A Marketing Lesson From My Cat…?
Today’s post I thought of last night while playing with my cat Pepe.
This is the same cat who actually plays ball with me (I’m not joking - he plays ball with me exactly like a dog would, except he’s got a little toy mouse instead of a ball).
Anyway, he’s only about 6 months old and loves to play, and one thing he loves is when you tap your fingers on the floor.
When I do that, Pepe gets down into the “attack stance”, starts shaking his butt, and gets ready to pounce. He normally shakes his butt for a 3-5 before pouncing.
But last night, I noticed something.
I noticed that the second I started pulling my hand farther away from him, he would pounce without hesitation.
Why?
Because Pepe was afraid he wouldn’t be able to pounce if I pulled it away far enough. He was afraid he’d lose what he was trying to do (bite my hand).
And your prospects are the exact same way.
If you put something in front of them they really want, build them up to the point where they HAVE to have it, but then threaten to take it away, you’re going to have a much higher chance of getting that prospect to buy.
This is called the “scarcity tactic”.
You can do this in a number of ways. Here are 5 very popular ways to do it:
- Having a limited number of products you can sell.
- Only selling for a certain amount of time.
- Having certain bonuses only for the first “X” amount of people.
- Having a timer on your website that counts down until they finally don’t have a choice whether to buy it or not.
- Mentioning how the information in the products will only be good for a certain amount of time (this is commonly used in the financial niche)
Scarcity is one of the most powerful human motivators in the world.
Think about it.
You’re out in a store shopping and you see a shirt you love. You notice that it’s the last one on the rack, but you’re still wondering if you should buy it or not.
All of a sudden, someone a similar body shape and weight starts walking up to the rack.
In a panic, afraid they’re going to take that shirt, you grab it off the rack to make sure they don’t have a chance of taking it off you!
The next time you’re writing copy, make sure you create a sense of scarcity in your prospect. But don’t be the same as everyone else. Give them a reason why they have to buy it.
Without a reason why, your prospect will lose trust in you and you’ll lose the sale.
If you have a great story of how you used scarcity in a creative way, please let us know!
Why You Should Write Copy With A Gun To Your Head
I was just listening to a teleconference Michel Fortin did with the late Gary Halbert which you can find at http://www.michelfortin.com/gary-halbert-and-michel-fortin-2/
First I want to say that you NEED to listen to that. It’s one of the best audio’s I’ve ever heard - including ones that were paid for.
Anyway, at one point Gary talks about how at one point in his life when he was down in the dumps, when his ex-wife was nagging him about making more money, he started writing a copy with a pretend gun pointed at his head.
He says that if you want to write great copy, just pretend that if you don’t create a blockbuster homerun, the person standing behind you is literally going to shoot you.
Now I haven’t tried this yet because I just listened to it, but there are a few reasons why this concept should work:
1) It will make you think harder and research more in-depth so you’re positive you’ll create a grand slam.
2) It will give you the confidence needed to write a grand slam.
3) If you actually sit back for a few minutes and visualize it, your subconscious mind will pick up the urgency of it and start getting to work on helping you create that grand slam so the person doesn’t shoot you.
I don’t care if you’re writing an email advertising, a direct mail piece, or website copy - I think this concept will works wonders.
I know I’m going to try it out the next time I write some copy (which will be tomorrow).
I can only hope you’ll be smart enough to do the same.
Oh, and as for a little P.S. - I apologize for not writing lately. The last 3 weeks has been incredibly busy for me and I literally didn’t even realize how long it’s been since I posted last!
Another P.S. - Please, please do me the favor of listening to that audio. He’s got 2 different parts and each part is 2 hours long. Gary is an absolute riot to listen to, and have gives out some of the best advice I’ve ever heard.
I like the part where he talks about how you’re a copywriting fraud until you prove yourself by doing 1 thing…
Here’s the link again - http://www.michelfortin.com/gary-halbert-and-michel-fortin-2/
Overcoming Writer’s Block Easily And Quickly…By Not Writing?
This may go against what you’ve been taught about overcoming writer’s block, but bare with me because I think you’ll see that it actually works.
In all my studying I’ve done for writing persuasive headlines and copy, I’ve always heard “if you want to overcome writer’s block, you simply need to start writing”.
And while that advice is completely sound…I’ve recently discovered that there’s a completely different method of overcoming writer’s block that you’ve probably never heard.
There’s just one little wrinkle though.
This won’t work for most of the “body” copy in your sales letter. It’s only going to work for places like the headline, the lead, guarantee, the offer, the P.S., etc.
So here’s what you do.
If you feel yourself starting to become stagnant from writer’s block, simply start reading about the piece of the copy you’re writing!
For example, last night I was watching the Eagles came while reading “Tested Advertising Methods” during the commercials.
In the first few chapters of that book, he specifically talks about headlines. And guess what?
That’s exactly what I’m trying to write today!
So while I was reading about headlines, not even thinking about one of today’s goal of writing out 50 headlines for a project I’m working on, all these ideas for my project started bursting out of this mind of mine.
And I wasn’t even TRYING to come up with them!
See, I told you it was something you’ve probably never heard before.
Overcoming writer’s block doesn’t necessarily have to be a hard process to go through. Although many writers will complain about it, all you need to do is have an action plan you’ll take every time you see that cursed blinking line on your computer and you’ll be a much faster and more efficient writer.
If you can’t think of a lead, simply read a few blog posts on how to create great leads.
If you can’t think of a good P.S., read a few great P.S.’s from your swipe file - it’s really as simple as that!
Anyway, try this method of overcoming writer’s block - I think you’ll quickly see how powerful it can really be. Sometimes it only takes just 30-60 seconds and you’re right back on track and pounding out great copy like there’s no tomorrow!