200-Proof Marketing

I’m not going to tell you what I’m thinking just yet. Read below first then I’ll explain…

“One must be able to express himself briefly, clearly and convincingly, just as a salesman must. But fine writing is a distinct disadvantage. So is unique literary style. They take attention from the subject. They reveal the hook. Any studies done that attempt to sell, if apparent, create corresponding resistance.”
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

Now go read this Chapter of Gary Halbert’s Boron Letters: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/Boron/TChapter18.htm

Did you read all that? Did you find the similarity in the two? If not, keep trying before reading on…

If you notice both texts are from Copywriting legends and both say that you shouldn’t make it obvious you are trying to sell something.

If it looks like a blatant Ad from the start, people are likely to ignore it and move on. That makes perfect sense, because I do that quite often.

I’m guessing the typical internet sales letter has become a “Blatant Ad” and my stats are reflecting this.

On one of my niche sites, over 90% of my visitors spend less than 10 seconds on my sales pages before leaving. Yet that site still averages a 3% conversion rate.

That’s just screaming to me that something is up. Either the stats aren’t reliable, I have a horrible headline, or people can easily tell it’s a Ad and leave before reading anything.

The current thinking is that at the very least people will read your Headline before deciding whether to stay or leave. Then if you’re headline is good they will be interested and keep reading.

People are told the Headline is there to get attention (which it is), so they think they should make it stand out even more. Why not make it BRIGHT red, or make it enormous? Because that might be telling the customer “THIS IS AN AD, PLEASE GO AWAY!”

In theory something that doesn’t look like an Ad but instead a piece of helpful information should draw people further into the copy, thus increasing sales. I’ve found corresponding proof of this by looking at some successful copy of the past.

So I’m going to potentially create a little stir and say “All the Guru’s are doing it wrong!”

I can’t prove it yet and I could be completely wrong, so I’m going to run a test on one of my niche sites.

I’ve already rewritten the sales page so it looks more like a helpful article at first than a Ad, and I should have the test up and running in a few hours.

Update: I forget the exact results of this test but I know it inceased my conversion rate.

I realize that a lot of the things I talk about here probably soar right over the heads of people that are just getting started.

The reason I do that is because I prefer dealing with the more advanced topics since those are the ones that can help people already in this business the most.

But it’s important to never forget the basics. With all the new stuff going on, many marketers completely lose sight of the core fundamentals that make Direct Marketing work.

When I first started, I read this book and it helped me tremendously… I believe I read it at the recommendation of Gary Halbert.

The book was published in 1923 by a pioneer and legend of Direct Marketing. Since then it has been read and studied by almost every successful Direct Marketer(if not all). It is the one book that should be mandatory for all aspiring Direct Marketers.

The name of that book is Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins.

I had pretty much forgot about it until a few days ago when I decided to reread it just to make sure I still had a good understanding of the basics.

Here’s the cool part… Not only did it help me cement the basics again but it gave me more idea’s than I know what to do with.

The whole time I was reading it I was thinking to myself “how can I apply this to my business” and the idea’s started flying.

So, if you’re new to Direct Marketing read it at least twice and take notes. The information you’ll learn will be invaluable to you in your business. Some of it is outdated but most of it has stood the test of time.

If you’re like me and you’ve been in the game for awhile, take the time to reread it. I’m sure you’ll find some new ideas in it just like I did.

To make it easier for my readers to read, I threw together a quick and dirty webpage containing the book. I considered putting it in PDF format but I’m too lazy right now so I just copied and pasted it into a webpage.

You can read Scientific Advertising right now for free by clicking the link below…

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

Don’t be lazy and skip reading this book. If you want to be successful in this business you must understand the principles outlined in Scientific Advertising!

Some of you may think I’m crazy, but I actually enjoy infomercials. They can be entertaining and educational for a Marketer.

The humor is probably lost on non-marketers, but if you understand what they’re doing (or trying to do) it can be funnier than the latest blockbuster comedy.

Just the names of some of them are hilarious…

Take Yoga Booty Ballet for example. That’s a pretty funny name and product, but from the looks of it, it’s selling like crazy.

Who in their right mind thought of such a thing?

Entertainment aside, the main reason I watch infomercials is to see what’s selling and how they’re selling it.

It’s the same as reading all the ads in a magazine month after month.

The ad’s in the magazine or the infomercials that keep repeating are the ones that are profitable.

This is an excellent way to find new products that are already selling and to learn what sales techniques are working in that market.

If you want a wildly profitable product just look at some infomercials…

Some long time winners are Real Estate Investing (no money down and tax sales), EBay get rich quick deals, Exercise machines, Exercise videos, Diet pills, Cooking gadgets, and many others I can’t think of.

If you want to improve your marketing, one of the easiest ways is to study what’s working for other people. That means watching infomercials, buying magazines for the ad’s, and whatever else you need to do for the particular media.

You probably know Testimonials are important and you’ve probably seen how much they’re used in just about every form of Direct Marketing.

But I bet you still don’t understand how powerful they can be and the enormous effect they can have on your conversion rate.

Just watch any Infomercial… The better ones are composed of about 70%-80% Testimonials.

You might remember John Reese’s Relaunch of Traffic Secrets. The sales page was absolutely packed with Testimonials. Over 100 pages worth I think.

So what’s the key to getting the most out of your Testimonials?

First of all… Don’t call them Testimonials in your Copy. Call them Success Stories, Reviews, or anything besides Testimonials.

Testimonial is a dry, boring, and unexciting word. You’ll get better response with one of the alternatives.

Secondly, they’ve got to be interesting and specific.

“Thanks for your book, it really helped me alot”

Short, boring, and undetailed Testimonials like the one above are a waste of space. You want your Testimonials to tell a story, give a lot of detail, and keep the customer interested and excited.

When asking for testimonials, ask your customers to be detailed and if possible put the testimonial in story form.

Maybe even give your customers the option of taking a survey that asks them specific questions like:

In what ways did my product help you?

Tell me, in detail which parts of my product helped you the most.

and so on…

Help the customer write the testimonial you want.

And the last key to a Great Testimonial that will skyrocket sales is….

“Believability”

If your potential customers don’t believe your testimonials, they’re useless.

You want your testimonials to be as believable as possible because the more believable they are, the more they will increase your sales.

How do we make them more believable?

Here are the three easiest ways…

1. Add a picture in the testimonial. The picture can be of the customer, a before and after, or a picture of results achieved.

For example: You sell a book on Quilting and your testimonials show pictures of the Quilts made by your customers.

A picture not only makes the testimonial more believable but it also draws attention to the testimonial.

2. Add Audio to the testimonial. If you let your potential customers listen to the testimonial, it might make it a little more believable.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be the person who wrote the testimonial talking in the audio either. You can hire a couple voice actors if you want to.

3. Video Testimonials… This is quite possibly the future of testimonials because seeing and hearing the person giving the testimonial makes it much more believable.

Do you want an instant increase in sales?

Test adding a couple video testimonials to your sales page and I bet you’ll see your conversion rate increase instantly.

I did a test on one of my Niche websites a few months ago that demonstrated the power of testimonials. It was a new product so there were no testimonials yet, and sales were sluggish. The product was barely profitable.

That is until I got my first testimonial. When I did, I immediately emailed to person asking if they could elaborate and give me a more detailed testimonial as well as a picture if possible.

Almost a week later I got a reply with a testimonial that was about a page long and included a picture of the “results” from using my product.

I featured that testimonial right smack in the middle of my copy(a little toward the top, but below the fold) so it stood out like a Figure Skater in a Hockey Game.

That testimonial more than doubled my conversion rate and made the product a money machine for years to come.

Testimonials are so powerful, that I believe you could sell with nothing more, except a brief benefit driven intro explaining the product and a strong close.

No more body copy, just believable, exciting Testimonials.

So, do yourself a favor and start spending more time on your testimonials. Run a few tests, even something as simple as making them stand out more could easily increase your profits.

If you want to sell to people, it helps to have some understanding of how they think.

Thankfully there are a ton of psychological studies on buying behavior that we can look at and use to our advantage.

First have a look at this quote from an article in The New York Times:

“Corporate executives are the first to admit they do not really know how advertising works.

They spend $117 billion a year on advertisements, but most people do not remember what product is featured in a given commercial. Four out of five new products flop. There is no conclusive evidence that advertising ever causes sales to go up.”

Wow!

The one thing I focused on was: “There is no conclusive evidence that advertising ever causes sales to go up.”

Now, I assume they’re talking about “Brand Advertising” or “Image Marketing,” which is mostly useless. The one advantage these people bet on is that people will develop a brand loyalty.

That’s great if you’re selling Soda but it stinks for most small businesses.

With Direct Marketing, we know that correct advertising does cause sales to go up. The process we follow leads people to a buying decision.

But, with conversion rates averaging between 1 and 2 percent across the internet, our process still hasn’t been refined as much as it could be.

In my opinion, direct marketing has the potential to convert nearly 100% of it targeted market. Obviously that’s unrealistic, but I believe it is possible.

If you’re selling “Wrinkle Reducing Cream” to women that are insecure about their wrinkles, you should be able to(theoretically) convert damn near every one of them that see’s your copy.

Since this doesn’t happen we must conclude that our “process” is flawed. It’s still the best available but it has alot of potential.

If we want to improve our process we must first better understand why people buy.

Most human behavior is either reward seeking or pain avoiding. That response is one of the most primitive and basic there is. Get more rewarding stuff, stay away from unpleasant, or painful stuff.

That’s why we use benefits and not features. We want the customer to see the potential reward they will get or the pain they will avoid when they buy our product.

So the next time you write sales copy remember to make the reward of buying your product clear. But be careful which rewards you focus on…

The reward of using Wrinkle Cream to eliminate wrinkles isn’t getting rid of the wrinkles.

The reward is most likely one or more of the following: More self-confidence, compliments from others, becoming more attractive, envy of others, or any number of other things…

The reward is rarely the actual effect. When a man buys a Ferrari, the perceived reward isn’t just the thrill of driving a high performance car. The perceived reward is hot young women, respect of others, recognition of success, etc.

Don’t sell a Ferrari with a commercial of it speeding around a track. Sell it by showing a middle aged, average looking man driving around with a good looking young model while people on the side of the road stare and talk about how rich and successful the driver must be.

Alright let’s move on to some Buying Triggers(things that increase the likelihood someone will buy)…

One of the most well known triggers is Scarcity. Which is when there is a limited supply of something. This can make demand go crazy. However most marketers fail to use this correctly because they don’t make it believable. If you say only 10 people will get a product, stand by that limit. Then release a similar product with a limit and watch the product disappear at an astonishing rate.

The next trigger is based on other people. If you see everyone else doing something you are more likely to do it yourself. Home Shopping Channel’s use this and Scarcity to their benefit with the little “Amount Remaining” tickers. It starts at a set amount of say 10,000 then as they present the product, it rapidly drops down to zero. The viewers see this and are triggered by scarcity as well as seeing so many other people buying.

Another trigger is based on like-ability. If someone you like asks you to buy something, you will be more likely to buy it, simply because you like the person.

The Expert Factor also plays a role because people want to buy from someone they believe is in a position to help them.

Then there’s Reciprocity or the desire to return a favor. If your customer thinks you’ve done him a favor, he will try to repay you in some way.

There ya go… That information is potentially more profitable than most $97 ebooks out there. The right combination of the above can make you rich but because your getting the information free you probably won’t realize it until you pay for it.

I’m actually supposed to be working right now, but I’m putting it off because I don’t feel like it.

So I figured I’ld come write a article here and then maybe I’ll feel like working.

Do you want to increase your conversion rate?

Of course you do…

Before I tell you how, let’s talk about why people don’t buy.

1. They don’t want your product(if that’s the case they shouldn’t be looking at your copy - target your advertising better)

2. They don’t trust you or believe your product will do what you say it will.

3. They plan on buying but procrastinate(like I’m doing now) and never get around to it.

Like I said #1 shouldn’t be a problem because you know not to advertise Wrinkle Cream to teens looking for the latest Rap CD.

Now I’m going to tell you how to get your customers to like and trust you within the first few paragraphs of your copy.

How?

Most of you have heard the phrase: “People like people that are like them”

They’re also more trusting of people like them.

I think I first heard that on a Tony Robbins cassette way back when I was kid and it’s the truth. It’s basic Psychology for people to gravitate toward others that are similar to them.

If we want to use this to our advantage in our sales copy we have to first learn who are customers are and what they want(you should already know). The more you know about your customers the better.

Let’s say we’re selling a new Diet Product.

Don’t tell the customer you’re a professional body builder or model. If you do that, they will see you are not like them and you’ll lose alot of sales right there.

Fat people might dislike or envy people who’ve never had the same problem they are trying to fix.

You should tell them that you’ve also had trouble with your weight for most of your life. Tell them you know how it feels to be ignored or to have people laugh at you because you’re fat.

Try to hit on emotional experiences they’ve had and let them know you’ve had the same problems.

You want to make them think you’re just like them. Then, once you’ve done that you can move on and tell them how you overcame the same problem they’re facing and sell them the product.

So build trust before you try to sell your product. Provide proof that you are qualified to solve the persons problem. Give proof that you have solved other peoples problems.

Just do yourself a favor and change your copy so it builds trust like that and test it against your old copy. I’m not saying it will always boost your conversion rate but in some markets it can make a huge difference.

First I should tell you that I’m not a master copywriter. I’m good but it’s certainly not my best area.

Writing good copy is an extremely valuable skill, but it’s also not the easiest thing to learn.

Of course you have the option of hiring a copywriter to do it for you but if you are just starting out, you probably can’t afford one thats worth it.

Even if you have the money to hire a good copywriter, I think you should still learn to do it your self because it’s a crucial skill in this business.

So how do you learn to write good sales copy?

The best way to learn is the way I learned. Which is how Copywriting Legend Gary Halbert recommends people do it.

All you have to do is spend a few days gathering as many sales letters as you can. You could print good ones, rip them out of magazines, or even buy a set of successful sales letters.

However you do it, I suggest you gather, in paper format(not on the computer), at least 20 great sales letters and then sit down and rewrite every single one of them by hand. Just copy them all word for word.

Don’t ask why… Just do it and you will understand.

There are four things you need to do in a sales letter and they can be abreiviated as AIDA.

A = Attention
I = Interest
D = Desire
A = Action

So when you are writing a sales letter you first need to get the readers Attention, then get their Interest, then get them to Desire your product, and finally get them to take Action and buy your product.

You normally get their Attention with a Headline, which is one of the most important parts of your sales letter because if you don’t get their Attention in the first place, the rest doesn’t matter. Some people spend more time on the headline than the rest combined, it’s that important.

Your headline is your Ad for your Ad. The best headlines are the ones that speak only to your targeted customers and include your top benefit.

I’m going to stop right there because the best way for you learn copywriting is to learn it from someone who is great at it.

I suggest you go to Gary Halbert’s website and read every newsletter on that website at least once. Don’t skip any of them, even if they have nothing to do with copywriting. Some of them are out of date or off topic but all them will help you better understand how to write sales copy. Just reading nonsense written by Gary will help you write better copy.

The Gary Halbert Letter(Free)
http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com

If you read Gary’s Newsletters and practice rewriting other peoples sales letters like I told you above, you should quickly learn how to write a “good enough” sales letter.

You will not become a great Copywriter overnight. Not even over the next year. But you can learn to be a “good enough” Copywriter in less than a month. By “good enough” I mean you will be able to write copy that is good enough to sell products and make a good profit.

Then as time goes on and you read and write more sales letters you will slowly get better at it.

That’s it… Just study how other people do it and “borrow” their techniques to help you learn how to do it.