The Lead: Sinking The Hook Into Your Prospect
You only have an instant to capture your prospect's attention. No matter the medium ? a sales letter, print ad, or commercial ? she's going to make an almost instantaneous decision about whether you are worth her time or not. So you'd better start off with a bang. Hopefully, you already have a good headline. The words that come after it are your lead, and it's their job to sink the hook into your prospect and keep her reading or listening until you can convince her that you are the answer to her prayers. Here you introduce your Big Promise. Not just another benefit, but the Granddaddy of all benefits. The One that will reach down into her heart and stimulate some emotion. The One that taps into her core desires. But you don't just tell her how your widget will change her life. And you absolutely, positively, never talk about yourself or your company here. Here, you show her what it will be like when she's experiencing that Big Benefit. Help her to see herself lying on the beach, sipping a Pina Colada because she took your correspondence course. Show her lying in the grass, looking at the clouds with her five-year-old because your widget saved her so much time. You have to see beyond your actual product or service and get to the big promise you can make to your prospect. And, you have to make sure that promise connects with her core beliefs, feelings, and desires in all their complexities. By the time she's finished with your lead, you've sunk a big hook into your prospect. Spend the rest of your conversation reeling her in. Show her why your product delivers on that big promise. If you have room (in a longer sales letter, for example) you can pepper in some more benefits, but always come back to the Big One. Let it be like a golden thread woven throughout the conversation. You catch more flies with honey, or so the old saying goes. And you catch more prospects with a big, vivid promise in your lead. Lisa Packer, author of "How To Dramatically Increase Your Business... Without A Blockbuster Budget" and "7 Ways To Get A Pay Raise From Your Web Site" is an independent Copywriter and Marketing Consultant. Find out how to get these two reports, plus more helpful articles like the one you just read at http://www.dramatic-copy.com/. Dramatic Copy: Copywriting That Dramatically Increases Your Business.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Become Qualified As A Proofreader
The field of proofreading is not as easy to get into as you might think. In fact, there are many proof reading qualifications that you must possess in order to qualify. While these qualifications change from company to company, the over all concepts are the same throughout. Unless you can prove your worth and be able to do the job, you will not have the proof reading qualifications that are necessary. To get these, you must dedicate yourself to the cause.
Fill Your Readers with Confidence
Site visitors generally stay with you for as long as they feel confident that they will succeed in achieving their goal.
7 Big Ticket Copywriting Secrets I Learned from Ted Nicholas
Is it Hot?
Exciting?
Important but boring?
Or just plain boring?
Any parts of your copy that are in the "Important but Boring " or "Just Plain Boring" categories you need to rewrite or get rid of those sections.
Advice From Successful Freelancers: Starting & Maintaining A Freelancer Career
For the e-book, Advice from Successful Freelancers: How They Built Their Careers & How You Can Too!, I asked ten questions of freelancers who were living their dream life. Following are some of their answers. They cover successful marketing techniques, how to get clients and more!
Four Simple Steps to Improve Your Sales Copy
You know what it's like, you're reading the sales material about a product you're considering buying, but, as you read, all these questions seem to pop into your mind, but there's no-one there to answer them, so you shelve your plans to purchase.
Web Writing - Dont Lose Your Visitors Attention!
Did you know that your writing can have a huge impact on how successful your site will be? If you're trying to sell a product or a service, what you say and how you say it is extremely important because you don't want to lose your visitor's interest before they get to your order form.
10 Tips for Writing Effective Web Copy
On the Internet programmers and designers rule, not the writer. Yet words drive targeted traffic to your site, carry content, make the sale, convey marketing messages, persuade people to buy and make the difference between your site's success or failure.
Three Steps To Pump Up The Drama In Your Copy
All the world's a story. Video games have storylines; newspapers report stories; country music lyrics tell a sad tale.
Business Writing: When Not To Be Professional
It's time to write your next ad or brochure. Maybe some web content. You've done all your research, and you're staring at a blank computer screen. You want to look good in print. You want to put your "best foot forward." And, of course, you want to make a barrel full of money.
How To Write Headlines That Grab Your Prospects Attention
It doesn't matter if you're writing an article, a newspaper or magazine ad, a web page, or even a Yellow Page ad. If it has a headline, that headline is the most important component of the entire package. Waste it, and you've wasted your time.
Is Freelance Hiring Right For You?
Assume you were faced with the task of hiring a new group of talented individuals to handle a huge account you just landed. Are you up for the task? Or perhaps you have a small job that needs completing but no one on staff can handle the project. When you consider the process of linking a project with talented professionals it can be quite daunting, leaving a business owner or manager with a major challenge. But in today's marketplace it's becoming more common to use freelancers in every capacity and field of endeavor.
Copywriting: Engage Prospects By Involving Their Senses
Imagine a bland, colorless existence. Where food had no taste, silence surrounded you and everything smelled the same.
How To Write Headlines That Get Attention
No doubt, the headline is the most important part of any advertisement or sales letter. The reason is very simple. The headline is the first thing your prospect sees when he or she looks at your advertisement.
8 Tips for Writing Headlines that Grab Attention (and Keep Prospects Reading!)
Effective headlines make all the difference in whether your prospect reads your marketing materials or simply tosses them to the side. You don't even have a chance for a sale if the audience won't read what you write. One way to keep prospects reading is to give your copy attention-grabbing headlines. Here are eight tips to make sure your headlines get the message across:
Five Steps To Online Copywriting Success
One of the most important priorities of evey online business should be their copywriting. Online copywriting skills are a "must have" for anyone who is thinking about real success with their online business.
Three Tips For Magnetizing Your Copy
The difference between good copy and great copy is the number of actions it generates. The more actions the copy drives, the greater the copy is.
Why You Should Write To Inform And Not To Sell
Advertising is key! Unfortunately most people waste their money on advertising unless they can play by the numbers. Playing by the numbers is simply spending enough money on advertising and saturating the market so much, that percentage wise, enough people will want to see what you have to offer. In the long run your ad will pay for itself. Although costly, it may just be the best investment you make.
Increase Freelance Sales With an Online Resume!
Freelancing is a competitive business, especially in today's fast-paced, e-focused world.
Long Copy vs. Short Copy? If You?re Still Debating This, You?re Missing The Point!
I've seen this ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in several Blogs and message boards and I can't help but laugh. It's not a new debate? Ever since the long copy masters of the early 1900's, people have been arguing for or against the practice.
Hey, Client, This Is Me! Sell With Your Writing Voice
In a crowded market, clients will be seeking personality as they read what you've written -- they'll click right past pages that feel "been there, read that." They're looking for a voice that says, "Hey, client, this is me!"
|