Why VSLs are the Fastest Way to Build a Six Figure Business (SEO agencies hate me for sharing this advice)

People will eagerly watch videos on topics they’re passionate about

If you’re happy spending thousands on SEO, social media marketing or ‘branding’ each month with very little to show for it, read no further.

Because I’m about to reveal how six figure businesses can be built in weeks (or even days) without spending a cent on any of these methods.

What I’m referring to is the ‘video sales letter’. Or VSL for short.

A sales vehicle that’s ugly, basic and has a bad rep for hype. But can be a conversions monster in the right hands.

“Why would anyone watch this?”

Whenever I show a VSL to someone for the first time they’re incredulous as to why anybody would happily watch a 40 minute ‘slideshow’, let alone buy anything at the end.

My response is that people will happily watch a documentary on TV if it’s on a topic that matters deeply to them.

Imagine you’re targeting the obesity market – your viewer is 30 kg overweight, their cholesterol is out of control, they suffer from stomach pains and fear the Sword of Damocles (in the form of a massive and fatal heart attack) is dangling above their head.

Don’t you think they’d eagerly devour a VSL that reveals the simple lifestyle changes that can help them shed the kilos without starving themselves, to reverse their heart disease and to be around long enough to see their grandkids grow up?

Sure they would.

Here are four reasons why VSLs are so powerful at selling:

1. VSLs Out Convert Long Form Sales Pages

A VSL is, in essence, a long form sales letter pasted over multiple slides. This makes it more appealing to people happier watching YouTube videos than reading 20 pages of 14pt Times New Roman.

Just like a sales letter, VSLs use all manner of copywriting techniques, sales psychology and even NLP to keep people watching and to present your offer in a persuasive way. This helps them to typically convert better than long-form sales letters, particularly for cold traffic from advertising.

2. VSLs Have Built 6 Figure Businesses

The key to growing a business fast is SCALE.

When you have a high converting offer all you need to do is open up the money hose and spray it with traffic.

When you’ve got a persuasive VSL as the gateway to your sales funnel, you can grow to six figures or more like greased lightning, compared to months of toiling away in the smoke and mirrors wonderland of SEO or posting Tweets that get drowned in the stream seconds later.

You can even get free traffic by starting an affiliate program and reaching out to people in your niche with large email lists or followings. It’s the definitive win win.

3. VSLs Allow YOU to Control the Sales Process

On a written sales page people can scroll around, skim read, check the price and pick which bits to read in whatever order they choose. Seeing this in action (and realizing that people don’t studiously read every word in order) is enough to make grown copywriters cry.

However, with a VSL it’s YOU that controls the conversation in their heads.

With no option to fast forward, viewers have to engage with your pitch in the sequence you choose.

That’s the magic of the VSL.

YOU control the sales process. Not them.

You can address their pain, build trust, present your solution, explain its benefits, provide proof and justify the price in one logical flow that takes them from curious to convinced and ready to buy.

4. EVERY Business Can Benefit from a VSL

You may think that VSLs only work for supplements, weight loss products, eBooks and B2C markets.

But sales psychology is the same whatever market you’re in – yes, that includes hard nosed corporate B2B types.

For B2B markers, VSLs can be presented as webinars – arguably the most powerful way of selling high ticket items to switched on prospects.

VSLs also give you the best chance of converting a lead much faster than a 10 part email sequence, series of sales calls or a round of golf with your account manager.

Million Dollar VSLs in Action

Here are five examples of simple slideshows that have generated millions in sales:

The American Parasite – VSL for a probiotic supplement

The Biggest Sign of Aging – VSL for anti-aging cream

End of America – VSL for a financial newsletter

Big Diabetes Lie – VSL for a diabetes course

7 Second Trick Eliminates Brain Fog – VSL for a nootropics supplement

Get a Proposal for Your VSL

I’ve written and helped produce 60 minute long VSLs in many different markets. This includes heart disease, insomnia, nootropics, weight loss, anti-aging skin cream and even golf training aids.

In fact, my VSL for the PowerChute swing trainer is set to be a million dollar seller while a VSL I wrote for the Lean Body Workout system had a “stellar” 7% conversion rate (I still can’t quite believe it myself).

I’d LOVE to provide the same results for you.

Even if you’re just curious, get in touch and I’ll be happy to put together a free proposal on how I’d promote your product with a VSL and the backend funnel we could build that would increase the lifetime value of every customer.

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Don’t Read this If You Are Happy Getting Mediocre Results from Email

Email marketing is the most profitable channel.

See how I said that unequivocally.

The reason is because study after study proves that it’s true:

When it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail and more. – DMA

Social media is great for building an audience and rapport with your customer base.

But ultimately (if you’re smart) you use social media to feed your email sales funnel, and not the other way around.

Having said that, with inboxes overflowing with promotions and newsletters begging for attention.

So getting your emails opened and responded to can be tough.

This is why it’s essential to write emails people find useful and enjoy reading.

How can this be done?

Here are five proven email types you can try:

1 You’re doing this wrong – Challenge the status quo. Point out why what they’re doing isn’t going to solve their problem, but that you have a system that will.

2. Will this work for you? – Tell them a story about how someone just like them faced a similar challenge. How they tried all the options but nothing worked. But then they solved it by using this amazing new product

3. Hero Vs the System – Everything is a conspiracy if you look hard enough. Feed on their preexisting suspicions  by telling them how the government/food companies/big pharma are trying to trick them and why there is a natural alternative they need to know about.

4. Newsjacking – Piggybacking on the latest hot topic is always a powerful way of getting your emails opened. The trick is then reframing that hot topic in a way that relates to your product and so it gives them an added reason to buy.

5. FAQ – If people still have objections, kick them aside with an FAQ email. You can tackle all their objections in one email or multiple emails, approaching each objection like a barrier to be knocked aside so they have a clear path to buying.

Make them WANT to read your emails

The key to success in email marketing is creating a positive association in your subscriber’s mind with your name. Then when your email appears in their inbox they’ll be eager to hear what you have to share. When you can do that, subject lines don’t even matter.

If you’re struggling to get results from email, try plugging a few of these five email types into your sales pipeline. Then watch a drip turn into a flood of clicks and conversions from the channel with the highest ROI.

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Final Week to Register for Copyhour in 2016

What’s the best way to get good, nay, an expert at writing copy?

Copy that harnesses time proven persuasive techniques, emotional storytelling and buying triggers that send conversions to the moon?

You could read all the classics by Hopkins, Bly, Ogilvy, Kennedy and, of course, Schwartz (if you’re lucky to get a copy) – over and over again.

That should be done as standard.

But to get to the upper levels where you can start sharing your sky high conversions in forums, charging royalties and have Agora contact you about your copywriting skills, you MUST practice, practice, practice.

But where do you start?

How do you know what are the best direct response ads to copy? In what order? And how do you make sense of the underlying psychology that makes them so powerful?

In what order to study them?

And how do you make sense of the underlying psychology that makes them so powerful?

The answer is simple.

It is to join Copyhour.

Copyhour is an email driven course where you are sent an example of a highly successful sales letter, ad or other type of direct response copy to, well, copy.

Not only that, but Copyhour’s mastermind, Derek Johanson, explains what is the strategy behind it, the psychology that makes people buy from reading it and where it fits in a sales funnel.

The Fastest Way to Advance to Heavyweight

Trust me, copying out winning ads is the BEST way of advancing your direct response skills fast (and watching your rates as a result).

I studied Copyhour myself for over a year and the knowledge I gained was instrumental in my progress towards writing for media buying agencies in the US, where every click and sale is measured with military precision.

If you want to battle in these trenches you won’t last long without some hardnosed copy skills wired into your brain.

And this is exactly what Copyhour can do for you.

But if you want to take advantage you’ll need to move fast – the doors close this week for the last time in 2016.

You’ll then have to wait until Derek reopens them again, which could not be for another six months, which is another six months until you can climb up the skills ladder towards heavyweight status.

But why climb when you can leap?

>>>Join Copyhour before the doors close in 2016

Disclaimer – Copyhour links are affiliate links. But trust me, this course is legit and is the best way to advance from writing articles, brochures and websites to writing hard-hitting direct response copy – and getting paid accordingly.

 

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HIPS – A Simple Storytelling Formula

You hear all the time that the best way to sell is with stories.

They’re instantly engaging and people think they’re being entertained, rather than sold to, and their cloak of cynicism is temporarily lowered.

But how do you write them?

That’s the tricky part.

A good place to look for inspiration is forums and product reviews.

And a good way to tell them is to use the HIPS storytelling formula:

Hook

The angle, shocking fact or event that sets the stage for what your story is about.

Example – How you’ve always loved hearing people play the drums as a child.

Interest

The reason why this story is going to be interesting to be your reader, such as the pain point it addresses.

Example – Learning a new skill, like playing the drums, can be difficult and frustrating.

Parable

A simple story that reflects how your product solves the customer’s problem.

Example – How you learned to play the drums and how much satisfaction you get from it.

Slide

This is the close when you explain why the story matters.

Example – Learning to play the drums is like any skill. The best way to learn is practice and to have a good teacher, which is why you should buy my course.

By following the HIPS formula, you can easily create stories around your product that will be fun and engaging while selling your product at a deeper level – an emotional one.

Try using HIPS in your next emails, advertorials or sales letters and let me know how you get on.

 

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7 Easy Tweaks to Turn a VSL Dud into a Sales Rocket

My VSL campaign last week bombed – and I know why…

Facebook’s targeting is now second to none.

You can test campaigns for as little as $5 a day and find customers with diamond cutting precision.

BUT…

that doesn’t mean they’re going to rush to download your report when they have no clue who you are.

You’ve got to build the relationship first.

Selling via Facebook is the same as bringing a new client onboard in real life.

You don’t want to tell them how much you’ll charge in the first email.

In the wise words of Homer Simpson, “If you want to make you’re move, you’ve got to play it cool.”

You invite them out for coffee first. Discuss their challenges over Skype or email them back to explain why their current strategy isn’t working.

Only then can you start thinking about presenting your offer.

I did none of this.

 

Instead, I bought my way into their newsfeed and expected people to handover their email address.

I rushed things, and got the door slammed in my face.

I wont be making the same mistake again.

Now that’s been said…here’s my entire VSL report published and offered upfront with no strings attached.

We live and learn in this marketing game.

You’ve dropped $10k on a copywriter, another $15k on full animation and then watched in HORROR as views of your VSL fall off a cliff in the FIRST minute.

It’s enough to make even the steeliest of marketers cry.

Why aren’t people watching?

Can it be saved?

You have questions. I have answers.

Take a deep breath, have a seat and let’s see if we can’t turn your VSL car crash into a conversion monster…

Why VSL’s are so powerful

VSLs are probably the most effective way of selling right now (particularly for converting cold traffic).

Why?

Because you control the thought process.

Instead of allowing viewers to flick through the sales page, skimming and missing out all the best bits, you have them locked in to a predetermined path.

Like a conveyer belt that takes them from curious to convinced and ready to buy.

BUT…

as any seasoned salesmen will tell you – you can’t convince someone to buy something unless they feel it in their gut.

You can’t just TELL people how wonderful your magic beans are and expect them to hand over the cash.

You have to find a way of standing by their side and explaining how that numbing pain or itch will never go away unless they take action – TODAY!

To do this, your VSL has to engage the conversation already taking place in their head.

It has to prod their pain, build their hopes and feed on their nightmares before you can hope to sell them anything.

But to do any that – people have to WATCH IT.

All the way from start to finish.

In this report I explain the 7 simple tweaks that can ensure people keep watching and you can skyrocket your conversions and sales as a result.

1. GRAB their interest with a goldfish

It’s now scientific fact that people have shorter concentration spans than goldfish (seriously, they’ve done studies on it).

So it’s ironic that presenting them with a goldfish in the first three minutes could be the best way to keep them watching.

What the heck am I talking about?

Let me explain…

The Tao of Badass is a dating VSL which for no clear reason starts with the introduction of a goldfish.

The viewer’s mental response is something like this:

“Why has he shown me a goldfish?”

“What can this possibly have to do with dating?”

“I’d better keep watching to find out!”

Creating an unresolved question (or ‘open loop’) is a powerful way of keeping people watching to get the answers.

And the best time to ask an open question is right at the start.

Why?

Because most people quit VSLs within the first 3 minutes.

But if you can keep them watching for that long they tend to watch for longer because they feel they’ve invested so much time already they might as well keep watching.

So best practice is to create three different intros of 3 minutes to see which keeps people engaged the most.

This will naturally result in more conversions at the end.

Along with showing something weird like a goldfish to create a WTF moment, try sharing some SHOCKING stats, reveal an industry conspiracy or have a short video clip of a skateboarding dog to suck them into your presentation.

 

2)  Give them a REASON to keep watching

VSLs bomb when they completely miss the viewer’s pain buttons.

This typically happens because you haven’t done enough research.

Even worse, you’ve ASSUMED you know all the answers.

No matter how well you think you know the market, you still need to find out about their pains, complaints and problems they need solved.

The first step is to check forums, Facebook groups, Amazon reviews and perhaps even using Survey Monkey to find out.

You can then create a ‘buyer persona’ of who your VSL is targeted at.

You can then fine tune your message based on their ‘awareness scale’ of the problem your product solves.

You can find a more detailed explanation in Michael Masterson’s ‘Great Leads’. But for the sake of brevity, they are:

 

Awareness Level	Best Approach for the VSL’s Pitch
Most Aware	Make an offer
Product Aware	Outline how your product helps
Solution Aware	Explain the problem your product solves
Problem Aware Option 1	Expose a secret they didn’t know about
Problem Aware Option 2	Pitch your VSL as a big announcement related to their problem
Unaware	Use storytelling to discuss their problem and your solution

 

When you understand who your customer is and where they are on the awareness scale, you can make your VSL’s main message more laser focused on hitting their pain buttons.

 

3) Tell them a STORY to create emotional connection

People buy with emotion and justify their decision with logic.

Everyone in sales knows that.

So you need to make our viewer FEEL the need for your product if they’re going to keep watching and to imagine what their lives will be like when your product fixes that pain.

What’s the best way to do this?

With a STORY!

We are hardwired to respond to stories ever since our ancestors spent long nights around a campfire or painted their walls.

When we hear a story we imagine ourselves in the same predicament and this naturally triggers our emotions.

Beverly Hills MD is one of the highest converting VSLs in skincare.

It does a lot of things right, notably its use of a story about how someone rediscovered their youthful looks and confidence with its face cream.

Presenting the product in this way is a powerful way of sidestepping people’s normal cynicism or marketing.

It just seems more believable and gets the viewer to imagine the same outcome in their own life. They’re also more open to buying into the VSLs other claims, thinking they could just be true.

 

4) Focus on ONE key message or BIG idea

Ever heard the saying ‘keep it simple stupid’ (KISS)?

KISS is a popular copywriting acronym that reminds us to keep our sales copy as simple as possible.

Your VSL is not an episode of Lost.

It needs to take viewers on ONE logical path of thought.

Your viewer probably has lots of other windows open, chat messages,mobile pings and maybe even have the TV – all at the same time.

They are NOT going to absorb a complicated message.

Imagine that each idea in your VSL is a ball, which you’re passing to them. The more balls they have to manage the harder it gets to juggle them all in their head.

Throw them too many balls and the whole pitch falls apart.

So focus on ONE key message or one BIG idea on why your product matters.

 

5) Provide PROOF so buying becomes logical

People are more jaded, cynical and downright distrustful of marketing than ever.

It’s no use just making CLAIMS that your supplement will make them beach body ready, turn them into Einstein or make them rich – all overnight.

You’ve got to PROVE it.

Just making stuff up is also a fast track to a court date with the FDA.

Imagine Dr Richard Dawkins’ is watching your VSL and what claims will make him furrow his brow then rip your VSL’s pitch to pieces.

Or imagine your viewer’s doubts are fences between them and the buy button. And think about what you need to say to resolve each one so that their confidence is won and their path to buying is clear.

Write down all the possible objections they may have then make sure you remove each one so that buying is the only route they can take.

 

6) Create SCARCITY so they buy now

By the time they finish watching your VSL, you want viewers to be jumping up and down in their seat in anticipation of what your product can do for them.

You don’t want them pondering for a minute longer. Or close the video, thinking they’ll buy it later.

They won’t!

So, you need to light a firecracker under their chair, and make it clear why they MUST buy RIGHT NOW!

How can you do this?

A few tactics to try:

• Offer a 24 hour discount they can only get through the video.
• Tell them you have limited stock and the buy button could disappear any second.
• That the ingredients are in high demand and the price could rise.
• Add a timer that shows when the price will go up.

People HATE to feel they’re missing out.

So try to create a sense of SCARCITY and that the door is closing so they’d better hit that BUY button fast.

7) FRAME the price

You’ll have done most of the hard work by the time you announce the price.

By this stage they should be jumping up and down in their seat with their credit card out.

But if you present the price in the wrong way, you can still easily lose them.

So you need to FRAME the price in a way that makes it appear like excellent value for money.

If it’s a supplement, a popular tactic is to compare it to a cup of coffee, and reinforce how it will be much healthier and cheaper for them then a stimulant they’re relying on for performance already.

Or you could discuss how it will save them thousands on future medical bills by slowing the decline in their mental or physical health.

If it’s a training aid, you could say how it saves them the cost of coaching, or the hours of time they’d have to practice to get the same results.

If it’s an eBook you could frame how much time it will save them on collating the information themselves, or trying to complete a task without a roadmap.

Compare it to the alternatives and reinforce why winners invest in their own success.

Then explain why your product is such an investment and how it will save them vast amounts of time and money in the long run.

That’s 7 for starters…

Implementing these seven changes are key tactics that can improve engagement and response rate for any VSL.

Extra advice I’d add is to not underestimate your customer’s intelligence. Be aware of the sales messages your competitors use that your customers have heard millions of times before.

Claiming a skin cream is ‘anti-aging’, for example, can be a big turn off to baby boomers,.

They’ve been bombarded with these claims so many times that they no longer believe them. It’s better to say ‘skin enhancement’ instead.

Also, be bold in your ideas.

Look for ways to challenge your viewer’s preconceptions, while backing up the things they may have been questioning already.

A conspiracy angle about how big pharma buries natural therapies is a classic example.

As always, the key is thorough, detailed research into both your product AND your customer.

A good rule of thumb is to keep researching until you’ve convinced yourself to buy the product. This will naturally come across in your copy.

Turning a VSL into a Million Dollar Business

VSLs are great at converting even cold traffic, whether from Facebook, Google, Outbrain, Taboola or any other ad network.

They can also be the entryway to a sales funnel (also known as the ‘backend’). This is where the big money is made and what can take a business from thousands of dollars a week to millions.

Even a $7 eBook can be the entryway for a six or seven figure business when you have a solid email series and enough upsells in place.

To give you some examples:

The Truth About Abs VSL generates around $1million a month for its product creator, Mike Geary.

The Tao of Badass VSL took the business from making a few thousand dollars to becoming a best seller on Clickbank

Text Your Ex Back  helped dating coach Michael Fiore to build a business empire in one of the most competitive niches on the internet.

And the list goes on…

What’s more, when have a high converting VSL, traffic takes care of itself as affiliates will be desperate to promote you to their email list.

I just want to give you some insight into what is possible with a VSL.

It has the potential to be a MAJOR profit generator that can take your business from small scale to prime time.

 

Want a VSL that Converts?

I hope you’ve found this post useful and it’s revealed how you can skyrocket your VSL’s conversions and sales.

If you have a VSL that scares off viewers in minutes or you’d like a new one created, get in touch for a no obligation proposal.

I’ve written tons of short corporate videos and 60 minute epics for nootropics, insomnia, heart disease, weight loss, skincare, fitness and even golf training aids (examples here).

So if you’d like to discover how a VSL can provide the entryway to your sales funnel and the best revenue generator for your business, let’s talk.

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7 Reasons Your VSL is NOT Converting (and how to fix them)

You’ve dropped $10k on a copywriter, another $15k on full animation and then watched in HORROR as views of your VSL fall off a cliff in the FIRST minute.

It’s enough to make even the steeliest of marketers cry.

Why aren’t people watching?

Can it be saved?

You have questions. I have answers.

To get my solutions to the 7 biggest VSL mistakes, pop your email into the box below:

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4 Better Ways of Getting Exposure than Press Releases

Do you still write press releases for clients?

If you have media contacts, it may be a worthwhile strategy.

But just publishing press release in the hope they get read by the right people is about as effective as air dropping it as confetti in a force 12 gale.

Here are four alternatives:

1. Buy a slot in an email list

If there’s someone in your client’s niche with 100,000 or more subscribers, paying to email their list is a great way of getting directly in front of your target audience.

Press release distribution site stats may show thousands of reads. But that doesn’t mean they’re the people you’re trying to reach.

2. Write an advertorial and promote it on Facebook

As discussed in my #1 Facebook advertising mistake post, overt sales pitches bombs on Facebook.

A better strategy is to present your pitch as valuable information instead. With the right angle, just $10 or $20 spent on ‘boosting it’ or showing to a custom audience can generate thousands of views and hundreds of clickthroughs.

The added benefit is that you can draw people to your site. You can then offer a lead magnet to get them on your email list for followup marketing activity.

3. Write a guest post

If you can find relevant bloggers with 100,000 readers, guest posting is a powerful way of getting in front of the right eyeballs.

Again, you’ll need to make it an interesting read focused on a reader’s problem, rather than a straight pitch. And once it’s published you can also run a Facebook ad campaign to turbocharge its exposure.

4. Turn the press release into a ‘report’ and use it as lead magnet

If the press release is about a new solution to a common industry problem, you could turn it into a report. This approach makes it appear more like valuable info and more trustworthy.

You’ll need to expand the content to cover the problem in more depth and to explain why the status quo is broken. You can then introduce the press release’s subject as the solution in a non-salesy way.

Why not run all four?

Those are just four alternatives to press releases for getting exposure and leads. All four are trackable. So you could run all of them and let the stats decide which is the most effective.

In today’s competitive marketing world, if you offer ‘leads’ or ‘sales’ rather than ‘expsoure’ as a goal, clients are more likely to hire you. And with your writing linked to profits, you can charge more when they do.

Any exposure hacks you’s add?

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The #1 Facebook Advertising Mistake

Facebook has probably the best targeting of any ad platform. And it got even better with the updated ‘Custom Audiences’ and Lookalike audiences.

You can now target new prospects for your blog posts or reports with precision.

But creating quality content and finding the audience is a waste of time unless they click on your ad.

And this is where most campaigns fail.

Because arguably the single biggest mistake when advertising on Facebook is  – to write your ad like an ad.*

In other words, creating an ad with obvious stock photography, a headline announcing what you’re trying to sell and body copy loaded with superlatives and exclamation marks.

These ads fail on Facebook because it’s not what people want or are looking for.

You need to take a step back and look at Facebook’s feed from a prospect’s perspective.

They’re not reading every post but flicking through with their thumb while slumped in front of the TV or waiting at the supermarket checkout.

You need to think what will make them pause for long enough to read the body copy.

So rather than self promotional, your post needs to be about an amazing new discovery, breaking news or a valuable info that will help them in their job.

Put simply, the secret to advertising success on Facebook is not to write ADS but to write NEWS.

But don’t just take my word for it.

The other key to success is to test, test and test again.

Run a selection with different types of approaches, headlines, body copy and images.

See what the stats tell you. Then let me know if I was right.

*Unless you’ve got an ecommerce store.

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4 Easy Ways of Doing Buyer Persona Research

Ever find yourself staring at a screen as blank as your brain? If so, you probably haven’t done enough research on who you’re writing to and why.

Research should take up two thirds of your time. Your goal should be to keep going until you reach the ‘a ha’ moment when everything clicks into place and you know exactly why the product matters and how you’re going to sell it. Then writing it down is the easy part.

Remember, we’re in the selling business. We’re not trying to win a literary prize or to get compliments on our elegant turn of phrase. It’s structure, making the complex simple and sales psychology that matters.

One of the key goals when researching is to understand your target customer’s hopes, dreams and motivations. Your copy may be read by millions, but you want to imagine you’re selling to just one. An imaginary person (a.k.a. buyer persona) sat across the table from you whom you have to convince to spend money.

So how do you work out who this person is and what to say to them?

You could do what most marketers seem to do and guess. But I know you’re better than that.

Here are four tools you can use for finding out who that person sat opposite you is, what they care about and what will motivate them to buy your product:

1. Quantcast – Pop in the URL of your client’s website to get demographic and lifestyle insights on their target audience.

2. Surveys – You can drop a survey to your client’s existing email list. Or you can use tools like Survey Monkey to ask strangers what they thinks about your product, the problems they need solving and what will get them spending money.

3. Reviews – When selling B2C, Amazon’s reviews are a goldmine of opinions and insights. It’s amazing how much people are willing to share on the problems they were experiencing with other products. Here’s a tip – check out the one or two star reviews to find objections you must address.

4. Competitors – Does a competitor have a high converting VSL, sales page or email series you can gain inspiration from? If so, go through their copy and note down the key elements of their sales argument, what proof they provide and the benefits they focus on. Then make it your mission to not just replicate but improve on what they’ve done. There’s no such thing as a crowded market when your copy out-converts your rivals.

The best door to door salesmen know how to listen and what questions to ask. You can’t convince someone to buy something unless they feel a gnawing pain in their gut. With these four research tips you can unearth deeply buried market needs to address in your copy and make it more persuasive as a result.

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The 9 Word Email – The Highest Coverting Email of All Time

It’s true.

If you have an email list you haven’t contacted in a while or are stubbornly refusing to respond, a nine word email is all it may take to turn silence into sales.

What are those nine magical words?

You simply say – “Are you still looking for [insert product]?”.

That’s it. Not a syllable more.

Countless folks have been astounded at how such a tiny message can generate such a huge response.

Its power comes from its brevity and directness. No one could imagine something so brutally abrupt being sent to an entire list. Surely it’s been sent to them only. Ignoring it would be rude.

Try it out and let me know if it works.

Disclaimer – I’m not a marketing genius that comes up with these ideas off the top of my head. This dynamite copywriting tip comes from Joe Polish and Dean Jackson via their I Love Marketing Podcast. If you’re not yet a subscriber, what’s keeping you?

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My Morning Routine

Morning routines are a hot topic among ‘growth hackers’ these days. And many of them get competitive over who can set their alarm clock at the most insanely early hour and pack in the most soul enriching stuff before the milkman arrives.

My routine is pretty lightweight, so Tim Ferris and The Rock can rest easy.

I’m not a morning person. My routine’s only aim is to force my brain into a gear slightly above sluggish, rather than redefining my place in the mulitverse.

7.30am – Alarm clock goes off. My brain wakes up long enough to switch on CNN or RT at high volume before I slip back into a coma.

8.00am – Headline news on what Donald Trump said wakes me up long enough to sit upright. I check my email, browse the news and see what Skype chats I missed.

8.15am – Grab my headphones from a drawer next to my bed and listen to a 15 minute guided meditation on YouTube (I recommend the Honest Guys channel).

8.30am – Now a full hour after my alarm clock first went off, I slide (rather than leap) out of bed to put on a pair of shorts before heading to the gym.

8.45am – Exercise for 30 mins, alternating between weights. running and yoga on different days to get the blood and brain cells flowing.

9.15am – Shower and breakfast.

9.30am – Grab a notepad and pen and fire up the latest assignment on Copyhour. This is a course I’ve been doing for the last year where they email you a successful direct response ad to dissect and copy by hand. If you’ve done all your homework on copywriting theory, I recommend taking Copyhour to start hardwiring smart sales writing into your brain.*

10.30am – I’m ready to tackle the day’s projects with gusto. Just for good measure, I’ll take a tablet of L-Theanine with my morning coffee (L-Theanine is a key active ingredient in most nootropics supplements) to get a caffeine buzz that seems to last the whole day..

My two ‘hours of power’ help me to banish the lethargy that plagued my mornings. I now feel more mentally alert and focused, and not wasting hours shopping for moleskine notebooks.

How about you? Any morning routine hacks you’d love to share?

* Affiliate links!

 

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