On Copywriting

An Unusual Market Niche That's Working

Every product needs a market, especially a tightly defined market niche. As a copywriter, I understand this... and yet I've never totally applied it to my own business.

Not that I don't have a market niche; I do. It's that I haven't whittled that niche down into a lean target market.

I was reminded of this oversight when I came across a Valpak ad for Chedd's--a restaurant that sells only gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Over 35+ types of Wisconsin cheese and 12 types of bread.

They specialize not in burgers or breakfast food or pizza... but grilled cheese!

Obviously, I have no idea how the restaurant is doing financially. But they've got two locations in Denver, have won 10 different awards, and are in the process of developing the restaurant into a franchise because of demand.

So it sounds to me like picking a tight niche like "grilled cheese" has paid off well for Chedd's. Something to think about...

The Perpetual Student

Just as college students continue to seek more degrees to avoid facing the real world, so Internet marketing students buy course after course to avoid taking the first step.

Certainly, learning is a life-long activity. But at some point, more education is just another form of procrastination. Don't fall into this trap.

Kudos to Terry Dean for the inspiration.

Pitch vs. Proof

At its simplest, a sales letter has two components: a pitch and proof.

Sales copy fails when you spend too much "real estate" on your pitch and not enough on proof.

Example: My sister-in-law is involved in a multi-level marketing company called Arbonne. She's been building her business for close to three years.

At one point, she hit a plateau. Couldn't find any good prospects.

Then she quit her job.

Now, she's got prospects coming to her. Why? Proof.

Quitting her job spoke far more than any pitch she could have come up with.

Proof comes in many varieties:

• Testimonials
• Bank statements
• Screen captures
• Case studies
• Endorsements
• Credentials (Dr., Ph.D., etc.)
• Before & After pictures
• Product Samples
• Demonstrations
• Photos
• Comparisons
• Metaphors
• Guarantees

The list goes on. Whatever your pitch is, figure out how you can offer more proof. People will only read so much pitch; they'll devour proof, especially if they're targeted prospects.

Stranger Than Fiction

I watched Stranger Than Fiction this week. I highly recommend it, especially for writers.

The movie follows the life of Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), the main character in a new book written by Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson).

There are many literary allusions, and the dialog is quite clever. I enjoyed the movie so much, I watched it a second time with my brother and his girlfriend.

Here's a quote from the movie I thought you might appreciate. When asked how she came up with the ending of her story, Karen Eiffel says: "Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method."

Rent Stranger Than Fiction and watch it. Time well spent.

The Roles of Omission & Admission in Sales Copy

Sales copy succeeds, in large part, because of omission.

For instance, you don't sell Florida vacations by talking about the humidity. You don't sell white sand beaches by talking about the taste of sea water in your mouth when you go swimming. And you don't sell amusement parks by talking about the long lines.

These details are left out... most of the time.

Of course, there's the "damaging admission"--where you confess a flaw about your product to build trust with your prospect. Most of the time, these admissions don't address any real problem with the product or service being sold. The admission is a decoy... a straw man.

Sometimes damaging admissions are genuine. When they are, prospects respond.

One reason John E. Powers was so successful was his unusual candor. He lived from 1837-1919 and wrote many ads for the Wanamaker's department store in Pittsburgh.

Powers' ads were often so brutally honest that his employer objected to running them. Anyway, at one point, Wanamaker's needed a huge sum of money to avoid closing the store. Powers wrote this:

"We are bankrupt. We owe $125,000 more than we can pay, and this announcement will bring our creditors down on our necks. But if you come and *buy* tomorrow, we shall have the money to meet them. If not, we shall go to the wall."

People flooded the store, bought arm loads of merchandise, and saved the business.

In a separate ad for a different merchant, Powers wrote:

"We have a lot of rotten gossamers and things we want to get rid of."

This sold out the entire inventory of gossamers within hours.

So, yes, copywriting is largely a job of omission, but not always. What would an average copywriter omit... that a world-class copywriter would not? How can you use a damaging admission to make your copy irresistibly persuasive?

Five Million & Counting

I was doing research for a sales letter I'm writing when I stumbled upon this:

America Is Hooked on the Banjo Fishing Lure:
Revolutionary Fishing System Strikes
5 Million Unit Sales Mark

Amazing.

I happened to catch the infomercial for the Banjo Fishing Lure last fall. I watched the whole thing. I almost got my credit card out to purchase the system... and I'm not even a fisherman! That's how good the pitch is.

Imagine seeing underwater camera shots of large fish chomping down on the Banjo. Not just one fish. You see fish after fish after fish... in different rivers... lakes... streams... all striking the lure with unbridled aggression.

I had to keep watching the infomercial if for no other reason than the live-action footage. It's interesting and compelling.

If you're a direct marketer, pay attention. There's a powerful lesson here.

The Best of Ryan Healy, Part 1

Recently, I had three regular readers put together what they believed to be the "Top 12" best posts I had ever published on this blog. I reviewed their lists, combined them, and added a couple favorites of my own to create what I'm calling "The Best of Ryan Healy, Part 1."

Why "Part 1?" Because I expect a "Part 2" in another year or so.

By the way, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so you won't hear from me again until the end of June. I won't be posting to this blog or replying to comments or publishing any Trackbacks... because... I'm leaving my laptop at home.

I encourage you to use this "down time" to read through these "best of" posts. Some of them go back to 2005! Enjoy.

1. How To Manage Your State Of Mind
2. What Happens If It Works?
3. Copywriters On The Vital Few
4. Seamless Subheads
5. 3 Reasons to Trackback
6. Creating Your Lead Generation Website
7. The Controversy in Copywriting
8. Simple Editing Techniques Give Your Copywriting an Edge
9. Getting A Fast Start
10. What A Newbie Can Expect
11. 80/20 Copywriting
12. Think Big... Act Small
13. On Being Pithy
14. Ask Quality Questions
15. Eliminate All Distractions
16. Are You Pricing Like a Part-Timer?
17. Focus Secrets
18. Q&A Teleseminar this Friday Night
19. The Path to Success
20. The Power of Stories
21. Swiping, Formulas & Being Creative
22. Are You Jaded?
23. What You're Doing I Could Never Do
24. Bullets that Penetrate
25. Email Subject Lines that Work
26. Is it Really about Results?
27. Scarcity Frenzy
28. Odds of Becoming a Successful Freelance Copywriter
29. Opportunity Cost & How It Applies to Information

P.S. First person to send a Trackback to this article gets a free copy of God Doesn't Shoot Craps by Richard Armstrong. (Make sure your contact information is easy to find on your blog.)

Desiring Security

This week I've been doing some major paper purging. I have discovered all kinds of notes, poems, cards, etc... but... mostly junk. Here is something worth sharing:

"In an age of widespread equality, the masses, desiring security above all else, will gladly accept despotism in order to gain release from the burden of responsibility that freedom imposes on people." --Fyodor Dostoevsky

Written over 100 years ago. Yet it still reminds me of the American people who demand security from the government in exchange for personal liberty. Not to mention those timid souls who choose the "security" of employment over the "freedom" of freelancing.

P.S. Today, June 13, marks my two-year anniversary since launching my freelance copywriting business.

On-Demand Printing for Ebooks & PDF Reports

"The book you don't read won't help." --Jim Rohn

I have a few dozen ebooks and special reports on my computer that I've never read. Some I've purchased; some were free. Nevertheless, it's content I've wanted to consume, but never have.

Part of the problem is, I don't like to read lengthy documents on my computer screen. Two hundred pages of scrolling through a PDF is exhausting.

So here's what I did: I called my local FedEx Kinko's to see if they could help.

They pointed me to a page on their web site where I can upload print on-demand jobs. I spent a few minutes uploading the PDF files and specifying how I wanted the files printed, then placed my order. Simple as that.

In less than 24 hours from now, I'll drive a mile and half down the road to pick up the hard copies, which I am confident I will now read.

If you struggle with reading long PDF documents on your computer, then maybe you too would benefit from using Kinko's online printing service.

After all, it's not how much information you have, but how much information you consume and apply that counts. Getting digital content printed is a step in the right direction.

Clever Headlines Rarely Work

Clever headlines rarely work because they're usually confusing. A confused prospect is a prospect who won't buy.

Case in point: I was shocked and dismayed to see what one window company wrote atop a recent direct response flier.

Side one said:

Eliminate Window Shopping With The "Eliminator Window" Series...

Side two said:

Eliminator windows brighten your outlook...

If you were selling windows through a direct mail flier, what would your headline say? Hopefully, nothing remotely close to the drivel above.

Do people buy windows so they can stop "window shopping?" No!

Do people buy windows to "brighten their outlook?" No again!

Besides the obvious confusion these headlines cause, they fail to address the conversation that's already happening in the prospect's mind.

My best guess (without doing any research) is that homeowners shopping for new windows do so for one of two reasons:

1. Their current windows have broken seals, allowing moisture to gather between the panes.

2. Their current windows aren't energy efficient, resulting in higher heating and cooling costs.

Based on these assumptions, a much better, more direct headline would say:

Amazing Low-E Windows & Insulated Glass Frames Reduce Air Infiltration, Slashing Heating & Cooling Bills By 20%... Guaranteed! (What's More, Each Window Comes With a 14-Year Warranty
Against Defects or Broken Seals!)

Much clearer, don't you think?

The next time you think about writing a clever headline, consider the sage advice of David Garfinkel:

Most of the time, the urge to be clever is a short-cut to avoid doing the work of creating an enticing promise that will prepare the reader to take the action you are looking for. Resist the temptation; a straightforward headline almost always works better than a clever one.