Alan R. Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter. This featured article is titled “Take-Away Wealth”. [E-Wealth Report]


Alan Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter.

The featured article:

Take-Away Wealth

Here’s a novel concept. Give it a try in your next marketing campaign. It can work wonders.

Step one: identify your target market. Think carefully about who is most suited for your product that you’ll be promoting. One great trick is to actually find a photo in a magazine or online that most closely represents the PERFECT target prospect for your offer. Then, cut out or print out the photo and put it where you can see it while you write your marketing piece.

I’ve done this many times and it can REALLY help keep you focused on the person you’re aiming your copy at.

Step two: now identify the OPPOSITE. The person you absolutely do NOT want as a customer. The one who will be the most trouble to you and the least willing to spend any money.

Step one is always necessary. If you intend to create sales copy that will generate the maximum number of buyers, you must aim it at a target market, a personality type, a person with a specific interest and style you will appeal directly to with your words.

Step two is almost always skipped. It’s usually assumed that step one naturally also DEselects those you aren’t targeting. While in essence this is true, your copy will never generate the maximum result you hope for until you include elements in it that actually DRIVES THE WRONG PEOPLE AWAY.

It’s called take-away selling and it’s done all too rarely. Considering the power of this one simple sales copy technique … I can’t imagine why so many marketing professionals skip it – but this is sadly the case, time and time again.

Here’s an example of a headline/subhead that I hope illustrates what I mean (note – it’s not necessarily great copy … I dashed these out while putting this article together as an illustration only):

HEADLINE: “Get More Strikes More Often With The ZIP Bowling Ball…”

SUBHEAD:…A Truly Remarkable Breakthrough In Sports Technology

Now – assume the bowling ball you’re selling is very expensive. You’re aiming at a pro or semi-pro market, NOT the average bowler who will only waste your time kicking the tires and trying to wheedle a lower price out of you.

So – you revise your headline and sub-head thusly:

HEADLINE: “When Consistent Strikes Mean The Difference Between A Trophy And Another Loss On The Chart…”

SUBHEAD: …the New Technology, Available for the First Tiem Ever In Our New ZIP Bowling Ball, Is GUARANTEED To Give You An “Unfair Advantage” Every Time, Every Frame.”

The difference is subtle, but there. Some people choose to go with an approach that is more direct, such as, “If you don’t bowl for a living – this isn’t for you.” And this is also perfectly fine.

Either way, you should try to work your “take-away” message into your headline or subhead, if at all possible. You can also work it into subheads throughout your copy and into the copy itself. Even the guarantee or a P.S. can provide you with the perfect place to “send people away.”

But – isn’t sending people away contrary thinking? At first glance, it might seem like it – but remember we’re dealing with human beings at the other end of our sales messages. They behave and think certain ways and one thing we know about human behavior is that everyone loves to feel they are a part of an “in” crowd.

Your takeaway message will make people who ARE your targets feel more “in,” more accepted by you and part of a group. YOUR group. And it will pull them in deeper as a result. It will also, at the same time, push some people away. If you do it right, it will push ONLY the people away from your offer who you most hoped wouldn’t respond in the first place.

Consider that a bonus!

I have two gifts for you this week. Both are pretty special. I’ve brought you two absolutely no-cost software programs you can download and run at will, to create your own podcasts, audio for Websites and blogs, and audio products, on CD or for download. My second gift then enables you to easily BROADCAST all of your audio recordings as podcasts over the Web for easy availability and listening.

First up is a program that has, by now, become something of a standard. It’s very powerful audio editing software that is still available completely without cost or obligation. Download it. Install it and give it a try. You’ll find you can be up and rolling out professional-sounding audio in no time.

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

The second program, EasyPodcast, does just that – it makes turning any digital audio recording into a podcast that you can upload, submit to blogs, or broadcast over the Internet via iTunes or a number of other podcasting directories and sites:

EasyPodcast: http://www.easypodcast.com/

Have fun! See you next week!

Alan R. Bechtold

President/CEO

BBS Press Service, Inc.

‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Alan Bechtold for granting permission to reprint the latest article.