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What Gets Up My Nose - No Fluff/No BS

by The Copy Nazi Banned
20 replies
You know what really gets up my nose?

(You nose it and I nose it but do they nose it?)

...when I keep reading in the opening para of sales copy...words similar to -
I'm gonna get straight to the point. There's no fluff and no BS in this report. You're a busy person. You haven't the time to wade through tons of filler. So I'm not going to waste your time. This report blah blah blah.
Do you find that irritating too? I notice the WSOs are full of that stuff.

Get to the point already. There's no need to bull**** me with that tactic. We get it. Its been done to death.
#bad advertising copy #fluff or no #nose
  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Big yah. I always notice it, and I always have a mini
    debate in my noggin about whether or not I should post
    something just like you did here. lol.

    There's another place where this semi-mortal sin is
    committed. Ebooks. I read that and roll my eyes and
    think things I cannot say here.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by KenThompson View Post

      Big yah. I always notice it, and I always have a mini
      debate in my noggin about whether or not I should post
      something just like you did here. lol.

      There's another place where this semi-mortal sin is
      committed. Ebooks. I read that and roll my eyes and
      think things I cannot say here.
      Oh yeah - ebooks are full of it. Then you have the ebooks that are double-spaced. The copy says "Download my 250 page ebook." When in reality it's a 125 page ebook at best. And how come people haven't figured out how to hyperlink URLs in their craphouse PDFs? Two words - Open Office.

      And if I were pushing an ebook I wouldn't call it that. Too many negative associations with that word now. I'd call it an "online report" or something. Never "ebook".
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      • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
        Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

        Oh yeah - ebooks are full of it. Then you have the ebooks that are double-spaced. The copy says "Download my 250 page ebook." When in reality it's a 125 page ebook at best. And how come people haven't figured out how to hyperlink URLs in their craphouse PDFs? Two words - Open Office.

        And if I were pushing an ebook I wouldn't call it that. Too many negative associations with that word now. I'd call it an "online report" or something. Never "ebook".
        craphouse pdfs. LOL. Cool.

        Hmmm... how about downloadable tome? But maybe that's too many
        syllables, and they may not have any idea what a tome is.

        Portable pdf? No, reminds me of porta-potties. Porta-pdf. Hmmm... maybe
        I'm onto something.

        Oh yes. I bought a 'real' physical spiral bound book from a well-known
        marketer. Some years ago. It was almost 100 pages but printed on only
        one side. So now I was down to about 47 pages of no fluff, no filler, and
        no pages. lol. I remember thinking, 'why you little sh*t.'
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

    ...when I keep reading in the opening para of sales copy...words similar to - Do you find that irritating too? I notice the WSOs are full of that stuff.

    Get to the point already. There's no need to bull**** me with that tactic. We get it. Its been done to death.

    It's a waste of time and space and what [copy]writers would refer
    to as the warming up paragraph that you DELETE in the first edit.

    Most times your letter only start to flow in the third to fifth paragraph,
    so you cut the poor introductions.

    This is one place where you want to SHOW and not TELL. If you are
    going to get to the point then just DO IT. Don't tell me you're
    going to do it. If you are going to leave out the fluff then just
    do it, don't tell me you're going to do it.

    It's like insulting me then saying I shouldn't be hurt about it because
    you told me you were going to do it.

    -Ray Edwards
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    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author Dean Dhuli
    Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

    I'm gonna get straight to the point. There's no fluff and no BS in this report. You're a busy person. You haven't the time to wade through tons of filler. So I'm not going to waste your time. This report blah blah blah.
    I sometimes use "I'll get straight to the point" when I write emails
    but this is really a bit too much.

    It's like saying I'll get straight to the point... and never ever getting to it!







    ]
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  • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
    Lmao, absolutely quality thread! I agree entirely with it, it's just funny to see such honesty (Purely in a good way )
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Lam
    Malcolm, have I told you lately that I love you? LOL. Great thread. To answer your question, I don't think they "nose" it yet. There are still a lot of folks that take this approach. I agree with Raydal, get to the damn point already. "I don't want to waste your time 'cause, blah, blah, blah... blah, blah, blah..." Oh shut it already.

    I admit I've used something like that, but I really DO get to the point. I.E. "I don't want to waste your time, so let's dig in..." and then I tell them what it is. I don't normally do this. In fact the last time I said something like that was probably almost 2 years ago.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Kevin Lam View Post

      Malcolm, have I told you lately that I love you? LOL. Great thread. To answer your question, I don't think they "nose" it yet. There are still a lot of folks that take this approach. I agree with Raydal, get to the damn point already. "I don't want to waste your time 'cause, blah, blah, blah... blah, blah, blah..." Oh shut it already.

      I admit I've used something like that, but I really DO get to the point. I.E. "I don't want to waste your time, so let's dig in..." and then I tell them what it is. I don't normally do this. In fact the last time I said something like that was probably almost 2 years ago.
      Platonic love, I trust. BTW I can't help but wonder what our sea-fishing mate's response to this would be? He's a great one for the waffle.

      But really...in this gig you only have a few seconds to grab them by the cojones before they click off. So tell 'em what you've got, tell 'em why their miserable lives will be enriched by it, tell 'em the price and tell 'em where to get it. The rest is just frosting. This pitch might have been fresh once but now its as stale as. Web surfers are much more sophisticated than they were even a few years back. They don't have time for the jive talk - the BS.
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      • Profile picture of the author dotslash
        The above example by Metrocity is definitely a bit overdone.

        But I don't think you'd really notice it so much unless you're a
        copywriter or someone on the vendor side of the info product business.

        For most other people that's just another sentence in the letter.
        Well I'm no copywriter and I notice it! When I see 'no fluff', or 'no filler' all I think is that this report I'm paying $100 for is going to be about 2 pages long as the author couldn't be arsed to spin it out any longer.

        The idea is fair enough but that copy just comes over as an excuse about how short the product will be, I'd like a bit of filler which I could ignore thanks very much.

        Neil
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Lam
        Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

        Platonic love, I trust. BTW I can't help but wonder what our sea-fishing mate's response to this would be? He's a great one for the waffle.
        Yeah... right... platonic. Whatever you say.

        Let's not mention him. I think I caused a thread to get closed... although... if it were the case, I would think the mods would just delete my post, I dunno. Could have been a coincidence, but either way, not going to ever mention him again.

        I must say, Mike and Dan has a great point. I *AM* more ticked off by how poorly it's done by others... but especially in ebooks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dean Dhuli
    The above example by Metrocity is definitely a bit overdone.

    But I don't think you'd really notice it so much unless you're a
    copywriter or someone on the vendor side of the info product business.

    For most other people that's just another sentence in the letter.


    - Dean


    ;
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  • Profile picture of the author colmodwyer
    You'll notice quite a lot of things are overdone when you read a gazillion sales letters a day...

    Fact is the ol' straight shootin' lead works and it ain't looking for your approval...

    Unless you're a potential buyer.

    Colm
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Scott
    I don't think it's the concept that irritates you as much as it being poorly done.

    One of my recent letters starts off with exactly this kind of beginning... and although it hasn't gone live yet, I (and Vin) think it will do quite well.

    Like anything, it has its uses... if it fits and if it's done well.

    -Dan
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    Always looking for badass direct-response copywriters. PM me if we don't know each other and you're looking for work.

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  • Profile picture of the author MikeHumphreys
    Originally Posted by Metronicity View Post

    You know what really gets up my nose?
    (You nose it and I nose it but do they nose it?)

    ...when I keep reading in the opening para of sales copy...words similar to - Do you find that irritating too? I notice the WSOs are full of that stuff.

    Get to the point already. There's no need to bull**** me with that tactic. We get it. Its been done to death.
    It's probably more about poorly written copy than using that tactic. Veteran copywriters like Joe Sugarman and Clayton Makepeace having been using it for years. The difference is they use it to pull you right into some seriously good kick-a$$ sales copy. As Sugarman calls it, the "greased shute".

    The other thing is... a lot of ideas get swiped in the WF and used by other Warriors for their WSOs. Case in point, a few years ago I ran a WSO for my multi-variate testing software where I used a headline with then original phrase "Split Testing On Steroids" in it. Well after that, I saw no less than a dozen other WSOs where the poster used "On Steroids" as part of a headline.

    Gotta run,

    Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
      Originally Posted by MikeHumphreys View Post

      a few years ago I ran a WSO for my multi-variate testing software where I used a headline with then original phrase "Split Testing On Steroids" in it.
      Now we know who to blame...

      HAW!

      Best,

      Brian
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      Brian McLeod
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      • Profile picture of the author Jack Bastide
        OK I'll be straight with you here ...

        I'm not gonna ramble on ...

        No BS here ... straight to the point

        This is my honest opinion

        No Fluff ...

        NO pomp and circumstance

        or is that circumsized?

        I guess what I'm trying to say is ...

        I AGREE

        Jack
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        If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying

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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
    Banned
    My Sales Copy Is Like A High Priced Hooker ...Not Cheap But Worth It - Pm Me For Details
    Ha ha. You know I tried something in a WSO I ran a few months back. I put my cell phone number up. As a test. It was something Gary Halbert recommended. Halbert said -
    the secret to a successful website comes down to 2 things - Content & Contact. Now we all know good content is important but have we really addressed the "contact" side of it?

    Halbert said to forget about having a "Buy Now" button on your site. Know what he said works far better? Put your phone number instead of a Buy Now button. And not a Toll-Free 0800 number either - a local area Phone Number.

    What do you think about that? He said he tested and tested it and people prefer to ring a Local Area phone number rather than a Toll-Free number.
    I tried it. It didn't work. So I changed the title to -

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...tml#post933060
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  • Profile picture of the author The Copy Nazi
    Banned
    Was just on Perry Marshall's page about his new Definitive Guide to Adwords - 2010 Edition. He says - and note the last sentence -
    Many an amateur marketer assumes that with video, social media, blogging and Web 2.0 have made copywriting less important.
    Nope.
    35 page sales letters are undoubtedly less effective now than they were 5 years ago. But that's not what copywriting is really about anyway.
    Copywriting is MORE important than ever before because regardless of how your message is delivered, there still has to be a message.
    99.5% of all ads you've ever seen mean nothing without words.
    The right words are still crucial.
    Your message still has to have a hook.
    Someone still needs to do detective work to get to the core of the story and your product's reason for being.
    And I gotta tell you, when I was hot in pursuit of "guru status" and a place in the information marketing world, copywriting was the steepest learning curve of anything I was attempting to master.
    I do not regret a single minute I've invested in becoming a better writer. Copywriting is a MOST worthwhile skill.
    You must make every word count, because attention spans are shorter than ever.(Notice how I got right to the point in this sales letter? No wind-up, no beating around the bush. Just a pressing, urgent message.)
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  • Profile picture of the author colmodwyer
    35 page sales letters are undoubtedly less effective now than they were 5 years ago. But that's not what copywriting is really about anyway.
    Yeah! And you'd better believe it because Perry Marshall says so... Right in his own 35 page sales letter.

    Colm
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