Write The Copy... THEN the Product??

[RevenueRabbi]

A person that sells stuff on TV Told me...

"We Create The (infomercial product) Ad, then we create the information product.. we are just obviously very careful that the product contains everything we say in the ad so its legid..."

is this ever done by the gurus?

Product NAME
SalesLetter

Then product created afterward during buzz in time up to launch??

[businessmentor]

Yes, even big software companies do this sometimes, it is known as vaporware at the time of promotion.
As long as you build the product with all the promised features on time, it will work.

[Alexandre Valois]

That's the best way to create the "irresistible offer".

Go all out with your promises, make sure you really blow the lid and overdeliver - then get creative and find ways to keep up with your promises.

I find that it works wonders!
Alex.

[Trader54]

Get the book by Mark Joyner

"The Irresistible Offer" How to Sell Your Product or Service
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[D Ambrose]

An interesting, albeit strange, concept indeed.

It is similar to thinking "what sells?"

Answer: money making opportunities

So the "seller" then thinks of ways to make money and documents it as he tries it. So here he has the "product" idea in his head AFTER he thinks about how to sell it (by thinking 'what sells?')

If successful, the seller then sells his documentation on how he made money.

A very common product creation thought process.

As for the OP question: I firmly believe many companies use this concept (sales letter/video before product creation)

[myob]

I often will write ad copy for non-existent products just to test the market. If there are substantial orders for a good profit, my in-house writers can churn it out and delivered within 48 hours. Refunds are issued for the bombs, which does happen occassionally. I learned this technique from a data products company that I worked for years ago. They put ads in magazines (which can have lead times of 6 months or more) of products that were only in the design stage. By the time the ads hit, the prototypes were produced. If there were just a few orders, the project was scrapped.

[e-genius]

Yes buddy, that's the way. Almost all the real marketing millionaires out there use this method. And you should duplicate them.

These guys have researched their campaigns thousands of times and it came out that when they write the ad before they create product, they actually would get more sales, due to the accuracy of their ad.

Thats the way to go buddy.

[Dana_W]

The other, obvious advantage to writing your ad copy first is that it really helps you plan out your product and decide what to incorporate in the product. Writing a list of bullet points for your product, and then creating the product around that, works really well.

[Alex Sol]

An interesting question that intrigued me as well! I started a similar thread a few days ago and got some amazing advice! Hope this helps:

Chicken or the Egg (Sales Letter or Content)

[Kyle Tully]

Whether you actually write the copy or not, you've got to at the very least think about how you're going to sell a product before you create it.

Most people get it backwards... create product ==> try and figure out how to sell it ==> realize it's not exactly what the market wanted ==> start over again.

It's so much easier to figure out what the market wants, figure out how you're going to sell it, then create the product that lives up to your sales pitch.

The more you learn about copywriting the more you'll naturally begin to think this way.

Personally I don't usually write the salesletter before creating the product, but I've got a good idea of exactly what promises I'm going to make and I create the product based on them.

[Chris Kent]

If you're in a market and want to offer a competitive product without differentiating, use existing sales copy to outline for your product!

[summer07]

It's been a common approach in the offline publishing world for ages. Writers submit a "query letter" to publishers, which is basically a sales pitch of their book (or article) idea to the publisher. If the publisher likes it, a contract gets written and the writer goes forward.

The publisher gets the exact product they want, and the writer has a guaranteed buyer. Everybody's happy.

Audre