Thursday, July 17, 2008

A HUGE Online Marketing Mistake

You ever see those hyped-up internet sales pages smothered in yellow highlighting with a forest of exclamation marks?

It seems that in many markets (weight loss, biz-op, network marketing, info products, etc.), marketers will work themselves into a frenzy trying to out-hype the competition.

Terry Dean calls this “hypercopyitis.” Ben Settle calls it “frothing at the mouth copywriting.”

I simply call it “empty hype.” Maybe that’s not as colorful as Terry or Ben, but that’s what it is.

And it’s a HUGE mistake.

The key to out-doing your competition isn’t to out-hype them. It’s to out-flank them.

It’s to find the unique elements about your product that make it better... or simply different.

It could be something as simple as a great story. Perhaps your story... or the story of a happy customer... or the incredible story of how you developed the product... anything that will set your product apart.

Consider this headline from the late Gary Halbert, the legendary “Prince of Print...”

Atlanta Housewife Investigated And
Almost Arrested For Losing 73 Pounds


Wow, what a headline! And what a story! Don’t you just HAVE to read on to find out more?

And there’s not one ounce of hype. No string of exclamation points. No bold, unproven claim like “Lose 70 Pounds In 60 Days!!!!!!”

Gary Halbert knew how to uncover the story that provided the “hook” to get readers involved. That’s half the battle.

The bottom line: engage your prospects. Don’t treat them like blithering idiots. Differentiate.... don’t hype.

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