is all zigzagged? Have
you ever wondered why they do that? It’s not to save
space it’s to make you feel more comfortable and so
you don’t freak out at how long the line
is.
Imagine how long the line would look if it
were perfectly straight!
The same goes for your copy.
The third copywriting tip I’m going to give
you here is to use sub headlines to break up your
body copy into manageable sections. This keeps the
reader engaged and makes the copy seem easier to read
and not as long. These sub headlines can be a summary
of a major point in the previous paragraph or in the
one to follow. They could also be a curiosity
generating line about what’s to come in the
copy.
Testing has shown that the content of the
subheads are not as important as them being
there.
Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller are the authors
of “The Ten Tall Tales Of Traditional Advertising
That Cost You Tons” and their newest release,
“The Small Business Owner’s Guide To The Galaxy:
Jim & Travis’s Super-Stellar, Out Of This World,
Step-By-Step Guide To Generating Leads, Attracting
Customers and Making Sales.” Get FREE small
business marketing tips, shortcuts and secrets -
RIGHT NOW - at http://www.GravitationalMarketing.com
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