How to Write Hypnotizing Sales Copy

How to Write Hypnotizing Copy That Sucks People Into Your Sales Message
Like a Southern Tornado

Now that's an attention getting headline. It comes from Jason Peery, President of Peery Publications. He is a leading direct-response
copywriter and marketing consultant who writes copy that grabs people's
eyeballs and glues them to your message. (Contact him at peeryj@cougar.netutah.net)

I'm constantly amazed at how much money entrepreneurs (and big
businesses, for that matter) spend, borrow, and scrounge to develop
products, only to scribble out their copy as an afterthought.

Or, they'll spend a million dollars on the product and 200 bucks on a
copywriter. (If there's one place to penny-pinch, it's not on the copy!)

People constantly fail to understand this simple truth (and if you learn
nothing else from me, please remember this!): It doesn't matter if your
product is the BEST product in the world if you don't have cookin copy to
SELL IT!

On the other hand, good copy will attract buyers like a freaking tornado,
even when the product may be mediocre, but a good product will rarely
compensate for boring copy. Of course, I'm not telling you to produce
mediocre products. Your products should give the customer more than he pays
for, in my opinion.

But no matter what you're selling, your ads, sales letters, brochures,
business cards, and commercials need to have scalding-hot copy that gets
your prospects drooling.
Okay. Okay. That's enough sermonizing. Let's get down to work.

Headline Is King

Too often, marketers spend 5 minutes on the headline, write three or four
of them, pick one that "sounds good," and then they send that ad to the
printer. Dumb, dumb, dumb! An ad will NOT be successful without a headline
that grabs people by the throats and sucks them into the ad!

I write at least 100 headlines for any ad or sales letter that I do, and
sometimes it takes many more than that to get it right. You know why?
Because I know that if the headline is good, the ad will work. Period. You
should spend just as much time on the headline as you do on the rest of the
ad. Here are the main things you need to remember.

* The headline should be as clear as Alhambra water. The reader should not
have to stop to think about the meaning of your headline for even a second.

* Put quotation marks around your headline. For example,

"How to Impress Everyone With Your Phenomenal Memory!"

For some reason, the quotation marks tend to boost response dramatically.

* Make your headline bold and big. It should be at least 24-point font on a
full-page ad.

* Most of all, my friend, make the headline contain an awesome benefit that
hits an emotional hot button for your prospects! Don't brag about your
company ("In business since 1904"). Don't make some cutesy headline.
("Smoking: It's Matter of Life and Breath") Yuck! Make it clear, bold, and
make it pack an amazing punch in the form of an incredible benefit for your
reader.

Bullets

I always ramble on about the importance of benefit-packed copy. Your copy
can't just brag about you or your product. It needs to tell the prospect
how your product will benefit him and how he will be able to avoid
frustration. Now, perhaps the best way to do this is to use lots of
bullets. Here are some examples of benefit-packed bullets from a memory
course I just wrote a sales letter for. Read them carefully.

* How to eliminate embarrassing short-term memory lapses like constantly
forgetting your keys and your wallet.

* How you can build rapport instantly with everyone, getting their respect
because you remember their name!

* How to have a steel-trap mind that remembers facts, figures, and details.

Do you remember those 100+ headlines you wrote? Did you ever wonder what
would happen to them once you chose your winning headline from all of them?
No, they don't just occupy space on your hard drive. You use them for
subheads and bullets! Every bullet and subhead should be so tantalizingly
powerful that it snags the reader and lures her into the ad. Many readers
will skim the article, trying to decide whether or not they should read
your ad or sales letter. Your bullets and subheads should tantalize them
and get them to read the whole kit-and-caboodle!