Sub-headlines: The Neglected Little Sister

I got a lot of nice e-mail about my previous post, What’s the Copywriter’s Most Powerful Psychological Tool – see http://StreetGuideToCopywriting.com/blog/conversions/most-powerful-tool, thanks.

This time I want to look at an important topic that you don’t read a lot about and that I call the “neglected little sister, the sub-headline; fortunately, it builds directly upon the Most Powerful Psychological Tool!

Even the term is confusing because it is used for 2 entirely different things in a sales letter.

First, it is used for the secondary headline under the primary headline. You know…

Buy My Wonderful Product So That YOU Can Become a Trillionaire,
Live Forever and Sleep with Every Beautiful Women on the Planet”

And You Won’t Believe Why I Will Pay You For the Privilege

The second part, “And You Won’t Believe Why I Will Pay You For the Privilege”, is the sub-headline.

The other use is to break up the sales copy into sections to keep it interesting, be informative, and as a “skimmer magnet” — to stop and capture the attention of skim readers.

Both are important but this time I’ll be talking about how your can use sneaky techniques to…

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Just Say No to Ad Sales Copy!

No doubt about it, sales letters are promotional material. They promote products and services with the ultimate intent of creating sales.

But, and it is a big but,  just because a sales letter is an ad doesn’t mean it should look and sound like one.

Why this bad?

Well there are several reasons, the first is that people LIKE to buy, but they DO NOT LIKE to be sold to.

There are many reasons for that including, among other things: a loss of control and mistrust that the seller isn’t going to necessarily have the buyer’s best interests in mind.

The second reason is that people have developed a sort of “blindness” to ads.

That is, when something looks like an advertisement people subconsciously tune out, sort of like fast forwarding through the commercials of some TV show you’ve recorded.

People will just skip right over something that seems to be trying to sell them.

This is, obviously, not good for copywriters, but can you avoid or overcome it?

One simple answer is that you do not make your copy look like an ad; duh.

But, since a sales letter is an ad, how do you hide your ad without requiring the skills and mastery of a Dan Kennedy.

One very effective way is to…

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Grades are in, did you pass?

Last week I told you that I just got a “B” in Gary Halbert’s copywriting quiz and had you take it also.

Below I have listed each question again along with the correct answer and a reason for that answer, if one was given.

I have also given my answer and my analysis of the answer.

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How Good Are You Really? Take Gary Halbert’s Quiz to Find Out…

I just took this copywriting quiz developed by the late Gary Halbert; if you don’t know who he is you really need to check him out and his teachings – he was about as good as you can get when it comes to copywriting and direct response marketing.

I did okay, I got 16 out of 20 — a B back in my school days, but not as well as I had hoped (or, truthfully, expected). It was an interesting and humbling experience (made me remember that I don’t know as much as I thought icon smile How Good Are You Really? Take Gary Halbert’s Quiz to Find Out... and I really wanted to share the quiz with you so you could benefit from it also.

GaryHalbertQuiz How Good Are You Really? Take Gary Halbert’s Quiz to Find Out...One thing I suggest is taking the test twice, once without thought and analysis, just your immediate gut reaction, and the second time use the rules of copywriting you know.

Compare the differences in results and find out where you are strong and where you are weak. Also, it will help you understand how well you can trust your instincts.

Some people are good representatives of their prospects and some aren’t and you need to know which you are, this is very important; you’ll be losing sales if you use the wrong viewpoint, that is, use instinct when you should use analysis and vice versa.

For example, my partner took the test both ways and got 40% more right when she analyzed. This suggests that she is atypical of the general public and things that attract them probably don’t attract her.

Post your answers to the blog and, who knows, there may be something nice for the person who scores the highest.

Beware, make sure you actually read each headline/question, I missed a few by thinking I knew it without properly reading it.

Here’s the quiz…

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