Copywriting
By far, the best direct response copywriting I have seen comes from Ivan Levison. While a VP of Marketing at one company, I used him to both help with copy, and as a consultant to train a new internal copywriter.
After every session with Ivan, my copywriter came to me and expressed her excitement about all of the exciting information she was learning.
Her first direct mail piece, under Ivan’s guidance, had a 43% response rate--so great and unexpected that we ran out of inventory! No wonder he is used by Adobe, Apple, HP, and Microsoft and is so
highly recommended from all the marketing greats, including Geoffrey Moore, author of “Crossing the Chasm.”
For this reason, I have asked Ivan if I could use his content directly by providing direct links to his site (remember to come back!). He graciously agreed. Enjoy!
Ivan Levison
Remember to bookmark his site and subcribe to his FREE monthly newsletter. Click here to view of list of over 35 back issues!
Additional copywriters to consider (such as Ed Gandia Copywriting and others) are found within the copywriter links section.
The Persuasive Format
I am often amazed at how unpersuasive many sales presentations, direct mail pieces, speeches, and direct response ads are.
Part of the reason, is the general lack of knowledge of the “persuasive format.” I origionally learned this format during a college speech class in the early 80’s where I went on to win numerous speech awards. In addition, I used this format to make tens of thousands of dollars within persuasive sales presentations (I sold door-to-door while an “engineer” in college (averaging over $30k per summer))--the company then hired me to run the program over hundreds of salespeople.
I have since followed the same format to write everything from direct mail copy, ad copy, sales scripts and investor and product presentations. Following is the basc outline:
- Attention. Get the person or audience attention
- Problem. Demonstrate a need
- Solution. Show how the product fills that need
- Best solution. Detail how it is the BEST product to fill the need
- Objections. Overcome all objections to the product
- Visualize. Help the dealer visualize benefits the product will bring
- Close. Actuate the dealer to order the eval & stock the product
Click here to view it illustrated, along with a practice excercise, within the “On-line Field Sales Manual.” Click here (right click and select save as if it does not download automatically) to download a Word document that explains more about how to use the persuasive format to train your sales force.
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