{"id":48,"date":"2007-03-12T12:03:01","date_gmt":"2007-03-12T17:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=49"},"modified":"2007-03-12T12:03:01","modified_gmt":"2007-03-12T17:03:01","slug":"how-to-make-your-copywriting-stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/how-to-make-your-copywriting-stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Make Your Copywriting Stick Out Like A Sore Thumb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seems whenever I do ad critiques<\/a>, one of the things people always have trouble with is the ever-frustrating opening paragraph.<\/p>\n

It’s not quite as important as the headline.<\/p>\n

But it’s still important and can sometimes even help make or break your response.<\/p>\n

So today I thought it’d be helpful to share a simple opening paragraph “template” that can get the job done in a pinch.<\/p>\n

Especially if you’re writing to your own list… and especially if you want to avoid having an ad that screams “SALES JOB!!!!”<\/b> at first glance.<\/p>\n

I’ve used this opening several times now, and it really works.<\/p>\n

Here’s a “real life” example of what it looks like:<\/p>\n

\n

Hey (name),<\/i><\/p>\n

A few months ago I was going through a bunch of subscriber email questions and one question that popped up over and over again went like this:<\/i><\/p>\n

“”Ben, I need to be a better copywriter. But I’m confused, not getting the results I want, and don’t know where to turn. What copywriting course, book or seminar do you most recommend?”<\/i><\/p>\n

My answer:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

See how that works?<\/p>\n

It doesn’t look, feel or behave<\/i> like most other sales pitches, does it?<\/p>\n

Instead, it starts with a question that quickly and immediately<\/u> builds rapport with anyone interested in wanting to be a better copywriter.<\/p>\n

Here’s another example:<\/p>\n

\n

Hey (name),<\/i><\/p>\n

A few months ago I was going through a bunch of subscriber email questions and one question that kept popping up over and over again went like this:<\/i><\/p>\n

“Ben, I want to be a freelance copywriter. But I’m just starting out, have no contacts in the industry and don’t know what to do. Is there a course or book you recommend?”<\/i><\/p>\n

My answer:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Pretty simple, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

And it works for anything<\/u> you want to sell — including niches that have nothing to do with copywriting or business-to-business.<\/p>\n

All you do is take your customers’ most frequently asked questions, or a problem they have, and “plug” it into the template.<\/p>\n

Try it yourself and see.<\/p>\n

Take the above examples and adapt them to your product and service.<\/p>\n

Not only will you stick out like a sore thumb from your “hype ‘n scream” competitors… but your readers will probably be way more likely to read (and respond to) your offers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seems whenever I do ad critiques, one of the things people always have trouble with is the ever-frustrating opening paragraph. It’s not quite as important as the headline. But it’s still important and can sometimes even help make or break your response. So today I thought it’d be helpful to share a simple opening paragraph […]<\/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-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-copywriting-and-sales-letters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}