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The Surprising
Maxim that Maximises Your Copywriting Results
By Kris Mills
Who was it that
said, “Modesty is a virtue”? Whoever
it was, I’m sure they weren’t referring
to the field of sales and marketing, where self-promotion
is the name of the game … or were they?
Take a good look
at anyone who is a roaring success in sales,
in copywriting or in marketing and you’ll
see that one of the secrets of their success
is in being able to really connect with people
one-on-one, on their level. Sure, that means
developing a great rapport with them, being
a great listener and being a great communicator
and more. But there’s one factor that
separates these greats from the wannabes.
It’s called
the “Modesty Maxim”. The people
who master this element of rapport, achieve
mastery.
Here’s how
it works in copywriting. It can be used in a
very similar way in sales too.
When you’re
writing to (or speaking with) a prospect who
has a certain problem that they want to solve,
chances are they are feeling a little insecure
about a certain aspect of who they are.
With that, it’s
important that your copy starts by coming down
to their level, where they are now at emotionally
and then bring them up to the level where they
want to be.
Here’s a
story of Mary Bryant. Mary is a 42 year old
mother of four from Atlanta, Georgia. She was
25kgs overweight and had been that way since
her youngest child was born about 10 years ago.
Mary looked in
the mirror everyday and hated the image that
stared back at her. She felt ugly. She hated
those extra rolls of fat around her waist. She
hated her double chin. She hated the saddle
bags under her arms.
She desperately
wanted to lose weight. She wanted to be able
to look in the mirror and like what she saw.
One day Mary decided
to visit a weight loss centre. The weight loss
consultant was friendly and asked her questions
about herself, but as she did that, Mary felt
about an inch tall.
Mary was embarrassed
by her weight. What made it worse was the weight
loss consultant was reed-thin and looked like
she had never had an inch of fat on her bones
in her entire life.
‘She thinks
she’s better than me,’ Mary muttered
to herself. ‘She is probably thinking
to herself, “That fat slob. How could
she let herself go like that?’’
On and on went Mary’s mind chatter then
after about 15 minutes, Mary was fed up with
the “high and mighty attitude” of
the weight loss consultant, so she left.
Because Mary was
so entrenched in her own problem, she was in
a very emotional and not very rational state.
In fact, her emotions were clouding her judgment.
After Mary left
she recognized just how irrational she was being,
so she decided to visit another weight loss
clinic and try again.
Again, she was
greeted by a ‘reed-thin’ weight
loss consultant with a smile. Again, she was
asked about her goals and her personal situation.
But what happened
this time was that this weight loss consultant
told Mary her own story of how she was a mother
of five and just 18 months ago she was more
than 30 kilograms overweight … and how
she had tried diet after diet and nothing was
working … how she hated looking in the
mirror everyday … how she just didn’t
want to get out of bed at all.
Mary’s eyes
lit up. Mary looked at this blonde, waifish
woman and finally realized that just maybe she
really could be like that too - that maybe if
that weight loss consultant could lose 30 kilograms,
maybe she could lose 20 kilograms.
See the difference?
The weight loss
consultant in the second example shared her
story with her and doing that achieved two things:
First - Mary no
longer felt inferior to the weight loss consultant
because the weight loss consultant had once
been in the same situation that she is in now.
Second - Mary felt that getting results was
now achievable because she was talking with
someone who had been in her situation and won.
Here are some
other situations where the Modesty Maxim applies
…
Wealth
Creation
If you’re
a multi-millionaire who wants to teach the “Average
Joe” how to get rich, it’s important
to show how rich you are now, but it’s
also vital that you tell them how you were like
them once. For instance:
“How
a lazy high-school dropout went from dead broke
to $10 million in assets in 7 years”
Some Classic
Headlines that Employ the Modesty Maxim
The
Man with the Grasshopper Mind
Anyone who
has loads of mind-chatter can instantly relate
to this headline and subsequently the man mentioned
in the ad. They want to know …
How much is his situation like theirs?
What did this man do to fix the problem?
What is his life like now?
How
a new discovery made a plain girl beautiful
Again,
a great example of “before and after”.
Most women want to look more beautiful but many
feel that it’s something you need to be
born with. This headline promises that beauty
is available to even “plain girls”.
“They laughed when I sat down
at the piano but when I started to play”
Many people
who want to play the piano don’t learn
for fear of looking ridiculous. This headline
resonates with those people.
See how
these examples connect with the reader?
What other
examples can you think of?
How can
you apply the Modesty Maxim in your marketing
efforts?
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