Posted by: Daniel Levis
February 6, 2008
Issue #348

Copywriting Witchcraft
And The Black Arts Of Persuasion
Part – 1

In this issue:

• What the mind can’t prevent itself from doing … and why tying your sales argument to that process is diabolically clever …
• How the simple twisting of words can make a lame sales proposition sinfully delicious …
• A wicked way to close the sale that hardly anybody knows about …
• And more!

Dear Web Business Builder,

This issue of Web Marketing Advisor is dedicated to Adam Gordon, who in response to last week’s article about the ethics of persuasion, asks, “I wish these processes can be made more clear:”

• Metaphor and analogy
• Anchored words
• Future pacing
• Multiple open loops that close sequentially
• Wrapping your argument in story

And so in the following pages, at risk of being picked with a blade and burned at the stake (see last week’s article) I do the unthinkable. I reveal the heretical spells and secret incantations of the copywriting underworld for all to see. Read on if you dare  …

Metaphor and analogy: When the brain is confronted with an abstract or unfamiliar idea or situation, a little alarm goes off inside saying, “what’s that like?” Automatically the brain begins searching its memory banks for something similar.

Using metaphor and analogy to make the comparative connection for your prospect allows you to basically pigeonhole that idea or situation in a slot that furthers the sale. By saying something is like something else (a simile or analogy), or calling it something it isn’t (a metaphor), you can twist its meaning in the direction you want.

Smart metaphors, analogies, and similes are therefore like tools that allow you to move your prospect toward, or away from a given conclusion. For example:

It’s like a dagger driven deep into the heart of your financial and emotional security  …

 … The savings account you’ve counted on, your precious safety cushion, has been rendered virtually useless by the lowest interest rates in 45 years …

Do you see how comparing low interest rates with a dagger straight into the heart intensifies the problem the sales copy is addressing? And how the use of the metaphor safety cushion (rendered virtually useless) further intensifies the seriousness of the situation?

These metaphors serve to lead the reader to the conclusion that “hey, this is serious, I better pay attention.” and they do it in a way that is subtle, yet dramatic and engaging.

And here’s an example of how a metaphor can be used to neutralize a conclusion that is potentially negative to the sale.

Washington is in an absolute panic to put a band-aid on the gaping head wounds of the economy and convince you that Wall Street is safe again.

Why else would the Democrats, Republicans and the Bush White House be hammering out one of the most radical economic stimulus packages in history?

The goal of the copy is to draw the reader to the conclusion that Wall Street is a house of cards (hey, another metaphor) ready to collapse at any moment. This is a supporting premise to the overall sales argument. The stimulus package (advertised as a solution to the crisis) is therefore a potential roadblock to the sale. It is also a very abstract idea to most people.

Calling it a band-aid, and the economic trouble head wounds satisfies the brains need to draw a comparison. It also happens to support the conclusion that the stimulus package is too little, too late, therefore countering it as an objection (an excuse for inaction) to the sale.

These examples of metaphor and analogy taken from some of Clayton’s financial newsletter copy consist of just a few words woven into the copy.

But these techniques can also be extended, playing a much more prominent role in the copy. Robert Collier was a master of teasing the reader along with these extended analogies that culminated in the conclusions he wanted his readers to make. Here’s one such example:

Have you ever stood on the shore of a calm, peaceful lake and watched the reflections in it? The trees, the mountains, the clouds, the sky, all were mirrored there — just as perfectly, just as beautifully, as the objects themselves. But try to get such a reflection from the ocean! It cannot be done, because the ocean is always restless, always stirred up by winds, or waves, or tides.

So it is with your mind. You cannot reflect the richness and plenty of Universal Mind, you cannot mirror peace and health and happiness if you are constantly worried, continually stirred by waves of fear, winds of anger, tides of toil and striving. You must relax at times. You must give mind a chance. You must realize that, when you have done your best, you can confidently lean back and leave the outcome to Universal Mind.

OK, hopefully that gives you some ideas for using these tools in your copy. Pedagogues, forgive me if I’ve made a mess of the technical definition of any of these terms. I’m an elementary school graduate.

Anchored words: Words are symbols — representations of reality. They cause a kind of Pavlovian reaction. It’s as if our entire life experience is recorded, and specific experiences can be played back if the right stimulus is provided.

Certain words are particularly evocative, triggering a cascade of images and emotions in the mind of your reader.

Love, hate, sex, death, kill, joy and blood are all examples of these highly anchored, viscerally charged words that create powerful, automatic, involuntary associations.

Some words are conversely very dull, without much anchoring, neutral. Most are somewhere in between. And when a word produces an anchored response, that response is either positive or negative to the sale. Your word choice either propels your prospect toward the action you want him to take, or it causes him to stop and think.

Too few anchored words will cause him to stop and think, “Do I really want to read this, I’m bored.” Words anchored in opposition to the sale will cause him to put your promotion aside for further consideration, or worse, cause him to reject your proposition outright.

Here are a few examples of how words can be anchored positively or negatively in context to the sale, and why word choice is so important in your copy.

When selling information products,the word learn is anchored negatively. People hear or read this word and instantly they’re mentally back in school, bored, and hating it. They don’t want to learn anything. But they love to discover things, magically stumbling upon the answers to their problems.

The word selling in certain situations is also anchored very negatively. People don’t want to sell, and they don’t want to be sold. They hear the word selling, and they’re thinking of the time some misguided “friend” cornered them and started pushing Amway or some other crazy scheme on them. They don’t want to sell. They do however want to serve, and be served.

Signature as in “sign your name” is another word that’s anchored very negatively toward the sale. People hear or read this word, and they remember their father warning them to never sign anything without talking it over with somebody else first, or showing it to their lawyer. Doubly so, if the thing they’re being asked to sign is a contract. The word contract is also negatively anchored. Better to say, “All you need do is give me your John Hancock right here on the agreement and by this time tomorrow you’ll be enjoying [insert delicious benefit here].”

Your prospect’s mind is like a vast storehouse of images and mental movies. Virtually every sentence you write gives you an opportunity to strategically pull just the right one out and play it.

Future pacing: Before your prospect can take action and buy your product, he has to imagine himself using it to either obtain a positive, pleasurable experience … or avoid a negative, painful one — or both.

And since the sub-conscious mind literally can’t tell the difference between a real and imagined experience, the more vividly those outcomes are imagined, the more motivated he will become.

Future pacing involves projecting your reader into the future, and then getting him to look back on the present, and reflect on his decision.

Here’s an example:

A year from now, you’ll have had a chance to reap some of the mouthwatering gains I’m convinced are in store — and you’ll be enjoying the rewards …

Maybe you and your significant other will be lazing for weeks on end along a sun-drenched stretch of Mediterranean beach … maybe fishing off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard for the entire summer … maybe taking a long leisurely tour of the glamour capitals of Europe.

Whatever you’re doing … you’ll be looking back on the decision you made here today as one of your very best!

Future pacing works incredibly well if the visions you’re asking your prospects to engage in are congruent with their fantasies.

Your prospects don’t see themselves in the exact scenario you put them in, but if you’re close, you’re triggering an analogous, very personal vision stored within their own minds. And that daydream is far more motivational than anything you could possibly describe in your copy.

Of course future pacing works both ways … you can paint a negative picture as well …

Take your prospect forward to a place and time where nothing has changed. There he sits, in exactly the same place he is today, looking back in regret on the opportunity he chose to ignore.

This is not a comfortable feeling, and will often compel your prospect to cast aside whatever fears are preventing him from buying your product.

Here’s an example of negative future pacing:

I’ll be the first to admit that getting involved with what we’ve discussed here today takes a little guts. I was scared out of my mind the day I took the plunge. Do you know what clinched it for me though?

I said to myself, “Look, if you don’t try this, 10 years from now you’ll be looking back on this moment and wondering what could have been. And you’ll be hating yourself for having given in to your fears, and having let a golden opportunity like this slip through your fingers, along with your dreams for a better life.” Believe it or not, that motivated me to take action, and I’ve never looked back.

Don’t hate yourself for wondering what could have been.

Whoa, that’s the makings of a wicked close. I bet I’m going to hell for that one.

Stay tuned for part two of Copywriting Witchcraft And The Black Arts Of Persuasion, coming your way next week.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
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8 Comments »

1. Comment by Bob Clarke — January 10, 2008 @ 12:13 pm

   Thanks Wendy, this is very timely. I was in deep thought just this morning wondering how to segment. Who goes where and why? And will all the effort be worth it? Because nothing happens until you make a decision, and that\’s called procrastination, it\’s critically important to have a clear picture of reason and process to take the first step.

2. Comment by said alghanem — January 11, 2008 @ 5:49 am

   hi
   if you can sendt to som page i laik that

   thanks

   said

3. Comment by K. R. — February 6, 2008 @ 9:00 am

   Great stuff, Daniel! Do you know of any \”bucket brigade\” type list of negative anchor words and alternatives? That would be a great tool to have in the shed. (If not- I smell a hot bonus in the oven…)

4. Comment by lawton chiles — February 6, 2008 @ 9:20 am

   Man, that was hot. The positioning is so important in the reader\’s mind. Way to go.

5. Comment by Joe Bunin — February 6, 2008 @ 11:17 am

   Great article! Like Lawton, I would love a further discussion of anchor words. Maybe a list of positive and negative ones for reference.

6. Comment by Nick — February 6, 2008 @ 1:25 pm

   Keep it coming Dan! NLP is such a dry subject it\’s nice to see some plain English explanations of how to use this stuff in copy.

7. Comment by Brett — February 7, 2008 @ 7:56 am

   Absolutely brilliant stuff.Even the headline of your article draws us in. Instead of the usual headlines that you would expect anywhere else \”copywriting tips\” ..blah blah blah, it\’s copywriting witchcraft..etc, and your subheads follow this theme with descriptions like diabolically clever and sinfully delicious and wicked,it paints a picture with very few words. Makes me want to read, that\’s for sure, and after all thats what it\’s all about…Well done.

8. Comment by Jason — March 2, 2008 @ 3:24 pm

   Hi Daniel.

   Great article.

   I listened to your interview with Clayton Makepeace.  Not sure when it was recorded…  It kind of propelled me to this article.

   Onward to part II!

   Jason