Write With Influence

Welcome to Episode 44 of Write with Influence. Today I am introducing you all to WISH, a technique I developed myself to help you come up with attention-grabbing ideas for your sales copy. Just like when a doctor diagnoses and treats a patient, I am going to show you how to identify your customer's symptoms – the frustrations and annoyances that occur in their lives due to the problem that you solve – and offer them a solution that they can't refuse. Listen to discover: * My four prompts that will help you get to know your customer and spot symptoms that your product/service can eliminate. * How to use my WISH technique to position yourself as a trusted advisor and build confidence in you and your business. * How to use symptoms to showcase your expertise. * How to write vivid and evocative copy that your customer relates to and thinks, Yes, that sounds like me! In this week's sketches I've chosen to elaborate on why I hate icebreakers to the supervisors, managers, and leaders of the world, please take note and engage your introverted workers in a different way, Rock, Paper, Scissors perhaps? I've also thrown in a phony doctor scene to elaborate on my symptoms analogy and agitate pain by prodding a patient's knife wound I promise it will all make sense in the end! Remember, it's easy to slip into writing in vague terms and phrases that make you sound like everyone else out there so take the time to try out this technique pin down the symptoms in your customer’s lives and show that you understand the problems they are facing, remind them that they are in a place of pain and prime them to want YOUR solution. Don' forget to subscribe so that you can automatically get notified when the next episode is available. Likes and reviews are also hugely appreciated. Links: The Write With Influence Course [https://writewithinfluence.com/course/] EPISODE 44 THE WISH TECHNIQUE FOR WRITING PAIN POINTS YOUR CUSTOMER RECOGNISES AMY HARRISON Welcome back to another episode of Write with Influence. Today I’m going to give you some prompts to help you come up with attention-grabbing ideas, these are ideas that you can use in adverts, subject lines of emails, headlines, any marketing where you want to come up with a quick and simple pinpoint that will help cut through the noise. Now, this exercise may only take you 20 minutes of brain power, but I think it’s worthwhile, and the reason for that is that it really makes you put yourself in your customer’s shoes. So, if you remember, we looked at something called the Customer Monologue in episode 43 which was a technique to help you imagine life as your customer. In this episode, I’m going to give you some specific prompts to help you come up with even more ideas about what it’s like to be your customer living with the problem that you, fortunately, solve. I call this the wish technique, because there are four main prompts that just happen to spell out the word WISH – wasn’t that convenient and easy to remember! One reason why I think it’s really important to do this type of brainstorming work is because copywriting is nothing new anymore. There are a ton of resources and quick tips and headline templates out there, but there’s also still a heck of a lot of bad copywriting, and I think this is because people see a phrase or a term that’s popular, such as putting the word secret or hack into a headline, or finally you can, and they think that all that they need to get people’s attention is those kinds of copywriting, salesy words. But the problem is, if you’re not talking about something specific to your audience, no amount of clever copywriting phrase is going to get their attention. Now, we looked at this in more detail in episode 33 which was about how marketers cannot live by copywriting phrases alone. So, if you haven’t heard that one, I recommend going back. Like all my other episodes, it’s about 15-20 minutes. So, today I’m going to give you a list of things to think about, to help you come up with ideas about how the problem that you solve shows up in your customer’s life. This is all about identifying symptoms. You may have heard me talk about symptoms before, and I tend to talk about them because I think they’re really important, and I think that there are a lot of marketers that don't use them. I’ve been in some very expensive sales message creation meetings where the client still wants to talk about their customer’s problem in very vague terms and when you’re asking them, Hey, what’s going on in your customer’s world? What are they struggling with? You might get responses that are quite generic, such as, Oh, they’re not being efficient or, They’re not getting the results that they want. This is fine as a starting point to have a conversation around, but these are not symptoms, and these are not something that you would want to include in your copy because they’re too generic and too vague. So, what are symptoms? Symptoms are the day to day frustrations and annoyances that occur in your customer’s life due to the overall problem that you solve. It’s pretty much the same as if you go to the doctor feeling under the weather. The first thing your doctor’s going to do is ask about the symptoms Have you got a runny nose? Have you got aches in the bones? Fever? Well, it sounds like you have the flu (or whatever it may be) Then they move into the solution by saying, Here’s what you need to solve that. If you think about it, when you go to your doctor, they are really selling you on their idea of a solution, which is exactly what you want to do with your customer, and the way they sell you on the idea is by showing you that you have a problem, and the way they show you that you have a problem is getting you to acknowledge your symptoms. It’s exactly the same in copywriting. This can be really powerful, but not a lot of businesses use symptoms in their copy and instead might only talk about the main problem and then dive straight into the solution. So, let’s go back to the doctor analogy just quickly. You walk into your doctor’s office, he takes one look at you and says, You’ve got the flu, take this. Now, you might trust him and you might think that just by looking at you, his powers of perception means he knows exactly what’s wrong with you, but more likely and realistically, you’re not going to be as confident in that doctor, as you would be with a doctor who takes the time to prove that they know what you’re going through, and this is what you need to do in your copy. You’re going to build that trust and showcase your expertise by using symptoms. So, just as in the doctor’s office, you’re going to describe experiences that your customer can recognize. And symptoms are usually pretty specific, so, let’s look at a marketing example. A common piece of copy that you might see for a business might say: Is social media not working for your business? You need our social media solution software strategy. At first glance, we might look at that and think, yes, that copy identifies a problem and offers up a solution, but we want to go a little bit deeper and a little bit more specific, and this really does sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to copywriting, because we want to write something that’s really vivid and evocative to our customer. So, I would push with this example and say, Well, tell me, what does social media not working for the business look like for our customer? And then describe that by pinning down some more specific scenarios, for example, Are you spending a lot of money on Facebook, but not seeing any sales? Are you struggling to track which sales are coming from which content or which social media platform? Are you spending too much time updating individual accounts with the same content? The key with symptoms is to get your customer nodding along with you and saying, That sounds like me, yes, I can relate. When you write copy like this, it positions you as a trusted advisor and it gets prospect's attention because you’re talking about something very specific to them. And because you show empathy and understanding of that problem, it builds trust and confidence in you and your business. So, taking the time to pin down these various symptoms in your customer’s life can really transform your copy and it’s so simple to do but most people don’t take the time to identify, jot down and keep their customers symptoms nearby when they write. The result of this is, when someone sits down to write their marketing content, it can be very easy for them to slip into general terms that makes them sound like everyone else out there. So, I want you to grab a pen and paper, and I’m going to list a bunch of scenarios, and I want you to ask yourself: 1. Does the problem show up in this area of your customer’s life? 2. If it does, what does it look like? So here we go, the WISH technique WISH stands for: * Work * Internal * Social * Home I think it’s a really neat way to get to know your customer on more of a personal level, you know, a little bit like those icebreakers that people do in workshops that everyone loves to do. Don’t we all just love an icebreaker?! [SKETCH CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP] Creative Writing Teacher: Welcome to this creative writing week. We’re going to be sharing a lot of work together and that can make you feel vulnerable, so I’d like to start with an icebreaker. Don’t worry, nothing difficult. Why don’t we start by telling the group something that surprised you today? In fact, I’ll go first. I’ll show you how easy it is. This morning I took a little walk around the garden and saw a plant that I was pretty sure I’d managed to kill, I’m not green fingered, confession, and actually it was doing really, really well! So, that was just a lovely surprise this morning. Who wants to go next, Liz? Liz: Oh, that was a nice story. Well, I came down to breakfast this morning and fixed my coffee and some toast, sourdough, because I’m having some tummy problems. And just as I was buttering my toast, my husband’s surprised me with the news that he’s leaving me. Creative Writing Teacher: Oh. Liz: That was a surprise. I was not expecting that. I mean, we’ve been having problems. We haven’t been close recently. We’ve not been intimate. Creative Writing Teacher: Um, well . . . Liz: That, wasn’t the only surprise . . . Creative Writing Teacher: I did just ask for one. I mean, you’d be going above and beyond if you give another Liz. Liz: I’ve got a fungal toenail infection that I just spotted this morning. I don’t know where that’s from because we sleep in separate rooms and I don’t go to the swimming baths or the gym. So where do you think that’s come from? Creative Writing Teacher: I don’t know. Liz: Those are my surprises and I’m really looking forward to this week and writing about both of those things in great detail. [End] So yes, let’s use these prompts to get to know your customer. First of all, the W in the WISH, I want you to dive into your customer’s work life. Now, even if your customer’s problem isn’t directly associated with the work, generally speaking, our jobs take up such a large chunk of our day that even personal issues can bleed into our professional environments. So, think about your customer going through their daily work routine – how might the problem affect them? And to break it down further, I’ll give you a couple of other sub points to think about. The first is the people that they work with. Now, unless you’re like me and a bit of a hermit who can go for days without speaking directly to another person with their work, your customer is very likely to have dealings with people as part of the work that they do. It could be suppliers, colleagues, superiors, or even their own employees; dealing with people in work can be a good place to start looking for symptoms. So, for example, if there is a problem that is causing them stress, is that affecting their relationships? Are they as relaxed or as confident as they used to be when dealing with people, or is the problem straining the relationships of the people that they work with? And maybe it doesn’t, as I mentioned, not all of these areas will manifest symptoms from the problem that you solve, but they are there for prompts. So think about, does the problem that you solve affect the relationship of the people that your customer works with? If so, write that down. The other work area that is useful to think about in terms of symptoms is performance. So, does the problem that you solve encroach on your customer’s ability to do the job at hand, for example, the time it takes to complete a task – are they working as efficiently as possible, or are they distracted by the problem? Are they held back by the problem? Are they doing their job as well as they could? Are they giving customer satisfaction or are they performing at a level that their superiors and their bosses expect? Now, the problem that you solve might not show up in your customer’s work life, or it might be smack bang in the middle of exactly what it is that you do, but the point is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, look around, walk with them in work and see if you can spot symptoms that your product solves that you can eliminate. The next thing that I want you to think about is the I in WISH, which is internal, how is your customer affected internally? How is the problem affecting them on the inside? Now, this might be in the form of how they feel and their emotions, but also something that I find useful is to think about the things that they’re telling themselves about their problem. Let’s look at feelings first, and sometimes I find that a nice way to approach this is to imagine your customer and think about what they’re feeling, and then try to pinpoint what exactly or what number of reasons could be causing that feeling. So, let’s say you help start-ups, and you work with individuals that want to start their own businesses and you have a lot of customers that initially are fearful or afraid of starting their own business. They want to do it, they’re passionate about it, but there’s some fear that they need to overcome. So, that fear is definitely something that you would want to explore in your copy, but also the reasons behind that fear – what is making them afraid? Is it because they’re worried that they’ll fail? Is it because they’re worried that they’re not smart enough, bright enough, their idea isn’t going to work, they’re going to let people down? All of these are great reasons to include in your copy, and again, it links back to this idea of showing that you really understand where your customer is and what they’re going through, and when you can demonstrate that you elevate your position, because you’re seen as someone who isn't just pushing something, you are providing a solution to that specific problem, which you can demonstrate that you understand. Now, from there, it can also be helpful to imagine what your customer may be telling themselves because of the problem in their life. This is similar to the customer monologue that we looked at in the previous episode, but we’re not limited to the three prompts that we learned in that episode, which was: 1. I’m sick and tired of . . . 2. I wish I could . . . 3. But I don’t know how . . . Instead, we can be a bit more free and explore other things that they might be telling themselves, for example, are they telling themselves: I’ll never do this. Gosh, if someone could just show me the way . . . Why do things feel so hard? Is it my fault that I’ve got this problem? Is it something I did? Am I to blame? How come other people find this easier than I do? I mean, we’ve all probably gone through these same kinds of questions when we’re struggling with our own problems. It’s very easy for us to ruminate on, why did this happen? And what’s wrong with me? And will I ever see the light at the end of the tunnel? And if you can think about what your customer might be feeling, these kinds of phrases are great sources of copy ideas, because if you can just include a very short evocative symptom phrase on something like a Facebook ad that could get their attention as they’re scrolling through, because you’re speaking to that very specific problem. How do I do this? Is it only me? Is it my fault? There really is a lot of power if you can pin down a phrase that your customer is thinking that relates to a pain that they’re feeling. The next area in your customer’s life to consider is social. This is the S in WISH. So, how does the problem create symptoms in their leisure time? Does it affect them when they’re enjoying a pastime or a hobby, or when spending time with friends? Does it affect their weekends or their holidays? Think about when they want to relax and when they want to do the things that they enjoy – is it cropping up or is the problem showing up and interrupting and affecting or polluting that leisurely time? Finally, I want you to think about their home life. So, we tend to split our lives pretty evenly between work life and home life so it’s no surprise that these are two key areas where symptoms tend to show up if there is a problem and they get noticed by your customer. So think about how the problem shows up in your customer’s home life. How do they feel when they arrive home? Are they worried? Are they stressed? Are they burnt out? How do they interact with their family? Are there concerns about whether they can support them? Are they able to give their spouse and their children their full attention? What’s the atmosphere like at home? Is it lively? Is it filled with fun or is there tension in the air? How does it affect the activities in the home, both chores and leisure activities? Now, as I say, with these four prompts, the problem may not show up in all of them, it may only show up in a couple, but what it does is, it just gives you a starting point to create ideas around where you might find good symptoms that you can describe and use in your copywriting. So, just to recap, I want you to think about WISH and WISH stands for: 1. WORK – how does the problem affect them at work, particularly, how does it affect the relationships with the people that they work with and their performance? 2. INTERNAL – how do they feel about the problem? But also, how do they talk to themselves about the problem? 3. SOCIAL – does the symptom show up and affect or possibly spoil their leisure time? 4. HOME – does the problem also invade their home or family life? That’s all for this week. I am wishing you a stunning week ahead. I want good things to happen to you, nah, I want great things to happen to you this week! Now, if you are interested in the WISH technique, I go into it with some more examples and in much more detail in the full Write with Influence copywriting course. The full course is just a great course for pinning down the fundamental skills for writing persuasive copy. You can check it all out, read about the course, read about reviews over at www.writewithinfluence.com [http://www.writewithinfluence.com]. And I do love the WISH technique, and I love writing and coming up with symptoms because they remind our customers that they are in a place of pain. Talking about symptoms can really help agitate that pain, which as we all know, good copywriting does. Agitating the pain to prime them to want solution. [SKETCH- DOCTORS OFFICE] Doctor: What seems to be the problem? Patient: Avocado hand Doctor: Tried to remove the stone with a knife and it slipped? Patient: The nurse said it could do with some stitches. Doctor: Let's have a look. How does that feel? Patient: AWWW! You just jabbed your finger in there. Doctor: Did it hurt? Patient: Of course it bloody hurt. Doctor: All right. What if I jammed this pencil in there? Patient: I'm in agony! Doctor: It’s called agitating the pain. Yeah. I can fix this problem for you and make the pain go away, but I mean, I really want you to value it, so I’m just going to remind you how painful the problem is. Patient: Awww please stop. Stop it. Doctor: Would you pay me £20.00? Patient: I thought this was on the NHS! AWW! Yes. Please stop. Just fix it. Just fix it. Here you go. Doctor: Thank you. Doctor 2: Okay. Sorry about the delay . . . Doctor 1: Got to go. Doctor 2: Who was that? Patient: The doctor? Doctor 2: Never seen him before in my life! [End] The post Ep 44: The WISH Technique for Writing Pain Points Your Customer Recognises [https://writewithinfluence.com/podcast/write-with-influence-podcast/ep-44-the-wish-technique-for-writing-pain-points-your-customer-recognises/] appeared first on Write With Influence [https://writewithinfluence.com].

Welcome to Episode 43 of Write with Influence. This week's topic was inspired by a powerful storytelling technique that I discovered whilst studying for my degree in script writing. In fiction, you can’t write a well-rounded character unless you know them inside out and the same applies when it comes to copywriting – you have to write in a voice that appeals to your customer, and this is why I'm going to teach you how to write a character monologue for your target audience. My simple three-part structure to creating a customer monologue will help you to: * Gain a deeper understanding of what your customer is going through. * Shift your perspective and bring you closer to your customer's point of view. * Discover themes of frustration and desire that you can apply to your copy. I have included some sketches to shine a light on the importance of communicating specific details about people we've got a police interview with an unexpected arrest and a netball semi-final where stocky, ginger and cranky dominate the court in an arm-waving battle to win the trophy. Writing a customer monologue will make you take a step back and revisit your customer from a slightly different angle and in this episode, I am going to show you how to use this tactic to create emotional, specific content that expresses a greater depth of understanding and empathy and speaks to your audience in a new language. Don’ forget to subscribe so that you can automatically get notified when the next episode is available. Likes and reviews are also massively appreciated I read every one and they warm the cockles of my heart. Links: The Write With Influence Course [https://writewithinfluence.com/course/] EPISODE 43 THE CUSTOMER MONOLOGUE HOW TO INJECT EMPATHY AND EMOTION INTO YOUR COPY AMY HARRISON Amy Harrison: Hello and welcome to Write with Influence, a bite size snack of copywriting tips and tricks that I put together just for you. Why? Well, because I think you deserve the persuasive writing power to show people just how valuable you are. You’ve got your thing going on out there and the world needs to know about it. Today’s copywriting tip comes from a storytelling technique and it’s one that makes it easier to put into words what it is your customer is feeling about their problem. And that’s why today’s artwork shows folklore hero, Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox as they listen to their customer’s problem. You can see that over on the show page at www.writewithinfluence.com. This technique is called the customer monologue. When you articulate how customers feel, it helps build a connection between your business and them. When you don’t quite get it right – this can happen when we sit down to write from our perspective and talk about what we think our customer wants to hear about our product – we can usually tell because you can feel it. You might not be able to put your finger on what it is, but as you’re reading through your copy, nine times out of 10, you can tell if it feels a little bit out of sorts. I sometimes think of it like wearing ill-fitting clothes. You might be able to force it, but it might not be pretty or comfortable. So your copy should feel like it fits your ideal customer. It should be easy for prospects to read, and I’m not talking about plain speak or nicely edited sentences. It should be easy to read because it feels comfortable and it feels familiar and it feels like it speaks to them. Now, this technique that I’m going to share with you, the customer monologue, comes from back when I was training to be a screenwriter many, many, many, many years ago. I studied screenwriting for film and TV for three years, and I got my degree in it. I was really happy with the degree, I learnt tons over the three years, but I’m going to be perfectly honest, I’ve never written anything for the big screen. However, all was not lost because what I learned later on was that the narrative lessons that I learned during that course were invaluable for copywriting. One of the lessons that we learned was called a Character Monologue. Now, in fiction, you can’t really write a well-rounded character unless you’re really in their head and you know what they think, what they say, what gets them upset, and most importantly, you know what they would say that perhaps you wouldn’t. This really opened my eyes at the time as to what it means to be a good writer and I think it’s the same for being a good copywriter. You have to write in the voice that appeals to your customer, not necessarily in a voice that appeals to you. So, for example, I remember my tutors, when we all started that course, they saw a lot of students writing scripts about students who sat around and had conversations about being students and they encouraged us to stop this and to stretch ourselves. They would say, Write about someone who isn’t you. Go out, do the research, don’t rely on just what’s in your head. And they really encouraged us to create characters that were not like us. In order to do this effectively, we would have to go and research the type of people that you wanted to write about and build that background, know how they spoke, uncover their values. Now, doesn’t that sound really familiar with copywriting and the research that you would do with your customer? So, at university, even though we were writing about fictional characters, to really feel authentic, we did have to work hard to get to know them until they became real, and they didn’t just sound like us. So, we would write these reams and reams of background documents on our characters, thinking about the events that shaped their lives and outlooks and we would also do research as well to make sure that we had the accuracy for the story. But at some point, one thing that we would do is write a character monologue. This would be a character speaking alone, not as part of a scene, just to themselves. It could be them just talking to themselves or talking to someone else, but it was a long piece of writing just in their voice. To make it interesting, it worked really well when they were experiencing conflict. For example, a mother talking about her daughter having to go into care or a sea fishing apprentice who was working on a trawler for the first time. It doesn’t matter the situation, but the reason it worked really well was, you learned a lot of value about the characters when you were talking or describing a situation where they felt some kind of emotional conflict or drama, and that is what I want for you to do for your customer. So, it’s not a character monologue, but a customer monologue. It’s a great way of getting into their head, thinking about the problem that you solve and encouraging you to try on the language and the words that your customer would use to talk about that situation. So, I’m going to give you three really simple tips that can help you write a customer monologue and just get up and going. It’s such a powerful technique and a really effective exercise for you to practice because when you can write a really vivid and clear description of someone, it makes it so much easier to imagine that person. [SKETCH Police Scene Mugging Statement] Policeman: Can you describe the man who mugged you? Did you get a good look at him? Victim: Oh yes, I got a very good look at him. Policeman: Excellent, what did he look like? Victim: He looked like the kind of person who you could do something nice for, but he’d never acknowledge it. Policeman: I’m sorry? Nothing big, just like when you walk past someone and say good morning, but they don’t say it back or you hold open a door and they don’t say thank you. He looked like that. Policeman: Could you be a bit more descriptive about his appearance? Victim: Of course, sorry, I think I’m still a bit in shock. Policeman: Do you remember what he was wearing? Victim: I remember thinking, I bet he owns a pair of Crocs. Policeman: Was he wearing Crocs at the time? Victim: No, I don’t think so. He just looked the type. Policeman: Do you remember anything about his facial features? Did he have any distinctive marks? Victim: Oh yes. Yes. He had this really irritating expression, like he was the type of person who bangs on about the environment but doesn’t rinse his jam jars for the recycling or never sends an RSVP but turns up unexpectedly and wanting the vegetarian option. Policeman: What about his height or hair? Victim: Yes, he had both of those things and something else has just come to me – he looked like he’d have outdated views. I can just hear him now saying, Well, it wasn’t sexist in my day, it was just a bit of fun, or, you know, when someone says something, he would probably follow it up with something like, That’s what she said! Policeman:  Did he say any of these things while he was mugging you? Victim: No, I never heard him speak, but I could just imagine him saying that. I must have given you plenty to be getting on with. When do you think it’s likely that you’ll be making an arrest? Policeman: Unfortunately, these cases can be tricky to solve. {Hornsea News Bulletin} News Reader: Today on Hornsea community news, Mr. George William Taylor, 38, from Brough, will be going to prison after mugging local landlady, Jean Smith. Jean was brave enough to give a description to the police who circulated it throughout the area, which generated an avalanche of callers. Who said That’s George, that is definitely a description of George, he’s a total t***! Despite confessing to the crime, the judge showed no leniency and when he said that he would be passing down a sentence that was long and harsh, Mr. Taylor responded with, That’s what she said! [END] Okay, so we want to be descriptive, but here’s the good thing about customer monologue – I know I talked about how, when we were writing character monologues, we’d do a lot of research. We’d write reams and reams of background information, and you should be doing this stuff for your customer profile and research anyway, but what I love about customer monologue is that you can sit down and write it and you don’t have to have all this information to hand in order to write a pretty decent customer monologue that will help you in your copy. And the reason for this is that the most important part of writing a customer monologue is not so much the information but the shift in perspective – it’s really getting you to think like your customer. One challenge with writing a customer profile is that we tend to write it from an external perspective because we’re writing about someone else. For example, if we were doing a very high level description of a customer, at the top of our customer profile it might be, Hotel owner looking to get more leads and bookings so they can increase the capacity of their hotel. Now I’m deliberately keeping the detail light there, but the point that I want to make is, in that description we are we’re writing about someone who is separate to ourselves and when we do this, we think in terms of what we can help with and we may really focus on language like leads, increased capacity, etc. All of that is correct and that is what customers want, but it’s lacking a bit of emotion and that is the distinction with a customer monologue, because it encourages you to tap into that emotion of how your customer is feeling. So, when I ask people to write a customer monologue, I want them to think about the conflict or the problem that their prospect faces, and then I ask them to write maybe just a paragraph or so using the following three prompts. 1. I’m sick and tired of 2. I wish I could 3. But I don’t know And what we’re doing here is, we’re setting up, first of all, I’m sick and tired of – what are they sick and tired off? What do they hate about their problem? What do they find frustrating? I wish I could – what do they want instead? What do they wish they had in their life that they don’t currently have? And then finally, but I don’t know – what is getting in their way? What is stopping them? If they’re sick of one thing and they want something else, why don’t they just get it? What is the obstacle or the perceived obstacle that is stopping them from eliminating a problem and achieving an objective? So, in our above hotel owner example, what might this template look like? 1. I’m sick and tired of the hotel industry being dominated by big chains with no character. It kills me when customers tell me we’re so much better than other hotels, but that they found us by accident and decided to take a chance. 2. I wish I could let people know we are here, but hotel booking sites take too much money. 3. And I just don’t know how to compete online without a massive budget. That’s a very short, simple example, but because we’re putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes and we’re writing as them, suddenly we have something that is much more emotional, more specific, and most importantly, it doesn’t sound like something that you’d find on a marketing site for boutique hotels, because the content here expresses more depth of understanding and empathy. Now, I’m not saying that you would pick this paragraph up and put it on your site, but you could start to pick out the phrases from here and drop them into your copy. Think about how you want to describe that pain after going through this exercise of seeing it through your customer’s eyes, because content like that is going to show that you really understand what your customer is going through and that you can help. What I love about this is it’s super simple, but whenever I’ve done it in workshops in the past, it’s funny how quickly people feel that they have a deeper understanding of what their customer is going through, and it gives them a lot more confidence and ideas to pick the words, phrases and themes that have cropped up in the customer monologue that they can then try on their website and in their marketing. This simple three-part structure brings to the surface themes of frustration and desire that we can play with as ideas to test in our copy. But as I said, for me, it’s really about a technique that helps you shift perspective and bring you closer to your customer so that when you write your copy, you can ask yourself, is this tailored to my customer, or am I trying to force copy that is more from my perspective and might not fit their needs. In my experience, businesses know this information, but we’re so close to this information that sometimes that it’s very easy to overlook it. So, the customer monologue makes you take a step back and revisit your customer from a slightly different angle, and who knows what great copy ideas might emerge if you go through the process yourself! That’s all for this episode. Don’ forget to subscribe so you can automatically get the next episode when it's available. Likes and reviews are also massively appreciated I read every one and they make me smile and they warm the cockles of my heart. And remember, being able to describe and communicate details about people is not just useful in your copywriting, but in many areas of life. [SKETCH Netball Semi Final Hornsea vs Bridlington] Steve Stomblewatts: Come in, come in, get settled. Did you get the sheet with the player names? Amy Harrison: Yep. Right here. Steve Stomblewatts: Coverage starts in 3, 2, 1. Welcome to the netball semi-final where local stalwarts, the Hornsea Hot Shots, are playing their long-time rivals, the Bridlington Brigade. I’m Steve Stomblewatts and here with me in the commentary box is Amy Harrison, a veteran commentator, I believe. Amy Harrison: Oh yes, I've been doing commentary for years – the Ashes, the Ryder Cup, and in Germany last year for the World Plowing Championship. Steve Stomblewatts: Any faster pace sports? Football, squash, Formula One? Amy Harrison: There must have been, but nothing’s coming to mind at the moment. So, I’m really looking forward to the next . . . how long has the match? Steve Stomblewatts: 60 minutes played over four 15-minute quarters. Amy Harrison: To the next hour of game play. I'm looking forward to a fast-paced game. Steve Stomblewatts: Well, we’re about to start. Here comes the first center pass, which will be taken by Helen Parsons, a legendary player in these here parts. Amy, over to you. Amy Harrison: Okay. Parsons has the first center pass, she’s thrown it to, erm, oh, it’s now, it’s gone to someone else. I’m just getting used to the names here. So, okay, the ball is now with a tall lass from the other team, they’re wearing blue – I think that’s Bridlington. Oh, she’s now been stopped by a stocky girl, waving her arms around. Oh, someone in yellow now has it. She’s passed it to a ginger one on her team and she’s passed it to a cranky looking one. Oh, it’s near the goal. It’s near the goal, yellow have got it. Yellow have got it. So, it's the blue team's turn to wave their arms around, jumping to try and stop the ball going in, but it has gone in, it’s gone in, it’s gone into the net. And the ginger girl looks happy with that. Wow, what a first center pass! I think that’s going to set the stage for the rest of the, oh, and they're going back for another center pass – they don’t hang about do they! [END] The post Ep 43: The Customer Monologue – How to Inject Empathy and Emotion into Your Copy [https://writewithinfluence.com/podcast/write-with-influence-podcast/ep-43-the-customer-monologue-how-to-inject-empathy-and-emotion-into-your-copy/] appeared first on Write With Influence [https://writewithinfluence.com].

Welcome to Episode 42 of Write with Influence. Today’s copywriting tip for you is called The Workaround. Just because you solve a problem for your audience, that doesn’t mean that your customer is waiting for you to show up and fix it. In fact, if people know that they have a problem and it is a big enough problem to warrant their attention, they are probably already trying to do something to solve it. People use workaround solutions for many different reasons so acknowledging and tackling your customer’s quick fixes is definitely something you need to do when coming up with copy ideas. So today I am going to be discussing the four components that you need to think about: 1. What are they doing? 2. Why does that make sense to them? 3. Why is it a bad idea? 4. Why is your solution better for them? Using examples from my own buying experiences, I am going to show you how to get customers to ditch their workaround for your solution. I have also thrown in a couple of sketches to make you chuckle prepare to be dazzled by my Elvis Presley impersonation and be sure to contact me if you can think of any potential candidates for my Moderation Masterclass for overachieving w******! Keep working on your persuasive skills guys, because when you publish content that gets the attention of the right people and persuades them to listen to you, good things can happen. Links: The Write With Influence Course [https://writewithinfluence.com/course/] EPISODE 42 KILL THE WORKAROUND SHOW CUSTOMERS THAT NOT USING YOU IS A BAD IDEA AMY HARRISON Amy Harrison: Hello and welcome to Write with Influence. It’s a glorious day weather-wise here in sunny England and so like the ginger vampire that I am, the Factor 30 is on and the parasol is up and I’m enjoying the sun by being well and truly kept in the shade. I hope that wherever you are in the world you are comfortable, well rested and having a wonderful day. Today’s copywriting tip for you is called The Workaround. Now, you solve a problem for your audience, but that doesn’t mean that your customer is just waiting for you to show up and fix it. In fact, if people know that they have a problem and they feel it’s a big enough problem to warrant their attention, they are probably trying to do something to solve it, but they may not be using you to solve it, and that’s sad. Now, as a species, we’re pretty resilient and we’re able to adapt to different conditions. In fact, I bet there’ve been times where you haven’t had the right tool for the job, but you’ve probably been able to improvise something to get the same results. For example, I was renting an apartment in New York for a break away with some friends and we realized that there was no corkscrew for the wine. Not a problem – we found knives, a wooden spoon, and we took chopsticks to the cork, and then we gave up and just knocked on the neighbor’s door and borrowed a corkscrew. Okay, not a great example of improvising! Well, I’m sure you’ve used sticky tape or string to keep something in place until you can find the proper adhesive. I mean, look at MacGyver, what he could do with chewing gum, a wrapper and a hair clip! Now, this is all good fun when you need a quick fix, but it’s not great if your customers are using a workaround that they think is as good as your product. For example, DIY haircuts. Unless you are shaving your head, this is usually not a good idea compared to going to the salon. And for some of my clients, they’re battling this problem a lot, especially in the software space – customers, for example, may be managing projects or data analysis in spreadsheets rather than a purpose-built tool or database. So, this is particularly common if you have invented a brand new tool to solve an age old problem, but there are many different work arounds. Perhaps you provide a course, but your ideal customers think that they can obtain the same knowledge through books or free information on the internet. People may be using a workaround because they genuinely don’t realize a solution even exists, and, as I say, this is really common if you’ve developed something that is brand new, but it may also be because they know a solution exists, but they feel that their workaround is good enough. Or it might be that while they know they will get better results from your product, they think it’s going to be difficult to implement, costly or complicated – we looked at some reasons why people talk themselves out of getting what they want in episode 41. Acknowledging and tackling the workaround' is definitely something you want to do when coming up with copy ideas and I’d say that there’s four components that you need to think about. 1. What are they doing? 2. Why does that make sense to them? 3. Why is it a bad idea? 4. Why is your solution better for them? And a bonus part to 4 – why might it be easier than they think? Let’s look at number one first, what are they doing? So, what is the work around? Now, if you can identify the work around that your customer is using it can be a great way to get the attention of people that you want to help. For example, you might run a series of ads that specifically mentions this: Still managing your team using spreadsheets? Or, Still handing your accountant a stuffed envelope of receipts? Now, I’m not saying those are great headlines on their own. Ideally, what you would want to do is show that there is a risk component in addition to that, but just by acknowledging something that they are doing today is often a good way of getting people to recognize that you are speaking to them because it’s something that they can recognize. So, the first step is to ask yourself, what is your customer’s work around? What are they doing to try and get the same results that you provide? When writing your copy, you can include this as a question like the two examples I just gave you, asking them if they are doing this thing. Another way that you can mention it is by providing it as an insight, for example, by saying, Hey, you know, most people who are trying to solve this problem, try to do this. . . and then you would go on to describe the workaround so that they could recognize it and relate to it. So, step one, identifying the workaround is really about getting their attention and saying, Hey, I have a message and I have something interesting to tell people who are taking this approach to solving their problem . What we want to show them at the end of these four points that I’m going to lay out for you is that what they’re doing is not the best solution for them – what they’re doing today isn’t a great fit and surprise, surprise, we’re going to explain to them why your product is the best fit. But you really want to show them that whilst you understand their approach, it is like fitting a square peg into a round hole and it’s just not the best path in life for them, it’s not what they meant to do. [SKETCH Job Centre] Recruitment Consultant: Ah yes, Mr. Presley. Now, what skills do you think you have to offer an employer? Elvis Presley: Well, I've got these wiggly hips, or I got this little black hair and a beautiful lip curl. Thank you very much. And I’ve been working on this thing, which kind of goes urh,huh,huh. Recruitment Consultant: Okay.Let me just put that into the computer. Ah yes, there are a range of vocations I think would be perfect. Shall we start you with some placements? {New Scene – Television Voiceover} This week on Employing Elvis . . . Nurse: Doctor, IC1 male admitted to A&E after falling off a roof. It looks like he’ll need emergency surgery. Talk us through what we should do. Elvis Presley: Well, I’ll take that little thing there. I'd put a scalpel uh,huh,huh, yeah, did you get all that? Nurse: Sorry, no, what was that? {Patient flatlines} Nurse: Oh, never mind. {New Scene Terrorist Observation Deck} Terrorist Security Officer: The terrorists have been hiding out on that boat and are about to make their escape. They’ve set a bomb to detonate in just 30 seconds. If I can diffuse this, I can get on board and stop them. Agent Presley, can you talk me through it? Elvis Presley: Well, what I would do is, I’ll take that blue wire off of the red wire and then maybe the green then push the button, then go and push the button and get all shook up, uh,huh,huh. You hear? Terrorist Security Officer: I need some more information. [End] So yes, we are trying to explain to our customers that what they’re doing now is not the right solution for them, but you want to get people on side so you’re not just going to come out and tell them that what they’re doing is a bad idea, even though it is. You have to get on their side and acknowledge that whilst what they’re doing isn’t the best solution, it does make sense. So you’ve got to ask yourself, why does it make sense to your customer? Why are they doing what they’re doing? And resist the temptation to be critical. When asking yourself about why they’re doing something other than using your product, the answer shouldn’t really be because they’re dumb, lazy, stupid, annoying, et cetera. It can be frustrating to see people not use your thing when you know it’s good for them, but we've got to show them a bit of compassion. So why does it make sense for them to do what it is that they’re doing? For example, perhaps they’re not taking your course because information on the internet is free and they think free equals a cost saving and they’re probably not weighing up the amount of time that they could be saving if they took your course. Now, I recently purchased a course which actually appeals to this particular workaround. They openly acknowledged that everything in the course could be found on YouTube videos, but what wouldn’t be found on YouTube videos was a specific structure where you’d be guided through the course subject over 14 days with specific practice elements so you would actually be improving your skills rather than procrastinating by watching one tutorial after another, after another. So they really emphasize the fact that yes, you might be currently be looking at tutorials and getting information and  you think you’re solving your problem, but unless you’ve got a guided path through, and unless you’re actually putting these skills into practice, you’re probably not going to get the results that you want and deserve. So, you want to acknowledge what they’re doing and also acknowledge why it makes sense but then we need to introduce component number three, which is: Why what they’re doing is really a bad idea. Now this doesn’t have to be dramatic. It’s not like if they keep doing what they’re doing, the world will end. Your consequences have to be believable, but it should be uncomfortable. If you can point to specific costs or risks of them following the approach that they’re following and if you can even show why it’s not going to get them the results that they think, then this is really good material for your copy can you point to time lost by doing something manually? Or perhaps there’s a risk that they don’t know about that they’re exposing themselves to by taking a shortcut? I do see this a lot in larger organizations that may be, as I mentioned, manually tracking and managing things in spreadsheets, but spreadsheets can go missing, files can get corrupted, and a risk of this may be that they don’t have the information that they need to be compliant or to face an audit. So think about the potential downfall of what they’re doing. Will it be more expensive in the long run to fix what they’re doing today? Pretty much anything I tried to do myself DIY-wise is going to cost me more to fix, which is why I don’t do it! Finally, point number four is, we want to contrast this consequence and this risk with what we have to offer. And it’s important to remember that when you do this, you also need to tackle the appeal of the shortcut and that means tackling point number two: Why did it make sense to them in the first place to look for free information e.g., handle things in spreadsheets, etc. It’s like the course I bought, the creator points out that, yes, you can find YouTube tutorials and that makes sense because it’s free and there’s some excellent tutorials out there, but you will spend more time searching for answers than learning practical skills and putting them into action. And with it being a 14 day guided course broken down into short lessons, it’s something that you could fit into a schedule and actually use, compared to a long list of YouTube videos that you might click save, save, save, but never get around to watching. So for your customer, can you show them that not only will they get better results by doing what it is that you have, but that it’s actually easier, faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to take your solution than they may have previously thought. So, in summary, things to consider when showing a workaround isn’t the best solution – you have to identify: 1. What are they doing? 2. Why does that make sense to them? 3. Why is it a bad idea? 4. Why is your solution better for them and easier than they think? That’s all for this episode, keep fighting the good copywriting fight and working on your persuasive skills, because when you publish content that gets the attention of the right people and persuades them to listen to you, good things can happen. And remember, your customer may think that their solution to their problem is one thing, unaware that what they really need is something completely different. [SKETCH Guru Workshop] Guru: Okay, so why don’t we go around the room and tell me a little bit about yourselves – Dave, do you want to go first? Dave: Thanks Guru. I’m Dave, I climb mountains and do 5,000 pushups before breakfast. I’ve completed 30 marathons in 30 days, and I’m looking for that next fitness goal that I can SMASH! Guru: Very nice Dave, you can put your abs away now. Shelly? Shelly: Hi, I’m Shelley. I've read every personal and professional development book, including Lean In, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I’ve risen to the level of CEO so many times it’s boring. I just want to know how I can be even more successful. Guru: Just pop your phone down for a moment, please. Shelly: I’m just shorting some stocks. Just one sec, one sec. Yeah, just made a million. Now, how could I have made that 2 million Guru? Guru: Dave, Shelley, I know you think you’re here because you want to reach that next level of success but You’re actually here because everyone thinks you’re a couple of w*****s. Dave: What? Guru: Dave, the constant posting about smashing it, bringing it, pushing yourself, crushing it. It’s boring and annoying. Shelly, your posts about #workhardplayhard,#blessedtobeinbusinessclass, #martinisinmontecarlo . . . Shelly: You’ve got to believe . . . Guru: To achieve, blah-blah-blah. No, your friends are concerned, which is why they’ve signed you up to this Moderation Masterclass. You’re going to learn how to appreciate little things. Shelly: Oh, I get it, like mindfulness. I already do that. I met the Dalai Lama like 12 times. In fact, it’s his turn to have me around for dinner. Dave: I meditated for a week. Guru: Stop it. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Here’s your first test. Dave: What is that? Guru: That’s a cup of tea, a plate of biscuits and a chat magazine. Shelly: Is this a lateral thinking exercise? Do we need to combine the three elements to make some kind of structural engineering feat? Guru: No. You have 20 minutes to sip the tea, flick through the magazine and eat at least one biscuit. Dave, if you mention carbs or micros, I swear I will slap you. {Sound of clock ticking} Dave: How long has it been? This is so tough. Shelly: It’s been 90 seconds. Sip your tea Dave. Dave: Please let me plank. I can plank for 14 hours. Shelly: This is so cruel. Please, please let me translate some medieval texts rather than read this trashy magazine. Guru:  You haven’t even reached the genius tips page Shelly, and you’re going to learn how to use tippex to cover up scuffs on your skirting board. Shelly: What's a skirting board? Guru: Later, you’re going to learn how to make a film recommendation that isn’t a Ted talk, how to post on social media with humility, how to take a nap and the delights and nutritional deficit of a pork pie. Shelly: No, please. Dave: I want to go to boot camp. [End] The post Ep 42: Kill the Workaround – Show Customers that NOT Using You is a Bad Idea [https://writewithinfluence.com/podcast/write-with-influence-podcast/ep-42-kill-the-workaround-show-customers-that-not-using-you-is-a-bad-idea/] appeared first on Write With Influence [https://writewithinfluence.com].

Welcome to Episode 41 of Write with Influence. This week we're looking at reasons why customers are not buying from you. Unfortunately, humans have a knack for making excuses about why they shouldn’t do something – even when you present your customer with exactly what they need and show them step-by-step how you can change their lives, they will talk themselves out of buying. One way that people can do this is to assume that they’re facing some kind of disadvantage that is going to stop them from getting results from your product. So, in this episode I am going to tackle the five most commonly perceived disadvantages head on: 1. Social disadvantage 2. Environmental disadvantage 3. Personality disadvantage 4. Economic disadvantage 5. Skill, knowledge, or experience disadvantage If you are spending time marketing your product but not selling as much as you would like, it’s important to evaluate why and make adjustments. Persuading customers that your product is beneficial and worth the money is easier said than done so I'm going to show you how you can better market your product/service in a way that converts consumers into your customers. I have also included a couple of sketches to make you chuckle: * Hula Holidays two wonderful weeks in the sun or a bug infested holiday from hell? We will never know! * My Royal Variety Performance debut why some dreams should be left alone! I hope you enjoy this week's tips and tricks and that I've given you some useful ideas to try out. Feel free to share this with someone if you like it and if you do, tag me on Twitter at HarrisonAmy, or Instagram @writewithinfluence. If it’s your first time listening, you can check out www.writewithinfluence.com to find more episodes, learn about the complete Write with Influence Copywriting Course and keep in touch via the weekly-ish newsletter. Links: The Write With Influence Course [https://writewithinfluence.com/course/] AMY HARRISON EPISODE 41 HOW TO OVERCOME IT WON'T WORK FOR ME OBJECTIONS TO YOUR COPY Amy Harrison: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Write with Influence, where we talk copywriting for 15 to 20 minutes and I give you some practical tips and tricks and the ideas to try. One of the problems that you’ll face when selling anything to anyone is the uncanny ability customers have for talking themselves out of buying what it is that we have, even if you’ve shown them that what you have will lead to a wonderful transformation and a positive change in their lives. You may have used butterfly moments, for example, we looked at those in episode 11 and they are about creating a succinct and vivid description of how your customer’s life will be so much better because of your product. Or maybe you’ve shown your customer that if they don’t do anything, if they don’t buy what you have, then they face a risk, some consequences or pain or discomfort – we looked at how to use that in episode 12. Now, if people were logical, rational beings then on hearing your pitch for what it is that you have, we’d expect them to say, Wow, I’d really like to get me some of that! What do I have to do to pursue it? Unfortunately, humans just have a knack for making excuses about why they shouldn’t do something, even if it might lead to something that they want. Now, this sounds crazy, but there are countless examples of people who regret not doing more, for example, pursuing a dream, but at the time had 1,000,001 reasons why it just wasn’t possible. And this isn’t a judgment, it’s just an observation of behavior that you have to be aware of when writing your marketing copy because sometimes, even when you present your customer with exactly what they need and you show them step-by-step how you can change their life, they can talk themselves out of it. One way that people can do this is to assume that they’re facing some kind of disadvantage that is going to stop them from getting results from your product. So, in this episode, I’m going to explore five common disadvantages that you’ll want to tackle head on so that your customers can’t use it as an excuse not to buy your product. The first one is a social disadvantage. Think of the phrase, it’s not what you know, but who you know – how many times have you heard that? And you get this feeling that if you just knew the right people, doors would open, and success would happen. And yes, having a strong varied and engaged network can definitely help you in everything from business to finance to health, but some people can take this to the extreme and think that if they don’t have the right connections today then they will never get the success they want – they’ll never get that job or promotion, have a successful business, publish a book, et cetera, et cetera. So, something to think about is your customer thinking that they are at a social disadvantage and is that stopping them from getting what it is that they want. A really common one for this is if your customer wants to build an audience, gain exposure, or be chosen by others. By the very nature of needing some kind of validation from others, it does rely on impressing and being liked by a network of people. The temptation here though, and the potential objection that you face is that your customer may look at other people who are building a successful audience, whether that be on Instagram or just in their local community and they may think, Well, yeah, it’s okay for them because they know all these people, they know the influences in the industry and if I could just get a retweet by Tony Robbins, I’d be set. So, if building an audience or exposure is something that you do for your customer and it’s something that you want, one thing that you can do is either let them know that those connections may not be as important to their success as they think they are, or you can show them how to make those connections. But it’s not just about building an audience where a social disadvantage may stop people from buying, it’s anything where your customer feels they don’t have access to the right people and that’s what is holding them back. This could be a writer trying to find an agent, a sales person trying to get that first big account, or just a foot in the door, even just a local shop trying to get shoppers from the community. Can you show them that they’re not at a social disadvantage because they either don’t need the network they think they need in order to be successful or can you show them how to build that network? The next one is an environmental disadvantage, and what I mean by this is, have you ever wanted to pursue something but felt you weren’t in the right place or in the right situation to do it? Maybe you’d like to go back to work, but you wanted to wait until the kids are in school or you’ve thought about traveling, but you want to pay off your credit card first. Some situations do prevent us from following what we want, but sometimes we can just use it as an excuse not to do something. So, think about your customer and whether they might find an excuse because, for example, they think that they don’t have enough time, they don’t have the right resources or equipment, they don’t live in the right location, they don’t have the right environment. Maybe they want to work from home, but they’re in a cramped apartment and feel like they can’t do it. If this is the kind of excuse you think your customer might rely on, can you show them that they don’t need the time, the resources, the money, whatever it is that they think that they need in order to see success from your product? The third disadvantage is a personality disadvantage. Now, I think this is a really common one in life, because for some reason, a lot of people out there just don’t feel like they’re good enough on a core personality level to achieve what it is that they want. So, how many times have you heard someone say, oh, I’d love to do XYZ, but I couldn’t, I’m too shy/ I’m not brave enough/I’m too lazy/not focused enough/not funny enough, et cetera. And people can go on and on and on like this until they decide they simply don’t have the personality to pursue a desire. Now, in copywriting, you can pin this down with a neat little exercise, which is first of all to list all the qualities or the personality traits that you think your customer thinks that they need to have success but feels that they don’t have. So, as I said before, do they think that they need to be really outrageous or outgoing, but feel like they aren’t? Have a list of all those and then think about what qualities you’re confident that the majority of your customers do have that they actually need to succeed. Let me give you an example and that should bring it to life a little bit. Your customer might love the idea of having a really successful lifestyle blog or YouTube channel or Instagram account, whatever it is, but maybe she’s worried that she’s not interesting enough to consistently produce content that people will want to consume. So, we might think about some of the qualities that she thinks she needs versus what she actually needs, and we could write something like, You don’t need to be able to think about an interesting, unique, original idea every time you produce content. If you have the knowledge of just five different topics that you can talk passionately about, we can show you how to turn that into a year’s worth of content. So, this might tackle that potential objection of, I’m not spontaneous enough/I don’t have enough ideas/I’m not creative enough. and you’re saying, that’s not a disadvantage because you don’t need those things, instead, you need a solid content production plan, and we can show you how to put that together if you have passion and knowledge around a handful of subjects. So, this is a really useful exercise – list those personality facets that your customer thinks they need, but don’t have and then another list of traits that they actually do need and most likely already have or can learn and then just practice playing around with those phrases of You don’t need to be X, as long as you are Y . For example, * You don’t need to be outrageous as long as you’re committed to turning up and learning our lessons. * You don’t need to be a spontaneous speaker as long as you’re willing to learn a few lines to memory. Now we’re already up to three potential disadvantages that your customer can use as excuses to not buy a product and it might sound like we’re having to give our customers a lot of encouragement to unpick these potential objections and we do – people are very good at talking themselves out of things, even when it’s something they really, really want [SKETCH Booking a family holiday] (Family home) Mum: I'm just popping to the travel agents to book that family holiday. (Sound of front door shutting behind mum as she leaves) Mum: (Thinking) Two weeks in the sun is just what we need. An all-inclusive, holiday club for the kids. The brochure looked wonderful. I hope it’s accurate. You hear these horror stories of fake listings and getting there to find a cramped room that's miles from the beach and crawling with cockroaches. Oh, that would be awful. What if it happens to us? We’d have to upgrade to a nicer room and complain, and then how much is that going to cost? And then having to face the staff, knowing that we’ve complained, well, they'd probably scrimp on our portions at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Would they do that? That would be terrible. What if they restrict the number of crab legs you can have and it turns into one of those awful fights you see on Inside Edition, everyone for themselves , they said. Oh God, oh God, I hate confrontation and if the kids aren’t eating, they’re going to be cranky. I bet the kids club is run by ineffective teenagers that are just going to feed them junk food and sit them in front of a TV, which means they’re not going to sleep at night. But then, with the mosquitoes out there, are any of us going to get any sleep? Because if there’s cockroaches in the rooms and you can bet their bug screens are useless . . . (Enters Hula Holiday Shop) Hula Holiday Rep: Welcome to Hula Holidays! Mum: You can keep your stinking nightmare of a holiday. We’ll be having a wet week in a caravan in Wales and be miserable there rather than starved half to death and eaten by bugs at your hellish resort. Good day to you. Hula Holiday Rep:  . . . can I help? [End] The next disadvantage is an economic disadvantage, and this might fall into that environmental disadvantage bracket, not having enough time on money, but it’s worth separating it out on its own in this example, because money is a common wedge used to separate the haves and have nots and it’s effective because yes, there are certain advantages to having money over not having money and because of this, money can be cited as a reason that things can’t be done. In this episode, I don’t want to look at reasons why your customer might think they can’t afford your product or service. Instead, I want to look at how customers may use a perceived economic disadvantage as a reason that they can’t get the results that you are promising them. An example of this is when someone is starting their business and they look at their competitor’s website and think, Wow, that must have cost a fortune, I’d never be able to get something like that for my business. But they don’t realize that actually there are other affordable ways to get a professional website without hiring an expensive firm – you only have to look at Wix or Squarespace, et cetera. Or there might be a customer who wants to have a style overhaul and they may be convinced that the only way to look fashionable is to spend lots of money on designer clothes, makeup, pampering and personal assistants, and then they think that that’s just for celebrities, but they may not know that you offer an affordable fashion conscious 10 day course that costs a fraction of the price of a super expensive Mulberry handbag. So, focus on whether or not there is a perceived economic barrier that your customer thinks is stopping them from getting the results that they want. The final disadvantage that people might use is one of skill, knowledge, or experience, and this is a little bit similar to the personality advantage, but another common belief that holds us back is thinking, I’m not skilled enough/ I don’t know enough/I don’t have enough experience. What I think is that whilst skill and talent is definitely important, confidence in that skill is just as important, and the reason I say that is because I know many talented people who shy away from shining or putting themselves out there because of modesty or doubt, and this may be something that your customer also struggles with. Is there a chance that your customer may call into question whether or not they have the skill, knowledge, or experience they need in order to get the results that you’re promising? Now, you do need to be clear about any skill or any kind of basic level of experience that your customer needs to see results because you don’t want to make false promises about what’s possible – this is particularly apparent when your customer needs that baseline of expertise or skill in order to get results. So, for example, if you are teaching a content or a writing course, you’re probably assuming that your customer is a half decent writer. If you’re teaching a fitness class, you need to be clear as to what level of fitness someone needs in order to participate. Or if your customer is someone who wants to promote their service or knowledge or skills or if they want to become a consultant or a coach, and that’s something you can help them with, then you’ve got to make sure that they do have a valid level of expertise and experience in order to make that offering authentic. So, you wouldn’t want to promise someone that they can become a business coach overnight without knowing the first thing about business. That might sound crazy, but unfortunately the situation of business coaches who have zero experience building or running a business may be more prevalent than you actually think. So, those are the five potential disadvantages that your customer thinks that they have, which will stop them from getting the results that you’re promising them and they are worth tackling head on. So, just to recap: 1. Social disadvantage – not having the right network or knowing the right people in order to succeed. 2. Environmental disadvantage – do they feel they’re not in the right place or time or have the right resources in order to get results? 3. Personality disadvantage – do they feel they don’t have the traits that they need to succeed? 4. Economic disadvantage – do they think that in order to get results, they need more financial resources at their disposal than they actually do? 5. A skill, knowledge, or experience disadvantage do they feel that they just don’t know enough/ aren’t good enough/ aren’t skilled enough in older to get what it is that they want? That’s all for this week. Thanks again for joining me. Feel free to share this episode with someone if you like it and if you do, tag me on Twitter @HarrisonAmy, or I’m on Instagram, @writewithinfluence. And if it’s your first time listening, visit www.writewithinfluence.com [http://www.writewithinfluence.com] where you can find more episodes, learn about the complete Write with Influence copywriting course and keep in touch via the weekly-ish newsletter. I’ll see you next time and remember, while we don’t want our customers to discourage themselves from buying what you have, we’ve got to make sure the encouragement we offer is realistic and we’re not over promising what’s possible. [SKETCH Documentary trailer] Voiceover: This is the story of a small-town dreamer. Amy: I want to be on the Royal Variety Show and perform for the Queen. Voiceover: Whose dream seemed a million miles away. Small town person: You’ll never make it out of this small Yorkshire town to the bright lights of London. Stop this fanciful talk and get to the bus company you're late for your shift. Voiceover: Until one day, she found someone who believed all dreams deserve a chance. Agent: Get you on the Royal Variety show – piece of piss. I'll be taking 70% though. Voiceover: This would set her on a journey that would change her life. Amy: Morning everyone! Change of plan – we’re going to London! Voiceover: Change the lives of those around her . . . Amy's mum: I've got a dental appointment in Cottingham! Voiceover: And make her see that there are no shortcuts to living your dream. Amy: Yeah, we’re stuck on the M25. Agent: The show starts in three hours. Producer: Amy, where the bloody hell are you? Where’s my bus? Where’s my passengers? Voiceover: Based on a true story so modified for dramatic purposes that it has no basis of truth left in it. Amy: Just in time! Agent: Get out there, the Queen's out there. Voiceover: This is one girl's eight-hour journey on the M1. Amy: I don’t think I can do it. Voiceover:  To prove that any dream, no matter how crazy, can come true. Agent: Course you can. They'll sue me for breach of contract if you don't. Voiceover: But that some dreams should be left well alone. Royal Variety Presenter: Introducing Amy Harrison . . . (Amy sings) Audience member: Oh god she is awful. Audience member: One would like to make it stop. [End] The post Ep 41: How to Overcome “It Won’t Work for Me” Objections in Your Copy [https://writewithinfluence.com/podcast/write-with-influence-podcast/ep-41-how-to-overcome-it-wont-work-for-me-objections-in-your-copy/] appeared first on Write With Influence [https://writewithinfluence.com].

Welcome to Episode 40 of Write with Influence. Today’s show is about conflict and high stakes. In the art of story writing, high stakes keep the reader turning pages and conflict is crucial to having a compelling story – if our heroes have no obstacles as they try to reach their goal, the story will be bor-ing. A narrative of conflict and high stakes applies to copywriting too because if you are selling something, it is the resolution to a problem and if your product/service doesn’t resolve some sort of problem, then there’s no need for it and people won’t care. So, how do you know if your story is strong enough to be worth pursuing, and if it's not, how do you fix it? In his book The Idea' Erik Bork explores the seven elements he believes are essential for any story idea to be viable for screen, stage or fiction and in this episode, I am going to show you how to use these elements to come up with some great ideas that you can include in your copywriting. Listen to discover: * How to apply Bork's five-part punishing checklist to test the strength of the problem you solve. * How to evaluate and improve your story idea. * Fun exercises to help you create a more compelling narrative for your product/service. Bork focuses not on the execution of the idea but the strength of the core idea or concept itself. In terms of copywriting, this translates to: if you don’t have a problem that customers care about, you are going to struggle to show that your solution is valuable enough to care about let alone buy. This week's sketches include: * Floating in shark infested waters on an inflatable unicorn. * A gritty look at the seedy underbelly of telecommunications – drama, conflict, and one man’s fight for an accurate phone bill! If you really want people to care about what you have, you need to think about the one main problem that you can solve for your customers, and remember, it has to be a big enough problem that your customer actually wants to solve it. If you enjoy the episode, you can subscribe so you don’t miss another and if you want to hop over to iTunes and leave a rating or review, that would be splendid! Links: The Write With Influence Course [https://writewithinfluence.com/course/] Erik Bork   The Idea [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Idea-Elements-Viable-Screen-Fiction-ebook/dp/B07H3DDND3] AMY HARRISON EPISODE 40 EP 40: 5 STEPS FOR USING CINEMATIC-STYLE CONFLICT IN YOUR COPYWRITING Welcome to Write with Influence, a short practical podcast on copywriting with some sketches thrown in for free – I don’t charge extra for any mirth, any chortles or chuckles that you may receive by listening to this podcast! Now today’s show is about conflict and high stakes. Whatever it is you sell, it is the resolution to a problem. If it doesn’t resolve some sort of problem, then there’s no need for it and people won’t care. Even if your product is entertainment, even if you’re not physically relieving pain, your product has to solve a problem, because if it doesn’t, if it doesn’t eliminate something that is frustrating, then people will not care about it. I think I mentioned in the previous episode that, at the moment, I’m reading a book by Eric Bork called The Idea the seven elements of a viable story for screen, stage or fiction. Now, Eric is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning screenwriter, and his book looks at common mistakes people make when writing screenplays. And one of the biggest mistakes he sees is that the idea itself is often not strong enough (I'll link to the book in the show notes). The first mistake that he identifies when people are thinking about an idea is that the problem of the story isn’t punishing enough. For people to be engaged with a film, we have to feel that our main characters are really up against a seemingly impossible task, which they then fervently try to solve, ending in a resolution of that task. I mean, if you think about a few film examples, in Toy Story, it is how Woody and Buzz have to work together to escape after being captured despite being rivals, and find their way back to Andy, their owner. In Jaws, the problem is Brody’s goal to save lives by defeating a shark in the middle of tourist season, while the mayor wants to keep the beach is open. Now, the idea of conflict and solving a problem is absolutely applicable to your copywriting. In fact, the classic copywriting framework is: 1. Problem 2. Agitate 3. Solve. You present a problem to your reader, you then agitate that problem, really making them focus on the discomfort of their situation, and then you solve it. You see this a lot in long form sales pages. I’m looking a sales page now that I got a link to this morning from www.digitalmarketer.com, it’s for their Content Marketing Made Simple course. Now, they actually start with the solution, which is that the course is a step-by-step plan for turning content into free organic traffic by the use of their content marketing tutorials. But they also spend time agitating the problem by describing some of the frustrations that someone who is trying to figure out a content marketing plan might face, for example, overwhelm, something that they describe as, the crippling, what the heck do I do now? syndrome . Or the frustration of risking spending money on traffic and not knowing if it’s going to convert, or not knowing what content to create or how to get people to look at it. Most importantly though, this product is pitched as solving one big problem which is, I don’t know how to do content marketing without being overwhelmed. If you don’t have a problem that customers care about, you are going to struggle to show that your solution is valuable enough to care about let alone buy. Now, what I think is really interesting in Eric’s book is that he says a great story has to focus on one main problem, it can’t just be a handful of problems that are causing our character pain and frustration. Great stories have one main theme of conflict that can be summed up succinctly, and what I recommend that you do is to try and find that one main problem for your product and really take some time to brainstorm the problem. If you were thinking about this as if your product was a film, what would the summary be? Let’s say, for example, you teach guitar, and you give one-to-one lessons, what could one problem be that we could promote in our ads or copy? It may be that our target market has real dreams of playing live one day but every time they look for online tutorials, they get overwhelmed, and their confidence is crushed. This is just a simple example, but we may decide that the big problem that our one-to-one guitar lessons solve is that customers are overwhelmed, frustrated, and sick to death with online guitar tutorials. So, think about what might be that one problem that you can solve for your customers, and remember, it has to be a big enough problem that your customer actually wants to solve it. [New Scene Boat Hire Centre] Staff Member: This is the boat we recommend for a day out on the sea. Customer: I’ll just take this inflexible unicorn. Staff Member: Sir, we strongly recommend you do not go out to sea on an inflatable. The tide can take you out very, very quickly . . . Customer: Oh, you can save your sales charm, I won't be forced into buying something I don’t need. {The ocean lifeguard boat approaching man on inflatable} Lifeguard: Sir, we’re here to help. Customer: Oh, I’m fine thank you very much. Lifeguard: You’ve drifted a considerable way from shore and there are sharks circling your unicorn. Let us help you! Customer: I'm not looking to rent your boat thank you very much. I don’t need it. Lifeguard: One of the sharks has just punctured the unicorn. Let us take you to shore. Customer: You'll charge me an arm and a leg I bet! Lifeguard: You won’t have an arm or a leg soon. Customer: You’re trying to sell me a solution to a problem I don’t have, and I won’t fall for it. Lifeguard: Get in the boat. Customer: You think people will buy any unnecessary thing these days, consumerism gone mad I tell you . . . [End] In his book, Eric has what he calls a five-part punishing checklist to test the strength of whether a problem is big enough to care about, and it’s a great list that can help you explore the essence of the problem that you solve for people. So, here’s what Eric calls his punishing checklist, and it’s five pieces: 1. It has to be about one big problem. 2. Solving that problem should seem impossible to the main character. 3. The difficulty of the problem pushes the main character to their limits as they then try and solve it. 4. Those actions will lead to further consequences and complications. 5. The problem will grow until it seems lost and then a final battle will resolve it. We can probably recognize that that does describe a lot of narrative arcs in many, many films that we see, but I think you can also use these five steps to come up with some great ideas that you can include in your copywriting. So, let’s walk through them. Number one, as we’ve already mentioned, you want to identify your one big problem. If it’s buildings insurance, it’s not just protecting a home, it’s avoiding the risk of serious financial costs if something goes wrong or something unexpected happens, and this is where it really pays to know your customer. So, let’s go back to our guitar teacher. There may be many different problems that guitar lessons solve and knowing your customer will help you create adverts and copy that will appeal to them. So, is the biggest problem that they want to learn so they can join a band? Is it because they want to support themselves and open mic and they don’t know how? Is it that they’re lacking in confidence, and they think an instrument might help? Is it so that they can audition for Britain’s Got Talent and get famous overnight? What problem does it solve?  As an exercise, it is sometimes interesting to think about it like a film, you know, if your customer had to achieve one thing by the end of the movie, what would it be? And spend some time playing around with ideas, write that down and think about, if that’s what they want, what's the one big problem that they have to solve in order to achieve that? The second part on this list is, The problem should seem impossible to solve. So again, why don’t they already have what they want? What is getting in their way? What problems and obstacles make the end goal seem like they’re on an arduous journey? If we look back at the digital marketing example for the step-by-step system for content marketing, I can see plenty of possible obstacles, for example, not knowing where to start, lots of conflicting and potentially terrible advice from bad marketers out there, not knowing how to find people who could be a customer, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to find time to create content etc. Think about all of these things that are thorns, Ivy and weeds on an overgrown path to their dreams – what is getting in their way and slowing them down? What stack of problems make it seem like this problem is potentially impossible to solve? Now, again, there’s going to be many, many possibilities depending on your business, but some common ones that I can think of off the top of my head are: Overwhelm Quite often, if people are faced with a problem, not knowing where to go to find trusted information to solve a problem can be huge. Personal Flaws The problem may also be a personal flaw. In other words, they’re getting in their own way. Perhaps they lack confidence, or maybe they’re trying to do something on their own when they should be collaborating with others. Time/Money Does it seem like it’s just too big a task to solve quickly? Or does it seem like it’s going to cost a lot of money to fix? Now, if you’ve ever played a platform computer game where the little bad guys keep coming and coming and you have to jump on their head or throw a rock at them or whatever, the problems and the obstacles that you’re thinking about are kind of the same irritations – they’re just coming at your customer again and again, and they’re stopping them from getting what they want. So, have a think about that. What is making the problem seemingly impossible to solve? Now, the third one on the list is, The difficulty of the problem pushes the character to their limits as they actively try to solve it. So, think about this in great films – they don’t let the main character just get what they want the first time that they attempt it. The other week I watched the Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange film, Tootsie. If you haven’t seen it, Dustin Hoffman is a talented actor, but he’s so passionate about his craft that it makes him incredibly difficult to work with and as a result, he can’t get hired for jobs. We see him being very active, auditioning time and time again, but with no success because he is so difficult to work with. He’s not just sitting on his behind, he’s out there, he’s trying to solve his problem, but his personal flaw is getting in his way until he sees an opportunity to audition for a daytime soap opera by pretending to be a woman. And this brings us to the fourth point, which is, The actions of the main character (or your customer) in trying to solve their problem should bring with it more complications and challenges. So, in the Tootsie example, as Dustin Hoffman pretends to be a woman, there are challenges around keeping his secret whilst also dealing with relationship complications with people who think he’s a woman, including unwelcome advances from male costars. This plays out the same for your customer. The chances are they’re doing something to solve the problem, and that approach is causing them some headaches. So, here’s the next thing that I want you to do, think about this, what is your customer doing to try and solve the problem? And then, why is that causing even more problems instead of moving them further to the goal? Let’s come back to our guitar playing example. Our customer may have purchased books or online tutorials or invested in a great guitar, so they’re actively trying to solve the problem of learning how to play the guitar, but then they’re becoming frustrated because they’re not seeing the results that they wanted. This might be because, you know, you can’t ask a book questions and you can’t get specific feedback on your technique from an online video tutorial like you could in a one-to-one lesson. So, despite them taking action, they may now be feeling real pressure to use these resources that they’ve invested in but doing so is making them really hate learning to play the guitar. Now, finally, in Eric’s checklist, the problem grows until it reaches a final battle and solution. Well, you don’t have to do a final battle with your customer, but you can present the solution to them and show them what they need to do to solve a problem once and for all, after you’ve laid out the treacherous journey that they’re currently on. So, to summarize, here’s how you can apply this checklist to your copy in terms of copy ideas: 1. Think about the one big problem that you solve. 2. Why might that seem impossible to solve? 3. What are they doing to try and solve the problem? 4. What further problems and complications is this creating? 5. How can you help? Now, if you put answers to those five steps, you could almost just put that together in a paragraph of copy and that would really neatly sum up the problem that you solve, why it’s important and why working with you or buying your product means that it is so much easier for them to achieve what they want rather than continuing on with what they’re currently doing. That’s all for  today. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe, so you don’t miss another and if you want to hop over to iTunes and leave a rating or review, that would be splendid! And remember, you need drama, conflict, and a punishing problem if you really want people to care about what you have. [New Scene Television Studio] TV Exec: Come in, we have Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Pixar and we're ready for your pitch. We’re looking for high conflict and high drama. What have you got? Amy: Bernie is a retired chemistry teacher from Shropshire striving for the quiet life when one day he notices he’s been charged twice on his phone bill. What results is an epic David and Goliath battle between Bernie and the phone company, as he tries to resolve his phone bill. TV Exec: Where's the drama or conflict in that? Amy: Well, when Bernie initially pursues his refund, he finds himself stonewalled by the corporation, which makes him suspicious. So, he takes a stand . . . TV Exec: By . . .? Amy: Refusing to pay the charge, but then things escalate over a period of about three weeks when the phone company charges interest on his late payment. It’s at that moment, he realizes his world suddenly turned into a nefarious, Kafkaesque reality. TV Exec: Then what happens? Amy: Well, half the film is actually just him on hold. It goes on for a further few weeks, the interest payments get bigger and then when he’s at the end of his tether, he writes a letter, because he’s not great with email, to the consumer issue section of a national newspaper. They, in turn, email the phone company and all charges are dropped, but his credit score remains affected, which isn’t too big of a deal, because his house is paid for, and he’s got enough savings and his pension. I was thinking Ken Loach could direct? TV Exec: I don’t think this is going to work. Amy: Really? Because I’ve already made the trailer. [Trailer] Voiceover: Bernie is an ordinary man with everyday dreams. Neighbor: Morning Bernie, looks like it should be nice out. Bernie: Yes, I’m hoping I can get out into the garden today. Voiceover: Until one day a letter arrives and changes everything. Bernie: They've charged me twice for my phone bill! Voiceover: But he’s not going to take it lying down. [Bernie calling phone company] Sandra: You're through to Sandra, how can I help? Bernie: You’ve charged me twice on my phone bill. Sandra: I’m going to have to put you through to a different department. Voiceover: Pushed to the edge as he fights for justice. Bernie: Well, I’m not paying it then. Voiceover: The movie critics are calling this frustrating to watch, a gritty look at the seedy underbelly of telecommunications. Bernie: They're charging me interest!! Voiceover: And one man’s fight for an accurate phone bill. Bernie: Dear Tony Hazel at This Is Money. . . Voiceover: Amy pictures presents the story of Bernie who just wants to pay what he owes and not a penny more. [End] The post Ep 40: 5 Steps For Using Cinematic-Style Conflict in Your Copywriting [https://writewithinfluence.com/podcast/write-with-influence-podcast/ep-40-5-steps-for-using-cinematic-style-conflict-in-your-copywriting/] appeared first on Write With Influence [https://writewithinfluence.com].