What-If Copywriting and How-To Copywriting Methods For Storytelling
Posted 11-19-2008 at 11:22 AM by Robert Plank
Tags copywriting, sales letters, storytelling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_bJVnW5k8o
If you know anything about copywriting then you must know at least a tiny bit about storytelling. Personally, I think that cookie-cutter sales letters with headlines, openers, benefit points, a guarantee and call-to-action can sell just fine. But if you already have all the correct selling elements in the right place, you can increase that sales letter's conversion rate by leaps and bounds if you introduce a story to connect the elements together and get people to read all the way through.
First, there is the What If story category. All you need to know to tell this kind of story is the word "imagine." Let's say you are selling tickets to a coaching program. You say, imagine you found a very pristine looking country club in a part of town you never knew existed. When you enter the club, you find it filled with the coolest celebrities, all kinds of rare books you wanted to read but never knew existed, this is the perfect hang-out place for you. But then a bouncer stops you and expects you to pay money to be here. As you sigh and prepare to either leave or empty out your wallet, the bouncer asks for one dollar. Only one dollar? You expected to pay 1000 dollars...
At that point you can explain to your readers how you have so many thousands of dollars worth of value in your coaching program, but people can get started with a 1 dollar trial.
The other kind of story is "H"... the how-to story. All you need to do is tell your prospects how to do something. This is also known as an advertorial where you teach something first, and lead into a sale at the end, instead of selling constantly. The other day, my girlfriend applied to become a transcriptionist online but failed the typing test because she typed too slow. We began to look for information about DVORAK keyboards, which, unlike the usual QWERTY keyboards, is designed to help you type quickly.
I stumbled across a long, very well written article that told me everything I needed to know about DVORAK keyboards, it answered all my questions. At the end, it led to a DVORAK keyboard training course complete with the info to get the hardware you need, downloadable videos and a DVD, even a software program to get you started quickly. The correct way to sell using an advertorial is to get prospects to read the entire sales letter, lead in to a compelling offer, and finally order at the end.
Those are two different ways to tell stories in your sales letters: the what-if story, and the how-to story. I am sure you can find many other kinds of stories but those are the two I usually go for when I want to introduce storytelling in my copywriting.
Get the exact step by step formula to write a sales letter in five minutes or less, complete with easy to use worksheets and plug-n-play headlines, offers, stories, and guarantees... http://www.fiveminutecopywriting.com
If you know anything about copywriting then you must know at least a tiny bit about storytelling. Personally, I think that cookie-cutter sales letters with headlines, openers, benefit points, a guarantee and call-to-action can sell just fine. But if you already have all the correct selling elements in the right place, you can increase that sales letter's conversion rate by leaps and bounds if you introduce a story to connect the elements together and get people to read all the way through.
First, there is the What If story category. All you need to know to tell this kind of story is the word "imagine." Let's say you are selling tickets to a coaching program. You say, imagine you found a very pristine looking country club in a part of town you never knew existed. When you enter the club, you find it filled with the coolest celebrities, all kinds of rare books you wanted to read but never knew existed, this is the perfect hang-out place for you. But then a bouncer stops you and expects you to pay money to be here. As you sigh and prepare to either leave or empty out your wallet, the bouncer asks for one dollar. Only one dollar? You expected to pay 1000 dollars...
At that point you can explain to your readers how you have so many thousands of dollars worth of value in your coaching program, but people can get started with a 1 dollar trial.
The other kind of story is "H"... the how-to story. All you need to do is tell your prospects how to do something. This is also known as an advertorial where you teach something first, and lead into a sale at the end, instead of selling constantly. The other day, my girlfriend applied to become a transcriptionist online but failed the typing test because she typed too slow. We began to look for information about DVORAK keyboards, which, unlike the usual QWERTY keyboards, is designed to help you type quickly.
I stumbled across a long, very well written article that told me everything I needed to know about DVORAK keyboards, it answered all my questions. At the end, it led to a DVORAK keyboard training course complete with the info to get the hardware you need, downloadable videos and a DVD, even a software program to get you started quickly. The correct way to sell using an advertorial is to get prospects to read the entire sales letter, lead in to a compelling offer, and finally order at the end.
Those are two different ways to tell stories in your sales letters: the what-if story, and the how-to story. I am sure you can find many other kinds of stories but those are the two I usually go for when I want to introduce storytelling in my copywriting.
Get the exact step by step formula to write a sales letter in five minutes or less, complete with easy to use worksheets and plug-n-play headlines, offers, stories, and guarantees... http://www.fiveminutecopywriting.com
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