Direct Response Copywriter on "Voice" and Whether It's Important. Part 1.

A few years ago, a potential client contacted me about some work. This client needed a direct response copywriter, mostly for landing pages and emails. The client said, “I’m going to ask three copywriters to write about the same product and we’ll see who captures the voice the best.” To their credit, the client offered full pay for the project. Sometimes, a potential client will ask for a “spec” project without any remuneration. I’ll say “yes” only when it’s an established client with a serious copy chief and mega-traffic.

But I digress.

I told the client, up front, that I was more concerned with capturing the sale than capturing the voice but … I would write the spec anyway. The client sells consumer-based financial information based around a celebrity/personality. One goal was to capture “the voice” of the guru.

So I wrote the spec piece to the best of my ability. A few weeks later, I got an email from the copy chief saying, essentially, “we liked your work but we found another copywriter who more closely captured the voice.” A polite rejection, but a rejection nonetheless. I really wasn’t all that worried, even though it would have been a decent amount of work.

Why was I not lying on the floor, weeping?

Who likes rejection?

It’s pretty easy. “Capturing the voice” is seriously overrated and essentially irrelevant in direct response copywriting.

“HERESY!” you shout. “Advertising has to have personality … VOICE … you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Let me explain.

I’m a direct response copywriter, not a branding copywriter. “Capturing the voice” is an ethereal concept that relates to branding marketing and not direct marketing. The person interested in your product or service is NOT interested in your “voice.”

The potential client is asking, “what’s in it for me?” and “how will the product make me feel better about myself?”

I regularly write copy that’s essentially ghostwritten. The “author” of the copy isn’t me … it’s from the owner of the company. Again … I have no interest in “capturing the voice.”

I’m laser-focused on benefits … proof … clarity … grabbing the attention of the reader … the offer … you know … all the crucial elements of direct response copy.

For one of my clients, I write the copy but it officially comes from the founder of the company. This client has never ONCE said, “Scott, we need to talk about capturing voice.” I have written over 250 promotions for this client and every single one has met the sales expectation. Voice schmoice.

I’ve heard people say “copy has to have personality.” Once again … I don’t care. Why? Because the customer/client IS NOT interested in you and your personality. They are interested in themselves. It’s a reason why it’s almost always a mistake to build advertising around a celebrity, even if potential customers like the celebrity … a lot.

“HERESY!” you say.

Again … the potential customer is ultimately more interested about themselves and what they really want than any celebrity, unless, of course, they have a burning desire to learn more about the personality.

My clients are serious direct marketers. Let’s say I write a promotion and it fails miserably. What would happen if I said to the client, “no worries … I did a great job capturing the voice, though.” The client would fire me and I would not be surprised.

I'm in a marketing group comprising serious direct marketers. We recently had a speaker who essentially said he was more interested in capturing the voice in copy than results. I have to admit I was shaking my head in disbelief.

In the next part of this series, I’ll talk about further adventures in “capturing the voice” and a surprising email I received from an advertising agency in California.

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I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or [contact me here][2] when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on What it Takes to Succeed

For whatever reason(s) lot of nascent direct response copywriters have contacted me in the last three months asking for career advice.

Here’s the problem: unrealistic expectations.

Clayton Makepeace, currently the #1 copywriter in the world, writes in the beginning of his two-volume copywriting manual, “copywriting is not a get rick quick scheme” … or words to that effect. I totally agree.

Here’s one thing people have to understand in the world of direct response copywriting … a lot of copywriters, and I won’t name names, plus a lot of companies/entities who sell products and services to aspiring copywriters, and again, I won’t name names, tell boldfaced lies about copywriting.

You have to remember this: I’ve been writing copy pretty much my entire professional life so I know the business extremely well. There’s a lot I don’t know, which is why I’m always trying to learn and discover more, but I know more than the people who call or email me asking for advice. I know a lot more than these nascent copywriters.

Writing branding copy is super-easy because it’s not accountable. But writing direct response copy is extremely difficult because it’s accountable plus you have to have a serious grasp of direct response copywriting techniques.

For every 500 people who strive to get into direct response copywriting based on the “six-figure … work on the beach” promise, 499 fail. Why? Because they think it’s a get rich quick scheme where they will be earning well over $100,000 in the next 6 months, just by showing up.

The somewhat tired cliché of the “10,000 hours” applies.

It’s not really all that complicated.

Success in this business requires experience, hard work, graft, persistence, desire, passion, thorough knowledge of the techniques, great clients, plus marketing expertise. Anyone who thinks otherwise has bought into a promise that can’t be kept.

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I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or [contact me here][2] when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on AIDA. Part 4: Action.

In the last few emails, I talked about the first three parts of AIDA: attention, interest, and desire.

Now it’s time to discuss the “A” … action.

Take a look at advertisements in the branding world and you rarely see any type of call to action. Take a Budweiser ad, for example. You watch the ad then the ad ends. Nobody says to you, "go into your local convenience store or supermarket and buy Budweiser."

But in the world of direct response, action is vital because action is a vital part of ... well ... DIRECT RESPONSE. A response, by definition, requires action.

But there's more to action to the direct response copywriter than simply organizing a "buy now" button or including a phone number.

In physics, we learned "for every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction." Or something like that! It's somewhat the same in direct response copywriting. For every person thinking about taking the action you'd like them to take, there are 10 people who don't want to take the action, even though they might really like the product or service.

Why the non-motivation?

Pretty easy, really.

They have objections. These range from "it's too expensive" to "it's the wrong color" to "I don't know these people."

One of my jobs as a direct response copywriter is to find these objections then address them. Why? So the person on the fence takes the action I'd like them to take.

Here are some other ways to overcome objections.

• The guarantee.
• Two/three different price points.
• Testimonials.
• Different ways to respond, if possible.
• Bonus items.
• A free sample, if there's a soft offer.

I also like to TELL the prospect what to do next. I see a lot of copy that leaves out the "5 steps to take now" and related copy. Everything must be super-clear in copy, especially the steps you want people to take. A lot of companies just assume that people will know what to do next. I never make this assumption.

When I worked in a store seeling outdoor equipment, I was really good at helping people get interested in something. I was even better at moving them to the cash register and buying. I would find their objections, overcome any, and simply say, "are you ready to buy this?"

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I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or [contact me here][2] when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on AIDA. Part 3: Desire.

In the last couple of emails, I talked about the first two parts of AIDA: attention and interest.

Now it’s time to discuss the “D” … Desire.

I have the attention of the reader. I have maintained their interest. Now it’s time to tap into their desire. Initially, the desire is NOT for the product. A golfer can be at the golf course thinking, “I’d like to hit the ball a lot further with my driver.” The golfer can also think, “I’d like to get rid of my slice.”

But they’re not thinking, “I have to have to have Driver A.” To create DESIRE for Driver A, I have to link the desires of the golfer to the product. Here’s where bullets and research come in. I research Driver A so I can reveal to the golfer exactly how Driver A will help them reach their golf goals. It could be the design of the driver, its adjustability, the shaft, etc. Then I have to provide proof to back up the claims I make about the technology and design.

When a direct response copywriter gets this right, the potential client has desire for the product or service.

It all works for other products. A person might want a new car that goes super-fast. They want to be feel better about themselves by having a car that will really move. So the direct response copywriter has to focus on the features that lead to the benefit the driver wants. It’s also important to include secondary and complementary benefits like brakes, handling, and overall safety. It’s called “piling on.”

Again, here’s where a long list of bullets are so important.

In the information marketing space, it’s easier to create this desire. The key? The use of fascinations.

Let’s say I’m writing direct response copy for a weight loss book. The book offers a new approach. I could write a “fascination” like …

“10 things you must never eat if you want to lose weight.”

Now the reader, who has the desire to lose weight, will be thinking, “I wonder what those are … I really want to know.”

The features of the product must be translated into desirable benefits. I tie these benefits into the product, making the reader aware … “you can only get the benefits you want through this product or service.”

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I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or [contact me here][2] when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on AIDA. Part 2.

In the last blog, I wrote about the first part of AIDA. Let's review what AIDA stands for.

A = Attention I = Interest D = Desire A = Action

If I've been successful then I have the attention of the reader. Now it's time to keep the attention of the reader by being interesting.

It's not easy to be interesting in copy. I like to think about the reader sitting in front of my copy going, "WOW! I never knew that!" If I'm writing golf copy then I like to write about a new way of solving a common golf problem. Golfers typically find this type of content extremely interesting.

Here's where the research comes in. I like to find facts that tie back to the benefits that really appeal to the potential customer.

Let me give you an example.

I was watching a VSL the other day. The VSL was for a subscription to an investment newsletter. The "big idea" the direct response copywriter used was to reveal how to profit from stocks that would rise and fall based on wars.

After getting the attention of the reader, the copywriter wrote extensively about 10 different wars that could start in the next five years ... and why.

It's brilliant copywriting. The copywriter keeps the interest of the viewer. Most of the viewers are interested in global conflicts but probably didn't know about all these potential wars. It's also a way of proving the link between conflicts and the opportunity for profit.

Again ... research is so extremely vital here. Fascinating facts come from this research. The research must focus on what's interesting to the potential customer ... and it must also relate to the product or service.

Of course, every piece of direct response copy has to be fascinating from beginning to end. But there's a point in the promotion, usually right after the introduction or headline where the interest level has to increase dramatically.

Let's go back to a hyper-successful magazine like Cosmopolitan Magazine. The headlines on the cover get the attention of the reader. Then the articles are interesting because they reveal things the reader doesn't know ... but wants to know. Would articles about golf be valuable to the Cosmo reader? NO! Would articles about how to dress to attract men be valuable in Golf Digest? Negatory big brother. The fascinating facts must be salient.

In the next blog, I'll talk about the "D" part ... DESIRE.

Anyone can find interesting facts. But it's only the skilled direct response copywriter who knows how to find the interesting information that's relevant to what the potential customer really wants.

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I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.