If you want to become a great copywriter, marketer, or salesperson, you have to go deep…
You go beneath the surface needs and wants of your market.
You go way deeper than features and benefits.
You tap into the deep emotional needs of your prospect. Connect with them there. And bring them around to however you can help them. (Often without ever directly acknowledging the shame and insecurity or other emotion that you know is driving their purchase decision.)
This is one of the key lessons in my Emotional Direct Response Copywriting.
One of my BTMSinsiders members — Faro Vitale — just had a big breakthrough in this area. And sent me an email to share his insights and perspectives (he actually sent it in reply to my article, Marketing Now: Talk to the LIZARD BRAIN.)
It was so good, I asked him if I could share. He said yes. I’m sharing it only slightly-edited below, with some comments from me in [brackets].
This is a very different issue of Breakthrough Marketing Secrets. But the understanding it conveys is so profound, I know you’ll get immense value by reading the following in detail.
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Hey Roy!
So I’m on Chapter 2 of t “The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F***” and am also reading Dan Kennedy’s “NO BS for Wealth Attraction.” All your stuff lately merges with what else I’m reading – and you’ve helped create in my brain a understanding of how we operate that is actionable. Similar to today’s post.
(Some of this is going to sound very familiar I know you have a high level of understanding and some of this is your material)
Here goes:
Our default lizard brain state is “leisure.” That is the state of feeling of having no immediate burden for energy expenditure. (Energy expenditure requires energy uptake which requires locating energy which introduces risk of being eaten/attacked.)
It’s a very subtle shadow feeling that some authors call the “resistance” we face when we have to take action on stuff, especially change of a routine.
Change means expenditure of unknown energy and risk. [This is important NOW.]
The lizard brain maintains this state of leisure until put into a state of “frenzy” by something in the environment. One of the factors leading to this state of frenzy is that this lizard brain by default “doesn’t want to act if it doesn’t have to” – its impetus is to stay in a state of leisure.
Therefore when something in the environment catches its attention (grabs them by the eyeball) its immediate reaction is risk assessment (figuring out “what is this?). Especially when the lizard brain wasn’t “planning” on reacting or having to make a decision in that moment (versus when it is actively seeking a solution to an urgent need).
Its why thumbnails of weird faces are so successful – since the brain is always trying to figure out how something fits (pattern) and it draws a conclusion on if it does or doesn’t, and what that means to it.
This figuring out is a natural curiosity that triggers the state of frenzy (fight, flight, or freeze).
It’s also the state upon which we all interface for the first time with a new prospect (you taught me this like 1.5 years ago in a Mailbox Monday question you answered for me).
[It all adds up. The longer you’re engaged, the more benefit you get. This is the benefit of 1% per week.]
In the marketing sense like when scrolling through a Facebook feed I like to think of it as “engage further” or “ignore” – I don’t believe there’s really a “freeze” element when it’s happening through a “safe medium” like the Internet.
We feel empowered to engage or ignore – we are empowered to make a decision – I don’t believe the act of “freezing” is a factor here.
Knowing that we need to capture the targeted prospects attention means we have to either call them out by name (Hey Faro!) or do the next best thing – which could be one of a few things (a whole other topic that is tactic based which I’m still figuring out all the details on myself through your training).
Once we’ve got their attention we’ve got a lot in our tool box as aspiring and professional copywriters to move them through the message and to eventually make an offer of our service/product in exchange for this green medium we call money…but it’s this abstraction.
It’s where many of us newbies get lost I think…
[THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY GOOD! Also note: there’s a lot of space here for moral judgment. Withhold yours to learn the lesson. This is a made-up story to make a point, and it does it very well, getting at some deep human insecurities. You don’t have to like these fictional characters to recognize the reality they represent.]
Last night I think I found the disconnect…so I built this thought flow…
So we have Jim (a 55 year old traveling salesman who makes $250,000 a year) who is looking on the Internet for a solution to “connecting with his 28 year old model-esque girlfriend while he is away in areas outside this country without good WiFi reception.”
His excuse for doing this because he wants to check up on her to keep Her safe…so he’s looking at Satellite phone and satellite phone service.
He stumbles upon a page of a satellite phone provider and gets on a call with a sales rep (Chris). Chris is a pretty good salesman – he really gives the most f***s about Solving Jim’s problem of “keeping Jim’s girlfriend secure via Jim’s ability to consistently connect with her at all different times.”
Jim gives the most f***cks about this problem and he is excited that Chris seems to care passionately about helping him. Chris demonstrates this by asking very specific questions.
But Chris is a BTMSinsiders member and did the trainings so he knows he has to work through the abstractions to figure out what it is that Jim is really trying to buy…
So Chris thinks to himself – Jim seems to want “security” and “protection” for his gf…but he speculates that the real problem is that Jim is worried about being cheated on and wants to keep an eye on his gf and he’s having a problem doing so while he is gone.
Chris doesn’t stop there. He realizes that this “fear of being cheated on” isn’t the end all for Jim. He speculates further.
He wonders what this fear of being cheated on really means for Jim.
He speculates further that Jim is “insecure” in his sense of self-worth and much of it is tied to people’s thoughts of him (he suffers from nice guy syndrome). Deep down his fear is that his girlfriend will cheat on him with a “stud” and she “will like it” and these facts would hurt him (it would devastate his ego).
Chris speculates that Jim is trying to avoid this painful reality – he realizes that Jim really wants a solution RIGHT NOW that will give him ultimate confidence that his gf can’t bring other men to the house and no other men to the house means she can’t “cheat on him and like it.”
With this newfound insight Chris begins to speak to giving Jim “even More control and security” over his girlfriend’s “safety and security” what is what Jim mentioned in the beginning that he wanted.
Chris recommends the satellite phone and suggests he also get the entire home live monitoring system that would Put cameras facing all home entrances and in the general areas inside like hallways and staircases. This would give him even BETTER security!
[You might think this is creepy, but if you Google “Ring doorbell catch cheater” you’ll find that home security systems are both intentionally and unintentionally used for this over and over and over again.]
Jim loves the idea. Chris also has a connection with a private detective firm and offers Jim a yearly subscription to private detective that could follow Jim’s gf for “her safety” and report out daily her whereabouts and actions.
Jim loves the idea but wants to save face and not seem overly insecure (to close to home) and decides to do the phone and whole home surveillance system (with the ADT buyup).
Chris was engaged the whole time and kept asking insightful questions that Jim perceived as being highly interested in his problem and because his assumptions about Jim’s underlying problem was right – the solution he was buying was security – Peace of mind…etc and Chris was able to sell it to him (and he disconnected price for product along the way!)
I think as a noob copywriter I have to go deep on what folks are really trying to buy.
The clearer I am on what they are buying the easier the writing becomes. The core offer becomes clear – it can only be a handful of things.
I think the Mailbox Monday writer is suffering from not fully understanding what the deepest level problem he is trying to solve – those problems that originate in the lizard brain – avoidance of pain or pursuit of pleasure.
This breakdown helped me better understand how I need to start thinking before I craft my message.
Looking forward to more and more!
Thanks as always Roy!
Faro
PS: I really believe that once we know pretty much (Beyond All Doubt – BAD) what someone is truly after – (ugly rich fat guy buying nice sports car analogy) – the offer becomes quite simple, but the thinking is much deeper.
Superficial offer:
“I’ll trade you this fancy sports car for $75,000”
Is really… (much more specific and accurate as to what’s the buyer is looking for) The Powerful Offer (Tongue in cheek for clarity):
“I offer you this socially acceptable “cool” analog (for your lack thereof)….now, because this analog is camouflaged as a sexy sports car you will easily be able to IMMEDIATELY attract the attention and energies of the thousands of the less discerning amongst us. This magic cloak can be yours for only $75,000.”
“But if you want to attract the MOST discerning – you need to get this one, for $550,000. She’ll never suspect your lack of cool in the short few minutes she’ll be with you anyway.”
Most of us don’t think like this normally because we’ve been told it’s nerdy or we are “thinking to deeply” by those around us who don’t have open minds… but it is deep.
[Again, this is often why people are buying. Even (especially) if they don’t want to admit it. You can judge the fictional characters. But Faro is right.]
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Roy again…
Does the above make you uncomfortable? It makes me a little uncomfortable to publish. Because I know how many people will have squeamish reactions to the examples Faro gave. (Even though I know they’re representative of how human beings think, feel, and act.)
But here’s the thing.
Marketing RESULTS are incredibly honest and accurate. Perhaps the most honest and accurate measurement of behavior and decision making out there.
What people respond to by spending their money is what they truly want.
And the more your marketing or persuasive message taps deep into areas like shame, fear, insecurity, doubt, and similar, the more response it will get.
Which means that these feelings are driving our behavior.
Like it or not, that’s our human experience.
The question is, will you use this to help your prospects have a better life? If so, you’re doing it right.
And if you want to go deeper, check out my Emotional Direct Response Copywriting training.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
