Why you need to become the Jane Goodall of Marketing…
So you’re starting to get the hang of this copywriting thing, right? And you have all these little bits and pieces you know you need to snap into your letter, such as:
- An attention-getting headline.
- An emotional button-pushing opener.
- Subheadlines sprinkled throughout the copy that snap, crackle and pop.
- Curiosity-arousing benefit statements.
- Proof of those bold claims.
- A strong call to action.
…And all the other ingredients you need to create a sizzling sales letter.
You’re pumped. You can’t wait to crank out this sales letter cause you know it’ll dazzle people. So you open up a new word processing document and…
WAIT! Hang on…
Before you write a single word, there’s one very important thing you need to do – namely, get inside your prospect’s head.
You see, a lot of new copywriters act like zombies when they write sales letters. The copy is… dead. Flat. Lifeless. Limp.
Oh sure, at first glance the sales letter looks dazzling and pretty and bright. And usually that’s because the copywriter has sprinkled in all the words that sound right, like “secrets” and “discover” and “how to.”
Like this…
Announcing the Amazing Whiz-Bang Revolutionary All New Guaranteed-To-Knock-Your-Socks-Off Secret That Shows You How to…
Uff.
That’s a sloppy word salad.
And it’s the mark of an amateur copywriter.
You see, fancy words alone don’t make a good sales letter. Instead, scrap the fancy talk and instead talk to your prospect. Get inside his head. See the world through his eyes. Find out what makes his heart ache, what excites him, and what scares the bediddles out of him.
Now, maybe you’ve heard about “profiling” your target market. That means writing down everything you know about them, from their age to what they ate for breakfast this morning.
Here’s the big problem with profiling…
Most new copywriters just guess.
That’s a big mistake.
You see, you can’t crawl into your prospect’s head by guessing what he’s thinking. And you can’t crawl into your prospects head by creating a profile of what you’d like your perfect prospect to look like.
No, if you want to create a sales letter to resonate with the prospect, then you better make damn sure that you KNOW everything about your prospect. No guessing.
So how do you know for certain?
Easy – you become a part of the target market. You enter your prospect’s world. You wear his clothes, talk his talk and walk his walk. You break into his inner circle.
You see…
The only way to truly understand a person’s emotional hot buttons, hopes, fears and desires is to become the Jane Goodall of marketing…
And That means living among your market for a while to study ‘em up close.
Once you really understand your prospects, THEN you can write your letter. But don’t even think of writing one word before you get to that point. Otherwise, you’re just another amateur creating a sloppy word salad.
