New Copywriters: Stacking Your Cards Of Proof For Conversions
Pluck Just One Card Away From The Bottom,
And Your House Of Cards Will Crumble To Dust...
... And similarly, you can't lose this one if you
don't want your copy crumbling away...
"Proof."
A simple word that springs so many possibilities in your
head -
But even so, you still continue to struggle with that
rope around your neck...
"Everyone buys on belief, but no one believes my
proof!"A starting copywriter cries out.
This revelation can immediately freeze you in mid-air
even if you're falling over the cliff of Complete Copy
Failure, plus you'll know -
-- The secret behind this analogy great copywriters
use to melt away resistance like cotton candy...
-- How Gary Halbert makes readers 'pant' breathlessly
down a sales page like he does it for fun...
-- 8 techniques you can immediately use to bring to
life your prospect's senses...
-- The "Super Glue" (A trick to stick readers on the cliff)
Let us just take a step back and determine what belief
really is to your prospect.
It simply means... "I am satisfied with your proof".
It doesn't really matter how fallacious and unrelated
your reasons are - as long as it trips the logical mind,
and has a believable 'because'...
This is controversial but... it makes everything much
more believable.
Back in the days when the knowledge of doctored
photos wasn't wide-spread... A Before and After photos
could squeeze out loud gasps of surprise from crowds.
Now, not so.
People now don't treat that as absolute proof because
anyone with decent Photoshop skills can warp
pimple-caked rocks to silky-smooth skin...
Scrawny boys to the Incredible Hulk...
You get the picture.
The problem with this is that you're presenting the
proof in a documentary kind of way.
Here's how it normally goes...
You: (Picture of proof) Look here, I have proof, so
you must believe me.
Reader from 1960s: It's a picture! (Gets sucked in)
Reader from now: (Raises eyebrow) Okay, can't
know if it's real... (Reads more. Finds no other proof.
Dismisses as hype.)
The problem with this documentary-style dishing out of
proof is that it's boring -
It engages the reader's thinking mind... And if his
thinking mind does not agree with you, it's a "Knock-Out"
for you.
Instead, try to present your proof in a "lateral" thinking
manner.
That means something that engages the senses, sends
hormones gushing and emotions roaring like thunder.
You want vivid mental pictures and their own imagination
to burst into life like loud fireworks or gunpowder.
Think Of Your Proof As Each Card Into Your House Of
Cards...
The story, the dramatization, the metaphors, the manner,
the style in which you place these proof in carefully...
... Think of it as the manner as you place your proof
cards.
Instead of the normal house of cards...
...
Go For These!
If you're not convinced yet, then ignore me, because
you'll probably never utilize this technique.
Many great copywriters didn't ignore this - they
normally smash through this with phenomenally great
copy.
It's demonstration - that pulses the proof through the
mind of your reader...
Eugene Schwartz - Up to 9 miles...Horsepower!
Some day, if you ever have a spare moment, lift one
of the old-fashioned spark plugs out of your car! Look
at the bottom of that plug. In 10 seconds, you'll learn
more about gas waste than any book could teach you
in a year.
---
It's foreshadowing - that gives a vague anticipation
that "something" is going to happen in the future of
the drama...
John Carlton-The Nickel Letter:
Anyway, on this particular night an ordinary looking
man named Chris Clugston made the mistake of
driving out to this isolated warehouse. He thought
he was going to see a band play music, maybe find
a nice girl to dance with, have some fun on a hot
summer night. He didn't have much money on him -
after paying the "cover" to get inside and ordering a
beer, all he had left was one little nickel in his pocket.
Remember that - a single nickel. Not even enough to
leave a tip at the makeshift bar.
---
It's rhythm - the "John Carlton" style of peppering
bullet after bullet like a gunslinger out of Hollywood.
This Gary Halbert example built the momentum like
a hurricane. You can literally feel that rhythm!
Gary Halbert-Nasdaq Stocks:
This will exert enormous downward pressure on the
shares of Baldness Cure, Inc. Now, imagine Ma & Pa
Kettle who bought 10,000 shares and are watching
those shares drop as much as $7.00 per share... the
first few minutes the market is open!
What do they do? They panic! There goes their
retirement money. There goes the Winnebago and all
those vacations they had planned. They decide to cut
their losses, call their broker and enter an hysterical
sell order.
The stock plunges down further. Now, it's at $26.00
per share... which is down $9.00 from the opening.
But... all of a sudden it stops falling. The graph will
look like it hit a cement floor, flattened out... and
then... started to go back up. Why is the price now
going up? Because... all those brokers who sold the
stock short...
---
It's association with daily usage and testability by
your own self - the masterful use of metaphors to
attach similar meanings and emotions to your "proof"
and benefits...
Gary Halbert -Housewife Ad
Reason #1 -- this diet makes liberal use of a natural
food substance that eliminates hunger. This food
substance is widely used in Europe but almost unheard
of in the United States. It looks and tastes exactly
like table sugar. You use it the same way. You can mix
it in your coffee or sprinkle it on cereals or in recipes as
a substitute for table sugar. The substance is perfectly
safe. Remember -- it is a food not a drug. It is much
better for you than ordinary table sugar because it does
not provoke an insulin response. When eaten regularly
throughout the day the substance very dramatically
reduces hunger. It also has a soothing effect on jangled
nerves.
---
It's the creation of 'wonder' of the unknown and lateral
story-telling of scientific facts...
Ben Suarez - Famed Physicist...
All of us. at this very moment, are living our lives in an
endless "Sea of Energy". Surrounded by vast electrostatic,
magnetic, light and gravitational fields, we remain for the
most part totally unaware of them and the effects they
have on our bodies and on our basic life processes. Do you
know that the pulsating magnetic field of the earth
stimulates normal brain rhythm and that when you are under
emotional stress or suffering great pain your own bodily
magnetic field can increase enough to approximate that of
the Earth?
---
It's dialogue - that can spur the human interaction that
many people desire... And warp their realities as they get
sucked into the story...
Claude Hopkins - Schlitz Beer
American Doctor: To what, Doctor, do you attribute your
success of the German people?
German Doctor: To one thing, my dear Doctor, just to their
temperance.
American: But Doctor, we think of your people as heavy
drinkers.
German: Ah, but the drink is beer. While other nationalities
have their wines, whiskies and vodkas containing large
percentages of alcohol and very little food value, we stick
to our beer with its nourishing barley and tonical hops and
only 3.5% alcohol.
American: You say only 3.5% alcohol as though it's not
beneficial.
German: I do not mean it in that sense. We find alcohol has
a food and stimulating value when the proportion is not too
great. The danger is overstimulation, impossible when the
percentage is so small as in beer.
---
It's tackling the convention -
Agora Publishing Files - Nag! Nag! Nag! They never let up!
In a recent study of 2,000 women who had suffered heart
attacks, taking estrogen doubled their risk of further problems.
Understand, I am not saying that Hormone Replacement
Therapy is bad for your heart. It's just that most menopausal
women are receiving the wrong mix of hormones. Doctors are
flooding their systems with too much estrogen and
progesterone, usually dangerous synthetics, when in fact...
The heart-healthy hormone women need is TESTOSTERONE
---
It's interaction with past users of your solution - that's
testimonials! As well as subtlety when tapping into the hidden
benefits of what your customers secretly want...
Bud Weckesser - When I see my Ex-husband, i have this
secret trick i play on him
Marie C is a 42 year old woman who went from 167 to 139
pounds in just three and a half months.
"As I got into the program, I began to feel better, to develop
more energy. Now my husband has trouble keeping up with
me - in every way! I'm proud of my new body."
---
If you want to make it stand out - you need to make it
impactful and out of the commonplace.
BUT - if you want it to stick like "Super Glue"...
You drop them off like this.