Simple Copywriting Tip Lets You Breathe New Life Into Dying Sales Letters

If you have an ad that just isn't pulling as well as it ought to be (or if it's not pulling at all), then here's something you can do before you throw in the towel and move on to something else.

Look, if you know you've done all your homework with your ad -- such as if you thoroughly researched your market, used proven direct response copywriting tactics and sent it to people you know are interested in what you're selling -- then chances are you simply need to take a step back and "reframe" your pitch.

In other words, take what you have, throw it out and start over.

I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it's not. Because you've already done the "hard" work of doing research. And usually, you will find you can still keep a lot of the "meat" of your ad in there, and it's just a matter of changing the angle you're writing from.

For example, if the ad is written as if it's coming from "you", you can change the point of view so it's coming from someone else. (In other words, you write the ad, but have it read as if it's coming from a satisfied customer or authority on whatever you're selling.)

Or, as another example, if your ad is a pretty straight-forward pitch, you can "reframe" it so it starts out by telling your customers you want to give them a free gift (without even a hint you want to sell them something)...and then work into your pitch from there.

Or, you can start it out as a short quiz or test of their knowledge.

Really, the possibilities on this are endless. Those are just a few of the thousands of potential ways you can do this.

And this is where a good swipe file really comes in handy. Just go through it ad by ad, and start jotting down ideas. See all the different ways the ads in your file were started, their themes, their headlines, etc.

Eventually, you'll see a good idea you can use for your struggling ad, then reframe it in a similar way, and test it again.

Yes, it