- your PS
- CHECKLISTS
- CopyDoodles
- enthusiastic personality
- the number one sin – being boring
By properly summarizing
the offer/ promise in your PS, you can
inspire the recipient to dig in and read
the entire letter, or simply add an extra
incentive to respond.
CHECKLISTS
So, go back to the beginning and
revisit Step 1 and the “10 Smart
Questions” in it, and Steps 2–14 to be
sure you’ve covered all the bases. Here
are questions to help.
1. Did you answer all 10 Smart
Questions about your prospect? (In
Step 1)
2. How many of the ten were you able to
use?
3. Which of the ten did you decide to
emphasize?
4. Are you writing to your reader
about what is most important to
him/her (not you)?
5. Did you build a list of every
separate Feature of your
product/offer?
6. Did you translate the Features to
Benefits?
7. Did you identify a Hidden Benefit to
use?
8. Did you identify the disadvantages of
your offer and flaws in your product?
9. Did you develop “damaging
admission copy” about those flaws?
10. Did you make a list of reasons not to
respond?
11. Did you raise and respond to the
reasons not to respond?
12. Did you give careful thought to
getting your letter delivered and/or
through gatekeepers to its intended
recipient?
13. Did you look at, compare, and
consider different envelope faces?
14. Did you picture your piece in a stack
of mail held by your recipient, sorting
it over a wastebasket? … and take
care to survive the sort and command
attention and pique interest
immediately upon being opened?
15. Did you craft the best possible
headline for your letter?
16. Did you craft the best possible
subheadlines to place throughout your
letter?
17. Did you make careful choices about
your presentation of price?
18. Were you able to sell money at a
discount?
19. Were you able to incorporate
intimidation into your call to action
copy?
20. Were you able to appeal to the ego of
your buyer?
21. Did you develop and present a strong
guarantee?
22. Overall, did you tell an interesting
story?
23. Did you use an interesting story about
yourself?
24. Did you write to the right length? (Not
longer than need be due to poor or
sloppy editing, but not shorter than
necessary to deliver the best
presentation?)
25. Did you use Double Readership
Path?
26. Did you use Internal Repetition?
27. Did you keep the reader moving,
with yes-momentum and end-of-page
carryovers?
28. Did you bust up paragraphs, keep one
idea per paragraph, and make the
letter easily readable?
29. Were you interesting and entertaining?
… Is the letter enjoyable to read?
30. Did you use five-senses word
pictures?
31. Did you choose words carefully,
consider options of one word versus
another, and create high-impact
phrases?
32. Did you make your copy personal
and conversational (not
institutional)?
33. Did you go back through your copy
and think of the possible questions or
objections it might leave
unanswered? … then find ways to
ask them, raise them, and answer
them? (Leave no unanswered
questions!)
34. Did you choose and use devices to
create urgency and spark immediate
action?
35. Did you write at least one PS at the
end of the letter for a strategic
purpose?
developed an amazing software system
for applying the Copy Cosmetics to the
copy, called CopyDoodles ® . His name
is Mike Capuzzi.
Use selective emphasis. Not every
word of your copy has the same level
of importance, so you must draw the
reader’s eye to critical areas, such as
a benefits list, call-to-action, phone
number, or website address.
Resource!
For a more detailed presentation
of my “27 Copy Cosmetic
Techniques,” including the color
examples found at the end of this
step, and my commentary on how
each uses these powerful
techniques, visit
copycosmetics.com.
I don’t care what
business you’re in or who your prospects
or customers are, they buy by emotion
and then justify their choice with logic.
“Cold fish” sales letters rarely
work. The purely factual approach fails
almost every time it’s used. A sales letter
needs an enthusiastic personality — and
because it is ink on paper, not warm
flesh and blood, the letter has to work
harder at being enthusiastic. That means
that what will seem overly expressive
when you write it will still wind up
understated when it’s read.
the number one sin in
marketing in general (and sales letter
writing in particular) is being boring.
no matter what your business may be,
you can find something to get excited
about. If you can’t romanticize your
product or service or its direct
benefits, you’ve got to be able to
create excitement out of the feelings
of owning it or using it, or the
enjoyment of the money or time it
saves. Find something for the reader
to get excited about! It doesn’t matter
what your topic is: there is a way to give
your sales story a passion injection.
Aggressive
editing means cutting out every word or
phrase that fails to advance, strengthen,
or reinforce your basic sales story.
You’re not editing to shorten. You are
editing to clarify, and that will
automatically shorten the letter.
