Copywriters Podcast

Direct marketers usually hate TV commercials, because they give a bad name to advertising as we see it. That is, they don’t truly sell.

But sometimes I like them – not as advertising, really, but as works of art. There’s a very intriguing commercial running right now for Alfa Romeo, the luxury Italian sports car. What intrigues me the most is their tagline. In Italian, it’s La Meccanica Delle Emozioni. And, it’s trademarked. A close translation of the phrase is: “The Mechanics of Emotion.”

Today we start our occasional series called Accessing Emotion. And for today’s show, I don’t want to step anywhere near Alfa’s trademarked phrase, but I’m inspired by it. So we’ll call what we’re going to talk about today: Emotional Action Sequences, Part 1.

Emotional Action Sequences are proven templates for adding sales-enhancing emotion to your copy. They’re easy to use and I’ll share some powerful ones with you today.

But first, and I hope I don’t get too emotional about this:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Emotional Action Sequences

What They Are

Templates for telling simple stories in your copy that lead your prospects through different defined and predetermined powerful emotions. They serve two purposes.

First, to get your prospects “out of their heads” and into their feelings. (Emotion: In music. In movies. To motivate anyone to do anything. Necessary in Buying.)

Second, these particular emotions, in these sequences, will not only get prospects into their emotions. They will get into particular emotions that make them much more likely to buy.

Their Origin

I developed these for my $5000-a-seat Breakthrough Copywriting seminar in Las Vegas. After I gave the people there a 10-year head start on the marketplace, I released them in my book Breakthrough Copywriting, which went on to be a #1 bestseller. People have told me they are so useful that I though I would share some of them on the podcast.

How You Can Find More Of Them

Available for about 12 bucks on Amazon, as a Kindle or a paperback.

Why You Need To Know Them

I critique copy for a wide variety of copywriters and business owners. Last year I did 5 to 10 critiques a month for GKIC. I work with Agora Financial. I also have individual mentoring and critique clients from all over the world.

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but one thing I’ve noticed nearly all copywriters have in common is not enough effective, believable emotion. Sometimes there’s nothing there at all – it’s too logical. Sometimes it’s so over the top that it’s not believable. And often it’s so sappy and contrived that it just doesn’t ring true. It ruins the magic of the rest of the copy.

The Emotional Action Sequences can help you make your copy more natural and believable, by using everyday situations in a very powerful way.

Today’s Selection: Three Breakthrough Copywriting Emotional Triggers

• Breakthrough Copywriting Emotional Trigger 1: “Anger to Envy to Offer”

The psychology of the trigger: Anger and jealousy are two of the most powerful motivators known on Earth. A therapist might tell you they are not healthy emotions, but nobody would argue that they are not widespread. And no matter how emotionally well-balanced we think we are as individuals, they are common to all of us.

Nathan, let’s say you and I had a business specializing in helping frustrated corporate refugees start there own businesses. We could use this trigger as part of our copy:

The company Terri worked for posted record profits this year, so it really stung when she was turned down for a raise for the third year in a row. She was steaming because the division she ran had brought in more money to the company than anyone else.

To rub salt in the wound, Wanda got a sizeable raise and a huge promotion. Terri suspected that was because Wanda spent a lot more time practicing office politics than she did producing for the company.

Terri called it The Wanda Insult. She was so mad at the unfair treatment that resolved to start her own business to make things right. And the first people she contacted was us, since we specialize in helping people who were superstars for someone else become superstars in their own business.

• Breakthrough Copywriting Emotional Trigger 2: “Appeal To People’s Sense of Larceny”

You might think good people don’t steal, and you might be right. But what people who have self-control actually do and what they really want to do are often not the same thing!

When I say “appeal to people’s sense of larceny,” I don’t mean sell them instructions on how to rob a bank. The psychology of this trigger has some much more socially acceptable names: “Getting good value for your money,” “Never paying retail,” even “getting something for free!”

Fact is, if you can show someone how they can get away with paying less, or even nothing at all, for something they want – in a story – you will stimulate powerful urges that can propel them to buy what you are selling.

Here’s an amusing example, I heard on the radio yesterday. It was an ad for blink.com, a home security company. It was for home security cameras. First they talked about no contracts, no wires – and then the announcer said,

“You can get three of our cameras for what the other guys charge for one. Plus, use this special code and we’ll give you a 15% discount.”

Selling burglar alarms by appealing to people’s sense of larceny. I think that’s ironic! But that’s exactly what they were doing.

• Breakthrough Copywriting Emotional Trigger 3: “Factual Format For Emotionally Provocative Language”

This is one of my favorites, because it is so convincing. You use the objective language of journalism to establish believability with facts, and you continue to present your information in the factual format of a newspaper article. But notice how the copy gradually transitions into a lot of emotion, which prepares the prospect to be receptive to your offer.

This could be for a diet information product:

A diet followed by everyday people in Europe for centuries is sweeping the United States like wildfire – and people who could never lose weight before are having some success with it.

Called the Mediterranean Diet, this traditional European way of eating has been keeping millions of people fit and healthy for generations with little fanfare. But Americans who have just discovered it are melting belly fat and dropping dress sizes in weeks. And they are shouting from the rooftops!

- Notice how it goes from facts in the first three sentences to highly emotional language in the last sentence

But Americans who have just discovered it are melting belly fat and dropping dress sizes in weeks. And they are shouting from the rooftops!

- But the factual format remains the same. Makes the wild claims more believable!

Recap

You need to provoke emotion to get people in a buying mood. What we talked about today provides an easy way to do that.

Three Emotional Action Sequences:

- Anger to Envy to Offer

- Appeal to People’s Sense of Larceny

- Factual Format for Emotionally Provocative Language

How to Get The Complete Set Of All 11 Breakthrough Copywriting Emotional Triggers

They’re all in Chapter 10 of Breakthrough Copywriting. 12 other chapters as well!

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Donald Burns once helped the world's most hated man find a job. How'd he do it? By using copywriting methods while writing his resume. After all, what is a resume, if not a sales pitch for yourself?

Donald gets into what works and what doesn't when it comes to resumes. He's written them for some of the most successful people out there. He even has some tips for copywriters on how they can better promote themselves.

This one is a little bit off the beaten path, but jam-packed with gems that you don't want to miss.

Donald's Website Executive Promotions LLC

Find Donald on LinkedIn
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Despite what the rock group the Buggles told us, video did NOT kill the radio star. Our guest in today's special Report from the Field, Daisy Luther, appears regularly on 830 stations through the Genesis Radio Network. But to many people, Daisy is even better known as The Organic Prepper.

She runs a very popular and profitable website. I met Daisy personally in late April, at a private dinner in Baltimore for former journalists who have embraced copywriting. Daisy, we’re honored to have you here and welcome to the Copywriters Podcast!

Today, Daisy will share details of her business and whatever else we can convince her to share with us.

As we begin, let me remind you of something:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

So Daisy, let’s get started.

1. How did you start the Organic Prepper?

2. Can you share how many visitors or viewers your website has?

3. At our private dinner, you shared some astounding information about how much content you create. Could you tell our listeners, if only to give people an idea of what is possible once you really commit to a project?

4. You have an interesting product strategy with relatively low-priced, high-value-content information products. Please explain what you offer and how your publishing and payment system works.

5. What have you learned doing all of this that surprised you?

6. In what ways do you use copywriting to run and grow the business?

7. What advice would you have for our listeners who want to sell unique, valuable content online?

8. What do most copywriters not know that you wish they did?

Daisy's Website The Organic Prepper
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Surprise is the “magic excitement dust” of entertainment

- Music

“High Time,” Grateful Dead. Circa 1970.

Very touching country-rock kind of song about a misunderstanding that ended a relationship, and all the self-doubt that followed. Melancholy. Goes where you wouldn’t expect: surprise.

Vs. my rewrite (Corny AF)

“You said goodbye and held me tight

You know I found it heartwarming

Yeah, sure, I’ll miss you tonight

But I’ll see you in the morning.” : not that surprising

Beatles – used a lot of harmonic surprises, putting in a different chord/progression than would be expected. Lennon/McCartney have more #1 hits in history 100 than anyone else. Period.

- Same thing in movies, TV and fiction

Car chase – A screenwriter has to review all car chases ever done before to do something different, and unexpected: surprise

Ending of a thriller or a mystery – for most people, not what they expected (although very clever people can sometimes figure it out): surprise

What about copywriting?

We’re not looking to create entertainment the same way a songwriter or a screenwriter is.

But on the other hand, we don’t want our copy to be boring.

Why surprise works to be entertaining:

People have, generally, humdrum lives.

Here’s how surprise breaks the “humdrum” cycle:

- When surprise is exciting, inspiring, leading to hope: Influx of brain chemicals like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin – feels good

- When surprise is scary, sad, angering: Influx of brain chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol

Effective in either case because, people like to be nudged out of their humdrum lives.

And as copywriters, we need to stimulate emotion in our prospects in order to make them receptive to taking action – i.e., buying.

So how do we use surprise in copywriting?

1) Surprising new offer / headline / product

From last episode: Joe Sugarman – laser beam digital watch

“Never press another button, day or night, with America’s first digital watch that glows in the dark.”

In 1976, this is quite a surprise. Today, it’s no big deal. But we have to look at copy in the perspective on when it was used.

2) Unique verbs – from John Carlton

John likes to use colorful verbs. Cram. Stun. Maim. Crush. Coax.

He has a rule that is hard to follow but well worth it if you can do it skillfully: Never use the same verb more than once in a piece of copy.

One exception: Don’t put in a lot of synonyms for “said.” It doesn’t sound natural or conversational when you say things like, “He elocuted,” or “She intoned.” It sounds contrived. “Said” and “Asked” are usually all you want to use.

3) Imaginative but easy-to-grasp metaphors and comparisons in stories and bullets. Stuff people don’t expect.

Exciting, unexpected images – but nothing too hard to grasp.

Smooth as a northern lake on a windless day

As excited as a chipmunk who’s just broken into the almond processing plant

Making more money than the pharmacist who’s running a meth lab on the side.

4) Surprising pricing / terms.

Gary Halbert story – Guthy-Renker – don’t pay for 30 days – tripled response.

5) Surprising bonus!

My friend Doberman Dan is really good at this. When you join his membership group, he sends a special gold-colored coin with a custom insignia on it. Recently he sent out a USB thumb drive in the shape of a knight, complete with sword! Which is appropriate for his group, because it’s called “Marketing Camelot-Knights of the Round Table.”

Recap: Why surprise works (keeps the brain guessing, entertained … another way of generating emotion)

Caution – don’t let your inventiveness take over the sales argument, which is the most important thing in copy. Surprise is the seasoning,

not the main course.

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My girlfriend has a dog named Sheila, and Sheila’s an Australian Shepherd.

Now, Australian Shepherds are working dogs and they always seem to need to have a job to do.

Last Tuesday, Deb was sitting down to write some copy on her computer and she told me that Sheila was guarding the door for her.

I thought that was interesting. Sheila didn’t know what to do, but she figured out Deb didn’t want to be disturbed. So, Sheila gave herself the job of guarding the door.

Smart dog!

OK, I’m telling that story to give a shout-out to Sheila. But also to show you something that today’s show’s about: How you can get instant understanding and have people remember more of what you say by communicating in images.

You may not remember the whole story I told you, but I bet you understood the idea of a dog guarding the door while a writer was busy writing, and I bet you won’t have a hard time remember it.

Why?

Because those words, “Sheila was guarding the door for her,” creates a clear, simple imagine in your mind. Dog, door, woman, computer, writing. Simple!

This is important for more than the fact that I feel good about Deb being protected when I’m not with her. Because in addition to everything else, Sheila is fierce.

It’s also important because today’s show is about getting people to understand you instantly and remember more of what you say. And that’s what we’ll talk about today.

First, I would like you to instantly understand this:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

The image-word / word image cycle

This is a simple way of looking at how our minds work that I’ve never heard of or seen anywhere else. I think it’s right and I know it’s powerful.

Gene Schwartz concept in The Brilliance Breakthrough

Here’s his idea: The mind thinks in images, and then it decodes images into words. And when you hear words, it encodes the words back into images. If you can use words to create images, people will have the “coding” work already done for them. They will understand you much faster, and remember what you tell them.

Direct quote from the book:

“Why do we memorize images instead of words? For a very good reason: One image can be memorized as easily as four or six or eight or even ten words. So instead of storing ten separate facts at once I our memory, we have to store only one.”

“Understanding is therefore image-sharing. When you and another person understand each other, you share the same images. When the two of you talk about the same things, you both see the same things. When the two of you talk about doing the same actions, you both see how to do those actions.

“You have – on that subject, in that area – common minds. You think alike. And that is what communication is all about.”

Why this is important

The more quickly, easily, and directly you communicate images in your copy, the more people reading your copy will end up buying.

Some great examples

This is one show where it’s actually better to hear the examples than to read them. You’ll get more of the visual/image/instant effect as I read these to you.

1) A sentence from my critiques page on garfinkelcoaching.com

“I’ve just given you a solid roadmap to begin critiquing your own copy.”

Compare to a non-image rewrite of the same sentence:

I’ve just given you a set of steps you can use to critique your own copy.

N
t terrible – but not as instantly understandable or as memorable.

This is much better: ““I’ve just given you a solid roadmap to begin critiquing your own copy.”

2) Joe Karbo, in one of his “Lazy Man’s Way To Riches” newspaper ads: He’s talking about his life after learning direct marketing, where he works only when he wants to. He says half of the time he’ll work 5 or six hours a day.

“But about half the time, I decide to read, go for a walk, sail my boat, swim, or ride my bike.”

You can just see that… and imagine the life of leisure, and choice, he’s describing.

Compare that to this sentence, which I wrote as a non-visual example:

But about half the time, I’ll engage in recreational activities. They’re usually outdoors and they involve exercise. But they’re fun.

Kinda dull, by comparison, right. Not as powerful as:

“But about half the time, I decide to read, go for a walk, sail my boat, swim, or ride my bike.”

3) Hemingway, The Old Man And The Sea:

“He was shivering with the morning cold. But he knew he would shiver himself warm and that soon he would be rowing.”

Now let’s butcher us up some Hemingway:

It was morning and the temperature was low. He was just going to have to deal with it. Soon he would be getting some exercise to start his day.

That’s not Hemmingway – that’s boring mediocre. Nothing like:

“He was shivering with the morning cold. But he knew he would shiver himself warm and that soon he would be rowing.”

4) Headline from John Carlton ad:

“World Famous Street-Fighter will give you a FREE GUN…

Just to Prove He Can Take It Away From You Bare-Handed As Easy As Candy From A Baby!”

I’m not going to even try to mess with that. Sometimes, you just don’t want to mess with perfection. Maybe I’m just superstitious, but I don’t want to touch it!

Still, let’s hear it again and see why it works so well:

“World Famous Street-Fighter will give you a FREE GUN…

Just to Prove He Can Take It Away From You Bare-Handed As Easy As Candy From A Baby!”

You can see it in your mind, can’t you? And it’s so good, it’s pretty hard to un-see it.

5) Joe Sugarman “Laser Beam Digital Watch” headline:

“Never press another button, day or night, with America’s first digital watch that glows in the dark.”

Now this is 42 years ago. I’m not going to rewrite it. Just let me read it again and see if it kinda shows up in your mind

“Never press another button, day or night, with America’s first digital watch that glows in the dark.”

You can see it, can’t you? You instantly understand, and if that’s something you’re interested in, you’ll remember a digital watch that glows in the dark!

OK, that wraps it up. Look for opportunities to express ideas as simple, powerful descriptions of images. It will make your copy easier to read, more exciting, and it will work better.

What I shared with you is a small part of one of sixteen chapters. The Brilliance Breakthrough is a book that will open up your writing and maybe even change your life.

I got my copy 15 years ago from Gene Schwartz’s widow Barbara. Then it went out print. Now Brian Kurtz has brought it back on the market and I highly recommend it. It’s not cheap, and it’s worth every penny… and then some.

You can find it on at brilliancebreakthroughbook.com.

We’ll put that in the show notes, too.


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Today we’ve got another Report from the Field, and our special guest, our returning champion, is Joe Schriefer from Agora Financial. Joe, thanks for coming back!

So here’s what we’re going to talk about today:

Few people will ever get the chance to grow an eight-figure company into a nine-figure company.

And far fewer still will ever do this with a company that’s 100% driven by direct response copy, as Agora Financial is.

I’ve had the privilege of watching up-close, and maybe adding a little fuel to the bonfire. But mainly, I am in so much awe of the growth of this company.

And our special guest today, Joe, is the guy in charge of the company. He doesn’t like titles so we’ll just call him Joe. That’s his name, anyway 

Frankly, I didn’t know if Joe would agree to talk about his philosophy of growth. He was reasonably concerned that it would not be of that much interest to that many listeners on the Copywriters Podcast.

But I suggested that it would be of great interest, and tremendous value, because at the heart of it, Agora Financial is just a grown-up version of what so many copywriters and small info-marketers are doing with their own businesses. That is, coming up with valuable products, keeping the target customer in mind, and promoting those products using direct response copy.

So here we are!

Before we dive in, here are some words of wisdom for you:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

By the way, and this is the first time I’ve said this on the show, Agora Financial is one of the clients who gets a legal review before they publish their copy. So if you’ve been wondering if I just made that part up – no I didn’t.

But let’s talk about something more exciting than getting an opinion on what’s safe to include in your copy and what’s not. Joe, first, thanks for coming back and welcome back to the podcast!

1. So Joe, I’d like to mention that when we met in the fall of 2014 for the first time, you and Ryan McGrath and I had dinner, and you told me you’d be pretty happy if the company doubled in revenues. But it has grown to five times the size in three-and-one-half years.

What’s that been like?

2. What’s the right mindset for growth, from your own experience?

3. I remember when I first met you, you were basically doing three leadership jobs, and you were in the process of training others so you could delegate to them. How important do you think it is for the person who’s ultimately responsible for the business to know every aspect of it inside-out, which I think it is fair to say you do?

4. As I understand it, Agora Financial started out in one niche, financial publishing, and now has expanded into other niches, including health, spy and survival stuff, and even Internet marketing. Could you talk about how you’ve approached this kind of diversification and what lessons you’ve learned?

5. When it comes to growing a company, what should the priorities be? What are mistakes to avoid?

6. Direct response businesses are different in some ways than other, more conventional businesses. I’m not even sure what a conventional business is anymore, but, could you talk about how someone should look at growing a direct-response-based business and what might be different from growing a different kind of business?

7. Finally, since this a podcast about copywriting, I would be derelict in my duties if I didn’t talk about copywriters, specifically. You have helped a lot of copywriters grow in their careers, and with their incomes. Could you tell me, what are the qualities that you’ve found make for success with a copywriter?

8. And once again, in case there are any job openings in the future at Agora Financial, how would you like people to apply for a job there?


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Featuring Joe Schriefer

We’ve talked about the Big Idea on the show before, but we have a report from the field today with the best expert I know or know of on this topic, Joe Schriefer. Just on the slight chance you’ve never heard of him, Joe heads up Agora Financial in Baltimore, which consists of five publishing companies, or “imprints,” as they prefer to call them.

When you put them all together, in my opinion, Agora Financial as a whole makes up the biggest, and most profitable, Big Idea production studio in the world.

Joe is a humble man, so I can see you recoiling from your microphone in Baltimore, Joe, as I’m saying this. I do need to disclose that Joe is a friend and client, so you’ll understand the relationship as we continue this podcast.

I have my habitual advisory, and then we’ll jump right into it. Here’s the advisory:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Joe, thanks so much for taking time to be here! And welcome to the show.

1. So let’s talk about the Big Idea. I know Ryan McGrath has this great three-step process you’ve talked about before. Could you share it here?

2. Could you talk about copywriters working at AF who have really mastered the art of coming up with the Big Idea, and how they did it?

3. You have an amazing eye for what will work, I’ve noticed. Let me tell you what I’ve figured out, but I’d like you to tell me if I’m right or wrong, and what else you’ve done and you do to keep your eyes and ears sharp.

I figure a lot of it comes from a combination of experience of things that have worked, and things that haven’t. Another big piece I imagine that contributes to your ability to “call ’em” is that you read so much copy and keep track of the market all the time.

Then, I suppose, it’s really knowing the target customer well.

Am I right? And, right or not, what am I missing?

4. So, now that we have a sense of how you’ve learned what works as a Big Idea and how you stay in touch with what’s going on in the market, can you give us a sense of what goes through your mind when you evaluate a Big Idea a copywriter is pitching you?

5. Could you go through the training folks at AF get for generating Big Ideas?

6. Maybe we should have covered this earlier, but I wanted people to get some idea of what a big deal the Big Idea really is. Could you walk us through a few of your favorites, and explain why you like them?

7. For our listeners who would like to get better at creating Big Ideas themselves,

what would you recommend?

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There’s an old concept in direct response called “dry testing.” Basically, it means you sell the product before you have it. I’ve heard questions about whether it’s legal to do this with physical products, but it seems to me it’s perfectly OK to do that with a course you’re planning to do. People pay now and take the course later.

After all, that’s what every single university does, and some of our universities in America, like Harvard, Yale, and the College of William and Mary, are actually older than the United States itself. They were founded before 1776!

So this is a traditionally accepted strategy with a proven track record.

Innovation is when you take this strategy and bring it into the 21st century. That’s what Nathan did this spring, and in today’s episode, we have a Report from the Field where Nathan will share the method to his madness, and talk about results.

But first… speaking of method… try this on for size:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Questions David asks in this episode

1. So Nathan, could you talk about the risk of creating a new product before you know if the market actually wants it, and, in big picture terms, how you mitigated that risk?

2. What were the steps you took? Could you break down your marketing process and copy?

3. What kind of responses did you get from people?

4. How did sales go?

5. What are your next steps? What are your goals with this course?

6. What did you learn?

7. What advice would you offer others who would like to use a strategy like yours?

See the sales page and facebook ad at Nathan's website.
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Meeting with editor from large subscription newsletter publisher in 2006, at conference. Editor didn’t understand copy all that well – joked that “In our copywriting department, we have two divisions: The division of fear, and the division of greed.”

This is a commonly accepted assumption among many copywriters AND among many copywriting gurus… fear and greed are IT.

True? We’ll look at that today.

Here’s something that’s definitely true:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Why do people say this?

1. What is fear?

2. What is greed?

Example of fear that works:

from crazyegg.com / looks like it was a product on Clickbank, but the page has been taken down.

Hypothetical example of fear that doesn’t really work so well

For a pest-control product:

Ants have been found to carry deadly diseases including E. Coli, Strep and Staph infections, and Salmonella. What if your family came down with one or more of those diseases?

Among other reasons this is not good…

Example of greed that works:

from: swiped.co

Hypothetical example of greed that doesn’t really work so well

Warren Buffett sold packs of chewing gum when he was a kid, and now he’s worth $85.8 billion dollars.

But you don’t know how to teach your kids how to sell gum. We’ll show you and you can take a cut of their profits.

What about the other motivations?

- Discount coupon in retail advertising

Everyone loves a deal. Is that greed? Not exactly.

- Free trial

It’s true, people are afraid a new app or a new membership site might not work for them.

But is that fear? Or low risk tolerance. Risk-reversal. Not exactly fear.

Maybe we should call all this “50 Shades of Fear and Greed”

Because there are degrees of emotion that drive, and prevent, purchases. Nuances. Subtleties.

And what about fundraising letters?

- Richard Armstrong sea turtles letter (1988)

- Political fundraising

email from Sen. Al Franken’s Senate re-election campaign, 2013, which he won:

Let’s circle back to where we started – a subscription dm letter, and the most profitable ad of all time (that’s been tracked): Wall Street Journal “Two young men” letter. (include text-first 5 paragraphs)

Is that fear? Well, FOMO.

Is that greed? Wanting to be CEO.

Also… envy; desire for power, success; wanting to increase career odds.

So, not exactly.

Major certainty:

Copywriting won’t work without stirring some emotion.

And nearly all emotions are some form of moving away from something you don’t want (which can be construed as fear) or moving towards something you do want (which can be construed as greed). But there are a lot of steps in between raw fear and raw greed.

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A friend with a dog problem – biting. Found a training way to completely eliminate the problem. Product. Lead-genAd was very powerful: Biting dog? First thing they do is try to put your pooch down. Get a much happier solution!

He was getting a lot of clicks on the ad. But very few conversions.

Turned out the reason was his copy struck a very different tone. While the ad was scary and energetic (Tone 4), his copy was depressed and low-energy (Tone 5). Once he matched the copy to his ad, conversions picked right up.

It’s all a matter of tone – in your lead generation, in your copy, and in staying consistent throughout your funnel. We’ll talk about that today.

And before we do, get a load of this tone:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

The Importance of Tone

- a mismatch will break trust (lead gen and sales page)

- a match will keep trust (lead gen and sales page)

- everything works better when you pick the right tone

How to find the right Tone for your copy

- who you are to your clients (persona)

- how they want to be talked to

- within all that, what works best

Why your whole funnel should keep the same Tone

- builds trust

- does not distract readers into thinking they are being sold

- helps set you apart from others

The Five Tones

Each is valid, but some will work a lot better than others. Again, to choose the right one, you need to think about who you are to your clients, how they want to be talked to, and within all that, which one converts the best.

Example: Selling Copy Critiques. A lot of people do it. Their approach is often different. I’m one of those people, but I wouldn’t use all five of these tones. However, I can think of at least one person who would use each one. I’ll let you guess as to who they are. But let’s go through them one by one, because you can use at least one of these tones all the way through a funnel in just about any business.

1. Crazy Energy

This is high-octane copywriting. It needs to make sense. But you can rave like a maniac with every word. How would we do this selling copy critiques?

Lead gen ad: Get your copy hitting grand slam after grand slam!

Headline: Your copy’s like a timid little kitten. Let’s turn it into a ROARING LION!

Tip: Keep the energy high and mounting all the way through. And be the kind of person who delivers mile-a-minute, testosterone-drenched critiques.

2. Steady Driving

This is steady-as-she goes copywriting. It does have a forward momentum, but it’s calm, friendly, and level-headed. What would it look like with an ad and in a headline to sell a copy critique?

Lead gen ad: Step by step to greater results with your copy

Headline: Our closely-guarded system for cranking up the response in your copy

Tip: You need to have a very systematic, somewhat rational work style and way of interacting with others for this to fully work.

3. Up Close and Personal

I would say this is more me than any of the other four. It’s very customized. A combination of systematic and intuitive. Very focused on results but not all that locked-in on how to get them.

To use this approach, you need to think about how to describe what’s not a predictable experience. Here’s how I would do it:

Lead gen ad: Only ONE approach will make your copy convert better. Let me show you what it is.

Headline: You’re not a cookie, right? So why use a cookie-cutter approach with your copy, when a customized approach will work so much better?

Tip: You really need to know yourself, and listen closely to what your customers/clients say about you, to use this approach effectively. I’ve collected enough testimonials from already successful clients who say “I don’t know how he does that” to realize that promoting my custom approach will appeal to the right prospect.

4. Serious Danger

If you are harsh, paranoid or simply very critical, this is a good approach. It’s completely valid and it works with a sizeable section of the market. The point here is to NOT pull your punches.

You’ll really piss some people off, but you’ll endear others to you. You only care about the ones who like your kind of approach.

Lead-gen ad: Yes, your copy really does suck. DON’T let it tank your business.

Headline: If you’re copy’s not working, you might as well throw in the towel now. But if you can handle the truth about what you need to do, we need to talk.

5. Sad and Gentle

This can work with a sensitive subject, especially around health and death. But it’s very hard to pull off effectively. I’m going to give it my best shot in showing you how you would use this to market copywriting critiques.

Lead-gen ad: You know how bad you feel when copy doesn’t work? Let’s change that.

Headline: I remember the dark days of never being able to make my copy work. Fortunately I discovered something that changed all that, and I’d like to share it with you.

Recap: Why tone is important, and consistency is just as important

1. People are attracted to different styles. Make yours very clear, right from the get-go.

2. Consistency of tone builds trust. Inconsistency of tone reduces trust. Go for building trust.

3. It’s easier to write more effectively in a tone that matches how you actually interact with people in the marketplace.

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