Believe me, doing this has more impact on your sales than traffic, technology, graphic design, or even using hot words in your copy

Famous advertising guru of yore, James Webb Young, said it many years ago: Every advertiser has the same problem, and that is to be believed.

What makes people believe you?

That's pretty well known: it's proof, of the benefits and/or solutions you are promising in your copy.

It's also well known that the better and stronger your proof, the more they believe you.

And the more they believe you, the more they buy.

Yesterday I was in session with one of my enormously successful mentoring clients. We were going over a new promotion he was planning. He had gathered an overwhelming amount of proof for his claims.

As we examined what he had come up with, I realized there are two kinds of proof, and they fortify each other almost exponentially when you use them together.

The first kind of proof is proof that you can deliver the results you are promising.

The second kind of proof is proof that you understand how you deliver your results well enough to explain it to ordinary people -- non-experts.

This is especially important when you are selling information or a service like instruction, coaching or business development.

For example, if you were a major league baseball team owner, you might hire baseball slugger Barry Bonds to play on your team (if the performance enhancement controversies didn't scare you).  Because he delivers results.  It's all there.  In the record books.

But who would you hire to help your other batters bat better?

Probably not Barry Bonds, but Barry Bonds' batting coach.

Barry delivers results; his coach can explain how to deliver those results and help others do the same.

In major-league baseball, it's pretty hard to be both people. 

In other fields, it can be easier.

Look at the world of male dating instruction.  The guys who, marketing-wise, have the most success, not only know how to attract desirable women ("Barry Bonds"). They also have courses that describe, in highly understandable and convincing detail, how to do what they do ("Barry Bonds' coach").

Or consider the world of financial advisors.  Many smart people hesitate to invest under the guidance of an advisor who's not a multimillionaire him- or herself.  But then, there's Warren Buffett, whose letters about investment philosophy and practice in Berkshire Hathaway annual reports are so beautifully written they make grown men cry ("Barry Bonds' coach"). And seeing as Forbes magazine ranks Buffett as the richest man in the world ("Barry Bonds"), you have to think he knows what he's doing when it comes to investing money.

(I put Buffett loosely in the category of financial advisor because he, in effect, offers to invest people's money for them by selling shares of Berkshire Hathaway, the public company he's chairman of.)

And for another example, look at the blog post just below this one, about search engine expert Nancy Andrews.  Not only does she very clearly explain advanced search engine tactics and strategies ("Barry Bonds' coach"), but she has also gotten #1 ranking on Google for her own company ("Barry Bonds").

So, to summarise:

Form of proof #1 shows that you can do it yourself.

Form of proof #2 shows that you can explain it to others, and maybe even teach it to them.

You wouldn't believe what a difference it makes in your marketing when you use both of these forms of proof together.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Comments

[Jim Van Wyck]

David,

Only 2 comments come immediately
to mind as I read this fascinating blogpost.

#1. When we first started working together,
your expertise in crafting effective
headlines and smooth-flowing paragraphs
made a SUBSTANTIAL boost in sales.

#2. But it was your concise
and cogent analysis that
made the biggest difference,
because I soon learned FOR MYSELF the
six or eight essential elements
that made all the difference.

Jim Van Wyck
PS.... it really made me grin
to think of how you did
those two things for me
and my profitable little endeavors.

[David Garfinkel]

Thank you, Jim.

It makes me grin to remember it myself.

David

[Simon Smith]

David, I think part of this phenomenon stems from the fact that only people who truly UNDERSTAND can COMMUNICATE. It reminds me of the cliche Einstein quote: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Dating gurus and financial advisors who operate at a superficial level never gain that understanding. Those that look DEEPER to see principles behind the techniques develop wisdom that they can communicate.

[David Garfinkel]

Simon, I think you're onto something there. It never occurred to me to look at it that way, but, I think you're right.

Thanks for your insights.

David