1 Little Words Make a HUGE Difference
We all make this mistake. I’m sure that you could find numerous examples where I’ve made it myself. But nonetheless it is important and something you need to keep in mind when creating a marketing message.
I’m talking about the power of certain words you use.
You see, there are words that increase the chances of a sale and there are words that will work against you in that regard. Let’s start with the biggest offender.
“Buy.”
Buy is a word that is simply not ideal. People don’t like to be sold, so telling them to buy is a big turn off for your prospect.
So what can you use instead?
How about “claim?” Think about:
Discover how you can claim your special report
…as opposed to:
Buy your special report here.
Can you see and hear the difference?
You can use the word “invest.“. For example:
Your investment in this special report is backed by our iron-clad guarantee.
Or how about “enroll“…
When you enroll to get the information in this special report…
This isn’t the be-all-end-all list, but you can see how they are an improvement over the word “buy.”
Don’t Make Your Prospect “Work”
Another word that can always be generally improved upon is “learn.”
People generally don’t like to learn. Learning is work. People much prefer to “discover.” Discovering is exciting. It implies “newness” or something that maybe no one else has seen or heard of before.
Or even better, if you are talking in kind of conversational tone, you could say “find out.” “Here’s how you can find out…”
Both words are less threatening to the prospect.
I sometimes see people use the word “things” in sales letters. As in “The five things you need to become…”
“Things” is a weak word. It’s very important to be specific in your marketing message. “Things” is just too vague. Tips, tricks, techniques, insights, secrets, strategies, insider tactics, etc. are all much better options than using “things.“
This list could go on forever. And I’m not going to spend the entire post trying to create a comprehensive list. Suffice to know and understand that you have to be aware of the words you are using in your marketing.
If your words imply work on the part of your prospect or anything confrontational (like the “buy” example,) you should think twice about using a different word in its place.
2 The Secret Reason Everyone Buys…
Now, I want to share one more important marketing concept with you.
I’ve saved it for last because it can be immensely powerful. It can really be your ticket to multiplying how profitable, how big, how successful your business can be. And also accelerate how fast you get to your goals.
But before I get into it, I want to kind of give you the right context here. There are two important pieces of information that I want to share with you that I think will help you appreciate the value that I’m about to give you.
The first is from Porter Stansberry. Porter runs the largest division of Agora – Stansberry & Associates. His division has grown to nine figures in a very short period of time. That’s over $100 million dollars. Thanks to his division alone, Agora will break $600 million this year.
Porter once told me that people buy for emotional reasons, but those emotional reasons never get full satisfied. That’s important. Once you know what a buyer has bought in the past, you have a pretty good idea of what they will buy in the future.
So for example, I buy a lot of books. There are a lot of good business reasons why I buy them. But there’s also some emotional baggage I carry around.
Let’s say I buy all these books because my mother and father thought I was stupid. That’s not true but let’s just say that it was as an example. If that were the case, then I’m really buying all these books because I’m unconsciously I’m trying to prove that I’m smart.
Well if that’s the case, there is no book that’s ever going to fill that emotional need. There’s never going to be a book that I buy, read, and say, “Ah ha! Now I’m smart! I don’t have to buy any more books ever again.”
It’s that emotional need that never gets satisfied that a marketer can tap into time and time again. That’s important to realize. I think it’s pretty profound actually.
And what’s more, we’re all subject to these emotional needs in some form or another.
I want you to think about that for the next couple days.
What kind of emotional needs might prospects in your market have that you would be able to fill. Make a short list. When I come back in the next post, I’m going to expand on this in much greater detail.