This must be one of my greatest copywriting tips ever: news appeal.
Have you ever thought of using the news appeal to promote your
product? The reason I mention this is that the news appeal has
worked very well for me for over 30 years.
In fact, this copywriting tip has worked so well that 90% of the direct mail packages and email messages I write use the news appeal.
Why do I like news?
Two reasons:
- Because it cuts through the clutter of messages that we are
bombarded with every day and - Your mind automatically cuts through the cacophony of messages to get the news.
As a result, the closer your message resembles the news, the greater your chance of opening your prospect’s mind to your sales message.
In other words, the news angle helps you bypass your prospect’s mental spam filter.
Think about it.
What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
Listen to the news?
Log on to the Internet to read the news?
Go out and grab the morning paper?
Check Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to check the news on the people you follow?
Most people do one, if not all, of the above. It doesn’t stop there.
How about when you arrive at work? You read the newspaper, right?
Maybe a few industry journals?
What about when you get home at night? Don’t you watch the news? The fact of the matter is that Americans are hungry for the news.
Just look at all the news organizations that have sprung up over
the past 30 years: CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the Drudge Report.
If you aren’t using the news appeal, you are missing a powerful
tool to use to increase response.
By the way, I didn’t invent this approach. I just use it.
If you check John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods, Chapter 5, you will
see the first eight of his 35 headline-writing formulas are devoted
to–what else–the news!
Frankly, this is what makes the magalog so effective. It delivers
a sales message in a magazine format. If you’re not familiar with
the term “magalog,” think of it as an infomercial in a magazine
format.
Or, better yet, think of it as the 24-page sales letter that’s too
thick to fold and place in a #10 envelope.
I have found that whenever magalogs are introduced to a new market, they pull in many more responses than your classic direct mail package.
Today, the magalog has morphed into the video sales letter (VSL) that often are created to look like real financial news shows. However, just like their 20th Cousin, the magalog, they too are simply a sales letter in a video format.
Both of which are filled with loooooong copy to hit every single sales angle.
How to Write Long Copy that Makes Money
If you’ve never written a magalog or a VSL before, it’s not like writing any other kind of promotion. If writing #10 package or short email is like running a sprint, the magalog and the video sales letter are like running a marathon.
Yet, learning to write an powerful long copy will make you much more
valuable to publishers, product managers, and entrepreneurs.
30 years ago, I spoke to the Newsletter Publishers Association
on this subject after I had created one of Phillips Investment
Resource’s biggest controls in years. It was called “The Great
Retirement Betrayal.”
Phillips mailed more than 25 million copies until it was finally
beaten by Gene Schwartz, of all people. (To be sure, I beat him
back six months later!)
I actually videoed that presentation and did nothing with it.
It’s been sitting in a box for all these years–until now.
I’m proud to say that I just uploaded it to Vimeo streaming service.
You’ll find the techniques I developed back then hold true today.
They actually form the foundation of my 30-plus controls with top
mailers which have generated over $100 million in sales to date.
If you would be interested in finding out more about my classic
presentation, I’ve set-up a page on my web site that includes a complete description.
That way you’ll see if you’d like add a copy to your own personal swipe file.
