Hook, Line and Sinker

by Rick Beneteau

Ok sue me, so I get as excited as a tyke on Christmas when something strikes me as brilliant! A provocative line in a book, a touching performance on screen, a great commercial on TV can all do it to me. So can a great piece of marketing material.

It happened this morning. I downloaded the usual amount of immature spam (about a case and a half worth) only to discover what I hadn’t in weeks. A real pearl of a pitch. The subject alone made me crave more. Addictive as pistachio nuts. The body of the letter was saltily infectious and the killer close really quenched my thirst. A marketing masterpiece. Only problem was the "product" was an MLM that I already "knew too much about". But that’s not the point here.

Either this guy was a gifted copywriter or he hired one. Whoever the author, a medal should be pinned upon that chest. I can safely assume the sender is being rewarded with a sign-up frenzy. I wanted to contact the genius (genius either for writing, or hiring this copywriter, to pen this gem) but it was a stealth spam and his take-action was a toll-free number to call. So as much as I would love to feature the prime parts of this salesletter as examples here, I can’t. But take my word for it, I almost dialed the number to sign-up in the state of sheer marketing bliss I was left in.

Once back to earth, I couldn’t help but think that if online marketers were as gung-ho on their marketing materials as they were on their products, there would surely be a lot more successful netrepreneurs out there. If a quarter of the promo’s I receive were only half as good, the national economic indicators would jump right off the scale.

I might as well attempt to break this down a little bit. I like to think of a salesletter or ad in terms of "bait and hook". The "bait" being the lead-in (email subject/ad title) and the "hook" being the body of your letter/ad. Both have to be great. Without bait though, don’t bother to cast your line. Fish won’t look at even the shiniest naked hook. The best product in the world can be buried in the body of your message but without a fat, juicy nightcrawler dangling right up front, your time would be better spent fishing. But the water gets deeper than that.

You’ve also got to set the hook properly, in a firm and fluid motion. My mentors letter was weaved in such a way as to almost mesmerize. Each line gradually unfolded the benefits, flowing ever so calmly into the next, painting a picturesque landscape that even the spam haters had to want to visit. Financial freedom, leaving the rat race and spiritual fulfillment were all eloquently addressed without a single cliché to turn your stomach. I could almost hear the busy signals this guys "catch" must get each time he fires up his spam machine. One thing for sure, he is making some serious money on the Internet!

No one can teach you to write a letter like that. Sure, there are reports to read and courses to buy that claim to make you a better writer, and I’m sure some are very good. I’ve read some good tutorials. But as with all crafts, there is a natural skill level that can’t be taught and certainly shouldn’t be forced.

I’ve written articles about injecting "you" and "friendliness" into your marketing materials and I still subscribe to those theories wholeheartedly. People want to deal with real people.

But, and this is a very plump but(t), for a lead piece of promotion, if you don’t know the river, don’t fish it alone. Bring along the bait and hook specialist. If you want to land a lotta fish, get a pro. The money you will spend in the front-end will pay you back in spades.

Now go get ‘em - Hook, Line and Sinker.

Written by Rick Beneteau
© 1998 InterNiche.net

Rick Beneteau is the highly acclaimed author of the new, top-selling eBook, Branding YOU and Breaking the Bank.

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