One of the hardest sales letters to write has to be for a Non-Profit.
2:23pm
East of the Mississippi
Non-profit fundraising is tough work.
Not at a gala. Those things are attended by wealthy donors who want their name in the press.
I’m talking about direct mail.
The reader of your letter has to be persuaded to take action… often without any immediate benefit to themselves.
And the appeal has to go beyond altruism.
(more…)Keep an eye out.
12:20pm
East of the Mississippi
You watching the Olympics?
They’re a big deal in our house:
We have a TV that ONLY comes out every 2 years so we can watch the Olympics in the living room. And then, a few weeks later, we put it away.
Scientists used to think dopamine was released after we accomplish something. It was seen as the “reward chemical.”
But that’s not correct.
(more…)2:11pm
East of the Mississippi
Alex Hormozi recently said that something like 50% of businesses don’t make any money.
Many of those businesses probably don’t advertise or market themselves in any way.
(I know of an IT services company that refuses to spend money to find customers. I know of a bar that doesn’t have a sign on its door.)
And those companies that do advertise, but still aren’t making money, are probably playing the fool’s game of trying to replicate big brand advertising like Nike or Apple or BMW.
Those brands have huge budgets and mindshare.
But most businesses do not. And they should not take that approach.
(more…)2:22pm
East of the Mississippi
We’re getting a break from the cold here in Saint Paul.
It’s 36° outside!
I was working on a landing page and my client kept asking me to clarify that only part of the offer was an easy-to-use “framework” –– a desirable aspect of this offer –– and that other parts of the offer weren’t a “framework” at all, but instead dealt with data and functional changes.
Which, sure.
But copywriting isn’t content writing!
The goal of sales copy is to build up excitement, or anger, or fear, or some emotion about the current situation…
And then to tie that into a changed emotion or other benefit that will only happen as a result of the purchase.
If we spend all our time explaining the nuts and bolts of what the person will actually be doing –– in the name of transparency –– it begins to sound like a lot of work…
And who wants to choose more work?
Now, deep down, you and I and everyone knows that change and improvement does take work (or at least cash).
But we can’t build up hope with technical details.
There’s a difference between “See it sparkle!” and “It sparkles. Sometimes. When the light is right.“
We can’t hope to make a sale when we say, “imagine how your friends will feel when they see you“…
…and end that sentence with “putting in extra hours to make this work out.“
Gotta sell the hope that tomorrow’s gonna sparkle.
Sell your buyer what he wants.
Deliver that.
But also deliver what he really needs.
Love you,
Jeffrey
PS. Might you know Judd Apatow’s email? The one I tried bounced.
1:58pm
East of the Mississippi
Saturday I watched half of the Mel Brooks classic, Spaceballs.
I’ve seen it dozens of times and I still laughed out loud.
I was inspired to watch it after reading a Judd Apatow interview with Brooks in Judd’s serious book about comedy, Sick in the Head.
There was a lot about writing in the book, and about life in general, and I want to share some of it with you.
2:14pm
East of the Mississippi
I tried something new today with my coffee:
Brewed it with Thai Chili Pepper flakes.
It adds a bit of zing to every sip.
Years ago, as a prank, my uncle put my dad’s name on a mailing list for Mo Hotta Mo Betta, a hot sauce mail order company.
(more…)8:17am
-10° here, east of the Missississippi
Hey, last week we discussed the importance of grabbing your reader with a BIG IDEA.
The best sales letters revolve around a single BIG IDEA, with copy that supports and expands on that singular idea. Like these blockbusters:
• The End of America? (Mike Palmer for Stansberry Research)
• Two Young Men (Martin Conroy for The Wall Street Journal)
• Tap the Hidden Wealth Inside Your Paycheck (Doug D’Anna for StraightTalk Magazine)
My friend Rick Peterson is an ex-Agora copywriter.
Agora is a huge financial publisher of investment advice. If you know of Motley Fool, Agora is similar –– but Agora’s been around longer.
Anyhow.
Rick was hired by Agora to write “BIG IDEA” emails that get attention and get people salivating… and buying.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Check it out:
Just ONE of Rick’s email sequences at Agora pulled in over $90,000 in sales.
Then he followed up with non-buyers and that sequence pulled in another $65,000 in sales.
Rick and I were chatting about BIG IDEAS a few weeks ago when he dropped those info nuggets.
But what was even cooler was that he broke down the structure of those 2 email sequences… plus a 3rd sequence!… so those structures could be used as frameworks to create additional, high-selling email flows.
Not fill-in-the-blank templates that customers have already seen and gloss over, mind you…
But 3 reusable, adaptable frameworks that anyone can use to quickly create high-converting emails.
Because good sales copy is less about the words and more about the way peoples’ brains react to what they’re reading.
And these frameworks help you create those mental reactions.
I asked Rick if I could share these frameworks wih you.
And he did me one better:
Rick recorded a video to explain the 3 high-selling frameworks and his thinking behind these winning emails.
But here’s the thing:
Rick said I could share this, yes. But he was only going to keep it active for 48 hours.
Now… I don’t know if that means 48 hours from when I write this email… at 8:53am… or 48 hours from when this mails later today.
Either way, clock is ticking.
If you want Rick’s 3 high-conversion frameworks… including the original copy you can study and apply… plus the 30 minute video of HOW Rick thinks (so that you can write better copy yourself…)
Well, best jump on this now:
https://therickpeterson.com/Jeffrey
Love you,
Jeffrey G Thomas
Direct Response Copywriter