I was wrong … about Powerwords

Today I have a piece in 3 acts for you – all part of a bigger picture:

Act #1: I was wrong about John Carlton’s teachings.

You see, when I first encountered John Carlton’s copywriting, (bought his Kick-ass copywriting rebel guide) … what struck me was that it *appeared* to be all about power-words, ‘juicing/amping up’ the headlines etc.

And whilst that still certainly is a big component of what he teaches … I recently checked out his ‘launch-webinar’ for the upcoming (today?) Simply Writing System.

And when you listen closely, you’ll notice that really, he’s all about “permission based marketing” … on that webinar recording he says it quite a few times: (I’m paraphrasing):

if there isn’t enough trust, you need to back off.

Here’s the thing: of course I can’t be sure if he said those same words back when I first encountered John …

but assuming he did (a fundamental philosophy like this is unlikely to change that quickly) …

then it goes to show that back then, that message was simply ‘invisible’ to me:

I was a rookie when it comes to copywriting … and as a result my brain was focused on the ‘obvious’ stuff.

Back then I thought (because that is what the message was out in the marketplace), that copywriting is all about ‘persuasion’.

so my brain was looking for ‘persuasion’ stuff … like powerwords etc (which my brain also didn’t like, hence the inner conflict;-) …

… but it completely missed any (potential) mentioning of “woah, you’ve got to back off and only use ‘persuasion’ when people are ready to be persuaded.

So, the key lessons here:

1. accept the fact that your brain can only pick up the information it is ‘tuned into’. (as a consequence: keep challenging what the ‘market’ tells you … there tend to be ‘trends’ which can easily trap you into a ‘false’ belief-set)
2. if & when you position your own offer, and you have a message that goes against the overall ‘trend’ … make sure to highlight that part of your message, really make it stand out – because as you can see from above: if/when the market is indoctrinated to believe one thing, they may well completely miss your message because it it ‘invisible’ to them

If you’re lucky, their launch-content is still up, so check it out here.

Act #2: On Creating Digital Products

Now, John’s course is obviously a ‘digital’ product (with a live coaching component) … and it’s a fine example of a ‘useful’ course, because it ticks certain boxes I’ll get back to shortly.

and if you want to learn how to create such ‘useful’ digital products (whether it’s an actual ‘product’ you want to sell, or just the ‘ethical bribe’ you give away in exchange for an email address), you’ll get a lot out of Eben Pagan’s video here.

(plus a whole bunch of great lil’ goodies on the thank-you page … you need to sign up twice, which is a bit silly, (lol, personally, I don’t like ‘inefficiency’ … I would’ve preferred a tick-box along the lines: “yes, send me your book and that video too”;-)

The reason I mention Eben as an example is … that his courses actually provide pretty substantial value. And when I say ‘value’ … I mean not ‘perceived’ value, or ‘fear of loss’-style value pummeled into your scared brain with enough scarcity and bonuses.

Here’s why this matters:

When you combine such ‘real’ value with the next ‘mini-act’, you’ve got yourself a nice lil’ (or big) win-winner:

Act #3: how to create an ‘infinte’ life-time-value

ok it’s not ‘infinite’, but keeps rising and rising.

Just applied to sign up to yet another Perry Marshall offer … and a big component ‘why’ (apart from the information I want of course) is that he does ‘rejection’ marketing:

you actually need to qualify, and demonstrate that you’re a good fit

Unlike e.g. Jeff Walker who’ll take anybody’s cash all day long, no matter if they’re a good fit or not.

And when you now look at the 3 pieces together … what happens when you’re ‘brainwashed’ into believing one side of the story, Eben Pagan’s take on Digital products and Perry Marshall’s healthy bank-balance …

… you’ll quite possibly notice something:

more likely than not, you have been brainwashed to believe that you must sell as hard as you can.

And that it’s ok to deliver sub-par products because “hey, most people don’t even open the packaging, never mind go through the course”.

And more likely than not, once you start questioning that ‘wisdom’, you’ll realize that the real fortune is elsewhere.

(hint: starting to create products people actually WANT to consume, and then making sure you only sell to those who CAN consume them would probably be a good starting point…)

Cheers

Veit

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