When writing messages to prospective customers, it can help to visualize one watching or reading your message while lying on a couch and drinking a beer.
Copywriter John Carlton says, think of him or her as a somnolent sloth. It’s going to take a very strong appeal to get him or her off the couch to take action.
Familiar lazy characters that come to mind are Al Bundy from Married With Children and Homer Simpson. They are often portrayed being “zoned out” on a couch, watching television and drinking a beer. Picture your prospect as Al or Homer. How are you going to get him off the couch?
Legendary copywriter Gary Halbert said, picture your prospect reading or watching your message, and it’s snowing a blizzard outside. Your task is to get him to fill out an order, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on the envelope, put on a jacket and hat, walk through the storm to a mailbox and deposit the envelope in the mailbox.
Your customer doesn’t care about your product or service. When you first make contact, your customer isn’t excited about what you have to offer. In order to get the prospective customer to move, you have to provide strong emotional appeals that touch his or her heart and life, backed up with reasons to believe your message. You have to communicate your own excitement as if you were writing a letter to Grandma to tell her about it, giving good reasons why you’re excited and why your reader should care.
If your message is weak, bland and/or boring, the prospective customer will throw it away as “junk mail” or put it in a stack of things to look at “later”, which may never come.
If your emotional appeal is strong, the prospective customer may even temporarily put your message aside and hunt for it later to take action. He or she might even get out of bed to order your product or service on the internet. (I’ve done this. Have you?)
Would you like my help writing a message to get your prospective customers to take action? Write to me to set up an initial consultation at mgray@profitadvisors.com.