How To Write Ads, reports, scripts and content that SELL

The Pareto Principle states that 20% of content online gets 80% of the views. In my opinion? Dead wrong.

It’s more like 5% of content gets 95% of views.

The reason for that?

Because most content is BOOOOOOOOOOORING.

Repetitive. Cliche. Dry as your tongue when you wake up with an epic hangover. So here’s what you do to get your content into that epic 5% instead of being in the forgotten 95%.

The secret to creating content that SELLS (without being annoying and sleazy and salesy)

Step one is easy. Inject some dynatime in your copy, explosive like a right hook from Mike Tyson.

The best way to do that?

Keep it casual and real. Just like I'm doing it here.

Write like you're having a drink with a good friend. Write like you're talking with another human being.

(That's in fact the best way to not sound salesy)

That means you use mostly short and explosive sentences. Every once in a while a sentence can go on for longer, like this one, but most will be pithy and quick and to the point.

We're not writing a book here, so no endlessly long and booooring paragraphs. Nobody has time for that.

Best way to keep someone reading? Make it easy for them to read and skim through.

Using Razor Sharp Hooks That Grab Your Reader And Don’t Let Go

There is no other way around it. You gotta keep your readers engaged.

Using razor-sharp hooks that makes them want to read the first, then the second, and third sentence.

Till they got to the end without taking a breath.

You need to make it impossible to take your stuff down. Keep them engaged and enticed.

This means…

None of this stuff:

"We’re really good at what we do and way better than the competition and we’ve been in business for 261 years and we really care about you as a customer and bla bla bla.”

This is just awful, boring, and dead wrong.

I mean come on now… This stuff is weaker than a vegan bodybuilder.

And still most businesses think it's a great idea to say these things in ads, websites and posts.

See how easy it is for you to stand out in marketing and contentland?

When people first land on your article they're not ready to buy jet.

They're just browsing around seeing if something catches their eye…

It's up to you if you use headlines, subheads, and juicy paragraphs to SELL them the idea of sticking around and read further.

Let me say it again, it's the same thing I am doing here. Subheads that reveal more of the story and hit the keypoints.

But heres's the real secret sauce:

You Need To Make It All About THEM.

People are self-interested… We all are.

Not trying to hurt your feelings but no one cares about our products, services, or about us generally…

Only when they believe and understand that you’re trying to actually help them are they ready to hear your story. 

So keep it laser focused on how reading your stuff will help THEM out.

Skip The Bullshit While Writing

Last thing I want to cover.

Don't dance around their skepticism and objections like some blue haired first year college student afraid to offend anyone by not including every single pronoun on the planet in his social media bio.

Address possible objections and issues head on. 

Remember this quote by the OG of advertising:

“The consumer is not a moron. She’s your wife.”

David Ogilvy

Call out what they're probably thinking and then defuse it with logic, empathy and cold hard facts. Just be real with people.

I wanted to talk about Call to Actions as well but that really deserves it’s own article. So we’ll cover that in a future installment.

For now - let’s get to WORK!

Talk soon,

Maurice