What's The Best Way To Find Your Hook?

so... when I write copy, I first think of my market and who it is I'm selling to.

I think of their biggest problems, their fears and frustrations, what they want fixed so they can be happy again...

Everyone is already motivated. The only question is “By what?”

My job is to find out what it is that motivates this market.

Then I show the reader how he/she can get what he/she wants through your product or service.

in other words, i find the main motivations of the market... then i line my copy up so it gives them exactly that... answers to their problems and motivations.

My job as a copywriter is to find the prospect’s motivation and demonstrate that the product will help them get what they want.

And honestly, just doing this will usually set you apart from other writers who focus on all the stuff THEY think is important, which may not be what the market thinks is important.

and to top it all off, I try to think of the most pressing/urgent, most overwhelming problem in this market... and I use that throughout the letter and try to position my client as the expert/go-to person and logical choice to go to in order to solve that problem.

and in my digging, i'll usually find a nugget of info that really does separate my client from all the others... but again, it has to line up with the prospect's motivations.

if someone wants to lose weight and fit back into a bikini, everything i write will target those motivations and then my hook will be showing them why my client is different/better/unique and can help them with their motivations.

Totally depends...

I tend to create hooks that really activate people's imaginations or tap into what they wanted BEFORE life got its claws in them.

My hooks almost always aspire to not just trigger hope, but a deep, repressed desire for FINALLY giving themselves permission to go after what they really want.

Of course...

That means I need to be selling a product or service that gives me that opp.

Mark Pescetti

P.S. Combining the brand message and the hook is always a good method to aspire for. It allows you to keep repeating the brand ideal to the audience and bring them deeper and deeper into your world.

The "hook" of "lead" for your copy can come in a few different flavors:

1. You can make it 'newsy' so you tell the prospect something that
is in the "man bites dog" department.

2. Use an interesting story.

3. Make a prediction, such as "the death of the Warrior Forum".
(This is commonly used in the investment/financial field.)

4. Challenge a commonly held "truth", such as "eat what you want and
still lose weight", "David beat Goliath".

5. Make a promise for reading the copy.

The hook you choose would depend on what Schwartz call the
"market awareness" of the prospect, and can be broadly centered
on the product, the desire or the problem to be solved.

-Ray Edwards

If you know the answer to these 4 questions, you have everything you need to make your hook:

1. Why Me?
2. Why You?
3. Why This?
4. Why Now?

Yes, absolutely.

It's called testing.

You think of 3-5 - the logical ones that come naturally.

Then you test each one and gather data. The one that generates the
best response is your hook.

Read Robert Collier.

Excellent information here for those of us who are struggling.

Its full of amazing ideas!
I chose forums and masjid announcements. I don't really feel like going to a second source or a whole bunch of links/social networking sites to get my information. I'd rather just go to the source. But I might be biased, that's my own personal feeling.
ALSO, I'm sure if this poll was made on fb pages, it would gather a much larger response.......we may just steal your idea if you don't mind.