{"id":1183,"date":"2008-12-13T19:10:04","date_gmt":"2008-12-13T19:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2008-12-13T19:10:04","modified_gmt":"2008-12-13T19:10:04","slug":"watch-24-make-more-money-from-your-sales-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/watch-24-make-more-money-from-your-sales-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch 24, Make More Money From Your Sales Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you ever watch the TV show 24<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

I LOVE “24.”<\/p>\n

In my humble opinion, it is by FAR one of the best TV shows ever made.<\/p>\n

Not only because of its endless entertainment value…<\/p>\n

… but also (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) because of its many sales letter<\/strong> lessons.<\/p>\n

In fact, you can use 24 as a great copywriting model for most any<\/em> product.<\/p>\n

And there are at least three reasons why:<\/p>\n

1. 24 Is NEVER Boring<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you love it or hate it… it’s never boring<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s the “real time” structure of the show with the constantly ticking clock.<\/p>\n

Or maybe it’s the intense “no escape” situations Jack Bauer is constantly placed in.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case… 24 is anything but dull.<\/p>\n

Same goes for really good ads.<\/p>\n

They never bore you or make you want to “turn the channel.”<\/p>\n

This is so important, I have an entire chapter about this in my “Copywriting Grab Bag”<\/a><\/strong> book.<\/p>\n

It goes into detail about how the late (brilliant) copywriter Eugene Schwartz watched a particular 1980’s action movie over and over — with a stopwatch.<\/p>\n

Very cool stuff.<\/p>\n

And, according to Gene, the most powerful sales “secret” he used.<\/p>\n

2. 24 Doesn’t Try To Please Everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n

This becomes obvious after just one episode.<\/p>\n

For example…<\/p>\n

… if you’re one of these weenies who freaks out whenever our police refuse to coddle bloodthirsty criminals or when prison wardens “deprive” inmates of cable TV and high-speed Internet access… <\/p>\n

… then you’re probably NOT going to like watching Jack Bauer “get medieval” on those he needs to extract information from.<\/p>\n

Heck, torture is like second nature<\/em> to Jack.<\/p>\n

Which tends to turn OFF as many people as it turns ON.<\/p>\n

Again, that’s what many good sales letters do.<\/p>\n

They turn off people they are NOT trying to sell… <\/p>\n

… at least as hard (if not harder) as they turn on people they ARE trying to sell.<\/p>\n

3. 24 Is Unpredictable<\/strong><\/p>\n

24 is nothing if not packed with twists and turns.<\/p>\n

The writers have no problem killing of main characters out of the blue, blowing up cities or doing whatever they need to keep you on your toes.<\/p>\n

And let’s face it:<\/p>\n

Predictable is boring.<\/p>\n

Unpredictable is fun and engaging — and even entertaining.<\/p>\n

All of which keeps people glued to your ads.<\/p>\n

Anyway, if you haven’t seen 24, I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

Your bank account will thank you for it.<\/p>\n

Ben Settle<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/strong> If you want to start using TV shows and movies like 24 to dramatically ratchet up your sales letter response, then check out chapter 3 of “The Copywriting Grab Bag”<\/a><\/strong> at:<\/p>\n

www.CopywritingGrabBag.com<\/a><\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you ever watch the TV show 24? I LOVE “24.” In my humble opinion, it is by FAR one of the best TV shows ever made. Not only because of its endless entertainment value… … but also (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) because of its many sales letter lessons. In fact, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-copywriting-and-sales-letters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t