Hello, Habr! The book immerses the reader in the CPC style (convincingly positive copywriting) and talks about the "fine tuning" of persuasion with text. Using live cases, you will learn how to create simple but psychologically correct marketing materials for all business segments.
UPC-style is a powerful type of copywriting, which is based on marketing and psychology, as well as a number of author's findings and chips. Petr Panda is the founder of the University of Copywriting, he continues to write texts himself and teach students, in practice checking and using everything that he teaches others.
The book is witty, funny, easy, but most importantly, convincing and useful. "Copywriting: The Power of Persuasion" will help copywriters, content managers, freelancers and website owners to improve their superpowers of writing texts - after all, where other formats are stalled, the CPC wins.
What is this book about?
This is not just a book about copywriting. This is a book about convincing copywriting. Convincingly positive copywriting. And this is much cooler.
I didn't create convincingly positive copywriting from scratch. I didn't have an itch to sit down and invent something that differed from everything that exists nowadays only in its beautiful name and a couple of bows glued to the side.
No. This style was hard to nurture, flashed occasionally in confused guesses and was fully born only when I realized that it was no longer possible to write like everyone else. Once, as a practicing copywriter, I ran into a simple but absolutely insoluble problem.
The problem was that manipulating the reader's trust with standard templates and conventional techniques completely destroyed the good relationship between the text and its consumer. Destroyed forever.
I realized that even if I add beautiful adjectives and exclamation marks to the texts in carriages, the level of reader's confidence will not increase. Yes, marketing formulas and all sorts of appeals can be perfectly handled. Yes, marketing copy schemes or PR articles can look like a billion. But people just don't believe beautiful words anymore.
The foundation may be wonderful, but it doesn't solve anything. Even if you bake spoiled meat in the most expensive and perfect oven, it will still smell like rotten. Do you understand what I mean?
There is no point in any schemes, formulas and formats if there is no foundation - a text that makes you want to believe and read on. If there is no understanding of how to get into a person's head and make you believe.
You can make incredibly expensive websites or brochures out of gold leaf, but if it's the usual advertising bullshit, then the reader's attitude will be appropriate.
The difference between a convincingly positive style is that it is initially charged exclusively with creating a dialogue with the maximum level of empathy. This style works at the level of emotion and perception.
We no longer shout that we are the best, and legends are born about our ideality - this is meaningless and only hurts. We learn to wrap the reader in a soft selling word. We learn to present the material in such a way that it passes the test for advertising rubbish and "buy-buy". Learn to become friends and generate interest. We learn to create special formats of communication, where there is no place for vparivat.
And believe me, everything is not so simple here. You have to sweat before you say: "Hmm, this works, this is the dog."
I just want to warn you: this book is not for everyone. It is for the diligent, patient and seeking. It's for inventors. For those willing to learn and dive.
To train in the UPK-style, you will need practice and immersion. But when you dive in, you won't regret it. This is at the bottom of the usual copywriting, only rusty buckets and carp skeletons. The bottom of persuasive-positive copywriting is full of valuable insights and interesting solutions.
You will become a psychologist. And a marketer. A bit of a speaker. And a lot, a lot of thinking copywriter. But most importantly, you will have the power to open paths to people's minds. And where there is access to the minds, there is only three minutes to access the wallets in the usual way.
The book is based on three directions at once:
- Psychology.
- Marketing.
- Copywriting.
And there is also behavioral psychology, and psycholinguistics, and propaganda techniques, and marketing rules, and the basics of manipulating the masses, and even the laws of fiction.
You will gain knowledge that will become a new foundation for your relationship with the consumer. You will see how much you can say ELSE and how much better it works.
In addition, you:
- You will be able to create expert convincing-positive content specifically for your niche.
- Learn to dull even talk about annual morgue balances and wholesale of cast iron valves.
- With the help of texts you will receive a limit of trust even at the stage of reading.
- Create a clear content plan for your brand. Learn to look differently at the text and its power.
- Begin to understand the wants and needs of your customers. And, more importantly, fully provide them.
- Get a brand new, very expensive tuning tool from your competitors. While others cleanse words with programs and turn them into equally faceless messages, you will build up and stand out.
- Give your brand not only a recognizable face, but also your own status for thousands of customers.
- You will be able to move objects at a distance and cast lightning (but this is not certain).
Your texts will be recognized and memorized. And, most importantly, they will be believed, because the power of suggestion and persuasion will appear in them.
How do you respond to the phrase "it's expensive"?
Today we'll talk about the high cost. Rather, that the word "expensive" is not as simple as it might seem.
First, the situation I got into, when I did not yet know that the word "expensive" has different meanings.
Background. The client asked me for a price tag for texts for the site. After sending the price list, I received a response like "guy, it's too expensive." I immediately thought that the texts themselves were too expensive for him. I considered such a conclusion to be the only obvious one, and therefore began to convince that “you can pay in stages, again there are discounts and all that”.
Customer response.The funniest thing is that the texts were not expensive for the client in principle. He is generally a rich man and (I quote from memory) “it’s even funny to think that some 10–20 tr. - it is expensive". The point is different: he is used to always paying the real price and "should know that the price is not overpriced because of a loud brand or the greed of all sorts of pandas."
Have you caught the curiosity? I have treated my headache with a constipation remedy. Due to certain cliches of perception, we are used to thinking that "expensive" necessarily means high prices. In fact, “expensive” has two meanings:
- expensive specifically for me;
- expensive, because the price seems too high to me.
How to close the objection “this is expensive” in the context of new knowledge?
When you are told "expensive", be sure to send a follow-up letter asking how exactly "expensive". We need to identify the right type of high cost. Depending on the answer, create an objection closing strategy:
- for the option “expensive for me” you can offer discounts or installments;
- for the option "expensive = overpriced" you need to use quality characteristics in the persuasion of the text. The following options are suitable: “it will pay off a hundredfold,” “it takes more work,” “but it will strengthen the status,” and so on.
Exactly the same principles work when closing the “expensive” objection in the selling text. You need to be able to foresee both the first option and the second. And close both. Do not be a slave to cliches, know how to look deeper.
Copywriting error "Double logical load"
Again the practice of copywriting, again fine-tuning to improve skills. Today we are going to talk about an error that I called "double logical loading". So, let's start with a couple of examples.
Example one:
Anything that disturbs the usual course of events can help write an article that looks and sounds much more interesting.
Example two:
We are working hard and developing new tools to achieve conversions that will guarantee the company's bottom line.
What's wrong with these suggestions? From the point of view of the Russian language, they are all right. In terms of copywriting, they are too overwhelmed to read fluently. Let's take a look at the sentence from the first example, and everything will become clear to you.
The first problem
There are too many main characters in every sentence. Since we are talking about "everything that disturbs the usual course of events", then "writing an article" should be the final of our proposal. The bottom line. Do you understand what I mean? Unfortunately, we went further and introduced descriptive characteristics of the article. And that's all. This additional passage deprived us of the main character. Who is more important: "everything that disrupts the usual course of events" or "article"? God knows. The reader was unable to get clear information because he got confused in the meanings.
The second problem
Too frequent alternation of quality characteristics. If we already have a "usual course of events", then we do not need "an article that looks and sounds much more interesting." This is overkill. Write better like this: "... write a euphonious article." Without "which, ...", because the extra amplification is a bump that the reader will stumble over.
It is important to understand that copywriters with their articles compete at any given time with reference texts on strong sites. Different niches have different leaders, but they are everywhere.
And if we subconsciously irritate the reader with our materials (and this will happen), then the next time the person will not return to the site. And our conversion will suffer. And the behavioral factors will get worse. And in general it is bad.
Do you know why the reader won't come back? Because at the level of a hidden subconscious reflex, he will feel that he is not too comfortable with you. He does not understand all these rules, but subconsciously feels that the material is difficult. And with bumps. Such are the sad things.
Solving the problem of double logical loading
I see two options for getting rid of the logical overload problem:
- Reduce descriptions of supporting characters so that they do not draw attention away from the main character. That is, not "write an article that looks and sounds much more interesting", but simply "euphonious article."
- Highlight a new offer for quality characteristics. That is, not “write an article that looks and sounds much more interesting”, but “… write a harmonious article. And such material will look more interesting. "
Let's simplify. We unload. We cut
The power of caps and dots. Receiving persuasive copywriting
Small details are what matters most. When thousands of companies write about the same thing, you cannot be radically different. Alas. But you can stand out in details, collecting wonderful texts and good conversion from small things. Knowing dozens of small details, you can become better than others on your head. This is a fact, colleagues.
In order to build up a little more detailed qualification, today we will talk about how to draw more attention to the text using capital letters and dots. So here are two examples for you.
First: The
service is suitable for everyone: copywriters, journalists, businessmen, SEO specialists.
Second:
Businessmen. Copywriters. Journalists. SEO specialists. The service suits everyone.
What do we see? Almost identical information about some mythical service that I just came up with. The only difference is in the details: target groups are spelled out with a comma and a small letter in one example, with a capital and a period in the second.
And now a moment of popular psychology:
What is given separated by commas and with a small letter, is processed by the brain with the mark "unimportant, simple enumeration." That which is given with a capital letter and ends with a dot is scanned by the brain with the note "pay attention, it may be important."
This is because: 1) big letters attract more attention; 2) we are used to the fact that the listing below the status and often means little; 3) the point is more important than the comma.
Hence the rule: if you need to pay attention to something serious - spit on the commas. Allow yourself to spend big letters and dots on important details. Then it will look better, and will attract more attention, and will not be lost in the text.
Big letters. Points. Do not forget!
How to start any text correctly? Special welcome
The problem with the first sentence is the pain and anguish of thousands of copywriters. It often happens that you are, in principle, ready to write, but what and how to say first is a painful question. And here you sit, freak out, but you still cannot enter the text. Sound familiar? Me too.
There are a lot of practitioners that would allow you to write the first sentence and start writing (already finally) any material. I will list only the most famous ones:
Freewriting method. You sit down and literally write, write, write. Quickly, without thinking and without correcting anything. This is how it began and how it began. Then you can fix it, but the main thing is that the takeoff run is taken.
Method "It was like this."This technique is well known to journalists and is often used in practice. It works very simply: you sit down, say to yourself the magic phrase "in short, it was like this" and write what came to mind.
Inverted pyramid method. Also a useful and fairly simple way to get started somehow. You take whatever facts you know and put it at the beginning. This is what all classic press releases say. True, the difference is that then all this will have to be corrected, when we "sign", and for a press release this is the norm.
By the bamboo, all three methods work great. BUT. The fact is that I have another, my own method of writing the first sentence. And, of course, I can't help but advertise it.
Conversion conversation method
Before the curtains fall, I will say: you can start absolutely any text using this technique. Selling materials. Informational content. Texts for mailings. Anything. That's why I love and appreciate him most of all.
The principle of "Conversion Conversation" The
trick is not to talk to the crowd, but to talk to the person. With a very, very specific person you imagine. Start a conversation directly with a topic that worries him. Immediately hit the clear interests of the person. Talk about what is close to him. Write what will make him laugh, think, agree. Translate “just a message” into conversion. Immediately. Immediately.
For example, if we sell an audit of texts, you can write this:
How do you know if your texts are working or is it rubbish?
If we sell dismantled reinforced concrete slabs, then this is:
Even new slabs look like used ones. It's concrete, it's always ugly. Only for used "ugly" plates you pay 3 times less, and the plates have no shelf life.
If an informational article about where to start in copywriting, then:
Decided to become a copywriter? Then you need a growth plan. And he's already ready!
Got my idea? Talk to a person, to a specific person, do not become isolated within the framework of compressed mumbling for everyone. When you talk to everyone, you are afraid, you are pinched. When you speak to one person and wait for a specific reaction, then your voice is already different.
Most importantly, you will always find where to start your first sentence. Still, talking to one person isn't as scary as talking to thousands. You have done this many times, and now you can do it.
Errors at the beginning of the article
Do you know how I catch copywriters without much experience and understanding of the profession? According to the first paragraph. The way a copywriter starts an article says a lot about him. The guys, who have not yet cooled down from the race for kilo characters, have one thing in common: they do not know how to start articles correctly. Let's try to get to know ourselves.
First example:
Companies always have many competitors on the Internet. The more overheated a niche is, the harder it is to be a leader. Then there are 10 no less boring sentences from Captain Obvious about well-known facts. ... and now let's talk about competitor analysis sites.
Second example:
Since ancient times, people have been looking for a place to live and relax. Here are 10 boring sentences about nothing in which fantasy can take the author anywhere. ... the company "Housing for You" offers cottages on the Black Sea coast, which will be for you ...
Yes, I am exaggerating a little, but the essence is correct. There are millions of such articles, you yourself know that. Of course, it is convenient for a copywriter - this is something like a legal way to collect extra kilo characters from scratch and at the same time start the material.
Alas, this is not possible. Not fair. Although this vicious practice is almost legalized, it is fundamentally wrong for two reasons.
First, you push the client away from reading with your passages. The standards have changed, today there are a lot of articles with a clear, biting entry when the cards are immediately on the table. Previously, water at the beginning of the article was a normal phenomenon, today it is already a crime. People don't want water anymore, they just expect meat. The reader values his time.
If you are writing about competitor analysis, you must quickly get the point across and get started. If you write about the sale of cottages, you do not need to take us through the history books, start with specifics.
Second, you are deceiving the client's expectations. He believes that it should be so. You just fill in the signs and make money on his ignorance. You can not do it this way. Consent to work is an automatic consent to do the right thing. And now you already know how to do it, and this knowledge will not go anywhere. Sorry, but I had to do this.
How to start an article easily and correctly?
Here are three simple options:
- Describe the problematic in two or three sentences and proceed.
- Don't make lyrical introductions at all, start right off the bat.
- Start with the problem and promise to fix it in the article. We started shortly and flew further.
The main thing: remember that a copywriter has no moral right to do anything at random if he already knows how to do it better. This is the essence of professional growth. Improve style and copyright metrics. No more water in the introduction. This evil. And it's cheap. Now we already know this for sure.
»More details about the book can be found on the website of the publishing house
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