10 Steps to Turning Your Product or Service Into a Compelling Story, Part II

<a href="../members/james-palmer/articles/10-steps-to-turning-your-product-or-service-into-a-compelling-story-part-i">In the first part</a> of this article, we looked at 5 steps to turning your product or service into a compelling, selling story. Now let's go over the last five. 6. Build Tension. The best stories maintain tension throughout. The story in your sales letter should be no different. Foreshadowing is a great technique for ramping up the tension in your sales story. Foreshadowing is a literary technique where you give a hint of something that will happen next without giving too much away. Here’s an example of how foreshadowing can be used in sales copy: “A little later, we’ll see how the Powerful Success DVD has turned numerous lives around. But first, let me tell you the one thing that holds most people back and what to do about it.” This gives readers a hint of what is coming next, something they are looking forward to discovering, but they have to keep reading to find out what it is. 7. Maintain Credibility. Just because you’re telling a story doesn’t give you complete artistic license to lie. Your sales letter copy must still be believable and contain verifiable proof of your claims, while telling a compelling story. Here is a bullet I wrote for a recent promotion: 3 simple secrets developed by “the world’s greatest car salesman” that you can use to gain almost instant access to over 250 potential prospects for your product or service. The “world’s greatest car salesman” in this bullet is not only compelling, he’s 100% real. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s greatest car salesman, so I can legally and ethically say that in the letter. John Carlton’s one-legged golfer example above does the same thing. A competent storyteller can make the reader believe anything. But people naturally mistrust advertising, so you must take special care to craft compelling, exciting hooks in your stories that won’t make your reader shake his head and toss your promotion in the waste basket. Make sure that the hook for your story not only captures attention but is verifiable and believable. 8. Read Fiction. To be a great storyteller, you must read great storytellers. I’m not asking you to go out and get a copy of _War and Peace_, just read whatever interests you. Read political thrillers, horror, mysteries, or science fiction if that’s your thing. Chances are, your target audience is reading these same books. While you’re reading, think about how you feel reading certain passages and study how the writer made you feel that way. Where you angry? Scared? Excited? Were your eyes glued to the page unable to stop? See if you can figure out how the author did that to you, so you can reproduce those same feelings in your sales copy. 9. Read Books on the Art of Storytelling. You can also learn a thing or two by reading books on fiction technique. Two of my favorites are _Techniques of the Selling Writer_ by Dwight V. Swain and _On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft_ by Stephen King. 10. Study the Copywriting Masters. No art—or marketing copy—is created in a vacuum. It takes knowledge of what has gone before. That’s why you should always study the masters of copywriting from yesterday and today. Copywriters like John Carlton, John Caples, Dan Kennedy, Bob Bly, and Clayton Makepeace. These guys know how to write copy that keeps readers engaged all the way to the “buy now” button. And you would do well to study what they have written. 2009-01-11T18:28:52Z

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10-steps-to-turning-your-product-or-service-into-a-compelling-story-part-ii

2009-01-12T20:19:18Z

5 more tips to help you turn your product or service into a selling story.

10 Steps to Turning Your Product or Service Into a Compelling Story, Part II

2009-02-24T09:48:25Z