Today, I’m going to help you solve a massive problem that all internet marketers face: keeping your audience engaged.
Here’s the common problem: you work hard to flood your website with traffic, but once you have consistent traffic, you realize that no one is actually buying your product. We’ve already discussed how you can capture your readers attention, and get them “hooked” on reading the rest of your content. But how can you get them invested? How can you make them actually WANT to buy your product?
The answer, my friends, is Hope.
If you’ve been on the internet for any significant amount of time, you’ve already learned to tune out 99% of advertisements and sales pitches. You’re use to it, so all the advertisements are usually just more of the same.
Even when you do learn to tune out all the ads, you can never quite tune out that little voice in the back of your head. You know what I’m talking about… the little voice that asks “what if?” whenever you’’re faced with an advertisement.
The little voice that says “If that actually is true, maybe I COULD increase my sales dramatically…”
This voice happens even if you KNOW that most advertisements are complete garbage. This little voice is hope.
Write Content that Sells with Hope
By simply incorporating the concept of Hope into your writing, you will see A LOT more success.
Like I already said, that little voice is in the back of all of our heads already. Even though most of us are used to the wild promises made in advertisements. You will always have hope, because you don’t want to miss the real opportunity to make money. What if the advertisement you closed out of actually would’ve helped you make millions? You will always hope.
So, we’ve captured our readers attention. We’ve got them hooked into reading. Now, we have to get them to feel real hope.
You’ve seen these tactics before, no doubt. I’m sure they’ve worked on you as well. This is especially important with headlines. You see a dramatic headline that proposes something completely outlandish. Under the headline, there will be subtext which conveys the feeling of hope.
New Government Tax Laws Unfairly Target Middle Class America
What you Can Do to Avoid Paying More
This is an example of a headline that captures your attention, and then provides hope. If you are a part of middle class America, the last thing you want to hear is about a new tax law requiring you to pay more. You might get angry, or you might be worried. Now, if the headline just said that, you would be left in a negative emotional state when you view the sales copy. To solve this problem, we use the concept of hope at the end of the headline. After talking about new tax laws, the headline gives hope that there is actually a way of getting around this law.
Chances are, if you are in middle class America, you will want to know exactly what you can do to prevent yourself from paying more in taxes.
See, if you actually did read a headline like this WITHOUT hope, you would likely be concerned. You would wonder how you could fight back. How can you avoid paying more? If the sales copy doesn’t address this fact, you likely won’t be interested in buying the product/service that it promotes.
However, since the headline and copy DO address these facts, a connection will be formed between you and the content that you are reading. Because the content gives you hope, and provides a solution, you will be much more willing to actually buy from that website/business.
-Best, Seth JC
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Curious? You should be.
Direct honesty usually isn’t believed to be related to high-income. The funny thing is, though, that people will ALWAYS spend more money on a company/product they feel is genuine than one that is fake.
People seem to have this idea in their minds that because someone is honest and hardworking, they must be doomed to a lifetime of low-income and hard labor. Not so! This idea will come into play later in this article. First, though, let’s talk about curiosity, and how you can use it to write better copy.
Get the Readers Attention– But then what?
You’ve probably heard the above line before.
How do I sell? Get your readers attention!
How do I promote? Get your readers attention!
Yeah, yeah… that’s all fine and good. I’ve gotten my readers attention, though, and they STILL don’t buy!
The reason is simple. You captured your readers attention, they started reading your content, and then they got bored. What did they do once they got bored? They stopped reading your content!
Don’t get me wrong– getting your readers attention is extremely important. But what comes next is just as important to writing copy that sells. The whole point of getting your readers attention is so they continue reading what you write. Curiosity helps us do this.
Curiosity occurs when you make an outlandish claim. Like the title to this article, it works to hook the reader’s attention instantly.
Think about it. Even if you didn’t care about making money through honesty, wouldn’t you be interested? I’m sure this has happened to you before. You see an ad that has no relation to you, but it peaks your curiosity. What happened? Well, you read into the ad! This is curiosity at work.
You see, we humans seem to have a desire to challenge limits, and find proof on our own. Remember when your mom told you that pan was hot? You touched it, didn’t you? I did too! We were curious! We had to make sure that it truly was hot.
This same concept works in copywriting. Get your reader’s attention, and then get them curious. This way, they will read through your content, and hear what you have to say. Be careful with this, though– you don’t want to peak your reader’s curiosity and then let them down.
Want to Sell? Write Like a Human, Dammit!
Knowing that curiosity captures attention is all fine and dandy, but that principal in itself isn’t going to help you sell. Within the world of sales, there are various tools that we can use to gain the end result. Curiosity is one of those tools. However, the tools aren’t going to work if you aren’t using the right delivery.
Who would you rather buy from? A nameless figure who writes incredible english and uses massive words regularly, or a stay at home mom who just created a product to help you keep track of your children’s grades better? It’s obvious! You want to buy from the HUMAN.
See, the stay at home mom has character. Sure, her writing might not be perfect, but that’s okay! Think about it… how many of us really write like we talk? The people who get paid six figures for copywriting do, that’s for sure!
People buy from humans. They don’t buy from grammar nazi’s. If you want to sell, it’s time to start writing like you speak.
Now, I don’t want you to read this and think that grammar isn’t important. It absolutely is– to some degree. You obviously want to have content that’s readable. However, it’s okay to make a little mistake here and there. It’s okay to write short incomplete sentences every now and then. We’re human, aren’t we? Not perfect robots!
In the end, writing with character is about writing how you speak, and being a human. That’s really vague, though, and it probably isn’t going to help you much. Thankfully, there are a few tools we can use to make our writing sound more characteristic immediately.
Write With Rhythm
Look at any good sales copy. Read it through, and really get a feel for the rhythm.
Excellent sales copy is incredible to read. It flows with your thoughts, and gives you time to chew on all the information before moving on. Rhythm is a very important part of writing good copy. You want to state your points in a manner that is easy to read, and flows extremely well.
This means using punctuation and paragraphs to your advantage.
Briefly, an italicized word shows emotion, an underlined word encourages slower pronunciation of the word, and a period represents a hard stop to the writing. Likewise, you can also use isolated phrases. This is a great way to accent something, make a point.
Understand?
Time to Sell!
Although there are more tools to help you write with character, writing like a human and using rhythm is a great place to start. Next time you’re writing a sales page, remember to use curiosity to get the reader hooked and interested in what you have to say. Although curiosity is the tool, be sure to write with character as well.
This is the main difference between six-figure writers and broke writers. They both have the same toolbox. However, one writes with character. Is it the broke writer?
Nope!
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We come across hundreds of advertisements each day. Whether on the internet, the television, in a magazine, or on the road, we are constantly being sold to.
Think about how many advertisements you view each day. Now, think about how many products you buy because of those advertisements.
If you’re anything like me, most advertisements make no impression on you – whatsoever.
Now this could be because we’re not the target market for the ad being shown. Much more likely, though, is that we’ve simply learned to IGNORE the vast majority of all advertisements shown to us. We’re exposed to so many advertisements each day, that we’ve created defense mechanisms for dealing with them.
When a flash ad pops up on the screen, or a commercial is played on TV, we literally “zone out,” and focus on something else. This is a great mechanism for our personal sanity, but it’s terrible for advertisers and copywriters. While everyone else is happy to live their lives without giving ads a second glance, our livelihoods depend on people seeing them and taking action!
So how can we reach new customers and retain existing ones through our marketing efforts? Simple, really. Break the trance!
The Reticular Activation System (RAS): Your Worst Enemy, or Best Friend?
Each and every day, our minds are exposed to massive amounts of information. I’m not just talking about advertisements, but all kinds of information coming at us from all directions. If we were to actually absorb and comprehend every piece of incoming information, our brains would be overloaded with stimuli and literally cease to function.
Luckily our brains come with a built in “spam filter”, if you will. The scientific term for it is the Reticular Activation System, or RAS. The RAS sorts through the information we receive, only paying attention to that which is relevant in our lives,..
To get a grasp of the RAS in action, think of a time when you learned a new word. You may have never heard this word used in a conversation before, but once you learned it and understood it, you began to notice every time it was spoken and every time you saw it in writing.
Is this magic? Nope! By learning that word, you told your RAS that the word was relevant to you, and as such, the word now gets through your “spam filter”.
Let’s take this example which applies specifically to advertising and copywriting…
When you see an advertisement, your RAS will act as a spam filter, blocking out the ad. However, there are some ads that your RAS simply can’t block out. Think about an ad for a product you’d never use in a million years that just stuck in your head. A jingle you’d find yourself singing unconsciously.
Maybe it was one of those Super Bowl commercials. The commercials have become almost as important as the game itself these days. There’s just as much water cooler talk about the Budweiser ads as there is about who won or lost the game.
The point I’m trying to make is that your RAS can’t block out certain stimuli because they’re so powerful or significant. And that’s exactly what advertisers count on…
Emotions that Bypass the RAS
Like the Super Bowl example explains, there are certain emotions that are so powerful, they pass right through the grasp of the RAS. Humor is one of those emotions. There are also five other emotions the RAS has a hard time with.
• Fear
• Anger
• Pain
• Surprise
• Pleasure
These are all emotions that are very relevant to your life, as you only feel them when something happens that you cannot ignore. If these emotions are triggered via advertisement, then your RAS will automatically let the information come through..
This is how you break the trance and write effective copy that sells. This is how you create a successful ad campaign for any kind of product or service. Appeal to the emotions listed above and you’ll shove the RAS aside, allowing your message to reach your prospects.
Not all emotions are created equal and choosing which ones to appeal to depends largely on what you’re trying to sell.
For example, the emotions of Fear, Anger, and Pain are usually best left alone. This is because if you come from the wrong angle, activating these emotions can lead to more problems than they solve– especially for us copywriters.
However, in the right circumstances, these emotions can be POWERFUL. For example, you commonly see this tactic used by law offices. They’ll talk about a medication that was used in the past, and how it is now linked to diseases. If you have this disease, you are supposed to get angry.
Here’s the important part, though. You’re not getting angry at the law office. You’re getting angry at whoever sold you the medication, and now you want to get back at them. How can you do that? Well, try the law offices!
Humor, Surprise, and Pleasure focus more on the “positive” side of emotions. Successful copy that uses these emotions generally focuses on making the reader feel good. Make your readers happy with feel-good content in order to bypass the RAS and get directly to their minds..
Wrapping It Up
Although it’s true we ignore almost all advertisements, the ones we don’t (actually can’t) ignore prove to be extremely effective. Now that you know how to break the readers’ trance, you can plant your message in their minds, which is one of the most powerful selling methods ever.
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(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about the biggest obstacle to your success as a marketer.
If you missed that, you need to check it out right away.
“To Be Right or to Be Successful…That is the Question…”
Today, is more of a rant in many ways…but there’s a good lesson
in here too. First, you might have seen the movie Atlas Shrugged. An
entrepreneur named John Galt grows frustrated with carrying the weight
of the world on his shoulders and pulls a disappearing act to start his
own colony where ambitious entrepreneur minded people live in a community
supported by value exchanges and mutual contribution.
One by one, John Galt slips back into the U.S. society and picks off
other frustrated entrepreneurs who become the citizens of his colony.
John says that his goal is to “stop the motor of the world,” by taking
away the very people who drive it. Meanwhile, a mysterious question begins
to circulate about this man John Galt, a man who many believe to be a
legend, a rumor…not a real person at all.
Who is John Galt?
And why are they all the contributors leaving?
Puzzling question.
That is, until you experience their frustrations first hand…
Atlas shrugged is a fictional story, but probably the most accurate
reflection of the human element of being an entrepreneur. Are you ready
for this lifestyle? It’s awesome, I won’t lie…but it has a dark side,
a dark side which eerily mirrors the experiences of John Galt.
There will be days when you feel like you have no peers. You’ll
realize that no matter how much value and opportunity you create for
others, there will always be someone there to ride your coat tails, the
entire time thinking that you somehow owe it to them. You’ll have those
who assume that their talent, their seniority entitles them to compensation
and favoritism. You’ll have those who want to share in the glam and the
glitter, but not the dirt and the grit.
You’ll have those who want steady work, and who even do a great job
at doing it, but who are oblivious to the great sacrifice which you’ve
made to find them that work…to take endless client rejections on the
chin, the sort through scammers and unethical or irresponsible business
people to find real clients. These are the same people who criticize CEOs
of companies for having enormous salaries.
Ingrates. The reason high lid people make the money they do is because
they can. They can because they choose to be out in the front line
taking the criticism from the media, applying their creative energy to
find ways to create more opportunities for their employees and to manage
a great big fucking machine called an organization. They protect the
company from being swallowed alive by the competition or bankrupted by
frivolous lawsuits.
All the time, being criticized and punished for their achievement. Being
shunned as the “rich and greedy who need to give something back after
having taken so much.” Taken? Don’t think so. If it weren’t for those
risking their necks to create value and order, there would be no great
societies. There would be no order and there would be no economy. The
world would be a bottomless chasm of chaos and apathy, full of gnashing
teeth and people competing and cutting each other apart just to survive.
What we have now might not be perfect, but it would be worse without
the leaders, the promoters and the opportunity creators.
If you’re reading this and you’re not an entrepreneur, I thank
God that the world has people like you. Really. Not everyone can be the
slightly rebellious risk taking maverick leader. But I encourage you to
consider a few things too. The first is that sales people and marketers
are the reason you have a job. If it weren’t for them, you’d have to sell
your services and find your own clients…which I’m guessing you’re not
comfortable doing and that’s okay.
What’s not okay is biting the hand that feeds you and that creates
the very economy which you live on. The hunter takes the first cut and
leaves the rest for those who are waiting on the food to come to them.
They don’t owe anything to you, just as you don’t owe anything to them.
Those who take the most value do so because most of the time they’re
taking the greatest risks. Those who take the greatest risks usually
create the greatest opportunities.
They create more opportunity than they alone can handle, so they hire
other people to help…and that’s how an organization is born. It’s born
by the wombs and born upon the shoulders of the world’s entrepreneurs. Yes,
they take a big compensation for themselves. But unless you’ve been in
their position and done differently, you have no right to claim that you
WOULD do any different.
To my fellow entrepreneurs or those aspiring to be so…remember the
words of Theodore Roosevelt:
“It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face
is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs
and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best,
knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst
if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place
shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory
or defeat.”
BAM!
When you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, remember that
your reward is well worth the sacrifice. The reward of choosing your
path in life, for better or worse, you have options that others only
dream of because you take the risks that few dare to take. Above all,
never forget that even when everyone turns on you, the fact remains that
YOU drive the very motor of the world.
YOU are John Galt.
Yours in liberty,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about smart product creation.
If you missed that, check it out here…
“The First Step to Building Another Income Stream.”
You know, this is the 49th of the 50 free copywriting and marketing
emails you get from me…so I have to mention this…
You know what the biggest obstacle is to your success as a marketer?
I’m basing this on seeing hundreds fail and only dozens succeed and
succeed big. The biggest obstacle to your success as a marketer is…
(Drum roll please)
Your ego.
It’s the same thing in direct sales, ego is the enemy of success.
Hell, it’s the same thing in life.
When I was training sales people back in the old Matrix of the
corporate world, I saw some of them go from selling nothing to outselling
entire departments. I’ve also seen some who went from selling only a little,
to being coached by me, to arguing with every freakin’ thing I said until
I gave up on them…then they were right back to selling only a little.
But at least they were “right.”
When I was counseling couples, I saw some go from being on the verge
of divorce to being happier than ever. I also had those who were on the
verge of divorce, then sitting in my office and arguing with me, then
moving on to a divorce attorney after I realized they were too busy
being “right” to be married.
But at least they were “right.”
I’ve had coaching interviews with broke clients who went on to create
new plans of action, change their beliefs and their habits and move into
the wonderful world of financial independence. I’ve also had interviews
where the client wanted to “I see what you mean but _____” to everything
I said and to defend every lousy financial habit they had.
They were broke, but at least they were “right.”
I’ve written stellar copy for clients and see their conversions
double or triple. I’ve also written stellar copy for clients and had
them email me a few days later asking why it’s “not converting
that well…” only to look at the copy and find entire paragraphs
changes, new headlines added and my awesome copy sodomized by the
client’s revisions.
But at least they were “right.”
Hey, I used to be all about being right. Then one day a coach
of mine asked a question that changed my life…
Are you happy?
Ouch. Had to think about that one for a few minutes, but the
answer was no. I was too damn busy being right.
Now, let me ask you…
Are you too busy being “right” to be successful?
Just think about it. Be honest with yourself.
An honest answer might be the break you’ve been waiting for.
Good luck,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about hypnotic copywriting and how to keep from being
fooled by the whole idea.
“Hypnotic Copywriting: Time to Face the Truth.”
Okay, today I’m writing about one of the biggest mistakes new
business owners make…they start out with a plan to create an income
stream, and the first thing they start thinking ABOUT is a product.
Epic fail.
The patent offices are jammed up with ideas about products and
services that never saw the light of day…never made a cent for
the creator. Many business coaches say this is due to a lack of
motivation or initiative on the part of the creator. Okay, I’ll
buy that…but it’s only a small part of the story. The other problem
is that the creator gets the “necessity is the mother of invention,”
completely backwards.
Need IS the other of invention, but too often the inventor is
thinking about THEIR needs instead of their customer’s needs.
Oh DAMMITT man!!!
Read that last line again, cause this is too good to miss.
Too many product creators are thinking: “What’s going to make
me the most money?” and they go about with all kinds of cool product
ideas. Products which meet their emotional needs and made them feel
good…which give THEM a feeling of accomplishment. The problem is
no one gives a $&*# and no one buys…and the idea is still born.
Meanwhile, the genius product inventor is stuck thinking:
“Why don’t people get it?”
If you’re a product creator or a marketer asking yourself the
above question, the answer is clear…
“YOU don’t get it.”
Sorry, but product creation is the worst place to start. If
you want to create massive success, you must start by identifying
three things:
1) Exactly who your customer is
If you don’t know this, you don’t know what their needs are.
How could you? You’re left to guess, or worse, to create what you
believe they need instead of what THEY believe that they need. Even
if they’re wrong about what their real needs are (which people usually
are) the won’t listen unless you understand what they BELIEVE their
needs to be.
2) The perfect buying situation
Even your best customer won’t always be ready to buy from you,
their problem has to be bad enough for them to be ready to consider
and to PAY FOR a solution. Only a VERY small segment of the population
is into prevention and will look for solutions to problems before
they occur…but these people are too rare to count on as your primary
customer base. You need to appeal to the human tendency to look for
solutions only after the problem has grown into a 1,200 lb snarling
grizzly bear.
What’s the perfect circumstance for your customer to be ready to
purchase a solution to their problem? For example, if you’re selling
marriage counseling services, the perfect buying circumstance would
be the moment after their spouse asked for a divorce. Know this and
know who your customer is, and THEN you’re ready to create a product.
That’s it. Simple right?
Remember, it’s value that drives our actions, and buying is an
action. People value things based on how they’ll meet their needs,
first their physical needs for food and water and shelter and then
their emotional needs for validation, security and excitement. So
before you spend time and money creating a product, ask the above
two questions. Find out who your customer is and what their perfect
buying circumstance is.
Once you do this, the product solution will be much easier to
brainstorm, to create AND to market.
Good luck,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about how I find my best and highest paying copywriting
clients. If you misses that message, you can read it at the link
below.
“How I Find My Best Copywriting Clients”
It appears my comment about hypnotic copywriting being BS got
a few people worked up…none of them were well known copywriting
experts BTW, which ought to tell you something. So today I’m explaining
why you’re wasting your time trying to learn hypnotic copywriting
and why you need to avoid any writer using this as their main
selling point…
First of all, people have always been confused about what hypnosis
really is. I don’t have room to get into this right now…but it’s
not the magic, mysterious, “I sold my soul to Satan to learn this
magic art” which it’s commonly believed to be. Hypnosis is serious,
scientific practice and it takes a lot of practice and experience to
even get decent at. Hypnosis isn’t done with words alone either, the
proper stage has to be set to make it happen.
It takes the manipulation of a person’s physiology to induce
deep trance and there are plenty of people who just don’t go into
deep trance at all. I know, I talked about trance in “21 Immutable Laws
of Persuasion,” but you have to understand the difference between trance
as a heightened emotional states and a true hypnotic trance. There’s
a big difference…and that’s why master, certified hypnotists do
their work in person.
The idea of hypnotic copywriting became popular really fast, and
that popularity caused a lot of people to believe in it’s validity.
Funny, even after being dupped by the the flat world theory, the theory
of bloodletting and the theory of the geocentric universe, people still
get fooled into believing that popularity equals credibility. Far from
it my friend. Hypnotic writing, NLP copywriting, whatever you want to
call it…it sounds sexy. I know that, and that’s why it’s popular.
Just don’t mistake popular with effective.
People have always been seduced by the idea of magic and mystery,
and I can’t blame them too much. Sounds like a lot of fun. But it’s
important that we don’t assume the world works a certain way just
because it sounds fun and sexy. The real picture is quite different.
Just look at the leading authorities on sales and copywriting: Dan
Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Joe Sugarman…those guys don’t rant and
rave about this mysterious art of hypnotic copywriting.
Meanwhile, the internet is littered with hundreds of so-called
“hypnotic copywriters” who for all you know could be working at
McDonald’s and copywriting as a part time gig…trying to hit the
big time. If there’s any raking in big bucks on a consistent basis,
please write to me and prove it…I’ll pay you to learn your magic
art so I can turn people into mind-slaves myself, starting with
Jillian Michaels.
And yes, I’ve read AND recommend Joe Vitale’s book called “Hypnotic
Copywriting,” but if you read that book and understand what hypnosis
really is, you’ll realize that the hypnotic thing is really just
packaging. The book focuses mainly on the principles of human behavior
which drive buying decisions. Same thing you’ll find in books by Dan
Kennedy and in my books on Copywriting and human behavior. Pretty good
packaging though Joe, I’ll give ya that one.
So when you see these information products that claim to teach
you the “banned” secrets of hypnosis that will turn ANY person into
an obedient mind-slave, beware of what’s coming next. They’re about
to turn YOU into an obedient mind-slave by taking your money and
hoping you don’t ask for a refund when their crap doesn’t work. The
real principle being applied here is the one P.T. Barnum spoke about
when he said:
“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Don’t be a sucker, it sucks.
Talk to you later,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about how design really affects the performance of your
sales copy. If you’ve read some of the opinions out there and are
looking for some facts-based straight talk, you might want to
check out that message right now:
“How Does Design Affect the Performance of Your Sales Copy?”
Today, I’m doing something I really don’t like to do, but I’ll
tell you why I’m doing it in a second. I’m revealing how I find my
best and highest paying copywriting clients.
First, I hate creating more competition for myself. Yeah, I’ve
heard all those “experts” who want to teach you the “secret to their
success” because they “want to give something back.” If someone says
that to you in their presentation, be very skeptical of what’s
coming next…most likely it’s an avalanche of bullshit. People
who really succeed at making money don’t like revealing their secrets,
and you wouldn’t either.
But I’ve also found that when you reveal a secret to success, most
people are either too lazy to put it to work or too stubborn to
replace what they’re already doing…even if it’s not working very well.
So I’m okay with giving this one away, may those who are wise and hard
working enough to get to work on it benefit.
I find my best customers through social media marketing.
I’m not talking about those who pay for bulk article writing or
content creation services. I’m talking about those who pay top dollar
for ghostwriting of books and the creation of sales funnels (squeeze
pages, email autoresponders, sales pages etc). Social media marketing
is one of those things that’s either a gold mine or a complete waste
of time…it all depends on who’s doing the marketing.
If it’s someone who believes in marketing as a numbers game or
who tries to use slick and clever things like the BS “hypnotic copywriting”
and urgency offers while doing nothing but tooting their horn about their
products or services, the results will be a joke. We call these people
spammers, and I’ll tell you what…
…most spammers don’t believe they ARE spammers. They’re not
sitting in dark dungeons like evil superhero villains littering people’s
in-boxes with ads about Viagra and about making $674,275.34 per hour
in absolute automated, turn key passive income. Most of them are
marketers who really believe they’re doing it right.
Sorry, but if your messages aren’t creating value for people, using
the principles that I talk about in my advanced copywriting and marketing
series, you’re a spammer…and you’re not gonna do much with social media
marketing. My success in attracting high value customers has very little
to do with conventional marketing knowledge. It has everything to do
with understanding human behavior.
In fact, understanding human behavior is easily the most valuable
life skill you can have. That’s why I share these secrets in our
personal growth courses like “The Spiral of Influence” and “A Genius
Awaits You.” When was the last time you read a book on human behavior?
Are you too busy trying to learn the latest marketing gimmick that’s
maybe gonna work for a while, but then stop working?
If so, you’ll always be running just to keep up. If you want to
make the big bucks and have more consistent work than you know
what to do with, become a student of human behavior…make it your
primary focus to master this subject. You can start by signing up for
our personal growth mastery courses right here…
“Personal Growth Mastery Course,”
I know…not what you were expecting right? You were expecting
me to reveal the one hidden secret that’s been eluding you so that you
could start using it, sit back and watch the dollars roll in right?
Sorry, but anyone selling you that BS is doing so in hopes that
you’ll buy their product and NOT ask for a refund when you find it to
be the same old song every other marketing “expert” is singing.
Social media is the new word to mouth advertising, and word to
mouth has always been the most valuable and dependable source of
fresh leads…IF you know what you’re doing. It starts with understanding
human behavior, so here’s your shot. Sign up now…
“Personal Growth Mastery Course,”
To prosperity,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about how your changing your pricing strategy can transform
your business and your life.
To read more, check out the message here:
“Low Cashflow? Your Marketing Might Not Be the Problem“
Today, I’m tackling a common debate, and one which initiates more
BS responses than nearly anything else in marketing. It’s the question
of how your graphic design affects the performance of your copy.
Funny, if you read someone’s response to this question, you can tell
instantly what kind of work they do. If they say something like: “Ugly
sells, all you need is great copy…” they’re a copywriter. If they say
something like: “Yes, design will make or break your conversions…”
they’re a designer.
If you’re a serious marketer, you’re probably sick of this self-serving
bullshit and want some real answers…so here we go…
The truth is, design doesn’t affect your sales copy’s performance at
all. But it DOES affect whether people ever give your copy a chance. If
your design sucks, you can forget about your copy even being read…it’s
probably not going to happen. Even when it does, you’re fighting an
uphill battle to overcome that first impression which your bad design has
burned into that person’s mind. No matter how well your copy “performs,”
your design sets up the stage on which your copy performs…and that makes
a world of difference.
Check out what B.J. Fogg from Stanford University said after conducted
an analysis on real world behaviors for the Stanford Web Credibility
Project:
“I would like to think that when people go on the Web they’re very
tough integrators of information, they compare sources, they think really
hard,” says Fogg, “but the truth of the matter – and I didn’t want to find
this in the research, but it’s very clear – is that people do judge a web
site by how it looks. That’s the first test of the web site. And if it doesn’t
look credible or it doesn’t look like what they expect it to be, they go
elsewhere. It doesn’t get a second test…”
Ohhhh, check out that first sentence and see if you can read the
idealistic human assumption “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” mindset!
We all want to believe this. We want to believe that people will look past
the surface appearance to see if something has real substance. Sounds all
warm and fuzzy, and if you want to believe that this is the way the world
should work, more power to you. Just don’t let that convince you that this
is the way the world DOES work. In real life, people judge books by their
covers all the time.
In fact, it might interest you to know that when a book seller goes to
a bookstore to pitch them on books to put on their shelves, all they take
are the book covers. Too much to haul around all those heavy ass books.
And this doesn’t end with books, people judge each other by looks all
the time…
You do this and I do it and anyone who says they don’t is going to
lie about other things too. Just look at the popular magazines the we
read and how much they emphasize on people’s outer appearance. People
spend more money on their outer appearance than they do on growing
their character. People make decisions about who to date, who to hire
and who to reject or ignore based on appearance. Do why do we assume this
suddenly changes when someone is reading a website or a direct mailer?
Bottom line, people not only judge by appearances, they often MISJUDGE
things simply because of what they see on the surface. If they like
what they see, it distorts their perception of value to where they’re
less likely to see the flaws when they do start showing up. At the time
of this writing, I’m investing a huge chunk of money into a complete
design makeover of my entire network of websites. It took me a long time
to reach this point, because of the idealistic “look past appearances
and look for substance instead…”
How are your ideals about how people “should” judge your copy holding
you back? Are you assuming that good copy is enough? If so, it’s time to
face reality. People judge by appearances, they always have and they
always will. You can try to change that it you like, but why fight an
uphill battle? Give your copy a good stage to perform upon, then you’ll
get the full benefit of it’s performance.
I’m guessing that sounds pretty good to you.
To prosperity,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
Seth Czerepak here, the Cashflow Copywriter. In the last message,
I talked about how client rejections can help you make more money.
To read more, check out the message here:
“How Rejection from Clients Can Help You Make More Money…”
More than 90% of the people who read this will completely reject it,
and of those who do, very few will put it into practice. Shame, because
what you’re about to learn will change your entire life if you accept
it.
Here it is…
If you’re not making enough money with your business, your marketing
might not be the problem. There’s a financial cancer eating away at
the income of nearly every entrepreneur…it’s probably eating away at yours
right now, and you don’t even know it. In fact, what you believe is helping
you get the business you already have is probably stunting your business
growth and keeping you from having the enviable entrepreneur lifestyle that
you keep hearing about.
What is it?
It’s your pricing strategy.
Here’s something which is worth getting tattooed on the back of your
hand…
Price isn’t what matters, getting a yes is what matters.
Getting someone to say yes to your offer is hard, if it were easy
everyone would be selling and top salespeople wouldn’t be making a
fortune. However, getting someone to say yes to a purchase of $5.99
isn’t any harder than getting them to say yes to a purchase of hundreds
of dollars and getting them to say yes to a purchase of a few hundred
dollars isn’t any harder than getting the to say yes to a purchase of
thousands.
Sound unbelievable? Here’s why I know it’s true…
When I discovered this, I was working in call center selling medical
alert systems. There was one person in that call center who was consistently
selling our most expensive package, two or three a day sometimes. Meanwhile,
myself and several other salespeople were making the same number of sales,
but selling the lease expensive option, and often at a free trial just to
close the deal. So, I requested to take a day off and sit with this top sales
person…and I discovered something that changes my financial life forever.
She was ONLY pitching the most expensive package. She was getting the
same amount of sales I was, but the customers were paying three times
as much because there was not other option. To this salesperson, there was
no discount, there were no less expensive packages. She would even accept
a deal NOT closing before she would offer a lower package. In other words,
the price didn’t matter to her, she was all about getting the yes. You know
no matter what price you sell something at, there will always be someone
to buy it.
How far can you take this? Well, you can’t get someone to pay one
billion dollars for a toothpick, but it’s incredible what you CAN get
people to pay if you create value, sell value and refuse to offer anything
less. You see, after I sat with this salesperson for a while, I spent some
time listening to the sales people who sold next to nothing. Many of them
would start out pitching the more expensive packages, but quickly reduce
their offer to the lower packages and finally to the discount package.
Again, I noticed something VERY interesting. Customers who seemed to
be just on the fence at $490 would continue to say no right on down to
a free 30 day trial offer.
Strange indeed…why is this?
Because the salesperson was attempting to use the price to get the yes,
when they could have focused their energy on building value and getting
the person to say yes to the product, not the price. That’s a small but
VERY significant difference, and it can literally make the difference
between making a bundle of money and barely getting by. After this life
changing revelation, I left that company and went to work for Get Motivated
Seminars selling coaching services.
When I arrived, everyone was selling trial packages at a very small
commission. There were bigger programs, but no one was offering them.
Applying what I learned from my last job, I started offering only our
four month programs…and making just as many sales as the other top
sales people. Next, I offered only six month programs, and soon the
other sales people followed suit. Within just a few months of being there
everyone was offering six month programs and everyone was selling the
same amount of programs as they had when I got there.
Next, I created a twelve month program and soon and the same thing
happened. That was all it took for me, I KNEW that the price wasn’t
what mattered. If I could get the person to say yes to a small program,
I could get them to say yes to a large one. So why settle for using
price as your primary marketing angle and taking only what you think
you can get. True some people won’t buy at any price higher than the
ones you’re currently offering.
But that’s where the magic happens.
This of it like this…your marketing channels (the places you hunt
for customers) are like fishing channels…they have lots of little fish,
but big fish swim through them all the time. Why aren’t you catching these
big fish? It has nothing to do with your fishing skills…it has to do with
the bait you’re using. Is your “bait” a low price or is it high value?
Your answer to this question will determine your fate as a provider of
products and services. Assuming that you’re good enough to create value,
you should be able to charge high rates and get them.
Again, it’s all about getting the yes, and if you can a small fish
to bite at a low value item, you can get a big fish to bite on a high value
one. The cool thing is if you can sell at higher prices, you can invest
more money into creating value, and it just spirals upwards from there.
The same is true for selling by price instead of by value. If you sell
at a low price, you have little resources for creating value and it just
spirals downward from there.
Again, price isn’t what matters, getting a yes is what matters.
The tough part is making this shift and watching the little fishies
swim away from you…hard to do that, and at first the big fish might
not come near you. That’s the testing period, and if you pass it and
refuse to settle for less, you’ll be landing some big, big fish and thus
attracting more resources which you can reinvest in creating better bait.
So it’s your choice…will you sell value or sell price?
If you doubt that you can do this, here’s what you need to do right
now, before you even think about anything else. Buy this course.
What does a personal growth course have to do with becoming a better
marketer? As the title of this message says, it’s not about your marketing
it’s about being able to sell value and refusing to settle for mediocrity.
That takes emotional fortitude…it takes character, and you don’t get
that from just deciding that you want it. You have to pay the price if
you want to reap the rewards. The rewards are very, VERY nice.
Just visit this link and get ready to find out for yourself…
To prosperity,
-Seth Czerepak
VDT Strategy Coach
(This is an email from our “free copywriting mini-course.” For the additional emails and two free ebooks, sign up for the Free Copywriting mini-course)
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