Uche Okoro, Author at Uche Okoro

Author: Uche Okoro

How To Enjoy Copywriting, Write Easily And Make The Most Of Your Time & Effort.

Copywriting is hard.

Don’t let anyone lie to you.

All those talk about writing how you talk, communicating simply, using power words, copywriting hacks blablabla

But here’s the ONE way I approach it everyday that makes it easier for me:

If you look at my bio, it says “Swiss Army Knife”

But what exactly is a Swiss Army Knife?

Before I define it for you, lemme give you a background.

You see, I’m what you call a telescopic learner.

Telescopic learners are people who like to know a little about everything, unlike microscopic learners, who know so much about one thing.

I’m a telescopic learner.

It’s why I can easily have conversations about sports, women, music, red pill, books, history, government, current affairs, religion, coding, business, writing etc.

I’m the guy who can conveniently have a 3 hour conversation with someone talking about different things.

Truth is, I don’t know any of these things deeply. I just know enough to carry a conversation.

Secured a half a million Naira contract in my 4th year in University because I could speak coding.

Mind you, I tried to learn how to code for about 2 months in my first year in Uni. Didn’t have a laptop, couldn’t afford it so it never worked out.

I got that contract and I didn’t even know how to code.

But I knew people who could and I got it for them.

I still don’t know how to code.

Got my current job from a client I was teaching Spanish.

But teaching Spanish? How?

I’ve never even left the country as an adult.

The two times I left Nigeria for Cameroon was as a child and a teenager.

But Spanish simply sounded cool at the time and I decided to learn it.

The other helpful thing is I’ve learned how to listen.

It’s a skill you pick up when you listen to a different girl every night vent for close to 4 hours during midnight calls in your teenage years.

So, I mostly just chip in, crack a joke and let them talk while I listen.

“Smartest kid in class, most informed kid in class, sabi boy blablabla”

I’m none of that.

Being a telescopic learner has been how I’ve been able to survive for most of my life.

This is how I’ve mostly survived up till now.

But somewhere along the line, I noticed if I wanted to thrive, then I had to go into something microscopically.

And copywriting was one of the first things that challenged my telescopic learning abilities.

The only thing I’ve ever tried to learn microscopically in my life is Copywriting.

So much so that for an entire year in 2020, I didn’t do anything else except studying Copywriting.

But not everyone has the time to do this.

Plus, remember this thread wasn’t supposed to be me talking about myself, but about how you can enjoy the Copywriting process.

Great!

So, how do I enjoy Copywriting?

Well, I approach each new project with the idea of learning something new.

For example, I found out recently that the bags under your eyes can be measured during a hospital test from a project I just finished working on.

That’s something I never knew before.

But it’s now a cool fact I have in my pocket to pull out during conversations 

I wow my girl every time we talk about health related stuff and I just tell her random things she hasn’t heard before.

If only she knew my health plug is Matt Cook 

Yesterday, while sourcing for ideas for a client, I wrote a line about Thanos and the Avengers.

The truth is, I’ve never seen Avengers Endgame because I hate sci-fi movies.

But I could pull out that random idea just to illustrate a point.

Last night, while watching Lord Of The Rings 2 (The Two Towers), I noticed a cool sales and marketing lesson embedded in one of the scenes.

I was up at 1am writing an article on it.

Copywriting has helped me notice even the most mundane things.

And that’s because I approach every single project with an open mind – to LEARN.

I know I make rookie mistakes every now and then.

I know I might write crap every now and then.

I’ve written copy that was unreadable.

I’ve written copy that has tanked.

But the only thing that makes me wake up every morning with renewed purpose to keep going is that singular possibility – LEARNING SOMETHING NEW.

And I remember I was supposed to tell you what a Swiss Army Knife was at the beginning of this post.

Anyway, Google is your friend 😁

But here’s what a Swiss Army Knife looks like, and what it means.

Cheers,

Uche.

Life

If You Teach Your Child Nothing, Teach Them This.

Everyday when I come online I see one new tweet, post or an article about what people say they’ll teach their kids or what they’ll make sure their kids learn.

I’ve seen people say they’ll make sure their kids learn skills like sales and marketing, copywriting, red pill and pickup artistry, coding, writing and whatnot.

I’ve seen people use terms like love, family, happiness, satisfaction etc, to describe what they’ll ensure their kids know and understand.

And of course, this is all good.

But I haven’t seen anyone talk about detachment yet.

Maybe it’s because it’s not as popular as the rest. But imagine training a child to learn how to be detached from outcomes.

And that’s because a detached person isn’t carried away so much by success they forget there are still battles ahead to be fought and won.

A detached person isn’t weighed down so much by failure or a series of failures they stop believing in themselves or fail to realize there’s always a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. And that this light is in fact hope, and this hope is a hope of success.

A detached person isn’t tied down by sunk cost fallacy – choosing to stay in a relationship, partnership, country, business or deal because of how much they’ve invested in it already whether emotionally, financially, physically or with their time and energy.

A detached person can always pack up and leave.

A detached person is willing to let go.

And that’s the beauty of detachment – from outcomes and people.

It’s the greatest form of freedom because it allows you see the forest for the trees.

It also gives you the much needed dose of clarity when everyone else is being led by their emotions.

It’s the greatest superpower.

If you teach your child nothing, teach them detachment.

Money

How To Get Testimonials For Your Business…Even If You Haven’t Sold A Single Unit Yet.

In 1923, W. H Murphy of the Protective Garment Corporation of New York asked his associate to shoot him twice in the chest in front of the police.

He was a maker of bulletproof vests & this live demonstration was to convince the police (who he was selling to) his bulletproof vests worked.

Such a strong man!

But what other way could he have convinced a buyer a bulletproof vest worked?

That’s how much testimonials & social proof are important.

We buy things because we see other people buying it or it works for them.

And many people won’t buy from you if there’s no proof your stuff works.

But you don’t have to get shot at to prove how effective your product is 

So, if you run a business, here are 5 ways you can use testimonials even if no one has patronized you:

1. Use It Yourself

Test it out & give feedback.

But don’t also forget you can suffer from owner’s bias. As such, you need a balanced approach when it comes to using it yourself.

2. Give away for free in exchange for feedback.

What are you selling? Give away some of it to your target audience.

Then ask for feedback. Then use this feedback as testimonials

3. Encourage people to talk about you – Church style.

“Did you like it? Can you tell your friends about it?”

Turn them into your evangelists.

4. Call your customers & ask for feedback.

When you’ve started getting some sales, you should call your customers & ask them some of the following questions:

“What was your experience?”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Do you like it?”

Then ask for permission to use their testimonies on your page.

5. Use case studies.

These can be stories of similar people like the person you’re trying to sell to.

When you do this, you help your prospects identify with your subject’s distress or issues.

You also make them experience the future relief of what it would be like using your product/service.

The power of testimonials lies in social proof.

And majority of people base their buying decision on the strength of other people’s testimonies.

And this is why undeniable testimonials = effortless selling. Don’t sleep on it.

Learn how to use it in your business & watch your sales soar.

I hope this helps you.

– Uche.

If you enjoyed this thread, you should be following me on twitter.com/ucheokorolive because why not? 😁🤷🏿‍♂️

I hope this helps you.

– Uche.

Life

THIS MATTERS

This matters
This matters as I ought to keep a generous mind
This matters because I should maintain a grateful attitude
This matters that I treasure every single moment, whether big or small as size and significance do not correlate
This matters because this matters

This matters as I strive to live a life of very few regrets, as a life of no regrets is almost impossible
This matters that I live even if it kills me
This matters that if it is worth it then I should die for what I believe in
This matters, of course, this matters

This matters that I am human, after all, what else can I be?

gods? If only I knew how jealous of me they are
This matters that I revel in purpose, because without it these matters would amount to groveling in the dark, and unless something changes, with no promise of light at the end of the tunnel
This matters that I accept risks and take my chances

Scratch that, I take chances, whether there are mine or not, as fortune favors the brave, and brave men are but cowards that other cowards just do not know about
This matters, why not, this matters

This matters because these matters are quite simple, and living a simple life isn’t quite far from these matters
This matters that I win, whether a victory, a loss, or an experience, I win all, with just an alignment of my perspective
This matters that compromise, coexistence and community are not just words I gloss over, but that in the daily living of this life they are words to I live by
This matters, but wait! Why wouldn’t it?
That is why this matters

Life

This Is Why Leaving Your Comfort Zone Is Bad And Completely Wrong For You

I woke up on Friday and my mind went to my cousin Frank who constantly pushed us to imagine a bigger and better life than what we were used to in Cross River.

I was sixteen when I left home completely on my own for the first time. Since then I’ve been to over 20 states in Nigeria.

Some of these places were pit stops, some I passed through and some I lived in for some time.

I’m not even where I want to be yet, but a part of me strongly feels every man should leave their hometown at age sixteen, or at least eighteen, or at latest twenty-five.

Travelling to previously uncharted territory in this age and time might be the closest thing to signing up for the army or going to war as our ancestors did back in the day.

It’s one of the biggest tests of mental strength.

And that’s aside from the lifelong friendships and once in a lifetime experiences you’ll accumulate.

I look at my life and everything that has happened to me over the last nine years and I’m grateful because Cross River had little or nothing to offer us in terms of ambition.

Instead, it had everything that would blunt ambition: food (lots of it), alcohol (copious amounts of cheap premium ogogoro), beautiful women, familiarity, ease and comfort.

Kids would go to the same primary and secondary schools as their parents.

End up at the same universities with the same people they grew up with and went to primary and secondary school with.

Work at the same offices as their uncles and aunts or just go on to manage their parent’s businesses or break out and do the same businesses.

Live and know the same people for decades, drink at the same spots, engage in a few uninspiring ventures, fuck the same women and do the same damn thing every day.

Which of course, isn’t a bad thing.

Because as much as I’m a big advocate of stepping outside your comfort zone, especially in the pursuit of success and a better life, I’m not claiming everyone who left was successful.

I know a couple of people who weren’t.

But I also know a lot of people who didn’t succeed and came back and used their experience to become huge successes back home.

This clearly shows when it comes to travel, the education is in the journey, not the destination.

This is also why I don’t feel like anywhere is a permanent homeland for me.

Lagos, Ibadan, Asaba, Anambra, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Cross River.

There are all just spots in the journey.

Maybe my Igbo roots are the reason why, or maybe I’m chasing something or who knows? Maybe something is chasing me.

But I guess Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said it best:

“Own only what you can carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag”

And that’s why I’ll forever travel light – no big bags, no large suitcases, no oversized luggage.

Because memories and experiences are mostly everything you need.

Thank you, Frank Obinna.

– Uche

Life

Why You Shouldn’t Pay Anyone For Mentoring, Teaching or Guidance.

Paying for mentoring and guidance is like paying for a fresh pair of eyes and an extra brain.

But it’s not always an extra brain because the person you’re paying has accumulated a couple of brains to theirs already.

Yesterday, a stock recommendation I paid for made $35 in one day.

In one day.

Bring out your calculator and punch – times by 520.

That’s over N18,000.

In. One. Day.

This year alone, I’ve bought the 72IG Implementation Program for 2 people (almost 100k).

I also paid for Motley Fool’s 1-year sub for $99.

I just bought a program about webinars.

I know how to do webinars.

I’ve collected 250k from appearing for less than 2 hours on a webinar.

But I feel there’s a lot of room for improvement.

And I just paid for it.

One of my favourite Twitter accounts dropped a link to their book & I whipped out my card to get it immediately.

I randomly bought an e-book from one of my students weeks ago.

It wasn’t because I needed it per se.

Rather it was because I was impressed by what she was doing and wanted to encourage her to keep going.

I can’t get a Masterclass sub at the moment because my schedule is too tight & it’d be foolish adding more stuff.

Not because I can’t afford to.

The reason I haven’t paid for my Toastmasters annual sub is that we moved from physical meetings to online because of COVID-19.

And I’m not a big fan of watching screens because of my eyes.

It’s why I struggle with watching movies nowadays.

Plus, I miss most of the online meetings because of my sleeping schedule.

I might put together over 800k for Errol Gerson’s live coaching program.

Looks like it’s worth it.

But it wasn’t always like this.

There was a time I couldn’t afford any of these things.

Make I no even talk go far sef.

2 years ago, I couldn’t.

So, what changed?

I spent my entire NYSC year reading at least 2 hours every day (I don’t even read as much nowadays).

I ended up reading 60 books before the end of NYSC.

I spent the next 1-year writing articles every Sunday on a free WordPress blog.

For 52 straight weeks, I wrote at least 1 article per week and published it.

It didn’t matter if it was garbage or didn’t make much sense, I published it.

During this time, I would wake up by 3 am daily, read for at least one hour, then copy out a sales letter by hand.

I’d do this before going to work every day.

I still write letters out by hand every morning before going to work.

I did this morning too.

That’s aside from the voluminous sales & marketing materials I kept going through – some I didn’t even understand at the time.

I still do – some I don’t even understand.

I was also practising Spanish for at least 15 minutes a day.

Most of these things were free.

Maybe all of them.

The only thing it was going to cost me was data, time & attention.

I didn’t have money, but I had time.

And I had small money to pay for data.

That was all I had.

I’m saying this because most people start crying when they want to get something that might change their lives and they are told to pay.

They start asking why they can’t get it for free.

Or they complain about being ripped off.

Well, the truth is most of what you need to succeed is on the Internet for free already.

What it’s going to cost you is TIME & ATTENTION.

But the truth is you’re not ready to suffer.

You’re not ready to sweat.

You’re not ready to bleed.

You’re a baby boy or baby girl for life.

Go to YouTube.

Use Google.

Read Quora.

Read posts on Medium.

Go on Twitter and follow accounts that teach what you’re interested in.

Some of the stuff posted for free on Twitter are things you’ll learn for hundreds of thousands of dollars in Masterclasses.

Subscribe to free email subscriptions.

Get free books online.

Go to a library in your area.

Attend free seminars & conferences & webinars.

There are so many of them.

Is there a seminar in another city? Travel and go there.

The Queen of Sheba travelled from Ethiopia to Israel to see King Solomon.

She ended up getting premium dick, got pregnant for him and a successor to her throne.

Pregnant for a man who had 700 wives and 300 concubines but only 4 children – a master of the pullout game 😁

She changed the destiny of an entire nation.

My life changed from an Akin Alabi seminar I attended during NYSC.

I just sat there in the audience and told myself, “One day, I want to work with these guys I’m seeing on stage and I don’t know how, but it’s going to happen.”

Go to Church (your Pastor/Priest still has something to say).

Get a free WordPress blog.

Go to parties and socialize.

Comb through your emails.

There’s something in there.

Buy a notebook or diary and write.

Fuck that!

Write in your phone’s notes.

Someone I know wrote 150 songs in one year (2 songs every week) because they were trying to get better at songwriting.

But just know what’s most important in all of this is to TAKE ACTION with what you learn.

People have gone to work with Facebook, Apple and other big companies from skills they’ve acquired on YouTube.

All for FREE.

The data you use to scroll through Instagram every day, use it to read a post on Quora.

The time you spend looking at people’s WhatsApp status, use it to read a book (physical copy or on your phone) for 15 minutes.

Grab your PC and watch coding tutorials for only 30 minutes.

Practice what you’ve seen and watch your life change.

A friend I used to force during NYSC to code for just 30 minutes a day now works with a tech company.

And that’s aside from the other companies & side projects she regularly freelances on.

But if you feel you don’t want to waste time, then bring out your wallet or card and pay.

The only difference is you’ll spend most of your time sorting through some stuff that might be irrelevant.

But do it anyway.

After all, you don’t have money.

But you have time.

If you don’t want to pay, then do the work those people who are asking you to pay have done.

I remember a story about a woman who met Pablo Picasso in a cafe.

She walked up to him and asked him if he could draw her.

Sure, why not? He accepted.

In 10 minutes, he was done.

When she saw the drawing, she was so blown away by the sheer beauty of it.

She asked him how much.

He told her $10,000.

“What?????? It took you just 10 minutes,” she screamed.

“You’re not paying me for the 10 minutes it took me to make a drawing of you.”

“Rather, you’re paying me for the 20 years it took me to learn how to draw you within 10 minutes.”

When you pay, you don’t only pay for value at the moment.

You also pay for close association and experience.

You also pay for perspective.

My friend told me how he paid 50k for a seminar and learned just 2 things.

According to him, those 2 things were what changed his business.

Those 2 things helped him to scale his income from 1 million to over 10 million.

2 things he paid N50,000 for only.

Don’t go and tell someone who has paid for where they are today with blood, sweat & tears to mentor you for free.

Who are you exactly?

And why should they even listen to you?

Some of the stock picks I’ve seen on Motley Fool are even on my stock watchlist.

Yes, I’m that good 😁

But I’ve also seen some I never knew and have never heard of.

That’s the importance of paying for things.

Nigeria is hard already and we’re all trying to survive.

So don’t come and tell me the information I’m giving you is too expensive.

If you can’t afford it, go online and read and do your research.

I can’t even deny it.

I’m also lucky to have a mentor who gives me whatever helpful info he has which he believes will help me too.

Even when I don’t ask.

But one thing he keeps saying is, “Uche, I’m giving you all these materials because I know you’ll read them.”

My mentor drops millions of naira on courses and programs every year.

He never complains about any of them.

What he’ll tell you is no matter how bad it is, you’ll always learn at least one thing.

I also have a couple of people who pay for stuff and I get the opportunity to see them for free.

This means it’s also on me to use my time, energy & effort to get anything meaningful from these gifts.

As it’s on you too.

Use your kafa!

There’s nothing for free out there.

You either pay with money or time.

The videos you’re watching for free on YouTube, you’re aware YouTube is going to pay those guys, yeah? 😁

But it’s not me who paid for it though.

So, how about the hours you spent?

The data?

YouTube will pay them for being able to make you spend time watching their videos.

The sites you visit will get paid via Google’s ads placement program.

Don’t be foolish.

You’ll always pay for everything – one way or another.

I’ll end this by finally accepting to pay for my Toastmasters sub this year 😁

And just to add, I’ve lost money paying for information too.

The first time I paid for information was in my 1st or 2nd year at the University.

Some guy had a trick for beating sports betting companies on their virtual games.

It was around N4,000 or so.

And for someone who had it rough during university years, N4,000 was a lot of money.

I didn’t even know you needed a PC, and I didn’t have one.

I paid 100 euros for a project that never worked while in the university.

I borrowed money from my mother and paid 50 euros for something else that didn’t pan out while still in university.

Bought a guide on how to receive money from PayPal from Nigeria when I was hustling for a freelancing foreign transcriber position.

I no later use am.

We’ve put over half a million in a project that didn’t meet expectations.

I’ve got money stuck in places.

Maybe it’s the universe, I don’t know.

Just know you’re going to lose money while trying to make money too.

All the professional courses I did during NYSC look like I wasted money.

But I turned down a job from one of the top 5 fashion designing & styling houses in Nigeria, and another from a top 5 Nigerian bank.

But I probably wouldn’t have made it to those interviews if my CV didn’t make sense.

I’ve wasted time too.

Watched over 10 hours of weight loss videos in January because I was trying to develop a product.

Read a bunch of stuff too.

Ended up scrapping it because there was no big idea.

Do you know what I’m going to do by this time next year?

God willing, I’ll take what I know about the stock market, add it to what I’m learning from my paid sub, maybe collaborate with someone else and create a stock market product.

And then sell it to people.

And don’t ask me why I wouldn’t just teach people for free.

Last year, I was talking to a bunch of people about the stock market and they claimed they wanted to learn.

I went through the stress of putting together a Zoom class and guess how many people attended?

Zilch. Nada. None. Nobody.

I don’t care what you think.

But I hope this helps you.

Because that’s the way of the Shaolin.

– Uche

PS: The stock pick I mentioned earlier is Upstart Holdings.

Money

What You Can Learn From Studying New Ads To Help You Get Better At Copywriting.

What do old ads that worked in the past and new ads working in the present have in common?

Simplicity.

But here’s one other thing I noticed too 👇🏿

While copying out this Pitney Bowes Mailstation 2 Ad last week, it struck me.

This ad is simple and goes straight to the point with one major thing: BENEFITS

Weigh It. Print It. Mail It. All-in-one.

The do-it-all digital mailroom.

It tackles the What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) question & tells you from the get-go what this machine is offering you.

Plus, there’s a coupon code right on the front page for you.

I mean, even if you wanted to resist, how many people can easily resist what’s free? 😁🤷🏿‍♂️

Especially when it’s plastered at the front like this 😁🤷🏿‍♂️

At the upper right-hand corner, there’s a postage stamp (PAID).

Look below and you see “An approved licensed partner United States Postal Service”

Just in case you don’t believe 😁

What this does is REDUCE the burden on the customer.

As EVERY ad should do.

“Receive a 60 day free trial & free shipping on your order”

Man, everything about this ad screams OFFER!!!

The offers are so much, you don’t even notice the company’s name 😁

Plus, it’s in small letters.

It tells you to IGNORE us & instead FOCUS on what we’re GIVING you.

Mailstation 2 also sounds like PlayStation 2.

Reminds me of the Poo-Pourri ad where the lady says it has better Amazon ratings than the iPhone 5

An excellent way to piggyback an existing or probably bigger brand.

Chances of stickability? Super High.

Also, look at how the different capabilities are segmented.

This proves people buy a product for different reasons.

Some people might buy this Mailstation because of its weighing capabilities.

Others might buy because of printing, while some others because of mailing.

Also, some people might buy it simply because it’s a great deal & it’s going to help them save money.

Notice how the colour on the SAVE segment is different too.

Eye-catching.

Just in case you’re not convinced by every other thing, it REMINDS you it’s a deal which will save you money.

Human beings love anything which either makes them money or saves them money.

Kaboom! 🙌🏿

The segmentation also helps to highlight each of the capabilities with the use of bullets.

“•Save space”

“•Print postage”

“•Mail & Track”

“•Refill Postage”

If you’re not convinced from bullet 1, then bullet 2 should get you.

Isn’t it why they are called bullets? 😁🙌🏿

They are also highlighted with a darker ink to draw your attention to them.

Smart 👌🏿

Even the website pboffer.com/smallbusiness alludes to the fact this deal is mostly for small businesses.

And how’s it even a lie?

A small business would need an all-in-one mailroom because:

– They either don’t have enough space for all the other machines.

– They don’t have money for all the other machines.

– They probably don’t process enough orders to need all the other machines.

Genius stuff 🙌🏿

“Start your 60-day free trial. Hurry, this special offer expires May 31, 2016,” says one thing:

This is a GREAT DEAL & it won’t last forever.

One word: URGENCY

The next section breaks down the offers in easily digestible bites for the customer.

I mean, how is it a good offer if your customers don’t even understand?

$20 in postage coupons every month.

Net cost per month.

Metered mail discount.

Free Shipping.

Offers! Offers!! Offers!!!

This section also shows us how important it is to REPEAT the offers.

Your customers have a lot going through their minds already.

They’ll forget.

So, REPEAT the DAMN OFFER again and again and again.

See how the pronouns YOU/YOUR are used in this section.

It’s always about the customer.

Powerful Words 👌🏿

They also managed to add their social media buttons.

Just in case you decide not to buy, you could follow them on any of the social media channels.

Following them on SM will likely put them in your face all the time.

Chances are sooner or later you’ll buy 😁🙌🏿

If you don’t, at least they can brag about an extra follower on social media 😁🤷🏿‍♂️

Also, Mike Schauer of swiped.co had this to add.

But above all, I think this is a damn good ad.

PS: As I’ve said before, this is my breakdown of this sales letter. I probably missed some things too and you’re free to point them out.

P.P.S: As much as I call myself a copywriter, like other copywriters, I miss some of these things while writing too.

My breakdown of this letter isn’t to tell you how to write or what to do.

It’s simply to reinforce what I’ve been hearing for the last year.

And hopefully get better at this thing of ours.

I hope this helps you.

If this post gets serious engagement, I might be tempted to continue to do this kind of breakdown every week.

So, like, comment and share so other people can learn.

Also, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

Go here: twitter.com/ucheokorolive

That’s where I drop other powerful insights in sales and marketing you won’t find here.

If you’re interested in this letter, here’s a link to it: https://swiped.co/file/trial-postcard-pitney-bowes/

Money

5 Sales & Marketing Lessons From Self Made: The Story of Madam CJ Walker.

3 weeks ago, I missed church because I spent the whole of Saturday night & early Sunday morning watching Self Made: The Story of Madam CJ Walker.

I’m not even proud of it.

But if you work in sales & marketing, let me tell you why:

If you’re looking for the secret ingredients for creating a sales message that can singlehandedly turn a small business into a mega success, they are hidden in Self Made: Inspired By The Life of Madam CJ Walker.

Have you seen it?

If you haven’t, here’s what I noticed when I did:

To create a powerful & compelling sales message, above all, you need to:

1. Resonate With Your Audience.

And that’s because people buy what or from who they can relate with.

You need to feel what people feel.

Or at least, show them you feel what they feel with your product.

This is how empathy works.

And you can do this with a background story.

But it’s even more powerful if you can make it a personal story.

This could be yours or through other people’s testimonials.

Madam CJ Walker did this in the middle of a market by gathering all the women around and telling them her story – her hair loss, poverty & travails as a black washerwoman.

Every single black woman in that marketplace could relate.

They were all poor, working hard back-breaking jobs & had little or no time to take care of their hair.

Which meant they were at a high risk of stunted hair growth or worst-case scenario, hair loss.

And this leads to my next point.

2. Address a pain

In Madam CJ Walker’s case, it was hair loss or stunted hair growth.

Yours could be different.

But of course, not every business is a business that addresses a pain or problem.

You could address something else.

But before saying your product doesn’t address any problems, ask yourself, why are noodles so popular?

Because noodles are tasty?

Or because it’s healthy?

Nooooo!!!

It’s because it’s simple, quick & easy to prepare .

A meal that addresses 2 major problems with food:

Time & Cost.

For someone like me, I live alone, & I love cooking.

But the biggest problem I have is time.

What do you think would be my easiest meal of choice?

You got it right!

But in this case, I don’t like noodles 😆

But if I need to, I’ll buy noodles to save myself the emotional hangup of the time & stress involved in making meals.

And then justify it with logic.

As everyone does 😁

But to address your audience’s pain, you do it through one thing: RESEARCH

It’s the gateway to understanding your audience.

This is what helps you speak their language.

Emotions and desires are everything.

And research shows you how to tap into them.

3. Audience

“You can’t be everything to everybody” – J.Cole

To succeed from day one, you have to decide who your core audience is.

And then address the problems they have your product can solve.

For Madam CJ Walker, she segmented her target audience from day one:

3 million Negro women in America.

Which is the truth about every business.

You don’t need to sell to everyone.

If you sell a $1 product to 1 million people, you’ve made a million dollars.

Multiply it to whatever amount you want.

That’s the math.

4. FREE

Discounts.

FREE SHIPPING.

FREE PACKAGING.

FREE CONSULTATION.

FREE whatever.

Just give something away for free.

Especially at the beginning.

Whether it’s information, lesser prices, lead gen, bigger sizes etc, just do it.

Because if you don’t, your competitors would.

And if you do, your customers will feel like they are cheating you.

Let them.

It’s better to feel like they’re cheating you, than for them to feel cheated.

5. Big Idea

I felt this when Madam CJ Walker said “gonna find a way to set me apart.”

And that’s because I remember I was working on a product in January this year when my mentor asked me one simple question:

What’s the big idea? What makes it different from everything in the market already?

I didn’t have an answer for that.

Well, if I didn’t, how was I going to sell the product?

Boom!

Big ideas don’t even have to be revolutionary.

Sometimes, we can craft this from a hidden benefit that comes from using our product.

A common mistake most of us DR marketers & copywriters make is we try to only sell what’s obvious.

We forget hidden benefits and only sell what’s obvious.

We sell the steak and not the sizzle.

We sell the oil and don’t sell the shine.

Craig Clemens did a Twitter thread weeks ago where he talked about the 4 most important areas a product can focus on to make serious money:

Health, wealth, love & status.

STATUS is powerful.

Ask yourself, what would hair loss/stunted hair growth mean to someone?

Or what would it mean to you?

To someone like me who’s made peace with it since my teens, I can’t relate 😁

But to some other guy, it could be the reason they can’t get women.

For some other person, it could be the reason why they aren’t comfortable in public.

Every single one of us has something we are insecure about.

For some, it’s their looks and appearance.

So, when Victor Asemota said, “true wealth comes from constantly creating happiness and extracting value from it.”

I felt it.

One of Coca-Cola’s biggest taglines is Delivering Happiness.

Does your product deliver some form of happiness?

That’s why some people put themselves at risk of plastic surgery.

They were just pursuing happiness.

For some people, hair is happiness.

To some, it’s a bigger ass or boobs.

A bigger wallet or whatever rocks their boat.

When Madam CJ Walker said things like, “Hair is beautiful,” a bald guy like me couldn’t relate 😆

But I’m sure people with beautiful lustrous hair can.

Even other bald people too 😆

For other things like answering objections, the need for endorsements, jumping on opportunity, having faith & resoluteness, the importance of branding & packaging, having deadlines & pushing yourself as an entrepreneur, you should see the movie.

If I start explaining, I’m going to miss church again today 😁

PS: I wrote this article because someone asked for a movie recommendation.

But don’t take my word for it, go see it for yourself on Netflix.

Just be rest assured that as you watch every minute, you’ll discover simple yet advanced psychological tactics for selling that will blow your mind.

Happy Sunday!

I hope this helps you.

Now that you’ve learned all these powerful sales and marketing insights, why don’t you discover more by following me on twitter.com/ucheokorolive

I mean, where else would you see such effective sales & marketing insights out here?

Where else? 😁

Money

Why Studying Old Ads Are Important & How It Helps You Improve Your Copywriting.

If you decide to learn advertising, sales and marketing, you need to study the old guys and what they’ve done.

It’s disingenuous thinking old things have passed away 😁

And here’s why:

After writing out this “Don’t Do It!” ad used sometime around 1860 by hand, I decided to study it and see why it worked.

Niche: Consumer Goods

Headline: DON’T DO IT!

It’s a WARNING SIGN which means it’s attention-grabbing & curiosity laden.

Prospect sees it and asks themselves “I shouldn’t do what?”

The other subconscious question is, “why should I not do it?”

Consequence? Hooked.

Also, as kids aged 5, human beings are used to being told ‘no’ as much as 10 thousand times.

Compared to ‘yes’ a thousand times.

So, the word ‘No’ subconsciously takes them on a trip to their childhood when they were seeking Daddy & Mummy’s favour 😁

So Robert Greene 👌🏿

Don’t Do It uses reverse psychology on the ad reader tapping into a phenomenon called the Forbidden Fruit Syndrome (I coined this 😁).

To explain this, imagine if God had told Adam & Eve to eat only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden and no other 😁

They would have most likely eaten every other fruit out there and avoided the forbidden one.

And that’s the thing with human beings – they do what you tell them NOT to do.

It’s the reason why ‘illegal’ stuff & banned substances sell like crazy e.g drugs, alcohol, sex etc.

Look at this logo closely, if you’ve seen the movie Compton, you’ll understand.

This is primarily one of the reasons why rap music blew up like crazy.

Forbidden Fruit Syndrome lends itself to our deepest desires as human beings – curiosity.

We want to know.

We want to know why.

Then the lead goes off listing a couple of things you shouldn’t buy.

This does 2 things:

1. It implants authority from the ad owner into the prospect’s head.

It also holds their interest.

Because if you’re telling me I shouldn’t do this, I’ll be waiting for the WHY.

2. It’s also polarizing.

(How dare you tell me what to do? Or what not to do?)

People DON’T LIKE TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO in an obvious manner.

But they love to be seduced and led.

Now this ad tells them what NOT to do, gets them angry while seducing them into doing what was planned all along by the ad owner – to get them TO DO what he wants.

Genius stuff. 😁👌🏿

“In fact, don’t buy anything for yourself or boy until you have seen our stock” breaks down the prospect’s buying decision into easily manageable steps.

Doesn’t tell you to buy anything.

Instead, it puts the decision in your hands – “until you have seen“

No commitment required.

The prospect tells themselves “I don’t need to buy anything. I can just go there and feed my eyes.“

From feeding their eyes, they essentially start feeding their brains.

And they’re READY to buy at this point.

It just becomes a matter of how the offer is presented.

AND WHY?

There’s a phenomenon called Reticular Activating System (RAS) in your brain.

The way it works is it makes your brain obsessed with incomplete thoughts, curiosity & questions.

You want to get to the root of anything you don’t understand.

Your CURIOSITY

AD OWNER WINS🙌🏿

“Because we have anything you wish. The stock is the largest, the styles the best and prices low as can be found anywhere.“

Benefits. Benefits. Benefits.

What your prospect looks out for any time they see a sales & marketing material.

People are inherently selfish.

Know this

And to round it off.

George Muse Clothing COMPANY gives a vibe of authority & establishment.

Doesn’t matter if it’s a small shop or a face-me-I-face-you.

The prospect will have to confirm.

But that’s until when they get there 😁

TARGET ACQUIRED.

Mission Accomplished.

The first step in any online sales process is to get your prospects to CLICK.

Once you do your job to get them to click, the buying decision is cut by half.

This is what they do here.

Get the prospect to our store first, we’ll handle it from here.

Brilliant 🙌🏿

PS: As I’ve said before, this is my breakdown of this sales letter. I probably missed some things too and you’re free to point them out.

P.P.S: As much as I call myself a copywriter, like other copywriters, I miss some of these things while writing too.

My breakdown of this letter isn’t to tell you how to write or what to do.

It’s simply to reinforce what I’ve been hearing for the last year.

And hopefully get better at this thing of ours.

I hope this helps you.

If this post gets serious engagement, I might be tempted to do this kind of breakdown every week.

So, like, comment and share so other people can learn.

Also, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

Go here: twitter.com/ucheokorolive

That’s where I drop other powerful insights in sales and marketing you won’t find here.

If you’re interested in this letter, here’s a link to it: https://swiped.co/file/dont-buy-ads-1860-1880s/