Who Are You Calling A Moron?
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- March 20th, 2009 |
- Comments
Keep in mind thither may be a good A recent chat with a friend reminded me of a copywriting lesson I learned long ago in a place far-far artifact (Philly): Never insult your audience. Easier said than done? Maybe. But we know thither’s a fine line between insulting your audience and completely alienating them. Convey God thither’s a solution:
Give your copy the “moron” attempt. I learned this during my days at a large business-to-business newsletter publishing company. We’d give our headlines a attempt to accompany if we could put an insulting name at the end of them - in activity killing off the headline.
Here’s an example:
Have You Complied with HR 1091?
Attempt adding “moron” to the end of that question. Flows pretty nicely doesn’t it? It’s almost like you’re a school educator with a ruler standing over the reader.
You can change it to:
HR 1091 Requires Compliance by Jan. 1
Exploitation this fact-based approach lets the reader ask his or her own compliance questions. Give the information or the germ of an idea and allow the reader to follow abreast his or her own. We deprivation to inspire cerebration and so subtly direct action.
Tho’ I gave a headline as an example, you can apply the “moron” attempt to any part of your copy, especially the questions.
What’s the difference between an insult and a gentle nudge in your product or service’s direction? I’ve seen a few campaigns (via e-mail) where it’s obvious the goal is to disgrace the reader into action. An e-mail I recently received from expert e-mail marketer Stephen Pierce of the Entire Actuality read, “Have you done this yet?”
Moron could easily be added to the end of that question. And tho’ he didn’t deprivation to insult, he did deprivation to get the reader’s attention - and that’s just what he did. The well-written letter that accompanied that case line was a gem - no doubt success Stephen dozens of sign-ups for his teleseminar.
The Bottom Line
With the prevalence of books from the “For Dummies” broadcast you’ll have to weigh whether your audience has no qualms about being called a moron (or a dummy as the case may be). So measure your audience’s reaction to different tones of expression and approaches. Consume these stairs to create a attempt group of subscribers to sample your more creative e-mail newsletters and campaigns:
1. Randomly gather 15 to 20 names from your list and only send them your more alternative campaigns piece sending the rest of your list more conventional information.
2. Ask you attempt group for feedback on the campaigns.
3. Monitor the group’s actions. Do they unsubscribe, click finished or just open your e-mails?
4. Integrate any of your more booming ideas into the conventional information you give the rest of your list.
This artifact you have a relatively safe place to attempt out your tones of expression. With this model you can find out whether your list loves - or hates - the entire moron/dummy approach to marketing.