Copywriting: Dan Lok's Comprehensive Guide To Closing In Print

Transcription

COPYWRITINGDan Lok’s Comprehensive GuideTo Closing In PrintThis resource for all influencers, consultants, andentrepreneurs gives you the psychological secretsand copywriting techniques to persuade strangersinto becoming customers.Last Updated: 04/30/201940 min read

Table of Contents2 CHAPTER ONE: What is Copywriting?4 CHAPTER TWO: How To Create Great Copy For Your Business15 CHAPTER THREE: The Structure of Persuasive Writing23 CHAPTER FOUR: Why Your Sales Copy Sucks24 CHAPTER FIVE: The Process of Copywriting26 CHAPTER SIX: Advanced Copywriting Secrets37 CHAPTER SEVEN: How To Start Your Copywriting Career1

2IntroductionIs it possible to make sales without opening your mouth? After reading this guide, you willlearn how achievable it is to persuade, convince and influence someone to make apurchase decision by simply using your written words.By the end, you will be equipped to produce effective sales copy that you can market in anyniche. You can use this skill to adapt to a marketplace that is always changing, and you willknow how to speak to customers and get them to take action.What is Copywriting?Copywriting is closing in print, which essentially means to use written words to generate leadsand sales. It is a high income skill, used often by introverts, to start and enhance or extend arelationship with a customer that includes salesmanship in print.Its primary purpose is to sell, so to be a good copywriter, you need to have an understandingof sales, marketing and human psychology.Copywriting is broadly used for landing pages, direct mail campaigns, sales pages, printedadvertising, infomercials, social media pages, and e-commerce platforms.Why is copywriting important? How does it relate to making money?Think about copywriting as more than just the words on a web page. Every email you sendout, every web page that you create, every social media post that you publish, everyinfomercial that you see and even a video sales letter (VSL) is all copywriting. Anything that isinvolved with closing using the written word on a very massive scale is copywriting.www.danlok.com back to top

3Closing in print is about communication, not just writing. Effective communication equalswealth. Think of all the forms of communication skills, like sales. Sales is the number oneability that an entrepreneur needs to be successful in any business. Business copywriting,which is closing a sale in print, is one of the most valuable communication skills to havebecause it is influential and can generate millions of dollars.Gary C. Halbert, author of The Boron Letters, is arguably one of the greatest copywriters of alltime. 10-20 years ago, Gary was charging 15,000 to write a letter, plus royalties. Hiscompany was mailing millions of physical pieces of direct mail every year. You can assumethat if your copy doesn’t work, you can’t mail that many pieces. So he was a copywriter whoclearly honed his craft.Successful entrepreneurs are great at selling to any number of prospects. If you can sell 1on-1, you can easily develop that skill so you can sell 1-to-many.The more people you communicate with and deliver your value to, the more money you canmake. So if you’re selling 1-on-1, your ratio is limited to 1-on-1. If you’re selling to 1-to-50 or100 people your ratio is 1-to-100. In copywriting, your ratio is 1 to thousands. Plus your copyis selling and closing your products or services 24/7 on your website without you beingphysically present. Written words have this much power and influence because of leverage.Every business needs copywriters. In fact, many popular brands have their success becauseof the copywriters they’ve hired. Copywriters have boosted small businesses into bigenterprises.Entrepreneurs and business owners who don’t excel at copywriting can hire or outsource acopywriter, but it’s still very important to have a strong understanding of what copywriting is,because that is what sells your products and services. The way that you write, communicate,and articulate your marketing message can make the difference between a product selling for 10,000, and the exact same product with a different message, selling for a million dollars.You don’t have to be a master copywriter, but by having a strong understanding, you canmake some small – but significant – changes to your copy. This could be the subject line,headline or call to action. Even with the same amount of effort, money, and traffic, you areable to get 2-3x more results with that change.It is very valuable to be able to look at what makes copy actually work and convert.This means you have to constantly test your material – sometimes based on certainassumptions – by publishing, editing them and seeing what works. The great thing now aboutthe Internet is that you can quickly see the performance results of your copy with severaltracking software. With the availability of advanced online platforms now, it is easier for you tomonitor and know exactly what’s happening to your sales.www.danlok.com back to top

4How To Create Great Copy For Your BusinessHow do you get started with implementing copywriting into your business?Part of being a good copywriter is knowing that your customers are actually the marketinggeniuses, especially when you let them tell you if your offer works. In your research, payattention to their feedback and reverse engineer everything they say into your sales page.A powerful but simple strategy is to set up a time to talk to some of your best customers. Inexchange for their detailed feedback, you can offer them a small gift. One way to ask is, “Hey,I’m just doing some research about my company because I want to do a marketingcampaign. You’re one of my best and most loyal customers. Can I have 30 minutes of yourtime?”And if they agree, you can give them a gift card, movie ticket or any bonus item you want togive away. Ask them questions like: Before you did business with our company, what problems have you gonethrough?What have you tried in the past?What didn’t work?Why didn’t they work for you?What kind of solutions are you looking for?Why did you choose us?Why have you stayed with us?Can you tell me more about this?What do you feel?How does that affect your family?www.danlok.com back to top

59 times out of 10 the best copy comes from the client. Ask for their permission to record theirfeedback, then transcribe the audio from that conversation.Afterwards you then take their feedback and use the information in your written copy. Forexample:Customer Feedback: “I can’t find any leads to more clients and am really struggling withfinding customers. I go to these conferences and I talk to a whole bunch of people but noneof them really follow through.”Conclusion: Their main concern is in generating leads successfully.New Potential Headline: “How To Quickly, Easily Generate More Leads For Your BusinessWithout Going To These Networking Functions.”See how easy it is? If you do have a product that solves their problem, you can turn theirissue into a potential headline. It could be a manifest statement or a bullet point.It’s not as complex as you think. Your customers will tell you that they want to buy from you,but what they want to get is the assurance that you know exactly what they’re going through.They want the assurance that your product and service can help them solve theirproblem.7 Steps To Creating Compelling CopyThese are steps that you can take every single time you write copy. When you go throughthese steps, you will be able to turn your copy into something so much more powerful andcompelling.STEP 1: Identify Your Ideal Customer. This is the most important part before you startwriting. You need to first truly understand who your ideal customer is. The way to find idealcustomers involves three things: Your ideal customer should have an actual need for your product or service. They should have the ability to buy your product. They should have the authority (decision making power) to buy your product orservice.Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can start targeting more through variationsand reference points such as interests, communities, age, etc. When you have your exacttarget market, now you go and talk to them in your copy one-on-one.Good copy is 80% research and 20% writing.www.danlok.com back to top

6If you are going to spend a month working on your copy or campaign, you should spend atleast 2-3 weeks just doing research before you write a single word. You need to have a veryclear idea on exactly what your offer is before even starting the writing process.The amount of money you make is in direct proportion to how well you understand yourcustomersOne of the main reasons why businesses fail is that entrepreneurs or business owners thatget excited about an idea, widget or invention, take it to a marketplace where there is noactual need for it. They fail to realize that nobody would actually care for their product orservice. This is because they don’t understand their ideal customer.Remember that not everybody can be your ideal customer.Even big companies serve different demographics. It’s especially important for small ormedium sized businesses to narrow down their target audience so that the message can bemore personalized.Ideally, when you show your offer to your prospects and they read your ad, the reaction youwant is them asking “how can I buy this?”Any sign of them making any payment on your website means that you have something thatworks.You need the real reactions, because people vote with their wallets. Don’t listen to just whatthey say, watch what they do. So, research, know, and identify your ideal customer.STEP 2: Create an irresistible offer. One of the most important steps in the entire salescopywriting formula is to have a compelling offer.The biggest challenge lately is that most businesses sound exactly like everybody else. Theirdifferentiators are typically based on being cheaper or better than their competitors. Theseoffers are not very compelling.You have to think about how you can make your offer as irresistible as possible. The marketis more important than the message. When it comes to the offer, you have to think aboutwhat it is that your audience truly wants, what they are craving for, or what frustrations theyhave. Find out what they are sick and tired of, so when you can come out with an offer that’sso irresistible, it is easy to sell.With a great offer, you can say less and it will still sell. You don’t need to use as many words.An example is the concept of selling money at a discount. This is where you sell any kind ofoffer that helps people make money, save money or invest.Ex: Spend 5,000 on this course then I’m going to teach you how to generate 10,000 amonth in rental income.www.danlok.com back to top

7With this offer, it’s a no-brainer. Selling money at a discount this way makes it an irresistibleoffer. If you’re selling physical products, there are many ways to make a compelling offer,such as a free 30 day trial, a strong guarantee, faster shipping or bonuses. For example:Ex: When you buy today, you don’t just get 1 knife, but 20 knives. And if you order within thenext 5 minutes, you don’t just get these 20 knives. We are going to send you two sets ofknives.You know you’ve made an irresistible offer when your prospect goes straight to calling yourtoll-free number or checking out to purchase. When an offer is so irresistible, logic goes out ofthe window.STEP 3: List every single feature and benefit of your offer.Now that you have the offer, list every single possible thing that your customers would get andwould benefit from with your product or service. You want to mention every possible feature orelement, even if it seems minor to you.Keep in mind that there is a big difference between feature and benefit. A feature is what it is.A benefit is what it does.For example, think about a drill. The feature is the drill bid that has electricity. But the benefit isthat it drills a hole very quickly. Or a fast computer. It features a core i7 processor. And thebenefit is that you can play computer games faster.www.danlok.com back to top

8The easiest way to do this is to first create that long list of features, then ask yourself thequestion, “so what?”, to come up with the benefits.You can then refer to this list for a potential benefits driven statement in the form of a bulletpoint or a headline. It’s very limited if you only have five to work from. You want to have up toa hundred on your list. So brainstorm from all kinds of angles. Think about any possible userand customer that can benefit from your offer in different ways.Here’s a general example for a PC: Fast processor for gaming Back lit LED keyboard for nighttime use Power management for energy efficiencySince your prospects might be looking for different features and would value different thingsfrom each other, you need to list them all out to cover as much as possible. By going throughthis exercise, you already have a deeper understanding of your offer.Benefit Behind The BenefitOnce you have the feature and the benefit, you can go deeper by exploring the concept calledthe benefit behind the benefit. It refers to that one thing or emotion that you can trigger whenyour customers buy a specific product or service.Think about what it is that you are actually selling. For example, look at this pizza company’stagline. What business are they in? What are they selling?www.danlok.com back to top

9You might think they are in the pizza business, but notice the first two words, fresh and hot.They’re not just promising a fresh and hot pizza. They’re selling speed of delivery. So they areactually in the business of speed.STEP 4: Write attention-grabbing headlines.It is good practice to write multiple headlines. The more headlines you write, the better becausethere are so many different kinds of headline formulas.One of the best places to

30.04.2019 · Gary C. Halbert, author of The Boron Letters, is arguably one of the greatest copywriters of all time. 10-20 years ago, Gary was charging 15,000 to write a letter, plus royalties. His company was mailing millions of physical pieces of direct mail every year. You can assume that if your copy doesn’t work, you can’t mail that many pieces. So he was a copywriter who clearly honed his craft .