Copywriter, Beware! You’re In For A Scare!
It’s half past 4 when my running shoes hit the hot, baked dirt of my favorite trail.
Aggie’s with me today, and we’re doing a big loop through the forest.
Up the pavement, into the woods, through the trees, past the creek and back to the car.
And on this particular trail, the amount of hikers drops off significantly after ~2 miles.
So of course, when we hit that point, I “unsaddle” Aggie and let her run by my side.
She loves it when she gets to run free— and is well trained to stick by my side.
MOST of the time, at least …
And little did I know, we’d soon be giving two women the shock of their life.
As we round the first bend on the trail, Aggie pulls ahead and out of sight.
Before I can see … I hear it.
“AHHHHHH! OH MY GOD, AHHH!”
I round the corner and see two exasperated women clutching their chests and cowering away from Aggie.
But Aggie’s already passed them and moved on.
And once I show up, they realize she’s my dog — not some wild forest beast.
But in that moment, it completely froze them from doing anything.
I apologized for the unintentional fright, we had a laugh, and went on our way.
Now, if you’re wondering if this is another copywriting parable … you’re right!
I mean, this IS a blog about copywriting after all.
So here’s the analog. (Did you catch it?)
The trail = Your customer’s journey, on their way to accomplish their dreams or relieve their pains.
The dog = The obstacles that are stopping them from taking action and causing them to cower in fear.
If you want your copy to be effective, it’s not always enough to just address pain points and tell the reader your product will fix them.
There are always things that stop people from taking action:
A self-limiting belief (“There’s no way I can lose weight.”)
A history of no-results (“I already tried that.”)
A good deal of exposure to previous advertising with similar claims as yours (“Yeah right, good joke!”)
So, my copywriting advice for today:
Figure out what’s stopping your readers from taking action. (Research on Reddit is quite helpful for this.)
Then address that obstacle in your copy.
You may find that it builds a much more compelling sales argument.
I know it has for me.
David Patrick
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