In Marketing, Enthusiasm Connects
Two incidents in one week got me thinking about an ingredient in
persuasion that we don't often hear about.
In the first incident, an accomplished copywriter asked for
feedback on a letter he intended to send to members of the local
Chamber of Commerce that he'd just joined. The letter was
technically excellent. It contained all the ingredients that a
sales letter should have, in the right proportions and in the
right places - except for one. The letter came across as cold
and mechanical. The tone was distant and impersonal. Inevitably,
the reader would be conscious that the writer was trying to make
a sale, not trying to help out new friends and by doing so, to
make a sale.
In the second incident, a woman in my copywriting training
program showed me an email she sent to an entrepreneur who was
looking for a ghostwriter for a collection of spiritual stories.
My trainee had no ghostwriting experience and had never been
published. Without any nod toward the usual credentials someone
might expect in a ghostwriter, my trainee's letter expounded on
other reasons why she would be perfect for this assignment. She
opened with a paragraph on the power of stories and created
further rapport by mentioning involvements that would show how
in tune she was with the spirit of the project.
>From beginning to end, the second letter showed a sincere desire
to connect with its audience. The entrepreneur wrote back that
of all the responses she received, the one from my trainee
"spoke to her heart." They arranged a meeting. This letter
persuaded because it made a connection.
A third incident came to mind as I continued to ponder the
element that the second letter had that the first letter lacked.
Three or four years ago, a personal coach asked me to review his
web site, and I told him that he had done a masterful job of
coming across as different from all the other coaches whose
sites I had looked at. His site breathed with uniqueness and
life, as few web sites do. So when another coach or consultant
asked how it would be possible to position himself as
distinctive in such a crowded industry, I wanted to refer him to
the site that had impressed me so much.
But when I went back to look, the site had changed. The wording
now had a slick, remote veneer. Instead of sincere enthusiasm
and confidence, the site projected a self-conscious and somewhat
formulaic attempt to attract coaching customers. "Uh-oh," I said
to myself. "He's been knocked off center. He's trying too hard.
He's going for polish and professionalism instead of, rather
than on top of, who he is and what he really does for his
clients. Too bad!"
Unlike most of the other ingredients in persuasive copywriting,
this one is pretty elusive. It has to do with presence and
animation and a whole-hearted desire to connect with readers.
Sometimes there's playfulness in it, and other times it's plain,
straightforward earnestness personified. In either case, the
voice has no fakery in it. The impact of this element resembles
that of charisma, but here the connection occurs through words
and without in-person contact.
I cannot prove that the full-blooded verbal magnetism I am
writing about sells more products and services than lifeless or
mechanical wordsmithing. But I know that it attracts ideal
clients, and that it can enable someone who's new in business to
outshine someone with many more years of experience. The way to
get it into your writing is to communicate with a confident
desire to connect. Before sending or posting your text, smooth
away most of the rough edges. I also know that it's sometimes
very easy to capture the right spirit, and other times it takes
crumpling up a draft and trying again time after time after time.
When Ingredient X is there, I feel it. Customers eager for
something real feel it, too. They read this kind of copy with
interest and attention. And they respond.