Copywriting Tip – How To Use A Little To Say An Awful Lot

I have the patience of a gnat. It’s not that I have ADD or anything like that, but being from New York City, I like when people get to the point quickly.
If I ask you what time it is, just say it’s “ten-fifteen,” don’t build me a clock, for goodness sakes.
You know what I mean?
Just get to the point!
I can’t stand people who have to beat around the bush for an hour before they get to the bottom line. Sure, you want to hear the colorful things that make stories enticing and make you laugh, but please… I don’t have forever to hear them — I have lots of stuff to do!
And your buyers are no different.
They want you to get to the point, quickly… and they don’t want you to waste their time in the process. The faster you can tell them “what’s in this for them,” the more they’ll like you and the better they’ll respond. And the more you’ll sell and the more you’ll make.
The word “brevity” means “shortness of expression,” and I guess that’s what this would be called, but I prefer the direct explanation of “get to the point, and be direct.”
With that in mind, here are some real life examples of the old “Little Blue Book” titles and how many copies they sold:
* ‘100 Best Books To Read’ sold 32,000 copies
‘How To Choose Books’ only sold 10,000 copies.
The second title here, offers little to no direct benefits, where the first title offers both excitement and efficiency.
* ‘How To Improve Your Conversation’ sold 77,000 copies, where ‘The Romance of Words’ a measly 10,500 copies.
The first title telegraphs a direct benefit, where the second one is vague.. and who knows what it is really offering?
* ‘Facts You Should Know About Music’ sold 37,000 copies against ‘Harmony Self Taught,’ which only sold 14,500 copies.
This first title is far more direct and sounds like fun, as opposed to the second, which sounds like work.
See, the words you choose, mean an awful lot, even when you’re only choosing a few of them at a time.
I even dealt with this issue myself.
The first working title of my book, “How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers!” was called “Small List, Big Profits.” Although the eventual title was longer, it was far more specific, direct, and exciting in the benefits it offered. And when I ran a split-test of these titles, the eventual title out-pulled the smaller one by over twice as many responses.
Remember, in life, and especially in business… you’ve got to… get… to… the point.