It’s been a while.

Sometimes the flow just stops and when it does it’s best not to fret.    Relax and it’ll come back.

Business, or should that be busy-ness is usually the culprit, either that or exciting new things to learn and do.

Copywriting is all about the right state of mind.  Not just your customer’s – YOURS!

Yes, your own state of mind plays a major role in copywriting.

Excited enthusiam is the emotion you need to be able to slip into at will.

Can you do that?

It’s one of the tricks to master, once you’ve studied and practised the nuts and bolts of good copywriting.

I’m going to begin a music collection and label it according to the emotion is brings about.

Plus an array of aromas.

Along with a headful of memories.

The older you are, the more life experience you have to tap into for achieving certain mind sets, ready to write.

You have a whole bank of ready-made experiences to use at will.  What an opportunity!

Right now my neighbour seems to have a house full of toddlers.  Strong, loud, urgent emotions pouring from their little bodies through the wall into my hearing range.

Easy to tap into these sounds ready to bring up the right emotion to begin copywriting.  Particularly useful if you’re selling childcare services.

Or those birds singing their hearts out to be heard over the traffic.

Sweet and pure as a peaceful contrast to young raw human sounds.

You can use anything you like to begin the creative process.

You want to sell an oven cleaner?  Just glance over at your filthy glass oven door and listen to the thoughts and feelings that come up inside your own mind.

Shame?  Laziness?  Anxiety about judgement? Frustration over lack of time?  Annoyance at having to use precious life time for mundane tasks?  Self-rightiousness?  Snobbery?  Does it make you feel slovenly? How about regret (about not wiping it down after every use, just like you vowed to when you first bought it?)

Those are the negatives.

How about the positives?

Anticipation of a spring clean?  Sense of satisfaction about a decision made to clean it?  No more acrid smell every time you bake?  Triumphant about overcoming your natural tendency to leave unpleasant tasks until tomorrow?

Never forget that you have a lifetime of ready-made feelings and emotions to tap into at will in your copywriting.

Stay alert.  Remain connected.  Use your senses.

Rachel Goodall

Can men write copy that appeals to women?
Well, if you’re a man you will read this headline completely differently to a woman. Let me take you back to the 1950’s when there were three things a lady should not do.

1. She should not smoke in public
2. She should not wear long pants, unless under an overcoat
3. She should not colour her hair

It was into this environment that Clairol first introduced their revolutionary “Miss Clairol Hair Colour Bath”. Previously hair colouring was mainly restricted to prostitutes. It was also quite a complicated procedure taking a few hours to complete.

The aim of this product was not only to make hair colouring more mainstream. It also made it possible for women to easily colour their hair themselves… at home…in just 20 minutes! 

So how should they market such a new concept?
This was almost too revolutionary to sell. Within 6 months of introduction the number of women visiting salons for hair colouring increased by more than 500%!

Women still didn’t believe this was possible to do themselves in their own home. In fact it took three years before “Good Housekeeping” magazine would accept ads for this amazing new product.

The person chosen to head the campaign was one Shirley Polykoff. She understood emotions and also understood that you can be very naughty…as long as you are first seen to be nice!

She chose to go with the naughty headline accompanied by a nice picture. Her first thoughts were, Does She…Or Doesn’t She? Only Her Mother Knows For Sure. She didn’t want to upset the salons too much so she changed “mother” to “hairdresser”.

Men automatically assumed the answer to the question to be sexual. 
Life magazine were in fact reluctant to run the ad until a survey showed that women were not filling in the ellipsis the same way as men!

So successful was the Clairol campaign it skyrocketed sales by 413 percent in six years and influenced 50% of adult women to colour their hair. Very clever when you consider, once someone has coloured their hair they have to keep doing it…hair grows and roots show!

Would this campaign have been as successful if a man had been in charge?
Well without sounding sexist…I doubt it! Men just can’t think the same way as women.

So if your target market is female…you need a woman.

Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter

http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979

Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.

So much can be said about writing good copy that sells, but what is often neglected is that copy needs to be written with flair and personality.

 Rachel Wadsworth

 

Do you know why so few people can be successful direct response copywriters?

Because it takes guts.

Guts, dedication and drive.

You can’t just try direct response copywriting.  You can’t simply give it a go.  You have to have a burning desire to become a direct response copywriter.

In my humble opinion, anyway.

Why does it take guts?

For the simple reason that you must be willing and able to retreat within in order to get in touch with your emotions.  Your feelings.

Does that make you cringe?  Too touchy-feely for you?

You must know yourself.

Who are you?

What do you stand for?

What makes you angry?  Sad?  Frustrated?  Deliriously happy? 

And most of all, what makes you EXCITED!

What does excited feel like?  Where is it?  In your tummy?  In the roots of your hair?  The bridge of your nose?

A copywriter’s emotions will always shine through their copy.  There’s no hiding it.

If you’re scared to reveal yourself, to open up and become vulnerable then direct response copywriting … well, it may not be for you.

A copywriter puts his or her heart into their work – and it shows.

The process is mentally taxing to say the least.

Dedication is key.

No dedication results in weak research.

Exhaustive research is a must – there’s just no room for laziness.

Copywriting involves effective interviews, character play, imagination, visualisation, hours upon hours of thinking.  The task at hand consumes you for days, weeks, even months sometimes until it’s time. 

Time to begin pouring out your first draft of long sales copy.

Afterwards, when every last drop is squeezed out of your brain, you rest.

Then, a day or two later you come back for the laborious process of editing to begin.

Seven edits are not unusual.

Copywriting is about using both left and right sides of the brain.

And it’s about using the heart.

Yes, a direct response copywriter certainly works hard for you.  Very hard.

Rachel Goodall
———————-
Clear Passionate Copywriting

www.rachelgoodall.com
skype rachel.goodall
rachel@rachelgoodall.com

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