Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
June 11, 2007
Issue #148

You Ask, I Answer

• The two things you must do to establish the most effective emotional tone for your sales copy …
• Four secrets for organizing your workday for peak productivity and performance …
• Five keys to ramping up your creativity and getting more done every day of your working life …
• How to handle a copy critique without letting it ruin your day – and without strangling your client …
• How to know when your copy’s ready for the client to review and when it’s ready to put to work …
• And MORE!

Dear Business Builder,

I love it when you tell me what you want …

And boy, have you ever been busy doing just that: Our SUGGESTION BOX is crammed to overflowing with questions and requests for the articles you’d like to see next!

It really helps – especially on a Friday afternoon when The Redhead’s cracking the whip and demanding an article from me OR ELSE …

And so this week, I’m going to answer a few of the questions we get asked most often around here: Lots of good stuff in this issue – a veritable cornucopia of career-building, response-boosting, profit-rocketing insights.

Ready? Let’s get started …

Q: “I’m stuck on what kind of emotional “tone” I should use in a promotion – how do you decide?”

A: I know – just about every direct response or copywriting forum you see has at least one free-for-all going on the “tone” question.

“High-energy sales copy is definitely the way to go,” says one set of authorities.

“Baloney! Calm, reasoned, rational copy works better,” says the other.

Fact is, the question itself is totally specious. It implies that one particular type of emotional tone works best in all markets … on all subjects … and with all products.

In truth, you should never have to decide what the emotional tone of the copy you’re writing should be. Your market and your subject should do it for you.

So if the “tone” question has you hamstrung, try this…

Ask Your Market: Take a cue from promotions that are being used repeatedly – and therefore successfully – in your market niche.

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Right now in the financial markets, for example, the most successful customer acquisition promotions (mailings to cold, rented lists) tend to rate fairly low on the emotional intensity scale – like Weiss’ outstanding The 6 Giants of Unstoppable Global Profits promotion written by ace copywriter Eric Betuel.

This and the handful of other financial newsletter promotions that are generating new subscribers at a profit in the mail today supply extensively documented facts about investment opportunities and the qualifications of their figurehead.

Big promises are intentionally left OUT of headlines. Higher energy words are eschewed in favor of plain language. You could count the number of slammers (exclamation points) used on one hand.

These “come; let us reason together” promotions are light on hype and heavy on compelling, persuasive sales arguments. And they rely on their prospects to react to the facts by providing the appropriate emotional response.

This low-tone approach is working best in the financial markets because our prospects tend to be overwhelmingly:

1. More conservative than the average bear …
2. More serious about their money, and  …
3. More skeptical – especially after being taken to the cleaners by brokers and other advisors who made inflated promises before the tech wreck of 2000.

Come off like a carnival barker when you’re trying to introduce yourself to these guys, and they’ll instantly vaporize your e-mail or turn your direct mail piece into birdcage liner in no time flat.

Later, once they’ve become your customers and have come to know and respect you, there will be times for higher energy copy. And believe me – if you do it right, they’ll buy in droves.

For now though, it’s best to whisper through their left ears … into the left side of their brains … and let them connect the emotional dots.

In the health supplement markets though, it’s a very different world. In almost every case, our high-energy copy is working much better.

Click here for larger image

For one thing, big promise leads tend to differentiate my clients from their competitors – many of whom use stilted, dry, doctor-driven, “just the facts, ma’am” sales copy.

For another, our health product prospects have yet to experience the kind of crisis of faith that hit our financial newsletter prospects when Enron, WorldComm, Global Crossing and many other tech stocks fell to zero a few years ago.

And while bad financial advice can cost you dearly, there’s no comparable downside for taking a vitamin. Only the possible upside of more energy … erasure of pain … weight loss … better sex … a more fulfilling, fun and longer life.

Yep, you heard me right: Our prospects take their money more seriously than they take their health. But that’s always been the case.

Don’t believe me? Go into your swipe file and pull a Phillips financial promo and a Rodale health promo from ten years ago.

Let Your Theme Lead the Way: To me, the tone question is ultimately a “credibility” question. If your emotional tone is either too energized or too anesthetized for the subject at hand, you will lose sales.

If I smiled and said, “Pardon me, old chap, but your posterior appears to be oxidating rather rapidly,” I’d probably just get a blank stare.

But if I ran up to you and screamed, “Holey Moley – your BUTT’S ON FIRE!!!” – I’d probably get an entirely different reaction from you.

Same message, two very different responses. Why? Because in the second case, the emotion validated the message.

Right now, for example, I’m putting the finishing touches on a promotion aimed at well-to-do political conservatives. My product is a series a premiums and a newsletter that are designed to help my prospects live well and prosper despite the fact that their sworn enemies – those darned Democrats – control Congress and may soon control the White House, too.

To my prospect, Democrat politicians are devils incarnate: Determined to hijack his health care, confiscate his guns, make him more vulnerable to terror, mug him at tax time, drive gas prices to $10 a gallon, destroy the value of the U.S. dollars in his bank account, wreck the economy and stock market, render his savings and investments worthless and – who knows? – maybe even give him a noogie.

Put simply, this is personal.

So how do you think my prospect is likely to feel about all this?

… Frustrated and angry that his own government is turning on him?

… Naked, alone and vulnerable to Pelosi, Rangel and Kennedy – an axis of evil that, to him at least, makes Syria, Iran and North Korea seem distant and benign by comparison?

… Determined to not only defeat the enemy’s attempts to destroy his life, but also to exact some sort of emotional satisfaction (as in Bencivenga’s great “Living Well is the Best Revenge” headline)?

Given the subject matter of this promotion and the off-the scale emotional state of my prospects, do you really think a low-key, non-emotional tone would work best?

Or wouldn’t an emotional tone that resonates with and activates my prospect’s dominant resident emotions be more effective at making him my friend, establishing my spokesman as an advocate and making my message more credible?

So instead of arguing over which kind of emotional tone is best in every case, ask yourself, “How intense are my prospect’s emotions regarding the subject at hand?”

If you can get that right, getting on the same emotional level as your prospect enhances credibility and makes your spokesman a kindred spirit – a person your prospect can understand and trust.

Q: “How do you organize your workday?”

A: Organize! My workday? Oh, that’s RICH!

Organize my work day. Hey Wendy – take a look at this question! HAH!

What have I ever done to give you the impression that I’m organized – much less that I have any control over how my day’s going to go?

Sure: There was a time – before The Total Package and before my one-man freelance copywriting business became a real direct marketing agency – when it was still possible to control my workday.

Back then, my schedule was simple:

• Rise at 4:00 AM …
• Write until noon …
• Turn telephone on and return calls until 2:00 or 3:00 PM …
• Ride Harley to Azure Tides – a little tiki bar on Lido Beach – and consume vast quantities of tequila with my friends.

Nowadays, it’s not so simple. I do, however, have a simple four-part plan I try to stick to:

1. Just as no battle plan survives the first engagement with the enemy, no work schedule I’ve ever used has survived the first interruption. For me at least, any attempt at detailed scheduling of my workday is an exercise in futility.
2. Since early morning is the only time of the day I can expect to work uninterrupted – and coincidentally, because my mental and creative powers are strongest in the wee hours – the 480 minutes (eight hours) between 4:00 AM and noon are reserved for my clients’ copywriting projects.
3. Since keeping The Redhead in a good mood is always a good idea, whatever she needs from me (usually stuff for The Total Package) comes next.
4. After that, the rest of the world – copy cubs, web guys, JV partners, etc. – gets its shot at me.

So with that in mind, here’s what a typical day looks like for me these days …

4:00 AM – 5:00 AM: Stumble out of bed, throw on sweats and exercise shoes. Navigate down a flight of stairs to the living room … step out onto the deck, then trudge down the path that leads to my little cabin in the woods. Get the coffee brewing while checking how the Asian stock markets did overnight … tap into our main office network and mainline caffeine while answering e-mails …

5:00 AM – 7:15 AM: Open the project du jour and begin reading. Reading quickly leads to editing; editing to the addition of new copy. Before I know it, I’m wide awake, deep into the work and have a blessed two hours and fifteen minutes to wail without a single interruption.

7:15 AM – 7:30 AM: Cordial daily conference call with a beloved friend and client for whom I produce daily e-mails to promote various financial products to his customer file.

7:30 AM – 8:40 AM: Trudge back up to the main house, crank up iPod and enter The Dungeon of Pain – or as it’s better known, “the exercise room.”

Fifteen minutes on the LifeCycle … 50 crunches … ten minutes on the eliptical … 50 crunches … fifteen more on the LifeCycle … to hell with those last 50 crunches. Curse my aging body. Head up to the bedroom … give The Redhead her morning smooch … cool down, shower, don work attire.

8:40 – 8:50 AM: Clamber into my li’l red Porsche … creep down the long gravel driveway through the trees, across Winchester Creek, past the stables and through the pastures … roll down window and baby talk Ember, Cody, Flash and Micah as they respectfully interrupt their grazing to acknowledge my presence … wave at Tim “The Handyman” Jones as he climbs aboard the tractor to begin mowing whichever field the horses are not in.

Tool out onto the blacktop, crank up some Zeppelin (or maybe Jet), nail the accelerator and hang on for dear life. I never cease to be amazed at the breath-taking acceleration – let alone the beautiful music those twin turbos compose when they’re making 500-plus horsepower.

9:00 – 10:30 AM: Arrive at downtown office … say “Hi” to John, Tony and Martha downstairs and to Dave, Graham, Forrest and Pete upstairs. Give Redhead her second smooch of the morning  … fire up coffee pot … settle down at computer … crank out financial client’s daily e-mail project and submit the copy.

10:30 AM – 12:00 Noon: Open current major longer-term project – probably a direct mail package selling nutritional supplements or a financial newsletter.

12:00 Noon – 12:15: Wash down a Subway sandwich with green tea while getting an update – and my Total Package marching orders – from The Redhead.

12:15 PM – 3:00 PM: Whatever happens, happens. If I’m lucky, I’ll have a few more uninterrupted hours to work on a client’s current longer-term, long-copy project – a direct mail piece or web landing page.

Or, I may have a conference call with a client about a new project … critique a cub’s draft copy … meet with staff on Total Package projects … convert a client’s tabloid into a bookalog … create a couple of new headlines to test on one of my direct mail controls … interview a top marketer for our EasyWriters Roadhouse Rants … work with Julie to create some new traffic drivers for a client’s web-based acquisition campaign … or, like today, slave over my weekly Total Package article.

3:00 PM: Beginning to plan my escape. Hey – I’ve got 11 hours under my belt; I deserve it! Usually, I get out of here early – but only if I’m at a good stopping point on all my projects  … and if I ask real nice … and if The Redhead’s in a good mood. Otherwise, I could be stuck here until 5:00 or even later.

Until 8:00 PM: Jump in the 911 Turbo for the second half of the 20 most viscerally exhilarating minutes of my day. Once home, I say “Hi” to Margaret, who’s usually cleaning or cooking something, ask the kids how their day went and accept their one-word answers at face value.

Then, I usually head down to my little cabin office to decompress and maybe do a little reading for a couple of hours. When The Redhead gets home (usually after 5:00) we have dinner and hang for a couple of hours. Finally, we watch TV in bed from 8:30 or 9:00 until I doze off.

So that’s what works for me. Usually. Sometimes, changing it up some is good, too. But whatever your work situation or personality type, there are some solid concepts I hope might help you here …

1. Early to bed, early to rise works. You’ll be amazed at how much more productive and creative you can be when you get several hours of uninterrupted work out of the way early in the AM.

That’s when your brain is freshest and at its most creative – and when your conscious mind is quiet so you can still hear your subconscious brain serving up solutions to the problems you thought about the night before.

2. Compartmentalize. Block off more time in the mornings for intense concentration on projects at hand. If you’re here in the States and your phone usually begins ringing once it gets to be 8:00 or 9:00 on the East Coast, turn the bugger off.

Have a voice mail message that says you’re “on deadline” and you’ll return the call that afternoon. Then, inform anyone in your home or office who might consider interrupting you that doing so would trigger consequences too painful to contemplate.

3. Create opportunities for chaos. Just as you set aside time for your most intensive work, it’s important to set aside time each day to handle the billion little things that come up.

Your clients and/or work associates won’t mind your predilection for playing the hermit until noon so long as they can count on you getting with them as soon as you come out of hiding.

In fact, the ONLY way I get time to work alone is to bribe The Redhead with the promise that if she’s patient, she’ll definitely get her shot at me later in the day.

That’s what afternoons are for. If you’re a writer, you’ve been alone and intensely focused on one or maybe two projects for several hours. Now, with your creativity spent (or at least waning), the afternoon is a great time to handle things that require interaction with real, live people – and to take on the left-brain tasks like signing up new clients, scheduling, finances, bookkeeping, personnel, purchasing and all the rest.

4. Delegate – and mean it. My job is to pay for everything around here. That means meeting with clients, conceptualizing products, consulting on marketing strategy, writing sales copy, directing designers, analyzing the final results, making whatever adjustments are called for – and then doing it all over again.

That’s what pays the bills. And frankly, it’s a full-time job that requires pretty much every ounce of energy and focus I can give it.
Wendy’s job is to do everything else – and I do mean everything:

She found our office building and negotiated the lease … selects and purchases all our office furniture, phone system, workstations, printers and office supplies  … interviews and hires new employees … schedules and manages our in-house copywriters, web designers, fulfillment and customer service – and with her assistant Tanya, makes sure our receivables get received and our payables get paid.

The Redhead’s in charge at home, too. She makes sure Margaret always has plenty of the right kinds of foods in the pantry and that the kids are picked up and dropped off at the right places at the right times.

She’s “executive in charge” of making sure Tim knows exactly what must be done each day to keep our little estate up to snuff … that the cats, dogs and horses are fed and healthy … that our munchkins’ homework is done and done well and that they have fun stuff to do every weekend.

Me? I don’t even know how much money I have in the bank.

I’m not kidding. And frankly, I don’t want to know. And I especially don’t want to know about the thousand decisions The Redhead has to make every day. Not having to give these things a minute of my time frees me to focus on my clients, improve my copy and make more money.

My advice: If you’re a copywriter, pay someone else to mow the lawn and to do the other little chores someone can do as well or better than you can. Use the time you save to hone your craft, attract new clients and produce bigger winners for them.

If you’re an employer, hire people who can do their jobs better than you can, and then, for Buddha’s sake, turn ‘em loose.

If you can’t trust an employee to do things right, it’s nobody’s fault but yours. You either failed miserably at communicating your employee’s responsibilities to him or her, or worse – you hired the wrong person for the job.

That means you’re paying someone to do a job – and then doing his job for him. That’s pointless for you and painfully humiliating for your employee.

If this sounds familiar to you, there’s only one humane thing to do: Either get your management act together or replace the employee who can’t do it right with one who can.

5. Do NOT forget to loaf! During the week, I try to give my businesses 12 to 13 hours of quality time a day – about 60 to 65 hours a week. I figure that earns me the right NOT to work on weekends or holidays.

Sure – if a client’s in a bind, I will occasionally break my weekend work ban, but it almost never happens. Instead, I use that time to be with my loved ones, to re-establish contact with popular culture (read, watch TV, see a movie), to have a little fun and to give my poor old tired brain the time it needs to recuperate.

On days off, I try hard NOT to think about work – and Wendy and I try hard not to talk about work. But sometimes we can’t help it. And you’d be surprised at how many of our best ideas bubble up to the surface when we’re doing our dead-level best to think and talk about other stuff.

A few more quick Qs and As …

Q: “How do you handle it when clients and others critique your copy?”

A: I generally go through three stages:

1. Irritation: “I’ve just spent weeks on this copy. I’ve thought more comprehensively about my prospect, my spokesperson, my product and my offer than my client possibly could. I’ve made my Sophie’s choices on what to include and what to leave out. I have 35 years of doing this under my belt and one heck of a lot of successes to back up every jot and tittle. And this guy is telling me my copy could benefit from his input? HAH!”

And so, I put off reading the crits for a few hours … prepare myself to deal with them with a cool head … tell myself that they probably won’t be that bad.

2. Curiosity: “OK – well, in the past, this client has actually given me an insight now and again that actually made me money. Besides: If his comments are too off-base, I can always help him to see things my way … maybe I’ll just take a peek at what he says…”

3. Acceptance: “Hey – most of these crits don’t suck! In fact, a few of them are pretty brilliant!

Q: “How do I know when my copy’s ready to be reviewed by my client – or to “go live” on the web or in the mail?”

A: For me, it depends on the client.

Some of my clients don’t want to get involved in the copy at all. They’ll just review what I wrote to make sure the numbers add up and that the offer is correct.

And of course, they’ll have their legal beagles make sure every claim is fully substantiated and that I haven’t said anything that might get us in hot water with the governing authorities.

Beyond that, they pretty much leave the copy alone.

When I’m writing for these guys, I refuse to let them see my copy until I’m sure it’s something I’d gladly invest my own money to mail. After all – when it’s submitted, it’s going straight into design.

Then, there are my more active clients – guys and gals who’ve been in this business as long as I have and have a solid handle on what works in their markets.

When I write for these guys, I know I’m looking at three, four, even five drafts before we’ll be done – and sometimes, even more. So there’s no point in making the first draft perfect. It’s more important to make it complete – make sure it contains every salient sales argument I can think of – and that it turns around quickly.

Then, we go back and forth a few times until we’re both convinced it’s the strongest sales copy we’re capable of creating for the product.
Both approaches seem to work equally well.

The trick is, finding out which kind of client you’re dealing with right up front so you can submit your copy at the right time.

Hope this helps …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.

Looking for more of Clayton’s articles? Check these out.

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Related posts

• Solving the Marketing Model Mystery
• Grunt Work Does a Copywriter Good
• JUST-IN-TIME COPYWRITING: Secrets of the “Overnight” Promo Writer
• You Ask I Answer Part One
• How I Get Rich; How I Make My Clients Richer

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5 Comments »

1. Comment by Caleb Osborne — June 11, 2007 @ 9:33 am

   … you over deliver Clayton!

   Thanks for the info - definitely
   helpful!

   Talk soon,
   Caleb

2. Comment by Beverly Reany — June 11, 2007 @ 10:01 am

   :sigh Hi Clayton and Wendy & everyone,
   Just wondering how to land 1st assignment when everyone wants someone with at least 2 yrs of
   experience and/or a BA, or some other kind of BS degree under their belts. I\’ve been
   searching but that seems to be all I can find. Any suggestions for those of us who are trying to find our 1st paid assignment?

   Bev

3. Comment by Andrew Cavanagh — June 11, 2007 @ 10:02 am

   I was reading this post and thinking \”Wow Clayton really has it all together\” then I read the bit about listening to JET while driving your car.

   My God!

   It\’s amazing your brain cells haven\’t crawled out of your ears and leapt to a less painful death on that winding road.

   Perhaps some of the Total Package readers good start sending you some musical care packages.

   Clearly there are no music stores near where you live and links to online stores like Amazon have been disabled on your web browser (bless the redhead).

   So guys send Clayton some real music FAST…before it\’s too late!!!

   Kindest regards,
   Andrew Cavanagh

4. Comment by Andrew Cavanagh — June 11, 2007 @ 11:50 am

   I should also add that no self respecting bikie would ever play JET!

   Next you\’ll be driving a volvo.

5. Comment by Scot Corbett — June 15, 2007 @ 9:31 am

   Hello clayton I\’m with Bev on this one.
   I\’d really like to know how to get my first paid assignment but I do not have all the experiance neither.
   I do know that I am great at what it is that I do and that is write.
   Do you think you could give me any reccomendations?
   Thanks your friend.
   Scot Corbett
   Utah