Let’s face it, selling is difficult. But selling in print is incredibly difficult, since you’re stripped of all your non-verbal communication. Your prospect’s ability to get a “gut feel” about whether or not they should trust and believe you… isn’t as available as you’d like.

However, there are certain triggers or appeals you want to have, any time you’re communicating anything to your prospects.

Without these critical appeals, you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell, of selling anything to anyone. Here they are:

1. Self-interest. Your prospect must be thinking to themselves, “I can use something like this…. I can seriously benefit from this product.”

If they’re thinking anything other than that, then see you later. This is why you must understand the difference between features and benefits. Getting bogged down with features may make you feel good — it may make you think like you’re the cat’s meow what with all them bells and whistles… but your prospect could care less.

2. Make things simple.

If your prospect has to work to understand what you’re offering them, then you’re toast. Unless you’re selling water in the desert, no one’s going to work that hard.

Appreciate that this is different from making people qualify, but that’s another topic for another day.

3. Be believable.

Give your prospects reasons why they should believe you. Are their testimonials? Are your claims outlandish or are they within the norm? Are there specific reasons why your prospects should trust you – if so, let ‘em know!

4. Arouse curiosity!

Some people are about as interesting as a small soap dish — don’t be this way! Be compelling, be enthusiastic, be provocative!

Leave one strap hanging off your shoulder and arouse curiosity about what it looks like once the remaining strap comes down.

Don’t sell an orange, sell the loveliest ripe fruit you’ve ever seen… whose dimpled skin covers fleshy pulp filled with the sweetest juice God ever created.

Be exciting and arouse curiosity!

5. Lastly, make an offer that’s worthwhile.

Do you like to get good value?

Of course you do, right?

And yet… “Screw the customer” seems to be the mantra of the day!

Let me tell you something, what’s good for the goose, IS good for the gander, so when it comes time to making your offer, make sure you do unto others and all that good stuff, O.K.?

Listen, without these appeals, you’re depending on luck to sell, so take these things very seriously.

Because “luck”… is not… a good business strategy.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. 19-year direct-response marketing veteran spills the beans on this month’s Audio Success CD! Get it, along with 18 free bonus gifts — yes EIGHTEEN — when you test-drive Seductive Selling, at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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Questions? Just ask me, baby! http://www.kingofcopy.com/askmebaby

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“Anne,” I asked my wife, as she bundled up her coat and scarf, preparing to go out into the cold, blustery New York City streets.

“Whatever happened to that guy I used to work with — Robert White? You used to be friendly with his wife, remember?”

“Craig, Bob White… is dead…”

A shocking admission or statement, a quote, an interruption in someone’s thought pattern or a slice of conversation.

Each of these things on their own, can be used to open up a sales letter or even a space ad. What you just read was an example of all of them being used together, to open up a dialog.

Remember, nobody jumps out of bed first thing in the morning, hoping to read your ad. If you don’t engage them in a provocative manner, rapidly… then there’s no way in hell you’re going to engage them in a financial manner, either.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Go HERE To Find ALL The Hidden Money Inside Your Business: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

Check out all the King’s products at http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

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Comments? Leave them here on my blog — let me know what you’re thinking:

I was going to go over the formulaic headline strategies we talked about the other day, but I thought this might actually be more valuable to you.

Last night, me and Mike Miget – an excellent marketing strategist who’s run a very successful mtg business for the last 16 years — put on a fre.e teleseminar, and the recording of it is now posted.

I realize you may not be in this business, but nevertheless, the marketing ideas and strategies we covered are very solid and very applicable to every industry. We also covered loads of “nuts and bolts” about putting ads together and marketing in general.

If you’d like to listen to the recording of the call, as well as a recording of another call we did last week, please feel free to do so at http://www.loturnaround.com/replay

Then, let me know your thoughts about the call afterwards. You can post your comments to the blog Mike and I have created at http://blog.loturnaround.com or on my blog here below.

Have a good weekend and we’ll cover the stuff about the headlines next week, for sure.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Make life the way you want it, that’s what happened here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/dreamscometrue — check it out now.

If you enjoyed this, pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates, and if you have any comments about this message, PLEASE — leave them here on my blog — it’s important you let me know what you’re thinking!:

Here are ALL the King’s products: http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

So a close friend of mine recently ran a split-test on some headlines and his results were quite interesting. He was kind enough to share them with me, and even kinder to allow me to share them with you.

Here are the three headlines:

52 Ways To Win, Where Everybody Else Loses

52 Little Things That Make A Big Difference In Life

52 Thoughts To Change Your Life

As you know, a large percentage of your marketing success in any promotion you run, is based on your headline selection. And while creating headlines is somewhat formulaic, the reality is, no one really knows how any headline will do, especially versus another headline, until you either test them or roll them out in a live campaign.

So what I want you to do, is let me know which of these 3 headlines you think pulled the best response, and why.

Post your responses up on my blog at http://blog.kingofcopy.com and tomorrow or Thursday I’ll give you the correct answers and my own thoughts on why things turned out the way they did.

This will be fun.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Learn THE Cardinal Rule about “positioning” and how to position yourself on page 3 of this month’s Seductive Selling Newsletter. Test-drive it free and get 15 REAL bonus gifts, right here : http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl (make sure you watch the video!)

If you enjoyed this, pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates, and if you have any comments about this message, PLEASE — leave them here on my blog — it’s important you let me know what you’re thinking!:

Here are all the King’s products: http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

This is only for those LOs who HAVEN’T registered for this call yet. You do NOT need to re-register.

Unless you’ve either been in a coma for the last week, or unless you’re new to my list, then you already know about the HUGE free 3-hour teleseminar I’m putting on for Loan Officers and Mortgage Brokers, in just two more days.

Apparently, this call has created quite a buzz in the industry and LOADS of LO’s are circulating the information around, about this call.

At 3 hours long, this event is going to be HUGE, and even better — there will be absolutely NO pitching on this call, at all. I’m not going to be trying to sell you anything, nor is my special guest — a private client of mine who’s been one of the highest-paid LO’s in the country for the last 12 years.

All we’re trying to do is inject some “sizzle” back into your business, by answering some of your toughest questions and by offering solutions to help you handle your most challenging objectives.

To register for this free call, simply go to http://www.kingofcopy.com/loteleseminar

If nothing else, check out the video on the page. My wife told me I looked like I had ants in my pants when I made it because I couldn’t sit still.

But hey, what else is new?

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. I’ve done extensive work in your industry, and I can’t remember anyone EVER actually delivering you good quality content for free — so take advantage of this and register to get on the free call, right now, while this is fresh on your mind and before anything else comes up.

It’s right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/loteleseminar

ATTENTION: I’ve also started a new blog just for you guys. So if you enjoyed this, pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates, and if you have any comments about this message, then PLEASE leave them right here on my new blog: http://blog.loturnaround.com

I’m going to be all over the place today, so see if you can follow along with me here.

Last night we took the kids to see the new Adam Sandler movie, “You Do Not Want To Mess With The Zohan.” It was funny as hell, as long as you like modern slap-stick provocative guy humor. And it would also probably be a great model for how middle-eastern relations could be, if everyone was willing to put all the hatred and years of “stuff” behind them.

Zohan’s goal in life, was to make everyone’s hair “silky-smooth,” which… is how your sales copy should read, so today I’m gonna show you a slick trick to make “silky-smooth” copy easier for you.

This morning I was reading a book called “How It All Began,” by Maurice Baren. It’s a book filled with short one or two page anecdotal and quirky information about how some very well-known consumer companies were founded. There are lots of interesting stories in there about the founders of these companies and how serendipity played a major role in their destiny. And, how their ability to see the glass half-full instead of half-empty, allowed them to change their lives, and ultimately the lives of literally the rest of the world.

I also like the book because there’s tons of old ads in there, and I enjoy studying old ads. In fact, in my library I have no less than a couple thousand pages worth of old display ads.

Old ads were much more copy-intensive and relied on the message to sell their product, as opposed to most modern ads, which rely on a picture, or some sort of meaningless “cute” quote that doesn’t mean anything to anyone other than the owner of the company.

In one of these ads, from the early 1900′s — mid 1920′s if I had to estimate — an ad for SC Johnson Wax reads like this: “Even those spots that you thought were permanent will disappear like magic under Johnson’s Cleaner.”

Want to know how to make this copy silky-smooth?

O.K., try this: “Even those spots that you thought were permanent, disappear like magic under Johnson’s Cleaner.”

Look carefully, can you spot the difference?

Yep, I got rid of the word “will.” In many cases, when you tell someone something “will” happen, it’s not tangible enough to make it compelling.

It implies there’s a work process involved and that they don’t get what they want until they do something. You want to sell in such a way that intimates the process you want them to go through does the work for them and makes the benefit materialize.

Here, see for yourself:

“This will eliminate your back pain,” versus… “This completely eliminates your back pain.”

See the difference?

Sp get rid of “will”… and make it silky-smooth, like The Zohan.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Just finished writing this month’s issue of Seductive Selling. Inside, you’ll see another copywriting strategy that shows you the fastest way to get good at writing copy – even if you’re a newbie. Check it out and get your 30-day free trial (along with 15 free gifts — watch the video) at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

If you enjoyed this, pass it on to a few of your friends and business associates, and if you have any comments about this message, PLEASE — leave them right here on my blog — it’s important!

Here are all the King’s products: http://www.kingofcopy.com/products

It’s Monday, and I don’t know how the weather is where you live, but here in Tampa, it is HOT! Hot as in, you break a sweat when you’re walking your dogs even first thing in the morning, kind of hot.

So no heavy lifting today. We’ll talk about something that probably puts a smile on everyone’s face: A nice sweaty freezer-cold bottle of Coca-Cola.

Back in the late 1800′s in Jacob’s Pharmacy in downtown Atlanta, Dr. John S. Pemberton used to sell a mix of sweet syrup, for 5 cents a glass, from his soda fountain counter. (Did you grow up in a neighborhood with a soda fountain when you were a kid? I vaguely remember my local shop, where I used to drink egg creams and read the newest Marvel Comic Books. The place was called Dave’s Candy Shop and it was on Grand Avenue and 182nd street in the Bronx, across the street from my building.)

Anyway, Pemberton’s business partner, Frank Robinson was the one who came up with the name Coca-Cola and sketched the logo out in flowing script writing.

Here’s something funny: Right after they came up with the name, for the next 8 months, only 13 drinks a day were sold, on average. Perhaps because of this, when Pemberton was in need of cash because of some health problems he was having, he sold a two-thirds interest in the recipe for his syrup, for $1,220, along with the sole right to manufacture the syrup.

Then, when he died, his son accepted an additional $500 for the family’s remaining interest. The buyer, Asa G. Candler, was a man who’d come to Atlanta fifteen years earlier, with only $1.75 in his pockets.

Candler was a big believer in advertising, and registered the Coca-Cola trademark in 1893… and subsequently began giving away thousands of complimentary coupons for free glasses of Coke. He also had big promotional giveaways, awarding souvenir fans, calendars, clocks and other novelties.

And this is what started the big machine. Giving away samples — the age-old “try before you buy.” A few years later, Howard Candler, Asa’s son, took a jug of the syrup on vacation, when he was visiting London, and he received the first international order for five gallons of syrup. Last year, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company alone (there are literally dozens of publicly traded related companies) did over $1.5 Billion in gross sales.

Some other Coke trivia: In 1926, the company president, Robert Winship, created the first six-pack bottle carton. Packaging Coke in cans then began in 1955. Coke’s such a well-known brand, that when the first Apollo astronauts came back from their flight, the signs in Times Square flashed “Welcome back to Earth. Home of Coca-Cola.”

What’s your story?

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. You know how Coke got started — here’s how I got started: http://www.kingofcopy.com/dreamscometrue

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In a minute, I’m going to show you a fun, “on-the-fly” interview I did, with one of the members of my Mastermind meeting, Dustin Mathews, but before we get to that, I wanted to let you know this is the last day to grab the May issue of Seductive Selling.

This is actually the biggest issue I’ve ever written — in fact, I probably put too much in there — the font size got REAL small this month because there was so much included, so my apologies to those baby boomers and others, who — like me — are stuck with declining vision as we’re getting older. Anyway, here’s some of what you’re going to find inside this month:

* In this month’s “Back-End” column, we’ll take a rare glimpse at human-nature over a 42-year life span. You’ll be amazed at how young certain baseline characteristics and opinions are formed. (page 12)

* In the Weekend Update Column, here are the headlines of some of the topics covered:

Ten Highest Paid Dead Celebrities… Best real estate investment ever?… Why law firms on Park Avenue can charge more than law firms in Tenafly, NJ… Narrow streets or wide people?… It’s ALL in your mind… Market research… New Postal Rates… and Cool URL’s.

* How to “entertain” your subscribers! Remember, people may come to you for one reason, but they’ll only stay with you long-term for entertainment as well as information.

* Strategic positioning strategies! Not positioning yourself correctly is one of the main reasons why people don’t attract as many followers as they want. Discover what to do, and… what not to!

* 7 additional pages of copywriting examples including re-writes, landing pages, and an ad that crippled a big life insurance company!

* In this month’s “Little-Known Secrets From The King’s Treasure Chest,” I’ll show you some advanced copywriting tactics to make dry and mundane subjects more interesting, and… how to improve your landing pages.

* “Big-ego” copy examples, and why they will never work!

* How to stick it to the man!… and… a proven way to get your kid a job!

Get all this and much much more, plus… next week’s an open call-in day for subscribers on Thursday, June 5th. You get to call in and ask me anything you want, for 10 minutes of free time. So get your fre.e 30-day test drive of the newsletter, and get 15 bonus gifts (that are actually useful – just watch the video), right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

Then, look at this goofy on-the-spot interview I did after our Mastermind meeting was over on Thursday: http://www.viddler.com/explore/dustinmews/videos/59/

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. There’s another video about all the bonuses you get, when you sign take the free test-drive of my newsletter, at http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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Remember those old photo booths they used to have at places like arcades and festivals? You know, you’d go inside and sit on a swivel chair you’d adjust for your height, so you can be eye-level with the camera, and then you’d sit and get blinded by the flash camera that took your photos. Remember those?

Usually, you’d go and sit down on the chair with a close friend, your current girlfriend or boyfriend, or a family member, and get into some goofy poses or make silly faces at the camera, then you’d have a good laugh once the photos came out. Right?

I remember taking some pictures like this, years ago with my grandfather, at Nathan’s on Central Avenue in Yonkers. And trust me, to think this far back, I’m not just digging into my memory banks, I’m more like “excavating” them.

You’d also see these photo booths in places like Woolworth’s and other five and dime and local corner stores.

Anyway, “LifeStyles” condoms has come up with a modern-day version of the old-time photo booth. It’s called a Make-Out Booth, and what happens is, you buy condoms from a vending machine in the booth and the booth gives you some free black-and-white photos of yourself, or presumably you and your lover.

The company is planning on rolling these booths out in New York City nightclubs. I’ll bet you anything, it’s only a matter of time until someone comes up with some sort of snappy urbandictionary.com worthy word for “doing it in the LifeStyles Make-Out Booth.” Sort of like how the term “Mile High Club” is slang for “doing it in an in-flight airplane, technically while at least a mile above the ground.”

While the Make-Out Booth is definitely a “clever” idea, the real question is, will it make LifeStyles more money? Will it increase their percentage of the marketplace? Will the cost of this campaign deliver a positive ROI (return on investment)?

In my opinion, this is nothing more than a pet rock. It’s cute, nice to look at, but isn’t going to prompt you to buy more LifeStyles, or change over to LifeStyles from another brand. And while some folks in nightclubs might, in a variety of ARI’s (alcohol-related incidents) will spontaneously buy condoms to either get inside the booth or take a goofy novelty picture… this won’t offer them anything close to a positive ROI.

People often foolishly mistake gimmicks like this for effective marketing. This is no more effective than running around nude. You might get attention, but you’re not going to sell anything because of it. Always keep your end goal of “making money” or “getting clients” or “attracting new qualified leads” in mind, when you’re doing something.

The thing is, your “ad guy” and Madison Avenue won’t tell you this — it’s YOUR job to keep your eye on this proverbial ball, and make sure you’re actions support what you’re trying to accomplish.

Making a new pet rock is nice, but… only if someone’s going to buy it from you.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Offline newsletters are being shipped out this week. Make SURE you check out the article on page 4 that shows you some critical “me” mistakes, along with an live marketing example of this. Test-drive it free and get 15 bonus gifts (watch the video to see the exact gifts you get) right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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Leo Burnett was the founder of the Chicago ad agency that ultimately became Leo Burnett Worldwide, one of the world’s biggest and oldest ad agencies. Burnett was personally responsible for creating some of the most well-known consumer branding campaigns, like the Jolly Green Giant… the Marlboro Man… Charlie The Tuna… Morris the Cat… and Tony The Tiger.

Burnett was a genius, an outstanding ad man, and a pillar of ethics.

He once said, “If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything. You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming or without tricks.”

Now this isn’t so easy to do, and as a result, most people go far overboard in their efforts to get noticed (which you need to do), but… they go overboard in the wrong direction. They think, “Sensationalism” is directly related to getting noticed. And the thing is, sensationalism IS directly related to getting noticed, but it has nothing to do with “getting paid,” which, in the end… is what you REALLY want out of “getting noticed,” isn’t it?

So for example, in “real life,” you’ll have men and women going overboard in their personal appearance to “get noticed,” but does it really bring them closer to their goal? No doubt, the woman with a 38DD chest gets much more notice than the woman with the 34C cup size, but does it bring her what she wants?

For the very small minority, sometimes yes… but I believe it doesn’t for the majority.

And it’s the same thing with your sales copy.

Being wild and crazy isn’t how you want to get noticed, and saying things like “Incredible!”… “Unbelievable!”… and “Amazing!”… falls over your readers heads like water over a ducks back at this point.

(Unless your target market is “absolute idiots,” and unless you’re goal is to “make a sale,” and not to “build a business.” And in case you don’t know this, the savvy of your marketplace IS directly related to your ability to retain them as customers.)

Tapping into their hopes, fears and dreams with reassuring optimism, and giving them hope, is the way to get noticed. In fact, ultimately, hope… is really all we have to offer, no matter what you’re selling. Remember this.

If you want to see a cool video of Leo Burnett giving a speech, you can find it on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/63m9ez

Oh, one more thing and this is important: The people who handle my website, are frustrated because I don’t use the word “copywriting” often enough in these tips. However, I’ve always felt the quality of my messages far outweighs any “search terms” I’m trying to optimize for, with respect to getting traffic. And call me old school, but as a creative, the thought of compromising the integrity of the messages I’m delivering, to suit the media I’m delivering them over, just doesn’t sit right with me.

Who knows, maybe I’m the idiot?

In any case, here’s what I’d like you to do: I’d like your help here. If you get something out of being on this list… and if you feel the relationship you and I share, is one of the better online relationships you have, then do me a favor so I can shut my “web people” up: Please forward this message to as many people as you possibly can over the next 24 hours, and encourage them to sign up to these daily tips by going to my home page at http://www.kingofcopy.com or to my blog here at http://blog.kingofcopy.com

I believe I’ll be able to tell my “web people” they are dead-wrong, and that I’ll never have to “plot” or “pre-scheme” what I’m writing.

And in the off chance they’re right… let me say this: copywriting, copywriting, copywriting.

Peace.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Get TWO FREE copywriting critiques, SIX real-life examples! In this month’s Seductive Selling Newsletter, I’ve got six ad examples included, so you can see exactly how to get noticed… and maybe even more important — how NOT to! Test-drive it free and get 15 bonus gifts (watch the video about this) right here: http://www.kingofcopy.com/ssnl

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