What's wrong with "Who Else Wants To Blah Blah Blah"?

[Adam Kenzington]

I, too, hate the "Who Else?..." headline. To me, it seems to be an "Also ran" type of "me too" appeal. Sheep following the crowded beaten path. I'm not interested in safety in numbers. I was to secret strategies that the crowd hasn't exploited, yet. The insider information that gives me the competitive edge that the "who else" crowd hasn't yet discovered.

[Kevin Rogers]

I'd have to point to the "Blah Blah Blah" part of it.

Up till there you've got a pretty good headline, then it's like you just gave up.

[Ken Strong]

Originally Posted by Kevin Rogers

I'd have to point to the "Blah Blah Blah" part of it.

Up till there you've got a pretty good headline, then it's like you just gave up.

Not really -- LOTS of people like to blah blah blah every chance they get. I bet there's a huge market for it.

[Matt_L]

Yeah, I agree. And while we're on the topic of the over-used and cliched ...

Who else is tired of long form sales letters with big red hypnotic hyperbolic headlines that subtly whip even the most suspicious cynic into a frenzied "buy now or die" purchasing mode that she is helpless to control?


C'mon, who's with me!?!

(Just kiddin'.)

[ImportEyedea]

Originally Posted by Adam Kenzington

I, too, hate the "Who Else?..." headline. To me, it seems to be an "Also ran" type of "me too" appeal. Sheep following the crowded beaten path. I'm not interested in safety in numbers. I was to secret strategies that the crowd hasn't exploited, yet. The insider information that gives me the competitive edge that the "who else" crowd hasn't yet discovered.

Wholeheartedly agree. Once I hear everyone else is doing it, I run!

From my thinking, I don't really want to attract team members with the Follow mentality. Yes there is a such thing as coachability,(sp??) but at the same time, your team can't grow if there aren't people thinking about how to move it forward.

People that only want to copy, don't grow as far or as wide.

[David Raybould]

Originally Posted by Matt_L

Yeah, I agree. And while we're on the topic of the over-used and cliched ...

Who else is tired of long form sales letters with big red hypnotic hyperbolic headlines that subtly whip even the most suspicious cynic into a frenzied "buy now or die" purchasing mode that she is helpless to control?

Probably not the guys who use those
letters to make tens of millions of dollars.

Just a guess.

[Matt_L]

David -

You missed my joke.

Whether we attribute this to my poor joke telling or your rapid jump to defend the art of the long form sales letter, I don't know.

Predilection (knowledge of my own poor joke telling) moves me toward the former, however, I suspect in reality the answer lies somewhere in the combination of the two proposed answers.

In any event, here's the joke, or pun, or insight, or blah blah blah:

"Who else wants to ..." boasts a proud history as a money maker. And, the phrase usually makes it rounds on the front end of long sales copy.

And, long sales copy boasts a proud history as a money maker. (We all agree that it owes some of its successes to the headline "Who else wants to ...".)

So, in essence we have a micro component ("Who else ...") embedded in a macro component (long sales copy).

Now that we're on the same page, the gist of the joke/insight was --

Sure we can throw out "Who else ..." and "If you're like me ... " and "They laughed when I ... " and all the other well-tested, well-known and slightly beat up phrases.

But if we throw them out, don't we force, by implication, a reexamination of the platform that brought these phrases center stage?

In the hands of a skilled writer/story teller long copy works. Just as "Who else wants to ... " will work in the hands of a skilled writer. Of that, you'll get no argument from me.

[ImportEyedea]

#1 google search for soload examples yields a site on which the first piece of advice for writing a powerful headline is....

WHO ELSE WANTS TO....


when in doubt, blame Google =)

[RareGoodStuff]

Originally Posted by Paul McQuillan

People are not dying for a creative headline, they want to buy
stuff that will help them.

While I agree that a creative headline is not all that is needed to pull in sales, but a good headline grabs attention and lures the reader to probe further.

Don't ignore a good headline.

The ideal thing is to have a solid product that makes a buyer salivate, then unleash a great headline with a powerful copy.

I like this order and mix:

1. Solid product
2. Great headline
3. Powerful sales copy.

This is the way I personally see it. I could be wrong but having observed successful copywriters, I see this common touch.

[Caleb D Miller]

It really makes you stand out in the IM niche when you are willing to give away some actual information on your sales page.

Like give away one of the steps. You can have hype, but if you're all hype, it seems you're only going to catch the greenest of noobs.

[Daniel Scott]

Originally Posted by David Raybould

Probably not the guys who use those
letters to make tens of millions of dollars.

Just a guess.

As always Dave... you put it so beautifully.

To the OP...

Now you've told me what you hate... let me tell you what I love.

I love the fact that so many "marketers" bitch and moan about stuff being tired and overused... saying it doesn't work... even though they have NO evidence to prove it.

Because if YOU don't like it... it just won't work... right?

Then guys like Dave or myself can come along and "clean up"... because instead of spending our trying trying to figure out what works... we've just learned from the 100+ years of direct response secrets from guys like Schwab... Ogilvy... and others.

I'm not saying creativity is bad... it's a very good thing to have.

By all means... test new and interesting ways of doing things.

But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The "Who Else" headlines can still kick ass if they're used properly... as do most "cliches".

-Dan

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

I love the fact that so many "marketers" bitch and moan about stuff being tired and overused... saying it doesn't work... even though they have NO evidence to prove it.

They are people it doesn't work on. I would hardly call that no evidence and I haven't seen anyone present the evidence that it still works as an independent factor for all groups either.

Because if YOU don't like it... it just won't work... right?

Yes for that group of people. Whats the problem? We are all humans and its just a fact that we get tired of things we hear over and over again. thats self evident and been proven many times.

Then guys like Dave or myself can come along and "clean up"... because instead of spending our trying trying to figure out what works... we've just learned from the 100+ years of direct response secrets from guys like Schwab... Ogilvy... and others.

I'm not saying creativity is bad... it's a very good thing to have.

And Ogilvy and Schwab didn't have it? and that wasn't one of their secrets? Did you really study 100+ years of direct response marketing? and missed some of the drop dead creative can't repeat by color by numbers techniques they used?

The "Who Else" headlines can still kick ass if they're used properly... as do most "cliches".

-Dan

I don't think anyone is really questioning if it ever can have appeal. This thread is about the exact opposite - if repeated too much it can totally suck too. The entire point of a headline is to hold attention. Its the nature of the human mind to get bored with too much repetition.

I really can't see why a few of you get so bent out of shape over something so obvious.