Copywriter Tool Prompts Garbage Can Epiphany
What if…
Not more knowledge, but new perspective could make you a more persuasive copywriter?
Here’s a helpful bit of both then…
Last night I was hauling yet another huge black garbage tote out to the curb for our weekly trash pickup. Every week, I haul out one garbage tote. Every other week, a green recyclable tote goes out as well.
It’s habit. I usually think nothing of it.
You probably participate in this weekly ritual too.
But last night was different.
One Copywriter’s Epiphany
Having just finished an article for copywriters on how to write more persuasive copy, perhaps some ideas were still percolating in my head as I performed this mindless, weekly trash task.
Because suddenly, it hit me…
“I paid for everything in this bin, and now I’m toting it out to the curb as trash!”
Sure, it’s food wrappers, wet paper towels, delivery packaging, food scraps, and God knows what else. But I paid for all this once, except for the junk mail, and now it’s trash!
So much trash.
Conversely, I don’t remember consuming a trash bin full of GOOD stuff this week? That much steak, or chicken, or vegetables. How could I?
So what gives?
Am I buying more trash than stuff?
This is where my inner trash talk started to merge with copywriting…
So much advertising now is trash. Wasted.
Let’s start with junk mail – ‘cuz it’s an easy target we all understand, but seldom stop to consider.
Why do we call it “JUNK MAIL” anyway?
Because some advertiser blindly shotgunned his promotion (his needs) to an entire population (us) with zero regard, or research, as to OUR needs.
He gambled. Hoped to get lucky. C-pile mail as Gary Halbert would say. Right in the trash bin it goes, unopened. Wasted time. Wasted postage. Wasted paper. It becomes MY TRASH to haul out. My burden rather than my opportunity.
The customer’s needs are always paramount in any sale. No regard? No sale. That’s JUNK!
Social media ads, force-fed to me and to you by the algorithms, are the digital equivalent of junk mail. Only more insidious. They waste our finite and precious time.
Rather than fill the trash bin, they steal YEARS from our life!
To their credit, they are usually more targeted to my interests than junk mail.
But…
The shear volume of ads poorly crafted, by names unknown, for every FREE this or that, designed primarily for the purpose of getting me on a list for further spewing of ads and offers – is as staggering as it is sickening.
So much waste!
Throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks, random ads of greed, should never be the copywriter’s aim.
We can do better. Be better. And profit better in the process.
“How’s that?” you say.
We cut down on the waste by knowing our buyer’s needs and desires better than everyone else. Perhaps even better than the buyer knows himself.
Most have heard the old sales wisdom where the guy who buys a power drill doesn’t actually want the drill, he really wants the hole. You want to be selling him on the best hole maker.
Milwaukee Gets It – Sell not a Drill, But a Holeshooter!
How Copywriters Write Better
Great copywriters take it a step beyond that though.
They ask, “Why is HE making that hole?”
What pleasant FEELING is HE hoping to get?
- To save money from hiring a craftsman? (he wants to feel money smart)
- To impress his wife, or girlfriend, parents, or neighbors? (he wants to feel strong, smart, be seen as a real problem solver, he wants to feel impressive)
- For the personal satisfaction of doing it himself? (to feel pride, accomplishment, self-sufficiency, independence, freedom)
Test Your Copywriting Skill
What one common FEELING is missing from the drill buyers motivation list above?
The Copyrighter’s Persuasion Toolkit would have revealed:
RELIEF – He just might desire that feeling of relief he’s sure will come, once that hole is finally made – and his wife stops nagging him to get it done!
Behind everything we humans do, everything, we imagine some pleasurable FEELING to come of it.
Or the avoidance of some bad feeling or consequence. Carrots and sticks.
Feeling draws us to DO things. It’s biological.
Feelings of hunger drove cavemen to forage and hunt for food.
Feeling vulnerable drove those cavemen to make weapons too.
Even if buyers are not aware of these subconscious feelings and desires when they set out to buy, they still go out to buy thinking they’re solving some obvious surface problem or need. Deep down inside though, he’s really being driven the desire for some powerful human FEELING.
>>> He doesn’t want the steak, or the sizzle. He wants the FEELING it will give him. <<<
The copywriter’s old maxim is: stress benefits over features.
A copywriter’s best work, and that my friend is what is required to succeed today, your best, paints a story of how the buying of the thing will make that prospect FEEL.
“They laughed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!”
The success of this famous, and frequently ripped off ad, was that everyone could imagine the FEELING of sitting down at that piano and having friends and family be awe-struck. Dumbfounded. Amazed.
Who doesn’t want to be amazing! Admired? Applauded?
John Caples tapped into a powerful human emotion with that ad. One powerful feeling we all desire.
Consider:
- No one in his right mind wants to endure years of piano practice. Even one hour of practice each day can seem daunting. (I speak from experience here, at 60+ I’m just beginning to learn piano!)
- Few people want to learn piano for the mere joy of playing music.
- Most want to play for the FEELING of being impressive (to someone).
We’ll endure hours and hours of tedious practice, spend money on, sacrifice time for, that feeling we imagine (anticipate) we’ll get one day, the feeling of impressing someone.
John Caples wasted no words in his advertisement talking about superflous features and benefits.
He led with FEELING.
Copywriters: Write This, Not That
When we focus on, and tap into, the TRUE FEELING our prospect is hoping to get from his purchase, even if he doesn’t consciously know what that feeling is, we can cut incredible amounts of time and waste from our work.
We’re not limited to tapping just one feeling either. We can lead with the most compelling feeling he desires, then reinforce that by telling about how he’ll also gain these other feelings too
When we focus on uncovering the prospect’s desired FEELINGS, we can write faster, better converting salesletters and promotions.
We write better, faster emails.
We can stop writing useless words that get thrown in the trash – and focus only on writing the stuff that moves people, the good stuff.
Try this now for yourself:
Imagine the feeling of a tender, properly seared, thick juicy steak as it melts in your mouth. The pride we feel as we take our significant other out to that fancy steakhouse for a special evening. We can all tap into vivid images of how our significant other might reward us later for this romantic evening experience. And how will that make us feel?
So why would some dumb steakhouse ad ever promote: 50% off on Tuesdays?
Wasted opportunity. Waste.
“Sure. Great Bob. I get it. But how do we do that? How do we discover and tap into those desired FEELINGS for profit?”
Funny you should ask.
Because I recently trimmed all the fat, spared the fancy packaging, eliminated every and all bits of wasted time and reading when I created my new Copywriter’s Persuasion Toolkit.
It goes one step beyond Elmer Wheeler’s famous, “Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle.”
Rather, it takes you quickly and easily, with simple diagrams and templates, to that next deeper level where your prospect’s true motivations live and breathe – it reveals the FEELINGS they desire.
Listen…
Keep spewing trash if you wish. You might get lucky once or twice by shotgunning. Just know, there are 100,000 or so copywriters now on Facebook groups and such, looking for gigs, waiting to take their shot, or maybe your job.
However, if you’d rather use a rifle to hit your targets with impressive accuracy, if you’d like to become known for your fast, accurate work that brings buyers in droves, which leads to more gigs, and better paying gigs, you’ll use The Copywriter’s Persuasion Toolkit.
This tool alone shows you which FEELINGS your prospect is powerless to resist.
It’s fast. It’s easy. Just like your decision here.
Try it now. Or miss out.
Just trash talkin’.
There’s zero risk to try it. Only upside potential.
Write Faster. More compelling copy. More persuasive promotions.
Get more gigs. (ie. more money!)
I’ve even included a special Bonus Report on Getting More Gigs with the toolkit.
-Robert Schwarztrauber
P.S. Here’s some additional perspective on the shear power of feelings. That first cigarette or alcoholic drink burns the throat. But some enjoy the FEELING of calm, confidence, or “coolness” it gives them. And a big part of substance and emotional addiction is the FEELING it gives. We’ll even buy known-to-be HARMFUL substances if they provides us some desired FEELING. We’ll literally kill ourselves for (even the hope of) a feeling. Suicide is the ultimate attempt to relieve a feeling of pain or emotional suffering. FEELINGS are a powerful motivating force. Find them. Use them. But only for good.
P.P.S When copywriters ask better questions, more questions, they get better answers. The Copywriter’s Persuasion Toolkit gives you both – better questions AND better answers – for better promotions. Be sure to click one of the links above and have a look-see for yourself.
