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Your Online Copy Must Deliver Proof of "Cred"

Guest post by: Gerry Black

Article Overview: In the year 2000, there was a movie starring Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan called Proof of Life in which Ryan's husband was kidnapped by guerilla rebels and held for ransom. Before she could pay, Russell Crowe stepped in as the hostage negotiator and said she wouldn't pay without some sign the husband was still alive. He demanded "Proof of Life" from the kidnappers. The selling equivalent of this is proof of credibility. Before a sales prospect will consider doing business with you, he will want to see clear signs that you are the real deal.

Your Online Copy Must Deliver Proof of "Cred"

In the year 2000, there was a movie starring Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan called Proof of Life in which Ryan's husband was kidnapped by guerilla rebels and held for ransom. The kidnappers called and demanded $50,000 as a show of good faith. Before she could pay, Russell Crowe stepped in as the hostage negotiator and saidshewouldn't pay withoutsome sign the husband was still alive.

He demanded"Proof of Life" from the kidnappers.

The selling equivalent of this is proof of credibility. Before a sales prospect will consider doing business with you, he will want to see clear signs that you are the real deal.

Here's the path many of your sales prospects travel when they read your online copywriting:

When they arrive at your site, they have onequestion they are looking to answer- do you represent a possible solution to their problem orneed? They will use emotion first and then logic to decide if you can help them.

It's the job of your headline to get their attention.If so, they read on to learn more. Now, at this point, your prospect is using emotion to size you up. Once you pass this test, you need to prove you can deliver.

This is where many business owners fail to measure up.

The two most important sniff tests that need to be passed with flying colours if you want the prospect to considerinvesting in your service or productrevolve around who you are and your track record.

It's unbelievable how much wishy washy, vagueAbout Us copy I see. The prospect wants to know he is dealing with a company that has the background to back up the sales story.

So many business owners simply drop in the year they started, a laundry list ofwhat they doand some fluff about howimportant their clients are to them and they expect that to win the day. Uh uh.

The prospect wants to "know" who you are. Why areyou qualified? What experience doyou have? How doyou work? Withoutthis understanding, the prospect isunlikely to move forward - unless you have the second part of the credibility equation nailed - killer testimonials.

Unfortunately many testimonialsaresimply the garden variety type ofnonsense you see far too often that do nothing to trumpet thecapability of the service or product provider.The go like this: 'Sally was great to work with. She did everything I asked and did it in a timely manner.I would recommend her to anyone who wants to work with someone who is a professional."

Really? DidSally move the needle ?Canshe make my business grow? Make my life better? How? Without testimonials that clearly indicate the quantitative difference you made for a client or customer, the prospect learns nothing about your ability to deliver.

And that couldmean the end of the magical ridehe or shewas on leading to the next step in your selling process.

Without a way for your prospect to truly size you up, youare probably losing out on many sales that should be yours.

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Article Tags: online copy, online copywriting, sales prospects



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Top 19 Copywriting books - 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley. 2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner. 3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill. 4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin. 7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books. 9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association. 11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books. 12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books. 13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books. 16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books. 17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall. 18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop. 19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley. This should keep you busy for at least a year. Enjoy!
Re: eBlogging 101: Getting Your Internet Business To Stand Out F - Hi Tyrone, Good to see you back on the forum. I had not heard of the "UPOD" acronym before (Under Promise, Over Deliver). That is a very good guideline. Don't use "promises" as personal challenges to do better - just in case unanticipated events prevent you from fulfilling the promises you make.
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Write a great headline - Whether it's online or on paper, I think a great headline (with a good picture if possible) can draw a reader into the body copy. In "The Copywriter's Handbook", Robert Bly says "On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy...The best headlines appeal to people's self-interest, or give news...Your headline can perform four different tasks: 1. Get attention. 2. Select the audience. 3. Deliver a complete message. 4. Draw the reader into the body copy." (pg. 15 & 16). Personally, I only read Yahoo! or online news if there's a captivating headline.


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