How To Sell Without Selling And Pack Your Copywriting Business With New Clients Fast
There's no doubt about it that we are being bombarded with more advertising and marketing -- especially online -- than ever before.
And if you want your ads to cut through the noise and clutter of an overcrowded market place, one of the best things you can do is not try to make the sale at all.
Let me explain.
Almost 100 years ago the legendary copywriter Maxwell Sackheim wrote an ad with a headline (that is now ingrained in direct response copywriting mythology) that said, "Do You Make These Mistakes In English?"
And even though the ad is considered to have some of the best "sales copy" of all time, nothing in the ad was being "sold." Instead, the entire ad was designed to get people to send for a free book.
You see, before selling anything, the ad first got anyone interested in developing better English skills to raise their hands. Then they sent them a sales letter selling an actual product. Which, from what I hear, sold a TON of courses.
And this concept is even more important today.
Whether you're writing online or offline, doesn't matter. If you find your ads and sales letters just aren't pulling because you are in an overcrowded market, try to write an ad that sells people on something free first.
From there, when they've gotten to know you and the valuable information you possess, then go for the sale. Then sell a straight pitch on something that costs money.
Now, if you are a copywriter who wants to start attracting dozens -- even hundreds -- of new leads and clients, here's another unique way to accomplish this.
This may sound over simplified (or complicated, depending on your work ethic) but the key to attracting copywriting clients is to simply write a book on the subject.
In fact, Joe Vitale in his book "The 7 Lost Secrets Of Success" told the story of how Bruce Barton (one of the founders of the famous ad agency BBDO) once wrote a book about advertising and business. And how, after the book was published, their ad agency was flooded with new business almost overnight.
People "all the sudden" wanted to hire Bruce Barton -- the guy who wrote the book they had just read -- to do their ads. And BBDO made a lot of money, and got some extremely big accounts as a result.
Now, I'm not saying you will have the same success as Bruce Barton.
But having a book out there that demonstrates your knowledge and skills will do more for your credibility and perceived value as a copywriter than any amount of portfolios, testimonials or bragging will ever do.
And realize that writing a book doesn't have to be a hard, drawn out process. You can do the same thing, get the same effect, by having someone interview you about the subject, putting the interview on CD and having the transcripts typed up into a "book."
The key is to give good information in a format people can easily access it in.
You do that, and you get it in enough people's hands, and you will start to find people coming from all over wanting to hire you, and only you.
Michael Senoff is a sought-after Internet marketer, interviewer and business coach with more than 50,000 students on four continents. For 117 hours of free audio interviews with top copywriters, go to http://www.hardtofindseminars.com/Copywriting.html
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