Romance is Dead

“When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self,
and one always ends by deceiving others.
That is what world calls a romance.”
– Oscar Wilde

In Issue #148

Romance is Dead
by Monica Day

It’s usually hard for me to ignore the Valentine’s Day hoopla. When married, there were the expectations of some proper acknowledgement of the day…that were never quite met. When single, it serves as the reminder of my status…and stirs up a longing for love.

But this year, I feel differently. There’s a palpable shallowness in all this Hallmark card, flowers, candy, and dinner displays of sentiment. And I find myself immune to it.

Flowers die. Too much candy makes you fat and sick and gives you acne. And so it is with the trappings of romance. They are fleeting and ultimately, unsatisfying.

Then, it dawns on me. It’s the same thing with a lot of the copy I read. Shallow fluff…full of unsubstantiated claims…telling you how great the product is, but not really showing or proving it adequately.

The stronger copy I read is jarring. Gripping. There’s a Big Idea that pulls me in, makes me sit up in my chair and take notice. It’s more than a pick-up line. It is substantial and solid, complete with proof, credibility, and ultimately, an argument so compelling that I am not inclined to play coy or shy or ambivalent.

When I get to the end of such a promotion, I don’t feel like I’ve just eaten a lot of sugar. Rather, I want what the copy is offering me…from a place of pure, convinced, desire.

I hope you indulged freely in whatever degree of sweet romance in your life as you’d like yesterday…but be sure to keep the fluff out of your copy. Write crisp, clean, and credible promotions and ultimately you will fill your target prospect with more than just warm, happy feelings inside. You will infuse them with a desire that can only be quenched by following through and making the purchase.

Resource Referral: How To Find The Real Thing

To leave behind the empty romance of average copywriting, and inspire full-fledged desire in your prospect, you’ll have to take your research skills to a whole new level.

I’ll be the first to admit, the idea of doing research is not sexy. But the end result of knowing how to conduct effective research – coming up with a killer, multi-million dollar promotion from a single big idea…

…pretty darn sexy if you ask me.

Copy Protégé teamed up with one of the top researchers in the business – his name is Richard Conero, and he is the stealth weapon behind some of the top controls of leading direct marketing companies such as Forbes, Agora Publishing, and 21st Century Investor. Through a combination of charm, friendship (and copious amounts of Chilean wine), we convinced Richard to reveal some of his most closely-guarded secrets garnered over the course of his decade of experience as an Informationist.

You can read them all in the very first (drum roll please) Copy Protégé course, Finding the World’s Best Ideas: How to Access More Than $100,000 Worth of Intelligence for as Little as 55 Cents a Day!

We are excited to be sharing this with our Copy Protégé readers first while we test our links and shopping cart and get early feedback. It has been a long time coming – under construction for a year now! But now that it’s ready, I can assure you I’m not bragging when I say, without reservation…it’s really, really good.

In fact, here is what one reader who purchased the program last week wrote to tell us…

“Just finished reading your “Finding the World’s Best Ideas” book. GREAT STUFF. Mind you… I’ve done research for about 20 + years for my technical writing projects. And… I never knew some of these sites existed. I’m looking forward to diving in and using them in my copywriting projects. I think this is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about research. I’ll be honest here… wasn’t sure it would be worth the money. BOY was I wrong. Thank you…” – C.W.

Krista and I have both learned an incredible amount from Richard and are indebted to him for drawing back the curtain on this powerful secret. And we feel confident this course is just what beginning copywriters need to take their career to the next level practically overnight.

Click here to be among the first to download Finding the World’s Best Ideas: How to Access More Than $100,000 Worth of Intelligence for as Little as 55 Cents a Day!

The cost is only $99 (for now!) though we suspect when we go out to other lists, it will be more like $139. And we’ll send you two bonus reports as well:

And please let us know what you think – good, bad or ugly! And yes, by all means, return it any time in the next 30 days if you don’t like it. I’ll be shocked – but will graciously return your money anyway.

We think this is the revolution beginning copywriters have been waiting for. We hope you agree.

Quick Copy Tip: Delivering Deeper Emotional Benefits

Lately, I’ve been talking to the people in our mentoring program about finding the deeper benefits of their product. I notice that it takes some doing to find these. So I’m going to give you a little exercise.

Take whatever promotion you are working on…let’s say it’s for a nutritional supplement. It might help you to lose weight, have more energy, and improve your sex life. But these aren’t enough to compel a prospect to make a purchase.

You have to ask yourself…why would someone want to lose weight, have more energy and improve their sex life. Deeper emotional benefits are the stuff that stirs our soul. We want to be loved…desired…vibrant…happy…fulfilled. Until you are tickling your reader in those areas, you won’t be as close to having them pull out their wallet as you’d like. So dig deeper…go for the gut in your copy.

Note: We have a few spaces opening up in the Copy Protégé Mentoring Program. If you are interested in applying, please send a writing sample (no more than 2 pages) and your goals for the next 6-12 months to admin@copyprotege.com. We would love to work with you!