Makepeace Outline For Longer CopyIf you use an outline it does several things for you that are really awesome.

The first thing it does is you don’t have to spend a lot of time at the beginning of the project thinkingabout, “Oh, what’s my major theme? What’s my major headline?” You know, all of that kind of stuff,and those are the things that cause marketers to procrastinate a lot at the beginning of a job, which isthe absoluteworst time to procrastinate.

An outline gives you a general idea of the sales that you need to make in the copy. And I’m not talkingabout just the product sales, as we’ll see in a moment. We’re talking about you have to make theattention sale. You have to make the credibility sale. You have to make the readership sale, you know,several other sales before you actually can sell the product.

And so the outline kind of disciplines, using an outline to begin disciplines you to make sure thatyou’re making all of those sales in your text. It saves you time because the first step in writing a letteris to learn everything I can about your prospect and the product.

So with this outline you don’t have to spend days thinking about what you’re going to write, you neverstart with a blank page. It’s beautiful just for that reason.

So it’s a real great way to get started. You never find yourself sitting there staring at a blank page andsaying, “Holy shit, where do I start?” It’s like being a car mechanic and having every tool you’re goingto need for the job right there at your fingertips.

With that said, let the game begin…

Grab ‘Em By The Eyeballs: Seize your prospect’s attentionwith a powerful benefit-based, emotionally-driven headline

Refer to the headline section for more information on this…

Support Your Headline: In a short deck, expand upon yourheadline with a deck structure that drives it home in apowerful way

The next thing is, at this point if a person is reading the ad, there’s only one question inhis mind… “Why should I believe you?” You’re telling me this thing is going to solve aproblem in my life.

It’s either going to remove a fear, ease a frustration, or give me something that my heartdesires. And that interests me. So now you’ve got to show me why I should listen to youand why I should believe that your message to me is credible.

The deck tends to expand upon the headline and then present the benefits for readingthis or the benefits of the product.

Here’s a prime example of how this is done…

You’ve gotta ask yourself, “Have I adequately sold the prospect on reading what follows? Have I grabbedhim by the eyeballs, forced him down into the text and made it, you know, it’s like, it’s like looking at atrain wreck in slow motion, only on the good side. Is it impossible for him to look away at this point? Andif not, what can I do to strengthen that desire to read on?”

Next we roll right into…

Get His Juices Flowing: Open with a powerful,emotionally driven, benefit based paragraph ortwo…

Here is where it’s very important is to reconfirm all of that in my opening sentences of copy where youhelp the reader see himself living this better life with the benefits that you’ve just promised him, or withthe benefits of reading this piece.

That’s right. The first thing is, connect with the reader at the point of his need. You talk to the readerabout the benefits you’re going to bring to his life. And this paragraph needs to connect with everythingthat went on before. So you’re following on the theme, but now you have an opportunity to expand on iteven further.The first thing to do that I like to do is to immediately present in longer copy in the text, thereasons why receiving this particular communication is by far the most important thing that hashappened to my prospect, you know, since, since he was born. Ya know? I have, I need to get him, engagehim to understand that if he reads what follows, these wonderful things are going to happen in his life. Ifhe doesn’t, they won’t happen and some terrible things might happen

And that’s presenting the horrifying alternatives, and this is your opportunity to go into slightly longercopy about that. Then the next thing you do is you go back, now we’re repeating what we did on the coveror in our headline structure, but we’re doing it in a different order and we’re using longer copy to do it.

Now you establish your credibility. Look how in the example below that not only is his wife telling youthat you can do these things yourself or that I will do these things for you. Not only am I telling you that ifyou don’t let me Here’s what I’ve done for myself helping other people just like you, in the last 12 months.

And this is where you’d put your track record. You can see how Clayton’s wife rattled off5 quick bullets that emphasized accomplishments any marketer reading this would bewowed by.

Remember to, that the more specific the better.

If you don’t have that kind of track record, this is a place to insert a quick testimonial ortwo or three. You’ll notice his track record is side by side with his King Pin Testimonialfrom Jay Abraham.

Once you’ve done this, you don’t necessarily have to go back to it if you do a good job onit, although you can use sidebars through the text to return to it, but not in the runningtext.

This is all aimed at selling the reader on reading the entire piece, and all of this shouldbe accomplished in the first couple of pages of text at the most.

So you’re selling them, people on reading what follows. So at this point I’ll say, spend afew minutes with me now and here’s what’s going to happen, bang, bang, bang. Maybethree, four, five things, bullets, real quick, you know.

Now it’s time to fulfill on everything that you’ve told them that you would tell them.

This is the main body, the middle of the sales message is where you develop your theme,and if you’re talking about the product, you can begin by talking about empathizing forexample with how terrible it is to have this problem.

Go straight to introducing the product. Explain all of the things the product will do forthe prospect, and then move into your offer.

If it’s an advertorial kind of piece where you’re trying, you’re bringing value to theprospect’s life in the piece, not just selling a product, which I highly recommend formost promotions, you dive into the reasons why, for example in a business buildingproduct, why this devastating economic slump is going to continue.

And you talk about, or if it’s a health product, you talk about why it’s a deadlock cinchthat certain substances will reverse your heart disease or do whatever they’re going todo.

Look how he rolls right into it here…

Get back on track: You’ve demonstrated what you’ve donefor others and what others say. Now, it’s time to get backto talking about your prospect’s favorite person: HIM.

Repeat your lead benefit and transition into your secondary product benefits, eachwritten in a way that connects with the prospect’s most compelling resident emotions –his dominant emotions.

If you have room, make each benefit a subhead, followed by two or three paragraphs ofcopy (or more) that dimensionalize it.

If you’re cramped for space, turn each benefit into a bullet.

If you’re somewhere in-between, lead with your strongest benefits as subheads withexplanatory copy and bulletize the rest.

Look how this continues in his letter…

Focusing On Benefit Rich Bullets Exercise

Prospective customers who don’t know you, don’t like you (yet), and don’t trust you (yet) are focused onone main objective: Getting the RESULT that they want. Your product or service comes between them andthe result that they want – so it’s valuable to forget about what you sell or offer, and get crystal clear aboutthe benefit your customer is seeking. Use this exercise to find the benefit of the product or services,systems, or techniques that you offer and focus on the emotional and irrational hot buttons tied to thebenefits and remember to use the avoidance of pain here.

Here’s ONE, not 17, not 36, ONE advanced template, what Tony Robbins calls a “Unit of Conviction” tofollow that will make sure every bullet you write really hits home with what your perfect prospect is on thehunt for…

EXAMPLE: “Our computer system can increase you’re accounting departmentsefficiency 30% immediately because we’ve done that for many companies and because ofour particular microchip that we use which really means to you (state a benefit) that itwill save you a lot of time and a lot of energy there and you’ll be able to get theinformation you need a lot more rapidly and that really means to you (state anotherbenefit) a lot more money that you can save and an accounting department of peoplethat are happy and are actually producing the results that you want instead of gettingcaught up in the busy work. And the evidence of this is that we’ve done it with thiscompany, this company and this company.”

You need to create a feeling of momentum in your letter. You need to feel like you’reactually going someplace with each paragraph.

You don’t want to be circling back and remaking old points. You need to be feeling likeyou’re moving ahead and you need to feel like there aren’t any side paths here.

This clarity of vision thing is very important, and it’s important too when you get downto the offer. In the text for example, when you’re presenting the offer, you only presentone offer and you only present your best one.

Make the offer: Repeat your headlined benefit, allude tothe others, present your offer, and justify your price

And now you introduce the product at that point and you still haven’t mentioned price.

You introduce the product at this point and you sell the heck out of it, all the benefits, allthe wonderful things this product is going to do in my life. Like this…

And now the prospect is thinking, “This is fantastic. I bet this is going to cost a fortune.”

But instead of asking for the money now, you load them up with bonuses like so…

And like this…

It’s important to justify why you want to send them all this stuff. And it’s never, youknow, you don’t want it to come off feeling like you’re just trying to sell them something.You want to send them these free gifts because they’re really going to help them and it’surgent that they get them quickly because they can do these wonderful things for them.And you’ve figured out a way to get them to them with absolutely no cost and you canget them by trying or accepting or applying for a free trial or a risk-free trial of theproduct itself, the main product.

Now it’s time to present your price. And when you present your price to dimensionalizethat it’s the best bargain there ever was anywhere…

I’ve mentioned this before. I like comparing what people pay for my products to whatthey’re paying right now for some inconsequential item. And somehow Starbucks keepscoming up because people will pay $4 or $5 once or twice a day for cups of Starbuckscoffee and not even give it a second thought. Well, if you’re paying $8 a day forStarbucks, that’s $240 a month, right? That’s, what, almost $3,000 a year you’re payingfor Starbucks? You know, what’s it doing besides tasting good and giving you the jitters?Is it curing your heart disease? Is it making you rich? Is it locking in a secureretirement? Is it giving you a flashy new car? Is it making you more attractive to theopposite sex?

Nope. Buy now!

Relieve risk: Add your guarantee and point out that, sincethe prospect’s delight is a sure thing, he has nothing tolose.

And then finally the guarantee.

You wanna use your guarantee in the running text, after I’ve presented your offer. Youcan say, “It’s usually this much, but you only pay this, plus you get all these things free.”

And then I have my guarantee copy. This is where your guarantee is set out in certificateborders so it looks all nice and official. Or, you know, in a very personal sounding letterfrom the author. Or, even something that looks like a contract.

“If Your Not happy after 30 days, we’ll refund your money.” This copy sucks moose cock.It’s absolutely horrible. First of all, you’re raising the idea in the prospect’s mind thatthey may not be satisfied, right? That’s a major blunder.

The guarantee copy should be written… “You must be absolutely delighted, otherwise…”and then give them the option instead of saying, “Hey, you might think this sucks and ifit does, we’ll give you your money back.” So again, remember that in the guarantee,you’re selling the product and you’re selling the new relationship.

It’s not simply a risk reliever. A lot of people sleepwalk here. It’s a major mistake.

Secondly, it gives you an opportunity to recite your benefits. “This product must do this,must do that, must do the other thing, otherwise,” alright?

Now your guarantee is gaining some power, right? You can also say something like,“Your subscription to xyz, plus your free copy of this, your free copy of that, your freecopy of this, your free copy of that, all of this stuff must do this or otherwise, just let meknow, and I’ll rush you a full refund.”

The other thing on this thing is that when you’re writing the guarantee,rushing of refund is important. It’s not something like you know, “Just let me

know, I’ll send you your money back. It’s important to say that, you know this is gonnahappen fast.”

It’s important to give them a specific and say, whenever you can say, give em aperformance specific. “In the next 12 months I will do these things for you.”

Here’s how Clayton put it in his letter…

Here’s one more great example for a financial product…

“I’m gonna make you a promise, in the next 12 months, I will put an absolute minimumof $5,000.00, 50 times what you pay for my newsletter, into your brokerage account. If Ican’t do that, I won’t keep your money. You just let me know, and I’ll rush you a fullrefund of every penny you paid.”

Right. You know, I go on and say, you know, I basically say, you’d have to be a moronnot to take an offer like this, you know. It’s like this is a no brainer, you know. But thenthe other part of it is, and the next line really is…

“and even in the unlikely event that this happens, I will absolutely insistthat you keep everything I’ve sent you. Every issue of this, every free gift, youknow, (and list them), and everything I’ve sent you without any further obligation orcost. They’re totally free. So in other words, what does that mean? I will work for anentire year for you and if I don’t do what I promised to do, that year is yours free.”

So what you’ve done now is you have a contract, and the contract can be presented as acontract you know?

You could have your author actually sign it, you know. It can be written as a letter that’svery friendly, depending on what the product in the subject area is. Like if it was from adoctor.

It can be, “Here’s what I’m concerned about with you, here’s what I’ve committed my life to doing for you, and here’swhat we’re going to do together in the next 12 months, and at the end of 12 months, these things will be true thataren’t true now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel right keeping your money, you know. So just let me know and I’ll send youa refund.”

Sum up: Repeat your main headline benefit, the strongestsecondary benefits, justify your price again, remind themof the guarantee and ask for the sale

Do the following:

First, go back to your main theme. You don’t want your back end to feel like there’s a disconnect from the front end.So you go back to my main theme.

If your main headline was give me 90 days and I’ll help you, then you have a sub-head that says, I’m standing by tomake the next 90 days the best of your life.

And then you’ll repeat the benefits that you promised them when you dimensionalized the free gifts they got or theproduct itself.

Then you’ll recite the value statements that you gave when you justified the price of the products in the offer section.

Then you’ll fully dimensionalize that value by comparing it to something of far less import that they’re paying morefor now… the old Starbucks trick.

Then you remind them that there’s no risk, and this is the part where you recite the guarantee. Then you ask for thesale. And when asking for the sale, you do it repeatedly in the closing.

A lot of marketers forget to do this.

But you have to tell them, now is the moment. You are at a crossroads. We can either go on together or you can go onalone, and here are the things that await you down that path. But if you choose to go with me, here are the things thatgo, that await you down this path. And you draw that contrast, and you tell them this is the moment.

Here’s the way Clayton worded it in this ad…

Show your prospect how easy accepting this offer is:

Then you have to tell them specifically what to do.

I want you to dial toll free 1-800- blah blah blah, right now. Or, complete and return theenclosed order form in the envelope provided. Or, jump on the Internet and log in suchand such a place and sign up. Tell them step-by-step what you want them to do.

Then ask for the sale again, and remind them of the guarantee, and then repeat yourmain theme, your main headline and deck themes, you know, which, you know, wediscussed. Repeat that theme so it’s tied in right here at the close, and at this pointyou’re really finishing with a flourish.

Make sure your closing line just before the signature ties in with that theme as well.Then you have your signature, and then for the P.S.

Sweeten the pot: I like using my P.S. to catch my prospectoff-guard. Just when he/she thinks “This is a pretty gooddeal,” I like to add just one more thing to push this from a“good deal” into an absolute, deadlock-cinch no-brainer

If you’re doing direct mail, you can reward them for going to the net and ordering. Youcan reward them for calling in. You want to make this kind of an impulse for them.

You want them to do it now and not to think about it or put it off and then to do it laterand then forget about it. You want them to move now. So maybe you could reward themfor ordering by phone. Or most people what they do is just say,

“Look, this is the early-bird bonus. It doesn’t matter how you order. You just orderwithin the next ten days and you get it free.”

So I use a P.S. for that usually, because they think they’ve seen your entire offer.

I like adding an urgency premium at the end that says, “If I hear from you today or inthe next ten days, depending on whether it’s direct mail or Internet, I want to throw inthis extra gift that has tremendous value.”

So, that’s a great template for closing. Repetition is key when you’re asking for the saleand closing your model.

And you need to leave them with a feeling, that when they read this copy, that there’s anemotion rising. You know, there’s a feeling that I need to do this right now. Not in fiveminutes. If they set this aside, you’ll never get them back. They’ve got to do it now.

The best way to do this is by adding something to the offer: Usually an extra discount ora free gift for responding right away.

Kick Ass Order Forms:

Don’t call it an order form when sending direct mail. But do when marketing online because it seems thatpeople get weirded out if “Order form isn’t on your check out page.

But in the offline world there’s so many better things you can call it, especially if you have somebody withsome dignity, presenting your sales message such as a doctor, a financial advisor, a scientist, somebodythat you want to maintain credibility and you don’t want them to come off sounding like a pitchman.

It’s so much better if your order form is a “free gift certificate” or a “contract”, “better health contract”,“Enrollment form”, anything but order form. It’s, it’s too commercial. If you’re selling nuts and bolts to amanufacturer of jet airplanes, then an order form is fine.

If you’re selling a relationship with a customer that’s built around a product and a person especially, thenyou’re looking for something that’s warmer and relationship oriented.

The other thing is, a free gift certificate or something that has to do with value helps you to drive thatvalue concept home. One of the most important things that you do is on the page facing, your responsedevice page, is you have a visual representation of everything they’re going to receive with this offer. If youhave five premiums, you show the five premiums twice. You show the main, a fan of the main product.

Let’s say it’s a news letter. This is how we do a newsletter is, think about this and see how you might do itwith other products, but with newsletters we’ll show a fan of 12 newsletters. Okay, so immediately we havesubstance, and there’ll be a verse on there that says, save 50 percent. Then there’ll be a picture of each ofthe premiums they get with a two-year subscription, and there can be up to 12 or 14 of em in some cases.

Like this…

Or if online, like this…

Dimensionalize the value on the page.

Then, also on that page, you put your third representation to guarantee on the orderform is right where it needs to be. Another thing that’s important on the spread aretestimonials.

And for a health product for example, you can use testimonials talking about how easyto order the product was and how friendly the reps were, and how fast the product came,actual testimonials to that effect. Again, credibility at the point of sale.