From the category archives:

Copywriting

Disturbed Emotional Copywriting with Ben Settle

by admin on September 30, 2009

Let me ask you a question.  If the following four emails appeared in your inbox, which one would arouse your curiosity?  Which one would you be most likely to click?

  1. “30% off today only”
  2. “trust me on this one Glenn”
  3. “it ends tomorrow”
  4. “disturbing things I do in the phone”

Right?

Ben Settle is a master of mixing entertainment and sales.  He writes some of the most compelling subject lines I’ve ever seen (he says he grabs ideas from Comic Books), and implements a very unique style in his blog.

Honestly, I can’t help but look when I get an email, or see a new post from him in my Google Reader.

This was one of the more entertaining and fun interviews I’ve done this year, enjoy!

Dr. G :-)

PS – Be sure to download the comic book classified scans we talked about in the interview.

PPS – In order to use emotional copywriting effectively you need to have KEYWORD FOCUS.  That’s because you can’t know the concerns, objections, and true motivations of your market if you don’t know where your market begins and ends online.  And because the internet is indexed by keyword, you really need to isolate your single most important keyword using very solid rationale.  It’s the only way to write truly powerful emotional copy that attracts hyper-responsive prospects!

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Below you’ll find a FREE MP3 of an intriguing 45 minute conversation I had with my Director of Copywriting and Director of Sales at Rocket Clicks.   (NOTE: The call has been slightly edited to remove the details of our clients and their sites)

We did NOT intend to distribute this conversation, so I apologize for the speakerphone, but I thought it represented a unique opportunity for you to be a fly on the wall to see:

A) How a high-level copywriter interviews “in the trenches” sales people to elicit the benefits and objections necessary to write A level copy

B) How my thinking has evolved into a more comprehensive, yet simpler system for building a solid internet marketing structure

The original purpose of the call was for Tony to get the material he needed to develop a consultation form like the one we’ve got here, but targeted at people who wanted more than PPC management… instead desiring a more comprehensive package including market research + site design/repositioning + PPC/SEO.

You see, it’s been several years since I originally innovated and presented the How To Double Your Business process, and I’ve moved WAY beyond the advanced survey methods I originally presented.  The way I approach markets presently is simultaneously  simpler and more powerful.

1) MAKING MORE MONEY WITH FEWER KEYWORDS

The most successful of the 100+ clients I personally audited at Rocket Clicks last year (especially those who seemed to survive the economic earthquake in the fall of 2008) were   focused on many, many fewer keywords, leading me to develop a set of algorithms for choosing the smallest number of keywords likely to make you the most money.

In fact, I now believe it’s ESSENTIAL  to have a well articulated rationale for choose ONE dead-center bulls-eye keyword for your business… the one you’d advertise on if Google restricted your account to only ONE adgroup with ONE broad match keyword in it.  (The “ultimate elevator speech”).

Considerations of relevancy, volume, and bid price are essential in making this choice.

And once you know your Bulls-Eye, I think it’s also essential to define a very small set of concentric circles around it … no more than six keyword groups.  And you’d better have a good written definition of the CONCEPTUAL BOUNDARIES OF YOUR KEYWORD SET, or else you’ll wind up wasting time, money, and diluting your conversions by aiming off your “keyword archery target”


2) GATHERING MORE FREE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE THAN ANYONE IN YOUR MARKET

Once you know exactly where your keyword archery target starts and ends (and why!), I’ve innovated a NEW method for leveraging social media, competitive intelligence spy tools, and RSS fees to set up one systematic and comprehensive competitive intelligence dashboard…

Then identifying YOUR SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITOR and totally reverse engineering their web testing diary.  (I’m not just talking about the stupid PPC spy tools … I’m NOT NOT NOT talking about figuring out what web changes they made which made them successful in the first place)

3) IDENTIFYING POINT OF DIFFERENCE BENEFITS WITH A NEW 80/20 VERSION OF MY SURVEY INTELLIGENCE PROCESS

On the foundation of a more clearly defined and simpler keywords set AND comprehensive competitive intelligence, we then utilize the survey process to find point of difference benefits for the market.

4) DESIGNING YOUR SITE, COPY, AND FOLLOW UPS TO BUILD ON ALL THIS UNIFIED INTELLIGENCE

With a clearly defined bulls-eye and keyword archery target, the knowledge of who’s winning the game on that target and why, the consumer language, emotional benefits, and point of difference benefits in hand, the process then proceeds to UNIFY ALL YOUR MARKETING COMMUNICATION AROUND A  SINGULAR, WELL RESEARCHED USP.

5) BUILDING OUT PPC AND SEO CAMPAIGNS FOR YOUR VERY FOCUSED TARGET:

SEO and PPC are expensive and time consuming.   The gorillas who survive are the ones who know exactly where to FOCUS their time and money.   The new Livingston Process ensures you eliminate waste and laser focus on a hyper-responsive message for the short set of keywords which define your business.

6) OPTIMIZE YOUR CONVERSION:  Multivariate and Taguchi testing are still VERY powerful tools (always will be).  But they’re only useful when you’ve got the RIGHT INPUT to test.   The new process above ensures you’ve always got a prioritized list of options for continually bringing your business to the next level.

Enjoy the FREE MP3 below please!  :-)

ACTION OPTIONS: Do all this yourself, hire us to do for you,  or have me coach you through it personally.


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Copywriting Sucks! (Not)

May 18, 2009

Words sell.  The best buyers are readers.
Con artists use words to damage.  So do politicians.  Words used incorrectly can and do kill.  But words used correctly inspire and heal.
An ethical salesletter inspires the reader to act in their own best interest by truthfully and thoroughly answering 5 questions, with no reasons held back or toned down, yet nothing [...]

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Emotional Copywriting Magic

April 21, 2009

What if you understood something about your market that no one else did.
What if you could see the entire STORY your prospect was engaged in … the problem they were solving, what role they wanted you to play, how they wanted you to transform their lives with your copy?
This has got to be one of [...]

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Adwords Bragging

April 20, 2009

Sorry … just had to brag for a moment. (This is a testimonial received for The Naked Truth About Internet Marketing)
Email From A Client Who Previously Heard Me Present Hyper-Responsive Adwords Methods
“Hi Glenn, I just picked up your Truth Profits program and I gotta tell you…I was blown away by the PPC section you [...]

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Emotional Adwords Marketing – Comment

March 9, 2009

Sarah left an interesting comment about our list of 37 Emotional Benefits , and one which is almost always mentioned in one form or another when we consult with large companies about their branding … essentially  ”I don’t see _____ emotion on the list”.
Here’s how the list was developed.
We started with hundreds of our own [...]

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Adwords Emotional Copywriting Cheat Sheet

March 8, 2009

Adwords emotional copywriting cheat sheet — sorry for the delay!

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Adwords Copywriting Headaches

March 5, 2009

Every adwords marketer eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns.  They just can’t think of any more keywords, ad copy, or landing page changes to improve click thru and conversion.
Here’s a different way to break through your wall … try to do the OPPOSITE.
Seriously … spend an hour writing the WORST POSSIBLE ADWORDS ADS you [...]

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copywriting for adwords

January 29, 2009

Everyone talks about swipe files, tracking your competitors, etc. as fodder for your Adwords copywriting. All good advice.
Here’s something MUCH better …
Use a text box on your opt in page which asks about their needs and reasons for searching today, and make sure you’re recording the keyword group they came from. (Your programmer should [...]

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