Read This Or Die

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
–William Butler Yeats, author and poet

In This Issue:

Read This Or Die!
by Krista Jones

Did you think, “Oh my god!” when you read the title of today’s essay?

If you did, then you and I are on the same page.

I know you’ve seen promotions with shocking headlines before. And maybe they drew you in and got you to buy. But the point of today’s message is to let you know that blatant sales pitches—ones that scream “give me your money”—are no longer as effective as they once were.

In fact, according to industry experts (including top copywriters like Clayton Makepeace), advertorial copy performs much better than hypey sales promotions in today’s market. What do I mean by advertorial? Copy that sells ideas and stimulates the reader’s thinking processes.

This information was incredibly liberating for me. After all, it’s not my natural style to go for the “in-your-face” sale—shocking, I know. Even so, some of my clients have preferred a hard-sell approach in their copy so I’ve done the best I could for them.

Not surprisingly, when I examine my track record I find that my most successful promotions, by far, are the ones that educate prospects, rather than pitch them. How better to sell someone on what you have than by giving them plenty of reasons why?

Think of it this way…

When we were kids, we always wanted to know “why,” right? Back then we would never let adults get away with a simple “just because” answer.

Well, as we become adults our need to know “why?” is just as strong—we still want to understand the reason behind things.

As you grow into your copywriting career, remember the more “reasons why” you give a prospect—the more educated he becomes about a subject—the less he actually has to be sold. In essence, he closes himself a little bit more with every morsel of information he consumes.

Claude Hopkins, considered by many to be the “father” of modern advertising, had this to say about giving away a lot of information:

“There are other ways, I know, to win in selling and advertising. But they are slow and uncertain. Ask a person to take a chance on you, and you have a fight. Offer to take a chance on him, and the way is easy.

I have always taken chances on the other fellow. I have analyzed my proposition until I made sure that he had the best end of the bargain. Then I had something that people could not well neglect.”

Here’s an example of how Claude went the extra mile to educate prospects and, in the process, turned his client into a household name:

In the early 1900s, Claude was hired to do advertising work for a brewing company called Schlitz Beer. In those days, a beer’s purity was very important to consumers. So all breweries were crying “Pure” as loud as they could, but not one of them ever actually proved their beer was pure. As a result, the claims had no effect on consumers.

Claude went to the Schlitz Brewery so he could learn firsthand the process of brewing beer. What he witnessed amazed him.

He learned the brewery got the purest water they could possibly get by installing artesian wells that went down 4,000 feet deep. He discovered the beer was aged in vats for six months before it went out to the user. He saw the original mother yeast cell that had been developed by 1,200 experiments to bring out the utmost in flavor. All the yeast used in making Schlitz Beer came from that original cell.

They showed him how they cleaned every pump and pipe, twice daily, to avoid contamination. He saw enormous filters filled with wooden pulp and they explained how that filtered the beer.

He saw plate-glass rooms where beer was dripping over pipes. When he asked what was going on, he was told those rooms were filled with filtered air, so the beer could be cooled in purity. And he learned that every bottle was cleaned four times by machinery to ensure it was sterilized.

Stunned, Claude asked his client, “Why do you just try to yell louder than others that your beer is pure? Why don’t you tell people all these things?”

The client didn’t understand. He said, “The processes we use are the exact same everyone else uses. No one can make good beer without them.”

But Claude was convinced that people would be fascinated with a “behind the scenes” look at how they did things. So he explained this whole process in his marketing. By doing so he gave “purity” a meaning. Within months, Schlitz Beer soared from being the fifth largest…to the number one selling beer in America.

What’s the moral of the story?

Instead of telling prospects about your product, show them. Give them plenty of reasons why. That way your reader will convince himself that the product is worthy. And when he does that it has a lot more “Umph!” than if you were to convince him of the same thing—through hype or otherwise.

Resource Referral: Do Your Own Thing

If you believe in the power of educational copy, but are having trouble finding clients who agree, start your own information products business. Information products are hot right now and it’s a way you can educate people on the subjects you care most about—travel, pets, golf, nutrition, elder care…you name it.

If you’re not sure how to get started, check out Bob Bly’s program called The Internet Marketing Retirement Plan. The program is getting rave reviews, including how easy Bob makes it for you to get your business up and running.

For less than $100 you’ll learn three easy steps to starting and running an Internet marketing business that brings in enough money for you to quit work for good within 18 to 24 months. And you can use the program risk-free for 90 days.

If you’re interested in truly working for yourself, you should look into The Internet Marketing Retirement Plan. When you consider the price, the guarantee, and Bob’s reputation, there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Reader Feedback: Gun-Shy About Rates

There’s a lot of information out there on how to write copy, how to break into specific markets, and even how to sell your services to clients. But it’s hard to find concrete information on how to close the deal once you’ve made contact with a potential client.

Monica and I are working on a little something that will help you with that, but in the meantime, you might run into some awkward situations that leave you wondering what to do next.

That’s exactly the type of quandary Suzanne was in when she wrote us. Here’s what she wrote…and my response.

“I took the AWAI Catalog Copywriting course. Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been pursuing clients while continuing to work full time. Here’s the situation: I contacted one cataloger who was interested, I believe, in hiring me as a freelancer. In an email, she asked what my rates were and if I would be available for a kick-off meeting (the company is local to where I live.) I gave her my price and told her it was negotiable. She replied that my rate was more than she could pay at that time, but she would keep me in mind for the future. I emailed back asking what figure she had in mind. She never responded.

This happened about two months ago. Do you think I should contact this prospect again in the near future and if so, what would be the best approach? This experience has left me a little gun-shy about quoting a rate. I have another potential client I need to contact shortly and I know he’s going to ask the same question. I’m nervous that I’m going to blow it again. I’ve already decided to drop my rate a bit, but don’t want to go so low that I’m not making any money. I didn’t just pick a figure out of the air; I calculated by following what was suggested in Chris Marlow’s Report and from Herschell Gordon Lewis’ interview in Copywriting Insider.

Any advice you can provide would be appreciated.”

Personally, I would let the first prospect go. It sounds like you gave her a fair price and even told her it was negotiable. My guess is that the price she had in mind was well below what you quoted, so you might have resented doing the work at her low price any way.

With regard to your new potential client, try to get him to share his budget with you before you quote him anything. If he won’t share the information with you, then give him a quote you feel comfortable with. If possible, don’t give it on the spot. Tell him you’ll get back with him the next morning.

Another option is to tell him you’ll give him a special rate since he’s a first time customer, but on the next assignment you’ll raise your fee to your standard rate.

I completely understand being gun-shy about quoting fees. But you don’t want to go too low. If this one doesn’t work out, something else will as long you continue to be reasonable.

P.S. Suzanne took my advice. I’ll tell you how she fared next week.