Too often business owners forget the importance of conversion in their quest for traffic. You may win the bidding wars over click rates or even the battle to get to the top of the search engine, but that is not all that matters. Your website could be getting thousands of hits every day, but none of this matters if you don’t have people converting from visitors to buyers.

Even if you aren’t selling something for money on a page, you are selling your business. And when they are sold on your business, they keep coming back for more. When you do offer something for sale, even if they are not interested at that time, they may tell someone who needs what you are offering, or come back later. This is the ultimate goal of conversion… getting your visitors sold on your business.

To improve conversion, you may push yourself to create new and different copy. But there are tried and true techniques that work. Even if you are converting, there is always room for improvement. Imagine doubling your current conversion rate by your clients buying more, and recommending you to more people!

Lee Collins
Managing Director
StomperNet, LLC

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”

~ Leo Burnett ~
Advertising Executive who created the Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger and many more

High Converting Copy Starts with the Right Approach

By Scott Martin

One of the keys to turning website and landing page visitors into clients and customers is what the visitor sees ‘above the fold’, or specifically what’s on the screen before someone (hopefully) scrolls down. When the copy addresses an interest or need, the visitor will keep reading. Strong copy starts not with a headline, but with the approach.

Let’s go through a few approaches, each of which can be extremely effective depending on what you’re selling.

The News Approach

You see this more in newspapers and magazines but the approach is to make an advertisement look like a regular article. The most famous example is the John Caples advertisement:

They Laughed When I Sat Down to at the Piano…But When I Started to Play!

If the advertisement looks like an article, which it should, the newspaper or magazine publisher will feel it’s essential to put the word “Advertisement” at the top of the ad. A good problem to have.

(A quick side note: we all know that copy set in reversed type is harder to read. The really intelligent direct marketers set the word “Advertisement” in reverse type on ads in newspapers and magazines. Brilliant.)

The approach is to make the advertisement seem like an article. The headline must simulate a newspaper or magazine headline, so it must offer news. Let’s say we’re selling a fishing rod. A tepid headline would read: The Snapper Rod Helps You Catch More Fish! Here’s a more newsworthy headline:

10 Year Old Girl Breaks State Fishing Record at Lake Snails. Her Secret? The New Snapper Fishing Rod.

Stories can be extremely powerful in copy, but be careful. A boring story is like a bad joke and will turn people away.

If you want to see great examples of newspaper headlines, forget the serious newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times. Instead, look at the tabloids, especially the English and Scottish tabloids like The Sun, The Daily Record, The News of the World, The New York Post, and The Daily Mirror. Headlines equal sales for these newspapers.

It’s harder to use this approach on the web because the visitor knows they’re going to a page that’s advertising something. So use the news approach for banners and buttons on news and information sites.

The Empathy Approach

“I know your job or life is terrible and difficult! I’m here to help.” When the product or service is targeted at a highly defined audience, this approach is worth trying. And you don’t need a headline so much as a series of sub-heads. For example:

Being a Marketing Executive is a Tough Job…Especially Today…

Just keeping up with Internet technology is a full-time job, AND THEN you have to run all the marketing.

We’re going to make your life a lot easier…

Very soon, your CEO will praise you for being totally up-to-date with everything in today’s eCommerce universe and staying on top of things will only take you 30 minutes a week—or less.

It’s a good way to state a problem then tease the reader about the solution. You will almost always get someone’s attention when you make them feel you understand their troubles and issues.

The Straight Ahead “Here’s the Benefit” Approach

It’s basic, perhaps, but there’s a reason so many successful direct marketers use this ‘default’ approach. If you’re not certain one of the other approaches will work, use the straightforward approach. In most cases, you’ll see a “How to” or “Are you…?” headline.

How to catch more fish with less effort.

Are you ready to avoid traffic jams?

Are you ready to pay 50% less for tires?

“How to” and “Are you” headlines can be used, but headlines that state the benefits even more directly are fine.

With The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Wedding and Banquet Business, Your Club Will be Swimming in Tens of Thousands of New Revenue in Just Three Months.

Specificity is mandatory: a set time frame…an increase in distance…a number of extra fish…be specific when detailing the benefit.

The “Successful” and “Unsuccessful”

There’s a famous direct response advertisement for The Wall Street Journal. In the ad, the writer details two students who went to the same university. The one who reads The Wall Street Journal is now a successful top-level executive while the other has not been very successful. Martin Conroy wrote the original letter.

Here’s the first paragraph:

“Dear Reader:

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men.”

And later in the copy…

“About those two college classmates, I mentioned at the beginning of this letter. They graduated from college together and together got started in the business world. So what made their lives in business different?

Knowledge. Useful knowledge. And its application.”

The comparison approach includes significant quantities of empathy…always a powerful ingredient. There’s a book using this approach: Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

The Offer/Bonus/Discount Approach

Perhaps the most direct approach of all…go straight to the offer.

Order before December 15 and you get FREE next day shipping PLUS a FREE pair of goatskin slippers.

Buy THREE tires, get one FREE.

Often, with this approach, there’s no need to get into pages and pages of copy, especially with a widget or commodity. With a country club membership asking for a $15,000 initiation fee, you need more copy.

This approach can be effective in email marketing.

The Guarantee Approach

Absolutely one of my favorites. Maybe it’s just me, but I often think the guarantee comes too late in most direct response copy: a solid guarantee can be the clincher, especially when a potential customer is on the fence. I’m not alone in this thought, which is why a number of copywriters use the guarantee approach: detail the guarantee immediately.

“I guarantee my seminar will increase PROFITS at your lumber yard by 25% in just six months or I will refund your investment, cover your travel expenses AND send you a check for $1,000 for wasting your time.”

It’s not enough to leave the reader with just the guarantee. The copy MUST pound away with the guarantee.

The Fear Approach

Fear, as we know, is a powerful motivator, especially when combined with major issues, like death or parenting. For example, you may have a product that will help parents keep teenagers from starting to smoke. The fear approach provides an opportunity to use the WARNING headline.

WARNING: If your teenager starts smoking now, there’s a 70 per cent chance they will be addicted by age 18 and will smoke at least two packs a day until they die from lung cancer…

What keeps your potential clients awake at night? If it’s a powerful motivator, the fear approach might work.

The most popular direct response copywriting strategy is AIDA, which stands for

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

The approaches listed above have one goal: to get your attention and lead the reader to the facts, figures, and benefits they will find interesting.

And test like crazy to see which approach starts to get the best results. One of my clients used to write copy for a company in Japan that sold products through newspaper ads. They kept trying different approaches before they found the one that generated the best leads. Once they had the approach they liked, they continuously tweaked the copy until just one minor change produced an advertisement that brought them a ton of sales.

By Scott Martin

Scott is a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Reach him through his website, www.scottmartinwriting.com where he offers a free direct response copywriting checklist.

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Secret Sauce Checklist

Great Approaches for High Conversion Copy:

• The News:   The headline reads like an article
• Empathy:  Provide help
• Straight Ahead:  Start with the benefit
• Comparison:  A Successful versus Unsuccessful
• Offer/ Bonus / Discounts
• Guarantee:  The clincher at the end
• Fear:  Tell them their fears

Stomper Buzz

Next Week’s Focus: Where Is Your Focus?

Stompernet Blog

And it’s not a one time shot.

You need to be writing copy on a consistent basis. At least if you’re running a consistent business.

But there are often overlooked pieces of copy that don’t get much “love”. Big mistake. Every aspect of every written piece that goes out to your potential customer base needs to be well thought out.

In fact, there is one part of your sales copy that is almost…well, “The Most Overlooked Part of Your Sales Copy…Guaranteed!” Read our SEO Intelligence Report and then be sure to implement what you learn to make your sales copy even better!!

Lee Collins
Managing Director
StomperNet, LLC

“Quote”
- Scott Adams

The Most Overlooked Part of Your Sales Copy…Guaranteed!

By Vin Montello, StomperNet Faculty Member

One of the most important parts of any sales letter is also one of the most overlooked parts. An element that’s not given the respect it deserves by most businesses, and one that is overlooked by some businesses entirely.

Because… right up there with headlines and story, hooks and benefits, bullets and offers, is…

The Guarantee…

Most businesses don’t even offer a guarantee; others do it as an afterthought.

Rare is the online entity that really treats this copy element as she deserves to be treated: like a classy lady all dressed up and ready to go to the ball where she can hang off your arm and make you look good.

Just a few months ago I wrote:

“Guarantee The Product: All studies have shown the longer you make the guarantee period and the less restrictions you put on that guarantee, the more people will buy and less of them will return. The psychology on this can fill an entire article on its own. Maybe I’ll write about it in the future.”

Well… the future is now!

So… let’s first talk about that whole psychology thing.

The reason more people buy when there’s a longer guarantee is easy… It’s a “no duh” sort of thing… More people buy because the guarantee offers them a degree of protection from making a stupid decision. Making that period longer just amps up that protection.

If every middle-aged dude had a year to decide whether or not he wanted to keep the Lamborghini and pay for it, or return it, you bet your a** they’d sell a ton more Lambos than they do now!

So… yeah… a real no-brainer with that first part of the guarantee psychology.

As for the second part… I have to admit I don’t really know the actual reason less people return a product when it has a longer guarantee period. I’m guessing here, but I’m pretty confident in my guess, so here goes…

The Science-Be-Damned Vin’s Best Guess Explanation!

When you have a short period of time to return something, your mind is on returning it. Let’s take that same Lamborghini metaphor.

Instead of a year, let’s say Lamborghini only gives you 20 minutes to return the car for a refund.

First… the brevity (in this case an extreme example) of the guarantee starts people wondering… “Hmmm… why so short? Is this product gonna die in a couple days? Will it become obsolete in a week?”

On top of that, every one of those 20 minutes will feel urgent to you. You’ll not relax for a bit. You make the entire 20 minutes a road test.

In many cases you won’t even take the whole 20. You’re back at that dealership after 13 minutes because you don’t want to be the dumb schmuck who shows up with a broken watch at minute 21 and is told, “Sorry… too late!” by a swarthy guy with too much cologne and a thick Italian accent.

So… I’d say short-duration guarantees almost work in reverse. I can actually see some potential buyers reacting so negatively to a short period guarantee that it might be a better alternative to have no guarantee at all.

“But let’s go back to that wonderful fantasy year-long money back Lambo guarantee.”

When you have a long time to return something, you tend to forget about returning it. Heck… I’ve actually gotten to the point where I forgot I even owned the thing I was supposed to return!

Around 18 months ago, I bought a drum set. Why, you ask? Well… I used to play a little in garage bands in high school… I came across the set in the store and said, “Damn… I should mess around with the skins again.”

Long story short, I have fun for a week, then realize I don’t have time in my life for a drum set. I was about to return them when my wife reminds me I have a year to get my money back.

“A year? Well, then let’s pack them away. My nephew Joey will be visiting in a few months. I’ll keep them so he can see Uncle Vin rock out one time.”

Well… just last week we’re putting away some summer things when I see a big brown box I didn’t recognize. You guessed it… my drum set… nearly 7 months after my return period.

I know I’m not alone on this. I know I’m not the only one who opened a drawer to find something you should have returned, but didn’t feel there was any reason to rush.

That’s the added benefit of giving a very long guarantee. People just may not return it at all.

“So… How Long Should That Guarantee Be?”

How long could you make it and still sleep at night?

I’m not kidding.

I’ve found that six months is great… a year is better… Lifetime guarantees, however, can be hugely effective or they can fall flat.

When people see a lifetime guarantee they sometimes think there’s got to be a catch.

With all guarantees, it’s best to have no strings… no hoops to jump through… no burden of proof. Not only must you have that policy… you must tout it. If you don’t scream it from the rooftops, then you’re not getting the full marketing advantage of having one.

This brings me to my own little checklist of guarantee “must haves.”

“Vin Montello’s Five Point Guarantee System…”

1. Whenever you can, make your guarantee a “full money back” guarantee. And as I said, offer this money back for as long a period of time as you can comfortably handle. Note: Clickbank sellers can only offer two months money back. No more… no less.

2. Put little or no restrictions on the return. If it’s a physical product, it’s okay to ask that the product is returned in resalable condition. But never put any “…prove you did the work and failed” kind of condition on it. These types of stipulations read like you’re a jerk who doesn’t want to give the refund. People instinctively think, “That’s gonna be a hassle!”

3. “Frame and Badge” your guarantee. You know what I’m talking about. That ubiquitous stamp or badge inside the college diploma frame you see on every sales letter. You should know by now that everyone does this for a reason… because it works.

4. Sign your guarantee like a personal promise to the buyer. You’d be surprised how far pledging that you’ll honor the guarantee goes to making the sale for you. People trust people who are willing to add their John Hancock. It makes you look like a stand up guy (or gal)!

5. Make it three-dimensional! Don’t just say they can return the product. Point out exactly how the process will work. Something like… “Ask for a refund and your money is back in your account in 48 hours. No quarrels… no qualms… That’s my promise to you.”

There you have it.

Five bona fide ways to ensure that even something as simple as a guarantee can be fully developed to do more than just offer protection. Five ways to make your guarantee the dealmaker instead of the deal-breaker.

You know… I’ve often said that every inch of your sales copy needs to be working towards persuading your reader to buy. Well… when done right, your guarantee can become one of the biggest persuasion weapons in your marketing arsenal.

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SEO Secret Sauce

1. Whenever you can, make your guarantee a “full money back” guarantee.

2. Put little or no restrictions on the return.

3. Frame and Badge” your guarantee.

4. Sign your guarantee like a personal promise to the buyer.

5. Make it three-dimensional.

Stomper Buzz

Next Week’s Focus: List Building

Stompernet Blog

***StomperNet Disclaimer: the following article is written as a model. Don’t worry, this isn’t a sales letter! Read through to see how Vin Montello’s 13-step outline will enable you to write the most successful copy of your career.

Dear Stompers,

Are you tired of writing copy that doesn’t sell like you think it should? Like you know it’s supposed to?

Tired of watching your online dreams turn to dust while others around you are setting the business world on fire? Hey… I get it.

Starting an online business is tough. Sometimes it feels like swimming in the oil-choked gulf. Covered in muck with each stroke you make, you feel shudders of agony from shoulder to wrist… and still getting you nowhere.

“A Bone-Chilling sea of pain… With no Land in Sight”

That’s how it used to be for me until I discovered a secret. When I first started my online business, I was lost. All the misinformation out there had me running in circles, buying and trying every new “trick” that promised to make it all easy for me. I became sick and tired of all the deception, much like I’m sure you’ve felt on your journey.

Then one day I discovered copywriting.

Sure… I’d been a professional writer for nearly 20 years, writing and producing television shows for the biggest networks and studios. But copywriting… man, oh man that was writing like I’d never seen before! The kind of writing that had purpose. The kind of writing that could make or break any marketing effort. It made my mind race and my heart quicken…

I wanted some of that!

So I studied and absorbed as much as I could from the greats: some living, others long gone. Names we now know are like the Oscar winners of copywriting – the big copywriting superstars. I took what I learned from them and added my own unique twist…

“The Hollywood twist”

It’s a specific style of storytelling that magically sucks wallets out of pockets, and hands them directly to you. And that’s what I’m offering you today: a simple, quick and easy template for writing your own cashsucking direct response copy.

A copy style that’s proven to…

• Grab the reader’s attention and hold it all the way till they get to the “buy now” button. Then force their mouse to click on it…
• Tell a story that truly involves the reader. You already know “words tell, but stories sell.” Well… your stories will sell faster than water in the desert…
• Never leave you feeling “dirty” about your copy. While others use hyped up unsubstantiated claims, you’re proving everything you say… every time!

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what billion dollar marketer James Mitchell had to say…

“… the most powerful Copywriting system at any price… ”

“I was amazed by how much Vin’s system actually did for my business. I know how important copy is to my bottom line and these days I only trust my bottom line to Vin’s copy system. In my opinion, it’s the most powerful copywriting system at any price.”

James Mitchell
Mitchell Industrial Widgets Inc.
Los Angeles, CA

And now, for the first time, I’m making it all available to select Stompers for a crazy-low price…

Here’s what you get when you sign up right now…

The step-by-step blueprint that forces you to write good copy every time… even if you think you can’t write at all.

Now… with this “follow the leader” template you never need to scurry around wondering what to do next… or… how to make your sales letter the best it can be.  I did all the hard stuff for you!

Plus… an amazing free bonus!

If you act now, you also get every other article contained inside this StomperNet blog. Normally I’d be forced to charge you for each additional article you read…   But because you’re ordering the template today, you are getting all your reading covered for you. That deal can’t beat anywhere!

And… a never before offered free bonus…

The first 100 who sign up for the Template also get free access to marketingclambake.com… my uberprivate blog!

Here you can hobnob with celebrity marketers and get yourself a heckuva free education to boot!

and you never have to worry because…

The entire system comes backed by my lifetime guarantee. that means if you’re ever dissatisfied with the results of the Hollywood twist template…

Just return it for a full refund…   No questions asked.  I can do that because I’m confident you will never, ever want to return my Hollywood twist template system.

Elsewhere you would expect to pay thousands for this template system. In fact, there isn’t a single guru copywriter I personally know who charges $9,000.00 for a system similar (but not as complete) to my Hollywood twist template.  Since you’re lucky enough to order from this page, you won’t pay anything close to nine grand!

You know… you could get a novice copywriter to write your sales letter for you and expect to pay nearly $5,000.00. And with them, you’d only get one letter of questionable quality.  With my Hollywood twist template, you get an unlimited supply of killer sales letters for a wide array of products!

In fact, you are limited only by your imagination… plus it won’t cost you $5,000.00. Heck, you could take off a zero! That’s $500 for this template, plus the free bonuses… truly a steal.   But I’m not done lowering the price.

So, take off another zero… But wait… I’ll even go further! That’s right… for a limited time you get the Hollywood twist template, the Bonus StomperNet Blog articles,  and the marketingClambake.com bonus all for just $47.

That’s a $98.00 value all for less than half that.

But you have to act fast! This amazing low price is only for the first 100 who sign up. After that, the price goes back up to $98.00.

So order right now by clicking below.

Sincerely,

Vin Montello

PS – I almost forgot. Up top I said these secrets are the same secrets worth nearly $5,000,000 per year. And I wasn’t kidding. I didn’t pull that number out of thin air. That’s how much just some of my clients earned with my copy in one year alone.

And all of my copy is based on this simple template system. Don’t miss out. Order now!

Click Here to Get the entire system and the two free Bonuses

A Mock Sales Letter of Sorts

Okay… It must be obvious to all of you by now that the template I promised is actually the article itself. If you go back, you’ll see that it follows this simple formula:

1. Get attention with an Ultra-specific Headline package:

An eye-catching “secret” concept along with an exact number (instead of a rounded off number) to achieve this.

The headline is also helped along by the subhead below it, where the reader is promised something easy to follow, that gives big results.

2. Throw reader slightly off Balance with a salutation:

The “Dear Friend” part of a sales letter works to momentarily throw the reader off the scent that they’re reading an advertisement.

This is still done so often because it still works so often. Although I’d stay away from the word “friend” if you can, something far more specific to your niche would be better.

3. Introduce the problem, and then pile it on:

I refer to it as opening a wound, then salting the wound. This is where you mention the problem, and then put it all into 3D where the reader can feel it. Then when they begin to feel it, make them feel it worse. I mention how hard it is to start in this business. That’s the pain. But then I go deeper by talking about the reader feeling lied to and all alone. That’s the salt.

4. Ride the Wave of Current events:

Whenever you can, try to tie your writing into something that is very big in the news. In this case I went with the disastrous BP oil spill. This device works double duty. First, it helps keep attention, and second, it helps with making it all real… all 3D.

5. Introduce Yourself… and relate to them:

Before you can expect anyone to give you their money, you must first introduce yourself. It’s often as simple as, “Hi… I’m Vin Montello.” Then you must explain to them that you know what they’re going through and can therefore relate to their problems. This will work in most cases where the reader feels all alone in their despair.

6. Tell Your story and show Why Your product is Unique:

I did this with my story of having trouble in my business until I discovered copywriting. Then I mixed it all with my experience as a television writer to make me and my system unique.

7. Prove all Your Claims:

Studies… statistics… endorsements… and, yes, customer testimonials are all great ways to prove what you claim. And make no mistake about it… you MUST prove it. If you don’t, then everything you wrote is just hype.

8. Lay out some Benefits and officially introduce the product:

Pretty selfexplanatory. Lay out some of the benefits of your product in the form of bullets… or as entire paragraphs in the body of the copy. This can be done inside the section where you introduce the product, or separately.

In case you don’t know, a “benefit” is the answer to the question, “What does that feature mean to me?” Feature: “It keeps you full all night.” Benefit: “No more waking up at midnight starving.” As for the product introduction, this is where you provide the healing to the reader’s wound.

9. Guarantee the product:

All studies have shown the longer you make the guarantee period, and the fewer restrictions you put on that guarantee, the more people will buy and less of them will return it. The psychology on this can fill an entire article on its own. Maybe I’ll write about it in the future.

10. Build tremendous Value:

Before revealing the price of your product, frame the situation in the readers’ minds. Don’t make them have to come up with justifications for your pricing…

Do it for them. If your product is $50, compare it to much more expensive things first. This can be something related but totally out there (like comparing apples to oranges), or it can be as simple as comparing your product to a competing product that costs more.

11. Inject scarcity into the equation:

People are much more likely to buy something today if they think it won’t be there tomorrow… or will be much more expensive by then. Give them a reason to fear that. Limit the number of units sold or units sold at this low introductory price.

12. Call to action:

The most overlooked device in advertising is the call to action. This is plain and simply asking for the sale. You may think in an ad, asking the reader to buy is a given or implied. Not entirely. Coming out and asking them, or better yet, TELLING them to buy is far better. In the above letter, I do this with a simple, “So order right now by clicking below.”

13. Give them a reminder:

This is most easily done with a P.S. Studies show the second most read item on a sales letter is the PS. (Second only to the headline). Use this opportunity to reinforce the headline. Remind the reader in the promise you made up top. This lets skimmers assume your headline is more spelled out in the letter. A P.S. that reinforces the headline will actually get more skimmers to go back and actually read the letter.

And we all know that getting them to keep reading is more than half the battle.

Well… there you have it: my quickie copywriting template. Truth is, I could write two more articles based on this mock sales letter. Each of those articles would contain a dozen or so rules of copywriting found inside the letter and still I wouldn’t be done.

Just remember to follow the 13-step rule I’ve outlined above, and you’ll be well on your way to the most engaging and profitable ad copy you’ve ever written!

By Vin Montello

Vin Montello is a former Hollywood television writer that brings his 20 years experience as a story-teller, to every direct response sales letter he writes. These days Vin’s responsible for crafting some of the most successful online marketing campaigns, and has earned the nickname “The Millionaire Maker.”

Vin invites you to his wildly successful marketing blog at Marketing Clambake.com. You can also learn more about him at Montello Marketing.com .

Difference Between Content & Copy

by Vin Montello

FLV / MOV

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Stompernet Blog

“Should I go long sales letter or short sales letter?”

“Should I leave out all the “I’s” and “me’s”?

“I heard I need to do a complete customer avatar before I even THINK about writing.”

WHAT TO DO?!?!

Should you just bag copywriting altogether and just outsource it? Well you CAN… but you don’t have to. You don’t have to have a degree in journalism to be able to write good copy. You just have to know some good tips and follow sound advice.

Lucky for you…you have StomperNet! This week in StomperNet, our focus is Copywriting. We have some great webinars this week that you won’t want to miss.

We’ve also put together some great resources for you with past webinars on various aspects of copywriting. Check them out and then implement the aspects of copywriting that YOUR business needs.

Talk soon and enjoy the resources below!

Ryan Taylor
Director of Operations
StomperNet, LLC

IMPORTANT: Some of the resources shown are only available to members. Not a StomperNet member? Join us today for just $1.00 to get access to the world’s largest Internet Marketing community plus all the tools and resources you need (including upcoming free webinar replays) to start, build and grow a thriving Internet-based business!

Curriculum Resources

• How Best To Capture The Voice Of Your Target Customer In Your Copy
• The Optin Copy Formula
• The Sales Letter Formulas:  Which One Is For You?

New Media

• Infusionsoft Email Marketing That Will Save You HOURS of Time with Nicole Munoz
• Kool Kindle Kash with Dan Hollings

* Free Live Webinars This Week

TUESDAY, August 2nd, 2011 at 3:00pm Eastern

Legal…Ethical…and Profitable Hype in Your Copy with Vin Montello
Hype is one of those polarizing terms used in marketing circles. In fact, most hype is completely illegal and unethical. But Vin’s got one kind of hype that is not only legal and ethical… but it’s the cornerstone of the oldest form of selling. Intrigued? Good! Then be sure to Register Now!

TUESDAY, August 2nd 2011 at 8:00pm Eastern

Website Security: Even the Pros Get This Wrong with Dave Brandley

The number one issue among consumers on the web… is trust. With all the scams out there and identity theft running rampant, people…especially uneducated ones…are very leary about inputting ANY personal information online…let alone Credit Card information. When customers purchase from your website, they expect their transaction to be safe and secure. Although all websites have vulnerabilities, these “chinks in your armor” are really quite easy to protect. Having a secure website is not only important to you but it puts a customer so much more at ease to know they are working with a secure site. Dave Brandley has learned the importance of securing the weaknesses in your website and delivering the confidence to your customers, which by the way, happens to increase your conversion. Join Dave, the website security expert, as he discusses trust, conversion and security. Register Now!

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Your Joint Venture Partners have TESTED swipe copy and their hands are hovering over the “send” button.

You unleash all your traffic at once and….

FAIL.   Your conversion rate is less than .05%.

This is true.  I know this because it happened to me.  And like a cheese grater yanked across the soft-fleshy part of your inner thigh…

Being stubborn with a large ego usually causes me “interpersonal problems”, but in this case it caused me to limp back over to Microsoft Word, flip on “Track Changes” and start tearing up the offending copy.

13 hours later (wired on Orangina and the occasional clove), I was ready to test again.

Conversion went from .05% to 6.38%.

Here’s what happened…

To begin, I’m pretty good at getting traffic, ya know – getting people to my sites.  But what happened here was I forgot to consider the “The Arrival Mood” of said people.

What you message your prospects governs how they will behave when they show up to your offer. I totally spaced on that little nugget and paid for it big time.  Don’t be like me.

Do this instead:

You can create buying behavior with just a few simple tweaks to your sales copy – and it doesn’t matter what you’re offering.

Here’s the first thing I did.  I stopped “selling”.

  I know.  Just hit ‘delete’ now, right?  Heh.  Seriously, I stopped selling and instead focused on how to CREATE DESIRE in the readers mind by focusing on what Freud called the “ID” of human nature. And what I mean is, the ID doesn’t follow rational lines of cogitation when it considers its next action.

BTW, neither does your prospect.

Think about this – every prospect that arrives at your sales message ALREADY has some form of desire.  The desire has already been created somewhere else.  And it was created NOT by the products FEATURES; it’s created by a FANTASY RESULT.

Fantasy Result?  Sounds kinda weird, right?  What I mean is – the result that your buyer absolutely LUSTS after is an emotional concoction based on a “Rescue Fantasy”.

If you sell acne medicine, the result of using that medicine will be the elimination of acne. That’s the reality of the product’s result.

Your buyer, on the other hand, visualizes that little tube of goo as his “enabler” to get a hot date to the prom.

He could smell like (wet) burnt dog hair, be constantly drooling and be sporting a rented tuxedo shirt with baby blue frill – but at that very moment, the tube of pimple goo (priority shipped and liberally applied) is going to get him a date with his own personal version of Cindy Crawford named Libby from 4th period chemistry.  A fantasy, to be sure.

Another example:

You sell camping gear.  And your new hot product is LED-based Coleman lanterns.  You turn them on, they light up (bluish-ly) and the battery lasts forever, kinda. They’re waterproof, don’t use explosive fuel or an open flame as a light source, and you take them… camping.

Your buyer, on the other hand is thinking about how he can once again let the kids have one, because the old-fashioned kerosene version of the lantern set fire to the $1,856 tent the family used on the last trip when a game of chutes and ladders went terribly wrong.

And…AND his buddy Carl (Buddies named ‘Carl’ know everything about camping gear apparently) says that the blue LED light doesn’t attract mosquitoes.

Carl is of course, WRONG about that (notice color of light from bug zapper…), but it sounded good and Carl wears flannel shirts to church so your buyer listens to Carl.

The point is, your buyer is definitely not thinking about the features of the product (who the heck cares how LED lights work?)

He’s probably not even thinking about the benefits of the product (LED Lights last a long time, are durable, and…blue – whatever).

What your buyer is FANTASIZING about is the dramatic (and sometimes unreasonable effect of something as simple as a non-exploding light source, and how using it will play out the next time he goes camping with the family.

It means that when his child starts yelling for him because he has to pee at 3am in the middle of the woods, Our buyer doesn’t have to unzip his sleeping bag, rummage for his slippers, kick/trip over his wife, unzip their tent, wait for the pilot to light on the exploding lantern, walk his kid to the public rest room….

…Because now, since the LED lantern won’t explode (even during a full-contact game of Jenga), his kids can safely have their own and walk themselves to the potty. And since Crystal Lake is a pretty safe campground, you sleep soundly.

New Lantern = Harmony.

We buy ‘things’ because we think ‘things’ will change circumstances important to us.

You have to tap into what those Rescue Fantasies might be to create LUSTFUL buying behavior.   And don’t worry about hitting the exact target of the buyer’s fantasy either…

…because if you get them thinking about MORE fantastic ‘circumstantial improvements’, you’re just feeding more into the desires that they’ve already created.

This short video shows how EASILY you can create Lustful Buying Desire

There’s 2 killer examples, so have a notebook ready to copy them.

Now, I’m off to fantasize how that treadmill in the corner of my bedroom is making me thinner just by looking at it.  And who knew they made such excellent clothes hangers, too?

Freud-ingly,

Andy Jenkins

P.S.  I’m hoping to have a VERY Cool update on the state of Search Engine Optimization for you really soon.  Leslie Rohde, Dan Thies, and Jerry West have been giving “The Google” fits with some of the shenanigans they’ve been…”getting away” with.

More very sooooon.

Feel free to forward this to a friend, partner, colleague, or persons named Carl.

Follow meeeee on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/AndyJenkins

Stompernet Blog

We didn’t post it to the blog at that time, but it’s here now
if you missed it or want to make a comment.

Today’s newsletter is kind of a continuation on that.

If you recall, the basic idea behind “loss avoidance” is that
any given person would STRONGLY prefer to avoid a perceived
loss over any kind of gain.

In fact, research shows that the desire to avoid a loss can be
TWICE as powerful as the desire to acquire something new.

We also discussed how when people have direct experience with
something, they attach memories and integrate it into their own
personal “status quo”.  It becomes more valuable to them
PERSONALLY, just by having been a part of their lives.

This is one of the *reasons* people would rather avoid a loss
than gain something new, EVEN if the new item is more valuable.

Today, we’re going to talk about how to use this powerful
psychological phenomenon to “lock in” interested prospects to
your sales funnel.

We’re also going to talk about how careful arrangement of your
sales funnel can make sure you maximize your profits on ANY
promotion using the power of “loss avoidance”.

Now, when you’re promoting any kind of product or service, you
should know by now that one of the main ways to generate leads
is to “move the free line” and give away your BEST stuff in
order to draw people in and prove your worth for what you
eventually want to sell.  (Search the StomperBlog if you want
to find out more about that.)

Now, think about how you can use those freebies in order to
draw the prospect in and get them to *assimilate* your stuff
into their lives – even BEFORE they buy.

I’m not talking about a “free trial” here – I’m talking about
creating assets: videos, reports, comment mechanisms – all
designed to get your prospects to INVEST themselves into your
system.

This is called “Increased Commitment” – and you want to get
that from your prospects at EVERY chance you can.

See, they may not be giving you MONEY yet, but they are PAYING
you.  They pay with their time, and their attention.  And you
want to reward them HANDSOMELY for that.

If you ask for a click on a link and they DO IT, over-deliver
on that landing page.  If you ask them to opt-in and they DO
IT, bombard them with unannounced bonuses.

Why?

First, you want to do that because it TRAINS and CONDITIONS
your prospects to WANT to give you their time and attention.

Once they are willing to do that on a regular basis, you have a
VERY powerful degree of control over your audience.

Guys who get really good at doing huge launches know this.

See, what you want to do is make your whole sales PROCESS into
a pleasurable, educational, even PROFITABLE experience for your
prospects.  Get them to associate good memories and good
outcomes with your messages BEFORE you ever ask them to spend a
cent.

Frank Kern has referred to this as “Results in Advance” when he
uses it as part of Mass Control, but it’s an old idea.

The KEY to nailing this method is to position your offer -
where you ask them to finally give you some money – as the LAST
PIECE of the process you’ve put them through.

Think of it as if you’ve been serving them a full multi-course
meal, and all you’re asking them to pay for is the dessert at
the end.

Picture your whole sales process as a pie chart.  If your pre-
sale gives them 2/3rds of the content, your product shouldn’t
be a separate piece.  It should be positioned so that it
COMPLETES what they’ve already been exposed to.

Do you see how “loss avoidance” enters into this?

If you set up your offer so that the prospect feels like all
the time and attention they’ve given you will be LOST if they
pass it up, you will see a DRASTIC increase in sales.

People HATE to leave things incomplete, and as long as you
haven’t tricked or mislead anyone, prospects put through this
process actually become CONFUSED, but in a GOOD way.

See, we said before that people would RATHER avoid losing
something than getting something new.

If you’re careful and deliberate, you can make the prospect
“forget” that they are actually acquiring something new when
they buy from you.  Instead, it will feel like a painful LOSS
when they miss out and don’t take you up on your offer.

Now, you are going to close a LOT more sales when you do this
correctly, but it won’t be 100% or anything.

But here’s where I tell you how you can construct your sales
funnel to MAXIMIZE profits.

See, some people are still going to have to turn down your
offer, even though THEY HATE to, and they feel like it’s a loss
to pass it up.

Statistics show that the SINGLE BIGGEST factor in that decision
is going to be price.  If you’re charging ENOUGH for your
products and services, some people will think it’s TOO MUCH.

This is why you want to offer a scaled-down version of your
offer as a DOWNSELL.

The messaging needs to take place AFTER your main
launch/pitch.

You want to address the uncomfortable state you’ve put them
in.  You know they regret not buying from you.  You know they
hate losing all the effort they put in so far.  You know they
are kicking themselves for not being able to afford your
solution to their problems.

And then you offer them a rope.  Help them out of that
predicament – give them a lower price point for a scaled back
version of your product and you will MOP UP AGAIN on the back-
end.

Now you may think some people will balk at this.  The truth is,
you WILL get some people who get mad.

To avoid this nasty reaction, MAKE SURE you give a little bit
of a cooling off time after your initial launch/offer.

Next, MAKE SURE your initial offer is VASTLY more valuable than
the pared down version you’re offering for a discount.

You want it to be FAIR to these stragglers AND the people who
paid full price.  This should eliminate almost all blowback.

And for the people that you DO pick up on the downsell, my
experience shows that they are actually MORE loyal repeat
buyers.  They DON’T FORGET that feeling of relief that came
when you offered them that 2nd chance to minimize their feeling
of loss.

And the next time you have a promotion, they are more likely to
continue behaving the way you conditioned them to.  They will
have learned that you REWARD “increased commitment” from them,
so they will be more likely to give you increasing levels of
commitment in the future.

As always, it’s up to you to use these powerful tactics
ETHICALLY and LEGALLY – I strongly discourage you from using
dishonesty or misleading people with this stuff…  The truth
is, you DON’T NEED TO.  It’s powerful enough that you can be
straightforward and up-front and it will work BETTER for you if
you do.

Hope this helps with your own marketing.

Until next time,
Keep Stomping
~Andy Jenkins

P.S.  If you like this newsletter (or the previous one) let
us know with a comment below.  Thanks!

Stompernet Blog

You will miss out on all the extra money your offers could be
bringing in if you learn to MASTER a little-understood
psychological phenomenon known as “loss aversion”.

But don’t worry!  I’m going to tell you all about it so you can
begin to put this incredibly powerful natural force to work in
your marketing, and you can avoid the terrible loss I
mentioned in the subject of this email.

Basically, “loss aversion” is the tendency that people would
strongly rather avoid a loss than acquire a gain.

Some experiments suggest that losses are TWICE as
psychologically powerful as gains.  I believe it.  That’s the
little joke I was making with the headline and intro for this
newsletter.

If you opened it and read it right away, you’ve personally felt this
powerful psychological effect yourself.  Without even knowing
what it is you stand to lose, you IMMEDIATELY pay attention
when you think you stand to lose *something*.

If I was selling you something in this email, and I convincingly
made the case for a REAL loss you might experience in the
future, and showed that my product could spare you – you
would be HIGHLY motivated to buy it.

I’m not saying you should become a fear monger in your
marketing, but if you can figure out a LOSS that your prospect
may suffer if they pass on your offer – go ahead and detail it in
your messaging.

See, if your messaging relies too heavily on the POSITIVE
outcomes your products or services can deliver, people
become resistant.  They can feel like you’re “selling the dream”
and promising things that can’t be true – but for some reason,
people are less averse when you’re describing the nightmares
they can avoid.

Are you likely to listen to a stranger who wants to sell you
something to make your life better?  Probably not – it trips all
your mental alarms, right?  It puts you on guard and makes you
suspicious.  However, if you meet a stranger who wants to sell
you something that will help you escape a terrible fate, you
automatically give the guy the benefit of the doubt – after all, he’s
not trying to pull one over on you – he just wants to help…

So using “loss aversion” in your marketing this way can
help you get inside the prospects defenses and show him
that you’re really out to help HIM, rather than take
advantage.

But that’s only one way you can use the power of the “loss
aversion” trick in your own marketing.

Another way it manifests itself is in something called the
“Endowment Effect”.  What that means is that people have a
tendency to place more value on things they own than things
they don’t.  The underlying reason for that is because of that deep
psychological desire for people to avoid the loss of things
they *own*.

Theoretically, perfectly logical people would place the same
value on something whether they would want to be buying it or
selling it.  But people are NEVER perfectly logical, and what
happens is that the very act of OWNERSHIP of something
raises its value in our minds.

Sure there’s no CASH value that gets added through ownership,
but we *stick* all kinds of things to objects that we own:
memories, experiences, imagined futures, etc.

This can be manifested in all kinds of ways, like not wanting to
get rid of an old car because of all the great road trips you took
in it.  That MENTAL value has no worth to anyone but the owner,
but it DOES have value.

Imagine if you waited in line for an HOUR to get tickets for your
and your family to see a hot new movie on opening weekend.
Now say you take two steps from the box office and someone
offers to buy your tickets from you at double price.

Would you take it?

Logic says that you should.  It’s a 100% profit.  But you probably
said “no” in this case.  Because you waited in line and invested
your time…  Your family’s hopes for seeing the movie are
attached to those tickets…  Their future enjoyment is now a part
of that transaction for you.  The guy who wants to buy those
tickets doesn’t care about all that, but you DO.

So how can you use this in marketing?

You may not have ever realized it, but free trials, “try
before you buy” and promotions of that nature ALL rely
on the “Endowment Effect” to work.

What the marketer is betting on in this case is that by
*giving* you the product, you take some measure of ownership.
Then, when it comes time to either pay for it or give it back,
parting with the MONEY will be easier than parting with the
PRODUCT that they’ve made part of their status quo.

See, that’s what’s great about the invention of money.  Back in
the bartering days, I bet it was hard to turn a huge profit, because
you’re trading with people for things that they OWN, which makes
them place a much higher value on them.

But no one feels like they *own* their money.  No one ever
hesitates to part with a particular $5 bill for that Starbucks
because they sure had a good time with old Abe Lincoln.

And why that works for us in business is because when you think
of things THAT way, it becomes very easy to make your products
and services MORE valuable than the money you’re asking for
in exchange.

Now imagine if you’ve got BOTH of these uses of “loss aversion”
working for the same offer:

You have a product that can help the prospect avoid a
REAL loss…

You have a trial period, where the person can take
ownership of the item and USE it…

All they have to do if they DON’T want it is send it back, but
of course they put themselves back at risk…

But if they decide to keep it, you’ll just bill them later and
everyone is happy!

Do you see how you can use this one powerful psychological
phenomenon to craft a practically IRRESISTIBLE offer?

I hope you do, and I’ll hope you’ll put it to use!

WARNING: It’s VERY EASY to overdo it with this if you
aren’t careful.  While I recommend using a trial period whenever
you can, you can really diminish your marketing effectiveness if
you use “loss aversion” *too much* in your marketing messages.
You start to get that “boy who cried wolf” problem where people
quit listening to you if all you talk about if doom and gloom and
how the sky will fall if they don’t buy your new product.

Sure, you can still pull it off with NEW leads, but overdo it and
you can damage your relationships with EXISTING customers,
and that will WRECK your chances for huge, long-term
back-end profits.

Use “loss aversion” sparingly, and ONLY if there is a REAL
risk that your product can help your prospects overcome. 
Don’t *create* fear where there is none – but if there IS a real fear
out there, don’t be afraid to address it with your marketing.

Remember what Robert Collier said about entering into the
conversation your prospect is already having in their head.  You
want to work with what they’re ALREADY thinking about, without
having to make things up.

Stick to that, and you should do great!

Until next time,
Keep Stomping!
~Andy Jenkins

Stompernet Blog

If you did your homework, you’ve opted in at Mark Joyner’s site
to watch the 2 Joe Sugarman videos I told you about yesterday.

As promised, here’s my little “cheat sheet” of notes that will
help you break down and study Joe’s masterful presentation, and
hopefully use a couple of his tactics in your OWN marketing.

And don’t forget to join Mark, Joe, AND Ted Nicholas tonight at
8pm for a LIVE webinar. You should have already been registered
if you signed up to see video 2.  If you didn’t, there’s still
time!

Plus – FAIR WARNING – Here be *SPOILERS*!  I’m going to talk IN
DETAIL about some of the sneaky, cool tricks Joe used in his
presentation, and the effect of seeing it work will be RUINED
if you don’t watch the videos FIRST.  (So go already!)

Once you’ve watched both videos, start here:

=====

Steering People with Storytelling

What I love about Joe’s presentation here is how it shows an
extremely masterful use of storytelling, and how he uses this
powerful tool to accomplish multiple different goals – all of
which cumulatively add to the power of his closing offer.

Here are a few things I spotted.  Consider how Joe used these
methods, and how YOU might be able to adapt them to your OWN
marketing.

Creating Curiosity

The longest running story in Joe’s presentation had to do with
the Batman credit cards.  Did you notice how that one plot
thread was woven through Joe’s whole presentation, tying the
ending to the beginning?

When you have a long sales letter or sales pitch, you want to
have some kind of unifying thread like this simply because it
makes it easier for people to stick with you through your pitch
if you give them something worthwhile to pay attention to.

The viewer’s desire to know the end of the Batman story
literally tugs at you through the whole presentation.  In all
honestly, 100% of my decision to commit to watching Part 2 of
Joe’s video based on my unshakable curiosity about the Batman
cards.  Would Joe EVER get to sell them?  Would they be a huge
hit?  How does it END???

Curiosity is a powerful force.  It’s a MAGNET that draws
people’s full attention.  It’s also a powerful motivator – in
this case the video was split just where it needed to be so
that the REAL ACTION Mark wanted from me (signing up for the
webinar) seemed like NOTHING.

The itch of curiosity was so strong that it was WORTH my name
and email address so I could scratch that itch with the
resolution of the story I had become so involved with.

Giving Value to the Worthless

Also notice how the card itself is literally worthless.  Joe
has a whole useless pile of these things sitting in storage for
DOZENS of years.  The *whole point* of Joe’s story about the
card is that it was a flop – a failure.  A miss.

But it’s that VERY SAME STORY that creates a value for the card
NOW.  The formerly worthless card is magically transformed into
a desirable item simply BECAUSE of its unique life story.  If
you have one, then YOU have that cool story to tell.

I like to think of this as “Pedigree”.  A Pedigree gives value
to something, even if the item itself has little or no value.

Other examples of this are those little garden gnome statues.
I’m sure everyone’s heard the stories about the “kidnapped”
gnomes?  Basically, a person swiped a neighbor’s garden gnome
before setting off on a world tour.  The “gnomenapper” sends
the neighbor postcards and photos of their lowly little gnome
in famous scenes from around the globe.

Eventually the gnome returns home with a photo album of his
globe-trotting adventures.

Suddenly, a cheap, poorly made, ceramic lawn ornament becomes a
priceless object.  All because it has a Pedigree, a History, a
STORY.

Maybe an even better example: when you catch a home run ball at
a baseball game, is that ball physically worth anything more
than any other baseball?  No, not really.  But what if it’s the
winning home run of a historic World Series?  Nope, the ball is
still physically worth the same as any other dumb old baseball.

But the STORY, the PEDIGREE, the HISTORY – that can actually
add an INCREDIBLE value to an otherwise worthless item.

The desire to be a part of those kinds of historic, epic
stories is what drives us to want these kind of items.

What Joe does here is create a wonderful, engaging story, and
by offering you a Batman card at the end, he invites you to be
a PART of that story – to make it your OWN story.

By the end, I wanted one of those worthless pieces of plastic
so bad I went straight to eBay to see in I could find one.

Breeding Familiarity

Last week, I talked about how engaging both the emotional and
logical parts of your prospect’s mind can help you create
powerful calls to action.

Well in order for people to trust you enough to let you
interact with them emotionally, you need to become FAMILIAR to
them.  Joe does this in his presentation through telling you
humanizing stories of his failures.

If you’ve ever struck out with a girl you really liked, you
felt empathy with Joe when he told you about how he studied for
weeks to become an expert in San Diego so he could impress a
girl who was from there – only to find out she was from
Sacramento, after all.

I’m sure if any of you have been in business for long,
especially the bootstrap, entrepreneurial kind of business, you
can DEEPLY relate to Joe’s stories of having to borrow money
from friends.  You can also feel his pain when he repeatedly
strikes out with selling his Batman cards – we all know what
it’s like when an idea fails.

Through these humanizing anecdotes, the audience comes to feel
a kinship with Joe.  “He gets knocked around by life, just like
me!”

Manufacturing Trust

So Joe’s heartwarming tales of overcoming common struggles of
life and business allowed him to create an emotional bond with
you.  He also uses storytelling to engage with what I spoke
about last week, your “Lazy Skeptic”.

He needs his audience to trust him.  Now due to those emotional
connections he made with his other stories, he HAS convinced
you that he has a trustworthy character.

He even tells you this in his video – when he talked about how
he paid every penny back to the investors in his failed
business, even though it took years of hard work.

But he also needs you to trust his FACTS, not just his
intentions.  You know he’s a good guy at heart, but can you
believe his other claims?

Well he proves it through demonstrating Authority.

The stories about his incredible business successes with Blu-
Blockers, and his advertising agency, and how he gives seminars
for people in beautiful Hawaii…  those all give him
credibility as an expert in his chosen field.  The help
establish his position of AUTHORITY.

Of course, the killer introduction he was given before he took
the stage helped too.

Do you think you would have been as likely to watch Joe’s whole
presentation if you hadn’t been told who he was before he got
started?

I doubt it – but he was presented as an authority, and his
story confirmed it.

If the Wildest Claim is True…

Here’s another cool thing Joe did.  Do you remember when he
revealed his time working for the CIA as a spy in Germany,
helping Russians defect?

That’s a pretty insane claim, right?  How many people can boast
of that kind of experience?

Well he also said that as part of his training, he needed to
learn to speak perfect, fluent German, without an accent.

Did you catch later in his talk, where he actually spoke in
German?

Do you see how by providing this little detail of proof for his
most OUTRAGEOUS claim makes every other claim he made easily
more believable?

Let this serve as a reminder – when you need to provide proof
for your own products and services, do what you can to prove
your MOST EXTREME claim.  If you can do that, everything else
you claim will usually be taken at face value, making it much
easier to make your case for a sale or deal.

Greasing the Chute

Now, one of the most powerful things Joe did with this
presentation is a cool little time manipulation.  You’ll recall
he insists that everyone fill out his order for at the
*beginning* of the presentation.

What this allows him to do is create an actual sense of URGENCY
and SCARCITY at the end of the presentation, when he drops the
price for only one minute.

If you DID fill out the form like he asked, you can immediately
hand it in.  It lowered the level of commitment for those that
followed the instructions.  They didn’t need to *snap* out of
the moment to get their wallet and fill out the form.  All they
had to do was say “yes” and hand over a piece of paper.

Now when that flurry of people jumped at his offer, what do you
think happened to the people that had NOT followed his
instructions?

You can practically HEAR them FRANTICALLY filling out the forms
because he left them NO TIME to reconsider, and they were even
further pressured by all the people turning in the forms in
front of them.

It reminds me of this recurring nightmare I have where I’m
still in school and I forgot a test, and everyone is turning in
their final report and my page is BLANK!

It makes you gasp and gulp and rush.

And he creates that frenzy without trying very hard at all!
It’s amazing to watch.

Be Consistent and Authentic

The final thing that Joe did, which I thought was very subtle
but VERY powerful – was PROVE that he was being authentic with
his scarcity play.

Now I’m not saying this really was pre-arranged, but he
couldn’t have planned it better.

When the guy from the audience tries to turn in his form to Joe
LATE, and Joe turns him down…  Remember that?

I bet any doubt or skepticism ANYONE had about Joe and whether
he was for real, and whether giving him their credit card
number was a safe thing to do… I bet it VANISHED when he did
that.

Why?

Simply because he PROVED that he would DO what he SAID.

By proving that you will do what you say – that your claims
(and stories) are AUTHENTIC – that you will behave CONSISTANTLY
with your words – you win nearly unbreakable trust from your
audience.

See, Joe made a SPECIAL offer to those who acted and took his
offer during that minute.  People LOVE to feel special and to
be a part of something special.

If he had just let that guy squeak in, it would have erased the
“special-ness” of his offer.  You can even hear some of the
audience boo-ing the guy trying to sneak in his order form!

They were boo-ing because Joe created the EXPECTATION that they
needed to act fast.  He MET that expectation when he turned the
straggler down.  All he did was behave consistant with what he
said, and the crowd LOVED him for it.

And there’s a good reason I’m closing with that point.  These
techniques I’m revealing to you here are EXTREMELY powerful.
When you get good at persuasion, it’s as close to a superpower
or real-life magic spells as you can get.

And because of that, we ALL have a RESPONSIBILITY to be
Authentic and Consistent – We MUST NEVER use these powers to
manipulate people into doing something harmful.  We MUST NEVER
use these powers to leave people in worse shape than we met
them.  We MUST NEVER lie or be dishonest when we tell these
powerful kinds of stories.

In exchange for my teaching you about all these little “secret”
tricks and tactics, all I ask is that you dedicate yourself to
being one of the “good guys” in our industry.

Because we all know there’s way too many of the bad.

Until next time,
Keep Stomping
~Andy Jenkins

P.S. DON’T FORGET – I didn’t make ANY of this stuff up – all
the cool stuff I talk about here comes from Joe Sugarman’s
videos on this page.  If you already signed up there, don’t
miss the chance to get on the LIVE webinar TONIGHT at 8pm
Eastern – Joe himself, Ted Nichols, and Mark Joyner – all
MASTERS of the art and science of persuasion.  Join them and
hear them talk WAY more about this kind of thing.  I’ll be
there listening myself.

P.P.S. Leave a comment below if you don’t mind.
We love the feedback – let us know what you’re thinking!

Stompernet Blog

In that article, I talked about the *devastating* One-Two Combo
of using EMOTION to sell your prospect on your offer, and using
LOGIC to provide justification for their emotional decision to buy
whatever it is that you’re selling.

Now, I just kind of wrote that off the top of my head, but I asked
if you guys wanted more content along those lines.  The
overwhelming response was “YES” – so I’ve been noodling
ideas for a follow-up since last week.

While I’m brainstorming, lo and behold, I get an email from
Mr. Mark Joyner, sending me a link to this video.  Now, Mark knows
his stuff when it comes to copywriting.

His book “The Irresistible Offer” is one of my favorites.  I have a
print copy that I keep near my desk and I thumb through it literally
every time I need to write sales copy.

But that video isn’t about Mark.  He’s not even in it.  Instead, it’s
Part 1 of a presentation by the LEGENDARY Joe Sugarman.  If
you don’t recognize that name, it’s time to brush up on your direct
marketing fundamentals.

Joe is the author of “Triggers” and “Advertising Secrets of the
Written Word” – he’s the guy behind the multi-million selling
“Blu-Blocker” sunglasses.

And in that video, he’s going to tell you a number of stories about
Batman, credit cards, sunglasses (of course), and more – covering
a 12 year span of his career getting his hands dirty in the direct
marketing game.

It’s great.  Joe’s a wonderful, warm, and funny speaker – and his
stories are just *classic*.

I couldn’t resist – I opted in on Mark’s page to be able to see
part 2.  I didn’t even read what I was signing up for.  I just had
to know how Joe’s stories ended.

And BANG!  Does it ever have an *amazing* ending.

SPOILER ALERT:

You know how at the end of “Fight Club”, you find out that
Edward Norton’s character IS Tyler Durden?

Or in “The Usual Suspects” you find out that Kevin Spacey’s
character IS Keyser Soze?

Well – I’m not going to give away the ending of Joe’s presentation,
but you do get to find out who he REALLY is…

… a marketing GENIUS.

Now, in those two videos, not only does Joe demonstrate some
EXTREMELY powerful “triggers”, but he uses the very same
principle I taught you last week.  In fact, he states it outright at
34:27 into video 2.  It’s kind of a crazy coincidence (I promise it
wasn’t planned that way)!

So if you want to see LAST week’s example in action, used by
a MASTER salesman, (along with at least a DOZEN other killer
marketing lessons) you need to watch ALL of video 1, and sign
up so you can watch ALL of video 2.

Now, as I mentioned, I DO have a follow-up copywriting lesson
for you.   But it’s going to talk a lot about what we can learn from
Joe’s video, so you need to watch it first.  Consider it a
pre-requisite.

And even though the videos are free, they are MEATY.  It’ll take
you like an hour and a half to watch them both.

Because of that, I’ll follow up with the next copywriting lesson
*tomorrow* so you can have time to watch Joe’s videos *today*.

Now, I told you I went ahead and signed up for the 2nd video
without even READING what I was signing up FOR.  I couldn’t
help it.  I was compelled.  It’s THAT good.

But I know I can’t send you over there and tell you to sign up
without knowing the full scoop, so here it is.

You’re going to be put on the reminder list for a LIVE webinar
with Mark Joyner, featuring Joe Sugarman himself, as well as
Ted Nicholas.  (Ted is one of Joe’s most successful students
and between the two of them, they’ve sold BILLIONS.)

That webinar is tomorrow – Wednesday, October 8th at 8PM Eastern -
and you’re going to learn Direct Response Copywriting from two
of the MASTERS of the form.  I’m signed up on it, and I plan on
being there.

But even if you CAN’T make the call, you still need to sign up,
and NOT just for the 2nd Sugarman video (though like I said,
it’s reason enough).

Mark has also thrown in a FREE downloadable copy of “The
Irresistible Offer” – the very same book that I have a printed
copy of on my desk.  This book is a *classic* and you need
to have it in your library, so you may as well get it now (for
free) while you’re watching Joe’s video anyway.

Like I said, it’s going to take an hour and a half to watch both
videos, so I’m not going to take any more of your time today.
Go watch it now and get a free copy of Mark’s book while you’re
there.  I know you’re going to love it.  I sure did.

Tomorrow, I’m going to follow up with another copywriting lesson
based on my notes from the video.

Until next time,
Keep Stomping.
~Andy Jenkins

P.S. I’d love to hear what YOU think about the videos after you
watch them.  If you’re as excited by Joe’s cleverness as I was,
let us know what YOU think.

Stompernet Blog

Primarily, I want to give you a quick and easy set of guidelines that
should help you construct your messages so they CONNECT with
the reader on a deeper level, and MOTIVATE them to take the
action you want.

The reason I think this is a GREAT time for you to learn a little
about this is because our industry is going launch-crazy right now.
Everyone who’s anyone is trying to push one product or another
and that’s a great opportunity for anyone who wants to learn
marketing.

Why?

Because you have a TON of messaging coming from the best
and the brightest marketers out there.  This is a GREAT chance
to get a crash course in what works and what doesn’t – and WHY.

What I want you to get out of this article is a new way to look at
all that messaging and analyze it and learn from those
uber-successful marketers.

I want to give you a simple way to break any promotional
message down so you can see WHY and HOW it works, so you
can better apply the same powerful tactics in your own messages.

So if that’s something you’re interested in, read on.

NOTE: Even if you think you’re a swell copywriter already,
you should still give this a look – consider it a refresher
course – so you can make sure you already know this
stuff inside and out.

Emotion: the “Old” Brain

Starting at the beginning, any time we message a prospect, our
goal is to get them to DO SOMETHING for us.  Whether it’s
clicking a link, or watching a video, or filling out a form – it doesn’t
matter.  We want an ACTION.  However, in order for us to get
them to take that desired action, we need to CONVINCE them
that they WANT to.

In order to MAXIMIZE your message’s ability to get people to
WANT to do something for you, then to actually DO it – you
need to address two aspects of the reader’s brain.

You need to appeal to EMOTION in order to create a desire for
some kind of change – and you need to appeal to LOGIC to help
them justify that desire and take action.

It’s VITALLY important that you structure your messages in that
order, too.  Appeal to emotion first, THEN appeal to logic.

Here’s why:

Our emotions come from a deeper, older part of our brain in
terms of evolution.  When you use storytelling to relate to people,
when you talk to them about their struggles and pains, when you
sympathize with them – those are all appeals to the Emotional part
of the brain.  It’s a pretty simple system that controls those
emotions – you could even say it’s primitive.

But it’s SO POWERFUL.  People can practically be ENSLAVED
by their own emotions.  They often get the better of us, and they’re
incredibly reactionary and almost impossible for most people to
control.  People frequently throw logic and reason right out the
window if they are emotionally charged enough.

And THAT’S why you want to appeal to emotion EARLY in your
messaging.  Emotion is a shortcut “inside” your prospect – if you
get them to relate to you, if you show them that you know how they
FEEL deep down, it triggers a powerful CONNECTION.  You have
their attention, and you have a rapport with them.

Love, envy, frustration – are all examples of powerful emotional
responses.  Appeal to those feelings – connect with those inner
states in your prospect, and it will be very easy to create in them
a DESIRE.

Most of the time, it doesn’t even have to be a REASONABLE desire.
As long as you can effectively connect with the RIGHT emotions
in your target audience – if you can NAIL the way they REALLY feel
and speak to that, you can make them WANT almost ANYTHING.
It’s like a magical spell.

But here’s the hard part. 

Once you have the prospect under your emotional spell, you
need to break it.  It simply can’t be helped.  You see, if you keep
them in that wanting stage, where they’re emotionally engaged,
they won’t ever do anything.  You want them to take an ACTION
now that you’re tugging on their emotional strings.

Any time you do that, you’re going to snap them out of their
excited emotional state and you’re going to wake up another
part of their mind.

This part of the brain is the VILLAIN of our story here, and you’re
going to have to learn to deal with him if you ever want to have
successful messaging.

The Lazy Skeptic

That’s what I like to call this part of the brain – it acts like a
“gatekeeper” to protect us from acting purely on emotion all the time
(which is generally pretty bad for you).  We all have this mechanism,
and it does serve a useful purpose by keeping us out of trouble.
However, as marketers, he’s a BIG problem for us.

The reason why is because he will use his powers of
LAZINESS and SKEPTICISM in order to keep that emotional
part of the brain from acting on the desire we created earlier.

“Why should I bother?”

“This can’t possibly be true.”

That’s the voice of the Lazy Skeptic – and I KNOW you’ve
heard him whispering in your ear many times.  I sure have.

But even though he’s an obstacle, it’s okay, because I’m going
to tell you the perfect weapon to defeat him.

See, the Lazy Skeptic evolved much later than the emotional
part of the brain.  He functions logically and using reason, and
that’s the way he can sort of talk you out of impulsive decisions.
People say they “came to their senses” or “thought better of it”
when they listen to that Lazy Skeptic voice.

And that’s the key to defeating him.

You need LOGIC to silence him, and you can use his own traits
of laziness and skepticism against him.

Here’s what I mean.

When you break the emotional spell you’ve cast on your prospects
by asking them to take an action, use LOGIC and FACTS and
FIGURES to justify that action.

Help them to validate that snap emotional decision by backing
it up with common sense.  Make them understand that what
they want to do is perfectly reasonable, and that EVERYONE
in their situation would take that same action.

When copywriting teachers tell you to write tons of bullets of
features and benefits when you’re selling a product – that’s what
those bullets are really for: ammunition to help gun down the
Lazy Skeptic.

You want to also turn his own powers against him.  Appeal to
the inherent laziness in everyone by talking about how easy
it is for the prospect to take the desired action.  Appeal to their
sense of skepticism by agreeing that it SOUNDS too good to
be true, but it isn’t.

Guarantees and Testimonials are both tools in the same arsenal
here, helping you overcome the prospect’s inner doubts.

Deep down, they WANT to act on the desire you planted, you just
need to help them realize it’s SAFE to do it.  That it’s OKAY to do
it.  It even helps if you can prove OTHER PEOPLE have done it
with success.

Logic for Dummies

Now, some of you may be worried about having to use logic, and
I know that can sound all academic and intimidating, but it’s
really not.

You’re not trying to win a debate – you’re just trying to help your
prospect see that the desire you created in them makes sense.
A lot of times, if you were very effective with your emotional
appeal, you barely have to try.

Sometimes all it takes is “because”.  “Do this because it’s cool.”
“You know you want to.” 

However, be aware that the more complex and risky your
requested action is, the MORE justification you’re going to
need to help your prospect act on their desire.

• High Prices
• High Risk
• High Investment

Those are all factors that the Lazy Skeptic is going to have a
problem with, but face them head-on, give reasons WHY those
steps need to be taken, and you’ll do fine.

• “Our prices are high because of our incredible quality.”
• “We have a no-risk guarantee.”
• “It takes only minutes a day.”

See, generally speaking, even though the Lazy Skeptic is more
complex and “smarter” than the old emotional brain – he’s still
kind of a dummy.  It really doesn’t have to be a world-class PHD
Thesis to convince him to stand aside – it just has to pass for
common sense.

As an added bonus, I’ll give you a “secret shortcut” when
coming up with logical appeals.

Use as many comparisons and analogies as you can when
justifying your prospects desires and validating the action
you want them to take.

The reason is, they act like short-hand that the not-so-smart Lazy
Skeptic can quickly absorb and understand.

For example, if you’re selling something and you have the lowest
price, don’t say:

“We have the lowest price.”

Say, “Our price is 10% lower than the nearest competitor.”

Don’t say “Our course is easy to read and learn with.”

Say “Our course is so easy to learn, it’s like downloading the
information directly into your brain.”

These kinds of comparisons and analogies aren’t just cute talk,
and copywriters don’t just include them to be clever.

They work by providing SUPERIOR justification.

Your prospect will be saying in his inner voice – “I really want this
product because it will make me feel good.  And it’s okay to get
it, because it’s the cheapest one out there, and lots of other
people are buying it too!”

The job of your messaging is to help your prospect complete
that inner conversation between the different parts of his brain,
so that from his point of view, he’s just acting on his own
deep desires.

In actuality, through careful appeals to Emotion (Old Brain)
and Logic (New Brain) – you’ve gotten him to act the way
YOU wanted him to.

Now, once your prospect TAKES that action, you need to
make sure you DELIVER on the expectations you’ve set up.
You NEVER want to let a prospect’s Lazy Skeptic get to say
“I told you so.”

But that’s a WHOLE other article for another day.

I hope this somewhat weird and metaphysical ramble helps
give you some insight into the inner workings of good
copywriting, and I hope it helps you get more people to do what
you need them to do.  And I hope that means MORE
BUSINESS for you!

Until next time,
Keep Stomping.
~Andy Jenkins

P.S. Please note that I’m NOT a psychologist or brain expert or
anything – the stuff above is DRASTICALLY simplified for the sake
of making this easy to grasp and use.  Even if you KNOW
something I said above is over-simplified or just plain inaccurate
from a scientific standpoint – just know that it’s based on REAL
experience writing and testing THOUSANDS of pieces of copy. 
As far as a rule-of-thumb goes, I use it, and it works for me
every time.

P.P.S. Did you like this article?  Do you want to see more?  Do
you want to know about something different?  Let us know by
leaving a comment.

Stompernet Blog