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Copywriting Tips And Techniques

Headline
Hello and welcome to copywriting tips and techniques. Today, I would like to talk about the all important headline, subheads and lead paragraph in your copy. Your headline should reach out, grab your prospect, and lead him into your copy. Your headline should have four critical rules, called the 4 U’s which when used will supercharge your copy.
Urgency
The headline should give the prospect a reason to desire the benefits sooner rather than later.
Usefulness
The headline should communicate something of value to the prospect.
Uniqueness
The headline should suggest that what your copy is offering is in some way different from everything else of its type. All claims should be uniquely associated with certain products or services.
Ultra-Specificity
Vagueness should be avoided at all cost. The prospect must know what specific benefits are in store for him.
Your title must use at least 3 of the 4 U’s.
Subheads
Subheads are like miniature headlines that appear all throughout your letter. They accomplish several things.
First subheads break up your copy into manageable segments and move your prospect into the copy. Your prospect can use the subheads to scan your copy to see if he or she wants to read it. If while scanning the subheads your prospect sees something they like, then they will read your entire copy. Subheads give you lots of opportunities to pull your prospect completely into your copy.
Second, Subheads power your copy! A serious prospect will read your letter from the first line to the last. A quick prospect will scan the copy, looking for points of interest. You can satisfy both of them, and exclude neither. How do you do this? By having tight copy flow from beginning to end. This will satisfy the serious prospect. If you visually break up your copy with subheads, you also invite the quick prospect to enter at any point. He may go back and read the whole thing once you’ve locked him in.
Third, sometimes subheads themselves can sell your product or service. A wonderful example is the classic Wall Street Journal letter, written by the late Martin Conroy, and mailed continuously from 1975 to 2003 (28 years). The entire message is embodied in the subheads.
3 Important points to remember about subheads
*Subheads should state benefits and connect to the main benefits of your package.
*Sometimes, if you just read the subheads, they can “sell” the product or service.
*Headlines that were good but didn’t quite make the cut for the opening of your copywriting package may well turn out to be useful subheads.
This is called a soft offer. The benefits/promises are clearly stated in the subheads and the prospect doesn’t have to exert much effort to get the general idea of the letter. This approach captures both the serious prospect and the quick prospect. On the other side of the coin, is the hard offer. Here the subheads do not directly sell the product or services. They are more oblique and ease the reader into the copy. Generally, they appeal to the more serious prospect.
Remember creating headlines that grab your prospects attention is the first step in persuading him to buy your product or services. Once you’ve got him engaged in your letter, you stand a very good chance of making the sale.
The Lead
The lead sinks the hook into your prospect. This is the foundation of your letter. You can catch someone with a good headline, but if don’t engage him completely with your lead, he’ll never read through your promotion.
The lead is the copy directly after the headline, which delivers your big promise and introduces any important ideas that will be woven throughout your letter. A lead usually takes up about 10 to 30% of your copy. Remember your lead must always accomplish 2 things.
1 Deliver the big promise.
2 Introduce the big idea.
The big promise is the overriding benefit or service that is offered to the prospect.
The big promise should make your prospect believe that your product or service will make them more powerful, sexy, admired or sought after… and so on.

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