Does She…Or Doesn’t She?
Can men write copy that appeals to women?
Well, if you’re a man you will read this headline completely differently to a woman. Let me take you back to the 1950’s when there were three things a lady should not do.
- She should not smoke in public.
- She should not wear long pants,unless under an overcoat.
- She should not colour her hair.
It was into this environment that Clairol first introduced their revolutionary “Miss Clairol Hair Colour Bath”. Previously hair colouring was mainly restricted to prostitutes. It was also quite a complicated procedure taking a few hours to complete.
The aim of this product was not only to make hair colouring more mainstream. It also made it possible for women to easily colour their hair themselves… at home…in just 20 minutes!
So how should they market such a new concept?
This was almost too revolutionary to sell. Within 6 months of introduction the number of women visiting salons for hair colouring increased by more than 500%!
Women still didn’t believe this was possible to do themselves in their own home. In fact it took three years before “Good Housekeeping” magazine would accept ads for this amazing new product.
The person chosen to head the campaign was one Shirley Polykoff. She understood emotions and also understood that you can be very naughty…as long as you are first seen to be nice!
She chose to go with the naughty headline accompanied by a nice picture. Her first thoughts were, Does She…Or Doesn’t She? Only Her Mother Knows For Sure. She didn’t want to upset the salons too much so she changed “mother” to “hairdresser”.
Men automatically assumed the answer to the question to be sexual.
Life magazine were in fact reluctant to run the ad until a survey showed that women were not filling in the ellipsis the same way as men!
So successful was the Clairol campaign it skyrocketed sales by 413 percent in six years and influenced 50% of adult women to colour their hair. Very clever when you consider, once someone has coloured their hair they have to keep doing it…hair grows and roots show!
Would this campaign have been as successful if a man had been in charge?
Well without sounding sexist…I doubt it! Men just can’t think the same way as women.
So if your target market is female…you need a woman.
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.
Ask For the Order
How do you measure the success of a sales letter?
Well the only thing that really counts is the number of sales it generates. You can read any number of books on copywriting. You can research your product and your target market. You can have the perfect headline and clearly defined all the benefits. But without that vital call to action all your efforts will be wasted.
If you feel uncomfortable closing the sale you’re not on your own. The close is probably the weakest element in all direct marketing. I’m sure you’ll agree however there’s not much point working hard on a fantastic sales presentation without closing the sale. So after you’ve done a fantastic job presenting the benefits of your product:
Ask For the Order.
The close has to be handled smoothly or sales will be lost. One big factor is you must have a product and offer that is of true value for the buyer. If you don’t truly believe this yourself it will show through your copy.
There is naturally a certain amount of inertia in all of us. In other words we might appreciate being led to an action that will benefit us but we need a bit of a push to make us act. You must provide a compelling reason as the “push” to take action.
A Reason to Act Now.
You must use a “hook” in every closing situation to make sure that your prospect acts now. A delayed sale is almost certainly a lost sale. Your “hook” must always be specific and definite.
Here are a few examples:
• Limited quantity. Only limited number available. Avoid disappointment. Order now. When xxx sets are gone this offer will expire.
• Price will rise. Orders will be honoured until xxx, after which the price will increase.
• Special combination offer. The special price for this combination will expire on xxx
• Early order discount. If your order is received by xxx you will receive 25% discount. Place your order now.
Free Bonuses.
We all love to get something free don’t we? Free is after all one of the most powerful words you can use. The bonus does have to be beneficial to your prospect. It has to be something your prospect would happily pay for. If the bonus is dull and uninteresting it won’t enhance your offer. Always make sure you tie in the offer of the free bonus for acting now, for example:
“The first xxx people who order will get this amazing xxx worth $xxx, absolutely free. So order now.”
Guarantees.
In this world of scepticism an unconditional money back guarantee is almost essential. If your product is of superior quality your returns should be minimal. Here is an example of the wording you could use:
If for any reason you are not delighted with your xxx, after you have examined it for xx days, you may return it for a prompt refund.
So don’t be shy Ask For the Order…chances are your prospect wants to buy, they just need a little push to take action.
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.
7 Styles of Headline Guaranteed To Make Your Sales Soar
What style of headline is most successful?
There isn’t really one answer to that as there are several different styles that can be used with equal success. Before you even start to choose which style you are going to use write down as many benefits as you can think of. The headline should never be put in at the last minute without a great deal of time and thought. Ninety percent of your time should be spent getting the right headline because without it your sales copy will never be read anyway.
1. Announcement. To make this style of headline work you have to be careful not to make it merely factual and boring. It has to be specific aimed at your prospective buyer, for example it would be no good if BMW launched a new car like this:-
“BMW Launch their New Car” – There’s no benefit at all, just a fact. “Top Gear Presenter Praises BMW’s Amazing New M3…0-60 in 3.8 Seconds” – Although unlikely (we all know Jeremy Clarkson hates BMW’s) makes a much more compelling headline.
2. Guarantee. It’s great if your product comes with an iron clad guarantee…provided it lives up to your claims. This can make for a really powerful headline, for example:-
“Lose 10lbs of Ugly Fat in 14 days or Your Money Back” – This benefit is guaranteed.
3. How to. This style is best used when offering a solution to a problem. Although there are already thousands of books with ‘How To’ in the title it is still very successful, for example:-
“How to Improve Your Golf Swing…”
4. Specific. This is aimed specifically at your target reader and therefore will not be of any interest at all to the general public. For example:-
“At Last an End to Your Back Pain”
5. The Testimonial. What better than a testimonial. After all something your customers have said is a lot more believable and powerful than anything you could say yourself. For example:-
“He Couldn’t Believe It Was Me…It Wasn’t! To Be Honest I Just Called In For A Trim…I Left Feeling like a Superstar.
6. Reasons Why. You are giving the reader a specific number of reasons why they should do something. You are also arousing their curiosity as they want to know what the reasons are, so you are drawing them into your copy. For example:-
“12 Reasons Why You Must Be At Salon & Spa Super Conference”
7. Emotional. Use this style to really hook into people’s feelings. For example:-
“I Wept When The Battery In My Camcorder Ran Out At My Daughter’s Wedding”
I would recommend trying out a few different styles when you’re writing out your headlines. Write as many different headlines as you can.
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.
How To Write Headlines That Skyrocket Your Sales
Just how important is the headline anyway?
Probably the single most important thing you will write in your copy. There are a number of reasons that the headline is so important, one of them being that on average five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy…that’s five times! The headline is the red flag waving to attract the attention of your prospective buyer. It stands to reason then that by reading your headline your prospect should immediately know you are speaking to them. For example if you are selling a cure for a Bad Back it’s a good idea to use the words “Bad Back” in your headline as anyone who suffers from one will be immediately drawn to it.
I think it’s important at this stage to point out the dangers of excluding readers who may be prospects. For example if your product can be used equally well by men and women don’t slant your headline purely towards women or you will lose the attention of the men.
We know that copy has to appeal to the self interest of the reader and nowhere is that more vital than in the headline. The headline should always include a benefit for your prospect, after all people act 90 percent on their emotions. Benefits help to bring out those emotions.
Don’t forget the all important question “What’s In It For Me?”
The type of words you use in your headline will also influence it’s effectiveness. People are always on the look out for new products or the latest model. Two of the most powerful words you can use in your headline are Free and New. Now it’s not very often you can use the word Free because the aim is to sell your product not give it away! You can however use the word New quite effectively along with other powerful words such as introducing, it’s here, just arrived, amazing, remarkable, revolutionary, sensational and so on. There are a lot of powerful words you can use so just experiment with a few.
Don’t fall into the trap that some copywriters do of writing tricky headlines. If your reader has to decipher the meaning of an obscure headline you have lost them forever. Your headline has to telegraph what you want to say in plain language.
One more thing to avoid in headlines is negatives. These can be dangerous as many readers will miss the negative as they read for example…“Our pies contain No Dog Meat” Most readers will go away with the impression that you wrote…"Our Pies Contain Dog Meat"
So you can see how damaging that could be!
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.
At Last The Secret Of A Little Known Technique Proven To Explode Your Sales
I am about to reveal to you a little known but very powerful technique that nobody teaches for writing compelling headlines.
It was originated by the highly acclaimed Ted Nicholas and he calls it finding the Hidden Benefit. He has created some of the most successful headlines in direct marketing history by using this self same method.
For this to be successful you really have to know…not your product but your prospective customer. You have to imagine what the single biggest benefit your prospect could ever dream of obtaining from your product is. What would be their ideal…their utopia? Write it down.
How successful is this technique? Well how about 24.5 million dollars worth! This is one example taken from the great man himself. He had written a book of forms called “The Complete Book of Corporate Forms”. Not the most exciting of products I’m sure you’ll agree. So the task then was how to differentiate his book from the numerous other books of that type available at the time. How could he make such a dull sounding product enticing?
By asking himself that question he quickly realised that entrepreneurs hate forms and paperwork so they need a benefit from using the forms. Everyone hates paying taxes…perhaps entrepreneurs more than most. No one wants to lose any tax shelter they may have. So the following headline came to him by following this thought process.
“What Will You Do When The IRS Suddenly Wipes Out Your Corporation’s Tax Shelter Benefits?” You might have noticed there is no mention of forms in the headline. That’s because it’s a feature…and not a very exciting one at that. The book does contain information about the importance of keeping good records to maintain the corporate protection. There is no mention in the book at all about the IRS (American Inland Revenue) taking away benefits, although that is always a possibility.
Hence the title of Hidden Benefit.
The book sold 350,000 copies from 1979 to 1995 and can still be found selling on Amazon today. That’s 24.5million dollars from a book of very dull and boring forms. A word of warning though, when using this technique makes sure that your product does in fact deliver on the headline’s promise.
When used correctly this technique really can explode your sales!
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.