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Hey!
Here’s something I see a lot of marketers needing help with. So I’m going to help you with it right now.
That is: slipping into boring, descriptive, cookie-cutter copy after they’ve spent all the energy on that all-important headline.
Don’t drop the ball, open with a powerfully dramatic opening sequence!
^ ^ ^ Press play to hear how! ^ ^ ^
Now for a checklist:
- The key to writing a compelling opening sequence is DRAMA, then more DRAMA! 🙂
- Don’t stop after writing a great headline stack (they’re just the ad for the real copy)… you have to open strong! (Movie producers know this quite well…)
- Start the open sequence “in the middle of something big happening”; i.e. “I couldn’t stand it any longer. I HAD to burst that thought out loud”, or “the room fell silent as I dropped the bomb. you could hear a pin drop…”
- Get your cues from fiction: the greatest writers often write fantastic opens, right there on the first page of a novel; I particularly like the Nordic thriller writers like Jo Nesbø or Stieg Larsson. Maybe you like Stephen King, I don’t know, see how they do it and draw INFLUENCE from them. NEVER copy. That’s plagiarism, of course.
- Don’t make the open too long; the purpose is to make a powerful impact that will last throughout the copy all the way to the close and call to action. maybe one screenful of well-spaced copy, max.
- Some possibilities: tell the story of something that happened to you, to your client, to their client, to a celebrity, to someone in another market, to a competitor’s client…
- Study screenwriters: they know how to create powerful drama in a very short amount of time and conserving words… there’s a lot you can a lot to learn from their craft.
- Study some great copywriters who employ powerful opens, such as Jo Han Mok of Singapore.
Go ahead, give it a shot and for once don’t hold back!
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsYeah! Its true… A good start end up to a great ending……… Its a milestone in the line of writing..