Just Write the Thing

nobody@vox.com(Sheridan Randolph) — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:26:00 -0400

Over our long series of lessons on copywriting, we've discussed numerous techniques to keep you on track. To keep you organized. To streamline. You have a number of tools to take your basic sales message, and encapsulate it in a compelling headline. And techniques to multiply the response to that headline. Claude Hopkins, eighty years ago, called it salesmanship in print. And so it is.

If you haven't done any face to face sales or cold calling, you're at a disadvantage here. If you have sold in your industry, you already know what people respond to, and can almost get away with a verbatim transcription of your best pitch. With minor adaptation to print, and a bit of editing for the web. If you don't have this experience, get it. Practice selling everyone. Soon you'll learn who is your market, and what they respond to. It's not as bad as it sounds. Building rapport is key, so you can practice that aspect without even mentioning your product. Getting attention is extremely important, so practice. It can be a great game, the most likely outcome is that the people who like you will really like you; the people who don't will help generate buzz.

The above is valuable enough to let stand on its own, but we're here to talk about copywriting, and no more dancing around the main event. Look back over your bullets. Put your headline before you. Now start writing. Imagine your prospect sitting in front of his/her computer, drinking a diet coke. A bag of chips off to the side. Half asleep. You have to get his attention (headline). Get him interested, awake. Excited. Now sell!

We'll organize it later. We'll add to our already substantial bag of tricks. We'll discuss architecture and format. All the pieces. It's coming. But for now, get it on paper. Remember, she's looking for every opportunity to stop reading. To drop the letter in the trash. To click away from your page. Any reason not to buy. So lay on the big guns, every reason why. Just remember to ask for the sale at the end.

A copywriter is something like a multiplier. If he's a skilled marketer, if he knows what list you're using, he can make recommendations. If she really does her homework, she may change your product, your marketing, and even your business... at least as far as sales are concerned. But let's consider just what he can do with a sales letter. We are on the way to having a sales letter that will pull. If you are getting a response, the message to market match is there, and a copywriter should be able to radically increase the response you get.

This is why it is so important to know the process. Even if you hire the work out, you should know why something isn't working so you can adapt. You will be in a more powerful position when hiring. And you will be able to craft a profitable letter or ad without having to pay an agency, which is especially important in the early stages of your business.

One more word about today's exercise. Look it over. Do you notice how the first part, sometimes as much as two pages, is really more of a warm up? Sort of like clearing your throat. You may find a definite point where the sales letter really begins. Cut the warm up, and see how it follows from the headline. Did you ask for the sale? We'll start playing with this tomorrow.

To Your Copywriting Mastery,

Sheridan Randolph

P.S. Stay tuned for a short lesson, that guarantees you'll never face writer's block.

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Copywriting Made Simple

Just Write the Thing