How To Use 'Concepts' To Make Your Copywriting More Persuasive
By Mike Jezek Copyright 2007 Mike Jezek. All rights reserved.
Remember the BluBlocker infomercials? The genius behind this was Joe Sugarman. His irresistible copywriting was responsible for selling over 20 million pairs of BluBlocker sunglasses.
If you read Joe Sugarman's book, "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word" you'll see that one of his biggest secrets to writing mouthwatering copy is to "sell the concept behind the product." In fact, according to Joe this clever copywriting strategy can help you to outperform the ads and sales letters of competitors who've been entrenched in your market for decades.
To elaborate more on this concept, as you plan your marketing piece or sales presentation, ask yourself the question "What is the concept or the end result I'm selling to people?"
Then structure your copy in a way where you start selling the concept, the company or yourself, and then sell the product. At this point you'll go into describing the benefits of how your product will improve their lives and so on.
Example: Joe Sugarman wrote a book titled Triggers which reveals 30 psychological triggers he discovered that enabled him to sell his products like crazy.
In the online sales letter for his book, you'll notice that his sales letter leads with the concept of being able to influence and persuade people - and the coveted power this would give you in the business world. Then the sales letter explains that using these psychological triggers is a more powerful approach for direct sales people and copywriters than the usual closes and sales pitches. Next, this sales letter introduces Joe, and his credentials.
(So ... at this point, you're sold on wanting the power to influence and persuade people, you're sold on the idea that you should be selling with Triggers instead of using traditional selling techniques, and you're sold on the belief that you should listen to Joe Sugarman's advice.)
Lastly, the sales letter introduces Joe's book Triggers and then lists the benefits and features of it.
Most copywriters would have went straight into pitching the benefits of buying Joe's book, but instead the concept was sold first, then the book. Consequently, this website sales letter pulled like gang-busters.
As you think about applying this concept to your business I want you to realize that you don't have to spend several pages selling the concept. Just one or two well-written paragraphs of copy can do the trick.