The Most Powerful Copywriting Technique There Is

As a teacher of copywriting, I drill into my students to eat, breathe, sleep, learn and master:

> headlines
> hooks
> offers
> bullets
> benefits
> subheads
> short words, sentences and paragraphs
> active language
> emotional, visceral, visual expression

... and so many other basics of the trade.

And they're all important.  All of them.

But in terms of raw selling power, nothing, and I do mean nothing, holds a candle to a good story, well told.

You're heard all this before.  But I have come across some interesting new evidence that leads me to believe stories are even more powerful that I previously realized:

1. Goodbye Hollywood, Hello Dairyland.  There's a small revolt going against special-effects 3-D-like animation.  After the movie Sinbad tanked three years ago, the big studios said sayonara to doing old-style cartoons.  Wisconsin homebuilder Tom Hignite decided to keep the art form alive and opened his own 2-D cartoon studios in Richfield, just north of Milwaukee.  13 former Disney and Warner Brothers artists came to join him. This quote in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle, from production manager and 28-year industry veteran Tim O'Donnell, who moved from Hollywood, spoke volumes to me: "... we all love the pencil-to-paper kind of thing. We all feel if the story's strong, it doesn't really matter what medium you tell it in."

2. A good story creates automatic choreography.  Great book I discovered last week: Presenting to Win, by Silicon Valley Presentations Guru Jerry Weissman.  He tells about a Microsoft employee the PR dept. turned over to him in the early 90s to get ready for a very important presentation -- and the PR folks were wringing their hands because the employee didn't know what to do with his when he spoke.  Weissman wanted three days to work with the employee but he only got one.  In one day there was no time to fuss about postures, gestures and pacing: "I helped Jeff make some decisions about his story... which elements were most relevant and compelling... and which ones were superfluous."

Jeff was a star; his bosses were impressed.  Weissman observed: "All the vocal pyrotechnics and body language in the world can't improve a confusing story, while a clear and concise story can give a presenter the clarity of mind to present with poise."

3. The most profitable ad ever written.  I should have seen this long ago, but sometimes you just overlook the obvious.  One ad has been tracked to bring in over $2 billion in sales.  If you are a student of copywriting, these words will be immediately familiar:  "On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college.  They were very much alike, these two young men..."  This letter, written by Martin Conroy, has no headline.  No bullet points.  No sharp-angled hook.  No typical direct-response gimmicks at all.  But it sold more than $2 billion in subscriptions for The Wall Street Journal.  It sold more than any other copy ever written, and it begins and ends with... a story.

So next time you take a couple hours to sneak away and see a movie, or turn on the boob tube, pat yourself on the back.  You're refreshing and strengthening the most important skill for writing persuasive copy that you possibly could.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Comments

[georgette pann]

"On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men..." This letter, written by Martin Conroy"

where can I get to see the rest of this letter/story?

[David Garfinkel]

Hi Georgette,

You can find a copy of the original Wall St. Journal letter at:

www.ablake.com/pdfdocs/letters1.pdf

But just to show you how these ideas travel and adapt, take a look at the letter from the Clown Marketing Institute about two young clowns graduating from the same clown college 25 years ago.

You thinking I'm clowning around? I'm not:

http://www.clownmarketingtips.com/membership/

[Mauricio Martinez]

Seems like that should be so obvious to all of us. If I grab a book and begin to read my five year old a story it won't be long before my nine and eight year old arrive to squeeze in to the couch and listen. Even my 10 month old will crawl her way there and squeeze in to find out what the commotion is all about.

Funny thing is that we do the same as adults. That may explain the popularity of daytime soaps and prime time sitcoms.

Thanks David. Makes the thought of writing copy a lot more fun.

[Ray Edwards]

David,

Bravo! I firmly believe the story is the most important thing - and can overcome almost any other limitation in an ad (assuming the story is strong enough).

Too often, copywriters and marketers get caught up in the TACTICS of great ads and don't even recognize the STRATEGY.

[Caleb]

Hey Man,

Yeah, stories rock ,I don't use em enough.

I noticed you kinda swiped the wall street story on your recent promotion featuring Ben Mack.

It was nice.

Later
Caleb

[David Garfinkel]

OK Caleb,

You're right on one count. The letter I referred readers to in my email on Thursday kinda swiped the WSJ letter.

But I didn't write it. Killer Rewrite Man Mike Morgan did.

[Tony Ostian]

David,

What books would you recommend we read to hone our storytelling chops? It's amazing that a letter without a headline, bullets and other gizmos can sell $2 billion in subscriptions. I heard not too long ago that another letter beat out that WSJ control. Do you know if it was more of a direct response sales letter or another story-type letter? And, do you happen to have the link for it?

Thanks,

Tony O

[David Garfinkel]

Hey Tony,

I have a number of books I like. First, Story, by Robert McKee. Another is Stealing Fire from the Gods by James Bonnett. Annette Simmons wrote a great book for business storytelling called The Story Factor. And for sales stories, check out Unlimited Selling Power by Kenneth Lloyd and Donald Moine.

I don't know of the letter that beat the WSJ control, but if any readers of this blog do, please tell us.

[Derrick Markotter]

Seth Godin's book, "All Marketers Are Liars : The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World" is about stories that marketers tell, and how to tell stories that people will embrace. He has a blog about the book at http://www.allmarketersareliars.com

The book goes into the reasons people buy things they want, and not just the things they need. And one reason is that the story around the things they want makes them feel good.

[David Garfinkel]

Great suggestion, Derrick. Thanks.

[Jim Van Wyck]

RE: the Wall Street Journal Letter.

Conroy's was NOT the first version of that letter... the form of two parallel stories
surely reaches back to ancient times.

The oldest version,
as a pure salesletter,
that I have found,
is about 2 soldiers who
returned from the civil war,
one who did XX,
and the other who,
miracle of miracles,
took a certain business
home study course.

++++++++++++++
I pointed this out
to my highly-respected
colleague, Dr. Harlan Kilstein,
and he wrote the story there,
far more brilliantly than
I could ever dream of....

Kilstein: Steal This Book
http://tinyurl.com/kmbaq

************************

As for the letter that
beat Conroy's control,
it's hard to say it's a
new letter at all.

The WSJ was undergoing
a massive renovation,
changing their front page...
putting a little color in...
and so they hired
Mal Decker to "freshen up"
the letter.

He made only cosmetic changes,
and changed the paper-size
to allow some nice picture
cut-outs of shots of the new layout.

To say that Mal Decker
beat Conroys control
is like saying that
an Elvis Impersonator
sings better than the King.

http://www.maldecker.com/

Jim Van Wyck,
writing this,
on a beautiful spring day,
25 years from my final successs...

:)

[Alex]

Your blog is absolutely my resources...