Posted on: 01 December, 2001
Author: Ted Nicholas
There are five powerful ... that will ... strength to your sales copy. I'm ... to tell you a hidden benefit ... first, a word of caution: When these ... prop There are five powerful techniques that will addcompelling strength to your sales copy. I'm evengoing to tell you a hidden benefit technique.But first, a word of caution: When these techniquesare properly applied, they are the most powerfulmarketing strategies in the world bar none. You standa good chance of increasing sales so much that youmay experience order fulfillment challenges. Be sureyou can promptly fulfill the extra orders you arebound to generate!Magic Technique #1 -- The Single Most CompellingBenefitThe strategy Im about to reveal to you has to dowith your headlines. First, lets do a quick reviewof the process of creating them.Study your product. Write down all the obviousbenefits (from the prospects point of view) on 3X 5 cards. Write as many as you can. Often,youll have the best headline you could ever findfrom this procedure. If so, prepare your ad withthe obvious benefit headline.Youll also want to try creating a hidden benefitheadline to test against the obvious benefitheadline. You can find the hidden benefit byanswering this question: "If I had unlimited God-like power, what would be the single most compellingbenefit my prospects would like to gain from myproduct?"The hidden benefit has nothing directly to do withthe product itself -- but the answer to the previousquestion can become your most powerful benefit -- andthus your headline, as well as the main theme of youroffer. Just make sure your product actually deliverson the headlines promise.By using this special strategy, Ive written some ofthe most successful headlines in direct marketinghistory.Magic Technique #2 -- Add power to headlinesStudies show that an ad headline draws 28% moreattention if framed in quotation marks! The adappears much more important because it gives theimpression that someone is being quoted. This makesit more riveting, and more likely to be read. Andthat is your first task to get it read. If the adis not read, you have no chance of making a sale.Magic Technique #3 -- Ask for the orderUnsuccessful marketers are reluctant to ask for theorder. For any offer to be successful, you must beclear and explicit as to how you ask for the order.Include every detail, even if it seems obvious to you.Make it easy for the prospect to buy. Its alsoimportant that when you ask for the order, theprospect should have been primed for the close.The sequence of presenting copy elements (and hotbuttons) is crucially important.In your sales letters, you must wait until the end toreveal the price and ordering instructions. This putsthem in the proper frame of mind to buy because youwould have given all the benefits and particularsyour prospect needs prior to asking for the order.If your offer includes a brochure and an order form,separate them from the letter. This strategy willincrease response. If youre using direct mail, putthe brochure and order form in a sealed envelope. Onthe outside of the envelope, print the following:"Please dont open until you have read my letter."If your sales letter is online, include a link to aseparate order page.Magic Technique #4 -- Typefaces are importantIn direct mail, headlines should be in Times-Romanfont, serif, or sans serif typefaces. The body copyshould always be Times Roman. Reason? On thewritten page, its easy to read. Never use a sansserif typeface in body copy.On websites, the sans serif typefaces such as Arialand Verdana seem to work best because they are moreinviting to read in a sea of cyber-clutter.Strive for an editorial look. The ad should appearsimilar to an article in the publication in whichyour ads will run. I call this format an"advertorial." Five times as many people readeditorials than messages that scream out, "Im anad!" If an advertorial is prepared in a way thatlends credibility, it can pull up to 500% morein sales!Magic Technique #5 -- Pricing your productHere is a really powerful tip that will increaseyour profits. You may have noticed that the priceof my books and tapes ends in 7. There is a goodreason for this. Remarkably, with the same copyand offer for any given product, I have proventime and again through testing that you canincrease sales simply by changing the price toone ending in the number 7.Recently at a seminar wherein I spoke, my co-speaker, Gil Good (in charge of promotions forThe Wall Street Journal for many years), discussedthat subscription offers ending in 7 out-pulled allothers. At my last seminar, an attendee, abiblical scholar, pointed out the number seven wasoften used in the Bible. Remember the phrase,"70 X 7"? Seven may be a number that is trulyblessed! The most effective magazine subscriptionoffer, made many years ago, was by Life Magazine and its price was $7.77.Test price this way: If your current price is$19.95, try $19.97. If you now sell at $69, test$67 or $77; or if your price is $99, try $97, etc.! Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com