How Mind-Reading can Improve Your Copywriting
By Mike Jezek Copyright 2007 Mike Jezek. All rights reserved.
One of the biggest challenges copywriters face when writing copy is that they must keep the reader moving from paragraph to paragraph until the final close. Boring copywriting spells death for any promotion so you have to utilize various techniques to push people from paragraph A to paragraph Z.
Today I'm going to share with you a technique that can help you do just that. It's called "Mind-Reading". Now don't let the name fool you. This isn't about some parlor magic trick. This is simply a method of preparing your copy with the intent of drawing attention to an obvious question they'd have after reading a paragraph.
Your prospects are going to have questions about you, and your products or services. And if you can answer their questions at the moment they were going to mentally ask them and present it to them in a format resembling their thinking processes - your copywriting will have a stronger rapport potential.
It's the old idea of "He answers all my questions for me before I even ask them." Or, "We're on the same page, this guy knows where I'm coming from."
Let's say for sake of an example you're talking about the benefits of a product. Then the obvious train of thought from there would be, "How does it do that?" You can present that in your copy by saying something to the effect of, "Right now you're probably wondering how the XYZ can accomplish these results in half the time other products on the market take. Well here's how it does that ...".
Obviously, language like this in copywriting will not only make the copy come alive, it'll also build rapport. And we all know how critical building rapport is to any sales pitch.
So how do you go about inserting language like this into your copywriting? One word. Planning. Naturally when you prepare your direct mail or website copy, you must structure your sales pitch. As you do this, look at your copywriting with a critical eye as to where the "train of thought" will flow. Ask yourself, would inserting "Mind-Reading" at this juncture work to keep the copy lively and answer questions the prospect has.
Keep in mind, you don't want to over do this as it will make the voice of the copy seem disingenuous. As always you want to come across as warm and sincere in your copy. As an advocate for the prospect. Just a little dab of Mind Reading will do you.