1. There is no secret.
2. There is no secret.
3. Okay there are a few secrets. Here they are.
Choose your weapon. Have you ever been talking to someone when they suddenly switched accents on you, but kept on going as if nothing at all had happened? Maybe not but that would be odd. How about if you thought you were talking about the game last night and it went something like, “That was a touchdown. Those refs are blind and did you know that my cat hates mittens? My team has a chance but kitten mittens are not a good idea I don’t care how much it rhymes.” What on earth are you supposed to do with that conversation? Are we talking about cat apparel or the football game? You would never hear that in real life, but you see it in copy all the time: “If you don’t invest in this right now the sky will fall and you will miss the opportunity of a lifetime and did you know the future is bright and we’re a great happy company to invest with?” Huh? Wait am I hoarding for the apocalypse or skipping to candy land with a smile on my face? “Both! Just buy buy buy! Whatever works!” You don’t necessarily need to have the same voice in every ad and piece of marketing material (though one brand identity is the best approach). At the very least don’t mix emotional messages, or even style, in a single piece. How does it happen to start with? Too many voices want to be heard, everyone wants skin in the game. It is okay (if you do your marketing in-house) to get input and information from as many places as possible, that’s a good thing, but pick a direction and stick with it, and try to have a single writer and a single designer for a single project.
Don’t tell them about your product or service. They don’t care… let that sink in. Your customer doesn’t care about your product or service. It doesn’t matter if they are a lifetime customer and even wrote an awesome review on Angie’s List. They don’t care. What they do care about is what you product or service does for them; how it makes them feel, how it makes their life easier, how it makes them fit in or stand out or whatever the case may be. What your customer is interested in is them. They care about themselves, so that’s what you should talk about. A business that talks about their product or service in their marketing material and advertisements is no different than that guy at the party who won’t be quiet about “I did this, I do that, I’m the best, what’s your name again, never mind, I don’t care, here’s more stuff about me.” It’s boring and no one cares.
Come up with a sweet approach. Writing stuff is easy. Doing it in a way that takes people by surprise is hard. In fact, you may find that the easier something is to sell, the harder it is to sell in a way that is actually going to get people’s attention. Try starting from a different direction. “We have a product that is proven to extend your life by an average of 10 years.” Wow, okay, probably a scam, but tell me about this miracle medicine you’re trying to pawn off on me. “It’s not a pill, just 20 minutes of exercise a week. And right now memberships are cheaper than most prescription drugs.” The “live longer” angle for selling gym memberships is as old as gym memberships. We’re immune to that approach. “Cheap membership” is just as old. Say it starting from a different place and suddenly you can use the same old benefits to get new attention.
Use literary devices like a ninja, not a circus clown. Every 14-year-old young lady on earth can write pretty prose in her journal, which is a wonderful thing for any youngster, but it doesn’t make her Emily Dickenson. Rhyming a couple words or using alliteration might look cute, but won’t necessarily help you sell anything. Sometimes using these tools in a more obvious way is desirable, but only sometimes. It doesn’t mean they are useless, far from it. Words in the right order and with the right sounds; long sentences followed by short sentences followed by long sentences, a cadence to what you write, repetition, all of it has a subconscious positive effect on the reader. Just don’t make it obvious. At least in marketing, obvious use or overuse sounds like you’re not getting to the point, and this can sometimes come off as dishonest no matter the intent.
Create some urgency. How you do this can vary, but if you give someone an excuse to procrastinate they will. Come up with limited offers, deals that won’t last, maybe there is a particular reason now really is the best time to buy… like with real estate except now is always the best time to buy with real estate, so if it is real estate do it in a different way.
Tell a story. All advertising and marketing is some kind of story. Sometimes it’s obvious, “There was this one customer who tried our product or service…” and you’re telling them about this great thing that happened. Sometimes the story is implied, you are asking them to imagine “what if I had this,” and they create the story using your cues. “Hire us to design your patio and imagine the memories your family will make barbequing in the back yard.” No matter the case, be aware that you are telling a story so that you can tell a better one.
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