You can not swing a bat anymore without running into a pile of so-called "killer" copy secrets that promise to make your ads pull higher response. Unfortunately, following much of the popular copywriting can mean leaving money on the table – and LOTS of it.
Below are three little-talked about copywriting tips that go against conventional copywriting "dogma", but that can help you pull far more sales and conversions.
Without further ado, here they are:
1. Forget About Benefits
At least, at first.
Why?
Because copywriters who only concentrate on "benefits, benefits, benefits!" are shooting themselves in the foot.
Yes, benefits are important.
But they are secondary to building trust.
People rarely buy from other people they do not trust.
And if you do not build trust first, nobody will stick around to read your benefits. Plus, even if they do stick around, they will not believe you'll follow through on those benefits.
So before piling on the benefits, build trust, first.
2. Realize Copy Is Not King
Copy is far from being "king."
It's more like a "jack" or 10 of spades.
Your list, offer, positioning and product are way more important than the words you use.
Without these other elements in place, even the best copy will not do you any good.
By the way, this is not to say copy is not important.
Frankly, all other things equal, the "winner" goes to the business with the best copy.
But it's definitely not king.
3. Ditch The Hype
In most cases, slathering your ads with hype destroys response.
Yes, there are some cases (and markets) where hype works (and by all means, test it, if you want).
But in most cases it destroys sales.
In fact, if you look at the ads from the best copywriters of the past 100 years – like Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, David Ogilvy, John Caples, Max Sackheim, etc – you do not see hype.
You see a lot of drama, excitement and energy.
But you rarely (if ever) see any "hype."
Anywhere, there you have it.
The above tips may break established copywriting "dogma" in many cases.
But if you will at least test them in your ads, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results.