You are correct: the notion that copy can force people to do things they don’t want to do is false… even though a lot of people believe the opposite.

You are correct: the notion that copy can force people to do things they don’t want to do is false… even though a lot of people believe the opposite.

Brilliant post, dude. It’s something I’ve been saying for a long time, yet so often it falls on deaf ears.

Most clients come to me wanting some kind of literary-panacea to their woes, a sales-letter to fix their crap business. But their real problem is they don’t have the right audience, and their actual offer is about as inviting and compelling as a cow-chip sandwich.

Of course, none of this is helped by the less-than-honest copywriters who peddle their “I can teach you to write hypnotic copy to COMPEL people to buy from you” books, programmes, and seminars, is it?

Anyway, good show.

– Jon

Brilliant post, dude. It’s something I’ve been saying for a long time, yet so often it falls on deaf ears.

Most clients come to me wanting some kind of literary-panacea to their woes, a sales-letter to fix their crap business. But their real problem is they don’t have the right audience, and their actual offer is about as inviting and compelling as a cow-chip sandwich.

Of course, none of this is helped by the less-than-honest copywriters who peddle their “I can teach you to write hypnotic copy to COMPEL people to buy from you” books, programmes, and seminars, is it?

Anyway, good show.

– Jon

I often have a similar, yet opposite problem.

We do a lot of traffic-gen work (on top of copywriting) – and many clients think more visitors is the solution to all their woes (if they make one sale with a hundred people visiting their web-site, they can make two sales if two hundred people visit).

In any niche, there’s a limit to how many targeted leads you can get – and sooner or later improving conversion rates is the most profitable action you can take for a client.

Joseph – you raise a good point – some of it we bring upon ourselves in our own marketing ;)

Brent

I often have a similar, yet opposite problem.

We do a lot of traffic-gen work (on top of copywriting) – and many clients think more visitors is the solution to all their woes (if they make one sale with a hundred people visiting their web-site, they can make two sales if two hundred people visit).

In any niche, there’s a limit to how many targeted leads you can get – and sooner or later improving conversion rates is the most profitable action you can take for a client.

Joseph – you raise a good point – some of it we bring upon ourselves in our own marketing ;)

Brent

In our marketing as copywriters, clients seem to look for the “Joe made me $14,000 in 48 hours” so they can justify something in their minds that as copywriters, we can be their “magic pill.”

It is on us as professionals to educate the clients that is not the case…and there are a ton of other ways we can add value to their business…for the most part that process takes time.

Just my 2 cents.

Joseph Ratliff

But it’s not hard to see why when you look at how copywriting is being touted as being the be-all, end-all solution to your marketing problems. ESPECIALLY in the IM/biz opp niche.

This may be the very thing that pushes people to hire a copywriter in the first place (believing that it will be the miracle cure).

I know I was guilty of this in the past.