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If you're struggling to create a winning ad...
Tap Into These 5 Proven Response Boosters For An Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition! Friday, 3:27 PM January 22, 2010
Fellow marketer, How passionate are you about the success of your business? Enough to take a few minutes to read this letter? Because if you do, then you will discover five of the most influential ways to improve the response to ALL your ads and sales letters. But first, a word of introduction... My name is Dan Rollins. I'm a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant from Southern Ontario, Canada. About 11 years ago, I got bitten by a bug. The bite came from an email I received that - within minutes - had me ordering a product over the Internet. And that led to an extensive investigation into exactly how that happened. Namely, how can an ad be so powerful... how can the words on a page motivate me so much... even after being constantly bombarded with advertising each and every day. So after several years of research... study... and practice, I am going to share with you five top ways to generate an endless supply of leads, customers and clients. What's more, I'm going to show you how I can almost force you to believe what I'm saying is true. More on that in a moment - but first, let's dive right into five of the most powerful ways to improve the response to your ads. First off, let's discuss your all-important headline. The next time you write an ad, try this little exercise: Start by listing all the problems your prospects face that your product or service helps to solve. Next, identify the single, most critical problem they face from the list. Then, take that statement of their worst problem and convert it into a question. A classic example would be from Maxwell Sackheim's "Do You Make These Mistakes In English?" that sold Sherman Cody's correspondence course and the ad was unbeatable for 40 years! Curious, problem-based questions can dramatically increase readership. Which leads to the most effective weapon in advertising history to grab your prospects attention: Curiosity!
Curiosity is a wickedly effective sales motivating element. In fact, legendary ad man Claude Hopkins, in "My Life In Advertising" wrote, "No other motivating factor compares with curiousity". If you run classified ads, inject them with curiosity. If you do email marketing, inject your subject lines with curiosity. If you run space ads, banner ads, ANY ads... inject them with curiosity. No matter what you’re doing, inject curiosity into your advertising and you’ll get more attention... which means more readership, leading to more sales. Next... let's talk about your USP. “USP” stands for your Unique Sales Proposition. It's a short, pithy statement that differentiates you from your competition. I'll give you an example from my own experience: When I was racking my brain trying to come up with a statement that would make me stand out and give my clients a reason to try my ad writing services... I came up with the following: “because proper positioning with Direct Response copy
is like holding Aces to your competitors Kings” Your USP answers the question that every one of your prospects has. That being – “Why should I deal with you instead of the other guy”? What makes YOU different? Why should I buy from you and not your competitors? Your prospects need a strong reason why they should deal with you and a compelling USP can offer a significant boost in your credibility. Here's an exercise that can help you create one for your business: A quick and easy way to determine your USP is to complete the following statement: “You know how So&So ______ ? Well what we do is ________ ”. It will take some brainstorming - ...but it's worth it!
Then just condense and refine it until you get it right and it fits. Next, let's move on to your offer. Your offer - what people get when they respond to your promotion - can make an enormous difference in response. A strongly worded offer can outsell a weaker one - for the same product, at the same price - as much as ten times. Here are 3 suggestions that can make your offers stronger: 1. Be different. Don't just give away another bonus ebook or special report... the best offers are fresh and new. Most newsletters offer special reports as premiums for signing up. The Sovereign Society, a newsletter on offshore investing, offered something totally different: a free Swiss bank account - a gift not given by any other investment newsletter. 2. Offer something that is highly desirable. Unless you are offering something people really want, your promotion is not going to work, no matter how clever or creative. A publisher selling a service on how to manage Novell NetWare local area networks DOUBLED response rates when a promotion offered a disk with free software - a collection of utilities for Novell networks. The 100% increase in orders proved that the software programs were tools network administrators wanted in a big way. 3. High perceived value. The more valuable prospects think your offer is, the more likely they are to act upon it. Software is a great premium for this very reason. It has a high perceived value: software packages can easily sell for upwards of $195 or more. Yet a CD with code on it can be duplicated for about a buck. Offering free software can increase response but cost you very little to deliver. And finally, your call to action... It's only human nature to procrastinate and delay action. So you’ve got to make them take action and respond to your offer right now! You need to lead your prospect by the hand and tell them exactly what to do. Like this copy from a veterinarian: “Here’s what you need to do to uncover the secrets to keeping your cat healthy and happy for years to come. Just call (123) 123-4567 right now and ask for extension 200 to get your free report, 'The 7 Jealously Guarded Secrets to Your Cat’s Health'.
Hurry because quantities are limited. Or you can come into our office at 1234 Main Street, right across from the Post Office and ask Mary Ann for your free copy. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.” See how this is more specific than if they just put their phone number in the ad and left it up to the prospect to act. You have to make it absolutely clear what prospects need to do in order to get the benefits and results you have shown them. So there they are... Five of the most profitable concepts you can inject into your marketing mix that can catapult your success and put you light years ahead of your competition. Now, do you remember earlier when I said I could almost force you to believe what I'm saying is true? Here is what I've decided to do: How would you like a top copywriter and marketing consultant in your corner to help you apply these new ideas? Because if you do, then I'll look over your current advertising efforts and offer some new ideas for FREE! That's right - if you contact me today - I'll go over your current promotion and offer some new ideas that could greatly improve your response at no cost to you. (Value $250). Here's the deal: I am going to accept three fast moving, savvy business owners into my inner circle because I know most entrepreneurs are too busy 'taking care of business' to implement any new ideas and would like a trained eye to help them out. If your interested, here's what you need to do right now: Open your email program and send a few details on your current promotions to: danscopyclinic(at)yahoo(dot)com with “critique” as the subject so it catches my eye. I'll review your copy and offer insight on how you can best apply these ideas to your business today. You'll receive an auto reply from Yahoo confirming that I have received your request and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Why am I offering this free critique? It's simple really! Because I'm in between assignments right now... I like to keep my skills finely tuned... and I love doing what I do! So email me right now and lets improve your ads. Here's my address again: danscopyclinic(at)yahoo(dot)com. I look forward to hearing from you. To your success, Dano P.S. If you continue to advertise the same old way, you'll get the same old results. What I'm offering you is the easiest, most risk-free way to try these proven methods, so you can see for yourself how they can improve response... increase profits... and help you prosper like never before. Hurry, email me now! |
Copyright © 2010. Dan Rollins
All Rights Reserved.