Five Ways to Improve Any Sales Promotion in Less Than Five ... · To become a better copywriter is one thing. To enjoy the process of becoming one is - in my humble opinion - much

Five Ways to Improve Any Sales Promotion in Less Than Five Minutes

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Five Ways to Improve Any

Sales Promotion in Less Than

Five Minutes

Welcome!

First, let me thank you for joining All Good

Copy. I'll be in touch about once a week to

share with you the best new copy techniques,

the best new copy insight and the best new

copy ideas.

I'm confident that you will be able to use what you learn each

week in All Good Copy to become a much better

copywriter... much sooner than you thought.

Today, though - in fact, right now! - we're going to cover five

different changes that you can make to any sales promotion

that you're working on (or that has been submitted to you by

a freelancer) to make it perform much, much better.

In other words, if you apply what you discover in the next

few pages, you will make more money.

Nothing you'll read here is difficult to understand. In fact, a

lot of it, as you'll discover, is merely common sense. And for

that reason, I'm sure you'll find each element I cover to be

easily adaptable to the promotion you are currently looking

to improve.

Above all else, though - in fact, even above the potential of

earning more money - I hope you enjoy reading what I've

Glenn Fisher



written here.

To become a better copywriter is one thing. To enjoy the

process of becoming one is - in my humble opinion - much

more important.

Best wishes,

Glenn Fisher

AllGoodCopy.com

P.S. Don’t forget that I’ve created AllGoodCopy.com to help

you improve your copywriting, so be sure to take some time

to visit the website and comment on the various articles.

Plus, feel free to ask questions about copy you might have –

you can email me at [email protected] and I’ll always

do my best to advise you accordingly.



Copy Tweak #1: Engaging Your

Reader from the Word Go!

OK. So, the first thing we need to do to your promotion is

sort out your first line.

We haven't the time here to sort out your headline. That's a

whole different kettle of fish and there is so much I could

write on that particular element of a sales promotion that it

would take another report altogether. (In fact, we'll look to

dealing with that report another time!)

For now then, let's tighten your lead.

Assume you've grabbed your reader's attention with a

unique, useful, urgent and ultra-specific headline and now

the battle has commenced to keep them interested.

And if that is indeed the case, the battle really does begin

with your first line...

In fact, the challenge every first line faces is convincing the

reader to read the second line.

And that's it.

So long as your first line achieves that goal. It has done its

job.

To be able to do that, the first line needs to do three things...

• It needs to be swift so that it is easy for the reader to

read on.

• It needs to physically lead the reader to the second line.



• And it needs to intrigue the reader to such an extent

that they MUST read on.

To do that is not difficult. At least, it is not as difficult as

some people would have you believe.

The first two requirements can be solved technically. The

third, however, must be solved psychologically.

By technically, I mean a tweak that can be applied without

any real thought. It is merely an aesthetic change.

By psychologically, I mean a tweak that requires some

thought. To consider on some level, the reader's emotional

response to what you write.

So, to meet that first requirement - it needs to be swift so

that it is easy for the reader to read on - you must make sure

the first line of your promotion is short.

It really is as simple as that. Your first line should, ideally, be

no more than ten to fifteen words.

For example:

It's only a matter of time before you'll be using this

yourself...

On the page, this appears visually clean. It's so easy to read

the reader may as well read the next sentence. Therefore,

your first line has achieved its primary goal: to lead the

reader to the second sentence.

Meeting the second requirement - it needs to physically lead

the reader to the second line - is also easily achieved. In

fact, we have already seen it done in that previous example.



You see, to lead the reader physically to the next sentence

just needs you to end the first sentence with an ellipsis, or

three dots if you don't like posh names for things.

Those three dots might seem arbitrary, but they lead the

reader’s eye - often without the reader even realising.

As you can see, both of these techniques are technical. They

require no more action than clipping your words and typing

three full stops (or periods depending on which side of the

pond you're on!).

The third element, however - it needs to intrigue the reader

to such an extent that they MUST read on - requires a little

more thought. But not that much. You just need to intrigue

the reader enough to want to read the next line.

Now, because you've clipped the sentence to be around ten to

fifteen words your first sentence simply won't be able to

contain enough information to paint a whole picture and

therefore by default you'll have created some small sense

of intrigue.

But to make it impossible for the reader to NOT read your

second line... you should try to consciously add a second

level of intrigue.

Take another look at the example I gave earlier...

It's only a matter of time before you'll be using this

yourself...

By referring to "this", the sentence is referring to something

that the reader is not yet aware of. Already the sense of

intrigue is being developed.



But why would the reader care about an unknown "this"?

Here, then, you can see the development of the remainder of

the sentence...

It suggests that "it is only a matter of time before..." the

reader will be using the unknown "this" themselves. Why?

What is about this "this" that will mean the reader must use

it?

And bingo! There you have a second level of intrigue.

By this point - with the clipped sentence, the physical

suggestion of the ellipsis and the unavoidable sense of

intrigue - the reader can not help but read the next line.

Your job is done. And your promotion is improved.



Copy Tweak #2: Overcome the

most immediate objection

Whatever your promotion is selling - regardless of which

niche you might be working in - the most immediate

objection that readers of ANY long copy promotion will raise

is exactly the same...

"Why the hell should I give you my money?"

That's it.

Really.

More advanced copy theory will tell you to think up all sorts

of potential objections and come up with innovative ways to

overcome them in your promotion...

And don't get me wrong...

That is all well and good. Further down the line that

advanced thought will come in handy. But the fact of the

matter is, so few copywriters deal with the most immediate

objection adequately.

The irony is, if you deal with that it in the right way, all of

those other objections will start to fall away without you

even having to worry about them.

Now, most people think that the sales promotion is in itself

the tool for overcoming that most immediate objection of

'why the hell should I give you my money?'

It's not.



Even if you have lined up a series of powerful promises and

EVEN if you've poured on the proof with testimonials, bank

statements and track records... you have not actually tackled

that most immediate objection.

You might think you have - most copywriters do - but you

haven't.

What you've ACTUALLY done is say what the product or

service could do for the customer (the promises) and prove

the product or service is worth your money (the proof).

Fair enough, I know what you thinking: surely, the promise

and the proof is the reason why the product is worth the

reader's money.

But proving the product or service is worth paying for is a

different thing to overcoming the reader's most immediate

objection of why they should give you their money.

We've all seen the Loreal adverts where some pretty woman

says ambiguously: "Because you're worth it" as a supposed

justification for purchasing the product they're touting. But

worth is not enough to overcome why. Those adverts, my

friend, are nonsense.

To tackle the objection you need to directly address the

reader on a personal and psychological level. You need to

forget about the product or service you're selling altogether

and tackle the objection itself.

You see, the objection doesn't really have anything to do with

the product or service - the objection is really about the

reader giving you money and nothing more.



The important thing to do is show that you understand the

reader's concern, that you understand that they are unsure

about parting with their money.

It's not possible to do this in one line.

No matter how well you litter your promotion with attempts

at doing this, to effectively overcome the reader's most

immediate objection, you must include an entirely new

section in your promotion; half a page at least.

And what should that section include?

Well, as I say, you should forget about the product or service.

What you must do in this extra section is provide what I call

a 'Sympathetic Acknowledgement'.

What I mean by that is that you should explain to the reader

that you understand their position...

You understand why they might have some hesitation when

it comes to paying for the product or service. But you also

understand - and this is key - that deep down, by reading

your promotion to this point, they want to be convinced.

An example of how you could handle this - and perhaps the

most often used version - is to explain that you (as the author

of the product or service) were once in the same shoes as the

reader. Like them you read lots of different long copy

promotions that promised various things but never

delivered. You can explain how you knew what it was like to

be hesitant in sending off your money, but then you can start

to turn the argument around and by suggesting that you

know how they feel, you can link the section to your



guarantee and explain to the reader that you've specifically

created your guarantee to tackle that exact feeling.

This is just one of the simplest approaches. You could add

much more detail to your personal story and enhance your

sympathetic acknowledgement by doing so.

If you're writing a promotion for your own product or

service, be as open and honest as possible at this point.

And if you're writing the promotion for someone else,

interview them more specifically to get further details about

them and their own experiences with receiving long copy

promotions that will enable you to make your sympathetic

acknowledgement section more genuine.

If you do it right and make the reader feel like you're on their

side, you'll find that most immediate objection is much more

easily overcome and your promotion will work much, much

better.



Copy Tweak #3: Making your offer

match your price

You get handed a product or service to write copy for...

Or you've created a product or service that you're going to

write the copy for yourself...

When creating the product or service a price has been

decided on.

This is a mistake.

Yet this is exactly how the production and marketing of a

product is handled.

You must change this. Otherwise - unless the product or

service has by chance been priced correctly - when you come

to the offer section of your promotion, it will - if not fail

completely - be seriously hampered.

Most people assume that if you handle every other section of

a promotion correctly, the offer will naturally follow and not

require anything more than lips service.

As I say, this is a mistake.

The offer you make in your promotion is equally - of not

more - important than any other section. Not only does it

need to be a good offer, it must work in unison with the

promises and guarantee you are making throughout the rest

of your promotion.

In fact, it goes further than that. To ensure your promotion

works to the highest level it can, your offer must meet a



number of criteria.

Sounds like more hard work - especially if you need to

convince the creator of the product or service to change their

price in accordance with your promotion. But believe me, it's

worth it. In the long-run, your client - or your own back

pocket - will thank you for it.

So, what exactly do I mean when I say that your offer and

guarantee should work in unison with the promises you

make throughout your promotion?

Well, to allow me to show you how this works in the simplest

way, let's take two extreme examples.

Example 1 - Changing the Guarantee

The promise you make in your promotion - as informed by

the product or service you're selling - is that the reader will

make an extra £12,000 in the next year thanks to your share

advice.

The share advice will cost the reader £300 for the year and

they have 30 days to receive the advice to see if they like it

before they have to commit. If, after receiving some of the

advice, they don't like it, inside those 30 days, they can get a

refund.

Sounds good, maybe? Sounds like a pretty normal offer.

But in actual fact, it's pretty weak. Or at least, it's a basic and

un-innovative offer that will see the business that makes it

consistently underperform.

So, how do you make a better offer that is in unison with



your copy?

Well, in this case, you don't even have to chance the price.

You're copy should show why it's worth investing £300 now

to make £12,000 in the next year. But to really optimize your

promotion, why not offer the reader an entire year to try it

out?

They still pay the £300 up front, but you can work into your

copy that if the service doesn't return them £12,000 in the

next year they can get a full refund.

This will make the offer infinitely stronger and substantially

increase the effectiveness of your promotion.

Example 2 - Changing the Price

Let's say you're selling a system that shows people how to

pick out trades on the FTSE.

The price of the system is £400.

If they check the market twice each day, you expect they'll be

able to spot 4 trades a week.

Each trade has the potential to make, say, £50. So, in theory,

even with a few losses, it's reasonable to expect someone to

make £300 a month following the system.

And indeed, it's that potential £300 a month that is the main

promise in your promotion.

You're offering people a 30 day guarantee during which they

can get a full refund and all in all it's sounding like a pretty

good offer.



Hang on, though. It's not bad, but it's not great either. It can

be improved. And by slightly altering the price, you could

increase the overall sales of the promotion and product

significantly. In fact, I'm talking about increasing the money

you make by 50%, despite the fact that the system will be

cheaper.

You see, your offer will be so much stronger if you price the

system at £300.

It's all down to psychology. The reader will now see that in

that 30 day guarantee period they could make the cost of the

system. The price and the offer are now working in unison.

Despite it the system being £100 cheaper, you will sell

considerably more and therefore, in the long run, generate

much greater revenues.

Both of these examples show how a very small change to the

guarantee period or the price can make a huge improvement

to the offer your making. And when an offer works in unison

with the price and guarantee you're job as a copywriter

becomes a lot easier.

Though it might seem strange as a copywriter to try to

influence the price or guarantee of a particular product or

service, believe me, you should as it the outcome will be

much more beneficial for everyone involved - the product or

service creator, you the copywriter and the reader.



Copy Tweak #4: The right way to

use an author image

A sales promotion landed on my desk recently…

Nothing new there; being a professional copywriter,

hundreds land on my desk every week. But this one caught

my eye.

Unfortunately, it was for the wrong reason.

You see, it wasn’t the headline that caught my attention.

In fact, when I got round to reading it, I didn’t think much to

it. A few too many clichés in my opinion; it lacked a truly

unique idea.

What actually caught my attention was the image of the

author himself (or rather,

the image of the man

behind the system – the

promotion itself is

undoubtedly written by a

professional copywriter).

I took a picture and you can

see the author image on the

right there.

What’s wrong with that you

might wonder?

He’s not an ugly man. He’s

presenting himself quite



smartly. And he’s apparently on a promenade or boat,

therefore making the implicit suggestion that he’s a wealthy

man and if you buy whatever he’s selling, you could be

wealthy too.

Fair enough, right?

And yes, as far as author images go it’s not a bad one; if

maybe a little cliché.

However, there is one major flaw with the presentation of

this author image. It’s something that might seem pedantic,

picky or even pointless. But believe me, it makes a difference

– and that difference, no matter how trivial it seems, could

be the difference between making a sale and not.

And besides, it’s something so easily fixable that it’s loopy for

you not to do it.

The problem is that you have no idea who on earth this

man is. In fact, I keep saying it’s an image of the author but

it might just as well be the author’s uncle, their best friend or

their lover.

Who knows?!

As any reader would after seeing this picture, you scan the

front page of the promotion to see if you can identify who

this man is. You can’t.

And therein lays the problem. Before you’ve even started to

read the promotion properly, you’re already distracted trying

to find out who this bloody guy is.

Worse still, how can you trust him if you don’t know who he



is? Why does he not say who he is? Is he hiding his identity?

Is he embarrassed? Is he a criminal?

Of course, in the reader’s mind this all happens

subconsciously; the reader’s very brain is designed to

immediately filter the information it IS given so that it can

start to fill in the blanks, the information it’s NOT given.

As a copywriter, you need to help the reader’s brain fill in the

blanks as quickly and as easily as possible so that it can

digest the actual information you want it to digest about the

product or service you’re selling.

So, even though omitting the name of the author below the

author’s image might seem trivial, it actually causes a lot

more distraction than you might think.

Naturally, to solve the problem is simple: in any sales

promotion, whenever you feature an image of the author,

directly beneath it you should print the author’s name.

That way, you help the reader’s brain along in its calculations

and you guide it on to the actual details of the promotion

much quicker.

I think David Ogilvy once mentioned something along these

same lines in regard to the pictures he often used in his

adverts: beneath every picture there should always be a

description of what the picture is.

He suggested that when people see a picture, their eye is

naturally drawn to the bottom of the picture in the hope of

finding an explanation of what the picture is of.

What Ogilvy did not go on to say is why the absence of an



explanation is a problem. But here I have, and I’ll say it again

for good measure…

When you feature an image of the author in a sales

promotion but do not state that it is the author or what his or

her name is, it leaves the reader’s subconscious with an

unanswered question.

Unanswered questions are bad.

Why?

Because in a sales promotion, unanswered questions soon

evolve into objections.

And of course, the more objections you allow the reader to

generate, the less chance you have of making the sale.

So, don’t make this mistake in your sales promotions: ensure

that whenever you feature the image of the author, you

clearly state below the image his or her name.



Copy Tweak #5: How to make sure

you don’t misuse your PS

It’s no secret…

In a long copy sales promotion, the PS at the end of your

letter can be an incredibly effective tool.

But if you take the PS for granted and over-use it, you could

actually do more damage than good.

It’s essential then that you understand the purpose of a PS,

understand what makes it work and ensure that you don’t

misuse it…

Remember, in most cases, the PS is the last opportunity you

have to converse with your potential customer. It’s the last

chance you have of convincing them to buy your product or

service. That’s why, at this final point, you need to make sure

you nail it.

Now, that considered, as I’m sure you can work out yourself,

the purpose of a PS is to tell the reader of one last benefit of

your product or service.

Ideally it should be one final, as yet unrevealed benefit that

clinches the deal. Using a PS like this can be particularly

effective – and certainly more effective than summarising

what you’ve already discussed in the main body.

This naturally leads us to understanding why the PS works.

After covering the bulk of the sales argument in your

promotion, the majority of your work should be done. The

prospect should be ready to buy.



By adding a breathless PS, it looks like you’ve been so

involved in explaining all the benefits in the main body of the

promotion that you almost forgot to tell them about this one

final benefit.

They were pretty much sold before, but with this new

information coming to light – the deal is done.

A great example of an effective PS might be to offer extra

value in excess of what you’re already offering in the

promotion.

You can see a good example of this here, where – after

concluding a sales argument for a low-price betting service –

the PS offers a free bet that is actually greater than the cost of

the service…

This is what you should be aiming to achieve in your PS…

make your offer irresistible and close the deal by directing



your converted customer to the order form or ‘buy now’

button.

What you shouldn’t do at this point is undermine your PS by

making it a parody of itself.

You can see an example of what NOT to do with your PS

here…

Can you see how this repeating PS almost becomes a joke?

For a start it just covers ground that should already have

been effectively dealt with in the promotion. There’s nothing

new, no final clincher.

But to make matters worse it lists multiple PSs!



To me – and to the majority of potential customers – rather

than convincing me of the product or service’s value, it

makes me imagine a ridiculous door to door salesman having

the door closed in his face and desperately trying to plead as

to why you shouldn’t ignore what he’s saying.

Ultimately you should be confident enough in your sales

promotion to not need a PS…

That way, when you do use a PS (and correctly use it to

mention a new benefit) it will give your promotion a final

boost that makes it perform even better.

So, I encourage you to try this idea and I encourage you to

put into action the other four ideas I've share with you in this

report.

Do so and your sales promotions are almost guaranteed to

work better and in turn you'll become a better, more highly

paid copywriter.

Over and out,

Glenn Fisher

AllGoodCopy.com

P.S. If you haven't already done so, make sure you take

some time to head over to my website at

www.allgoodcopy.com where you'll find many, many more

ideas on how to improve your copywriting.

And hey, if you enjoyed reading this report and found what

I've been sharing with you useful, why not tell a copywriting

friend. It'll help me out and I'm sure your copywriting friend

will thank you for it.

Documents

Five Ways to Improve Any Sales Promotion in Less Than Five ... · To become a better copywriter is one thing. To enjoy the process of becoming one is - in my humble opinion - much