Brett Emailed Me Saying, “This Guy Uses The ‘F’ Word 37 Times In His Sales Letter…
Brett Kitchen wrote:
I presume you know who ________ is, right?
In his sales letter he uses the ‘F’ word over 37 times.
I was really blown away by it.
I understand why he’s doing it. He’s polarizing the market, getting rid of all the people he doesn’t resonate with BEFORE they get a chance to waste his time.
I get it.
I think it’s a good move, but I’m not into a lot of profanity in my copy, I’m not opposed to it, if is effective, but I wanted to get your take.
Sometimes I get confused between “indirect persuasion and Connection” and hard hitting copy. I know how to write the old stuff, (kind of) but as you know, my #1 is using what works.
I’m writing a sales letter right now and I don’t know how exactly to Polarize the market, and pull the right ones out, without hitting them in the head with the copy.
What do you think?
BK
Hi Brett,
You say you want to use what works.
The truth is that “Great Copy” always works and there is more than one way to write great copy. We tend to “hear” more from the “hard-hitting” crowd — they are more “in the public eye” but don’t confuse that with “what works.”
I’m not saying that hard-hitting copy doesn’t work — it does — it’s just not the only way. And that’s especially true for some markets — IE: My Fertility piece, if you don’t mind me saying so, is excellent copy.
Honestly I think it is as hard hitting as it can be — but what you’re referring to as hard-hitting would never work in that market.
So sometimes it depends on the market but…
What I have found is that there is a piece of every market that does not want to be hammered and they will respond to the balance of connection and salesmanship.
My copy is not devoid of salesmanship. It’s just not as in your face and to counteract the resistance to being sold I “add” connection, empathy and Indirect Persuasion.
It is NOT instead of — it is in addition to… salesmanship.
The question may be how in your face the salesmanship is. People like _______ get away with it because there is a segment of that market that will respond.
Okay — cool for him. But who is talking to the others — especially the women — in that market place?
Again, that’s not to say your going to just stop selling — you’re just not going to use profanity and insult their intelligence by saying if you don’t buy now you’re crazy.
You might want to look at my copy and pick out where I am directly selling …
Look at some hard-hitting copy and see what I don’t do. That’s the balance — some of the “harder” stuff isn’t there — salesmanship definitely is there — and to compliment that — instead of a heavy hand — I’ll connect.
Make sense?
I might say that there’s more to it than connection — Rhythm and cadence, as an example, is huge. We really need to get you through the coaching program. : )
As for polarizing the market — I might call it connecting with the market.
Depending on the circumstance who “you” are will connect with a segment of the market — so just “strategically” put you in the copy and a piece of that market will connect and want to buy what you have.
Isn’t that really what _______ has done — he’s just being himself and allowing those that like it to collect around him. For sure the stronger the statement you make the more potential for connection and the smaller the audience becomes.
So we need to be sure that the audience is big enough to make a great living. That’s why I like what I’m up to — I get to be me and there’s a huge audience for it.
Perfect!
So…
Do you have a preference as to who you target in this market?
If so what can you strategically put in the copy that they will resonate with?
And…
If you were to interview the market you’d uncover things that they do connect with and you’d put that in the copy. It’s another problem. Sitting back trying to think about what to put in the copy without interviewing the target audience.
It never fails me that I find great stuff in that interview process.
How’s that?
Shaune
PS: Do you mind if I pass this on?
Comment by JP
November 2, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
Good post, Shaune!
“Enter the conversation already going on in the mind of the prospect.”
We’ve all heard that…
This is no different. Some people think and talk this way. Some don’t
Some will be offended. Some won’t!
As most smart marketers know… you should never try to please EVERYONE. When you do — your message, promotion, and sales copy is really for NO ONE.
The danger is when “noobs” try to take something like this they’ve seen used, and go apply it somewhere else without understanding the fundamentals behind it.
Results… they screw it up!