Telling Stories That Save Lives: Our Built-In Survival Mechanism

April 17, 2014 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

All stories tell of a conflict and its resolution.

Every unpleasant circumstance can be described with a tale by someone who overcame it. Happy endings taste sweeter when the protagonist turned lemons into lemonade.

Imagine you’re a visitor to Africa in the early 1900s.

You’ve never seen a lion, not even in a zoo. You haven’t personally witnessed their size, shape, color, or hunting ability. You’ve never seen a lion prowl, bask in the sun, or lope through dry grass on the savanna.

No throaty growl, no hunger in their eye, no muscle graces your personal memory. Yet you can imagine her.

You can imagine the ferocity with which she rips into her dinner, her intent focus as she licks her young cubs clean. You can visualize the straw-colored fur of the animal, and even the flick of its tail because you’ve read, seen, or heard accounts of lions. Maybe you saw a picture. Maybe, if you are lucky, you know more about lions than a mere, clinical understanding because you also heard a story…

The Rustling in the Bush…

Imagine your host lives in a quiet village. You arrive and spend your first night in his hut, enjoying food and conversation, including stories…stories about lions, rhinos, and famous hunters.

Lucky for you, you take it all in.

Next morning, you wake with the sun and head out to the river. You need water, so you’re up and moving, enjoying the morning light and the walk.

Suddenly, there’s a soft rustling in the bushes about 40 yards away. Hush. You stop. In fact, if you’d been listening too closely to your own thoughts or your own footsteps, you might have missed it. You strain to hear it again, like a gentle sound of something slightly adjusting itself. Could have been a breeze…but it’s not quite like the rustle of leaves in wind. And there is no wind.

Maybe it was a ground squirrel, or a bird hopping from one branch to another. No, this whisper of sound had weight behind it. You turn your head and freeze, unable to see the eyes that are intently focused on your next move.

If you had not heard the story last night about the swift villager who shot an arrow through the right eye of a lion last winter, you wouldn’t have a “next move.” You wouldn’t be wondering whether this lion was the half-blind legend, or it’s two-eyed sister. Instead, as adrenaline surged through your body, you’d be thinking in your last moments…”I am dinner.”

If you had not paid attention to the story, the circle of life would end for you; and continue to turn for the hungry beast in the bush.

Mutual tension builds as the lion sinks lower on her haunches, pressing its paws one after the other into the soft ground. The lion never takes her eyes off you, and emits a low rumbling sound from its throat, just as it springs toward you with terrible, quiet speed.

You are ready.

There is one way to escape your fate, only one — and only if you are lucky enough to be hunted by the one-eyed lion, and no other.

For this was the story your host told you last night.

You remember what he said, how you could thwart the attack and survive. Last night there was laughter and some sage head nodding, but this morning…that entertaining story saves your life.

Wired for Story

The brain needs stories. Humans depend on stories to survive. Lisa Cron tells how this survival trait is hardwired into early humans in her book Wired for Story. Without the ability to process a story, early man would not understand that the rustling in the bush meant danger. [from the book Recommend This! by Thibeault and Wadsorth… Both books are worth reading.]

The connections we have with others require the ability to sympathize and match our experiences to those of others. It’s a beautiful thing, really, the human brain.

In the lion example, your cognitive brain establishes the possibility of danger and equips you with a possible way of dealing with it — even if you’ve never personally experienced being stalked by a hungry predator.

In modern life, stories are still essential.

We tell stories to our customers, our friends, our kids, our parents, and our colleagues. We warn, delight, educate, shock, and comfort them with stories. When you want to prevent or encourage an action in others, tell a story. Allow your listener to imagine a similar outcome . Show how that outcome helps, prevents, soothes, or makes people better in some way.

Processing stories is one way humans survive. We listen because they entertain us. We listen because our brains require it. We remember them because stories help us make sense of the world.

We retell them because they alter the path of our lives and may do the same for our listeners.

And that’s why humans must continue to tell and retell stories to survive.

Lion photo, Flickr CC: Olivier B.

How To Use Savvy Subheads In Your Sales Copy

March 10, 2014 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Want clarity when you write copy? So does your reader!

Subheads — those mini headlines sprinkled throughout a piece of content —are the zen masters of copywriting tools, because they never let you forget the big picture. Once you worship at the alter of subheads, your reader’s comprehension will become smooth, grasshopper.

Readers want to read web content that is concise and clear. The only way to write such copy is if your thoughts are as organized as Martha Stewart’s linen closet. That means you must have a good idea what you’re going to say before you dump it on your blog like a pile of dirty laundry.

Orderly thoughts and ideas are like level stones underfoot. When your reader can read with speed, there’s a better chance she’ll consume your entire post or article. Subheads are the key to consumption when it comes to copywriting.

Subheads make it super easy for your reader to grasp the big ideas.

As a writer, it’s your job to organize those big concepts. When your head is spinning with ideas, use outlines or mind maps to help you sort them before you write. That way, you hit all the important parts and leave out the chaff.

As much as you may love nuance, your reader doesn’t, especially on a sales page or other direct response piece! Leave out the confusing, unimportant points, even if you think they add interest and detail. If they don’t support the main idea, your writing probably doesn’t need them. Save those tangential ideas for another post — or your novel. Not only will your reader thank you; she might even revisit your website!

Use subheads to bring order and clarity to your writing.

Start with your main point. Once you have your dominant idea, pull from it a few others that support and relate to that idea.

Think of this time management analogy: You fill your glass with large (important) stones first before adding pebbles, sand and water. This will ensure that you include what’s absolutely necessary to your article or sales page.

Many people just want to plunge into the writing part. They want that ugly first draft done so they have something to work with. But I’m proposing doing some background work first. Before plunging into your writing, take stock of all your options. Then work in the large, must-have ideas before tacking the smaller points.

If you fill your content with the inconsequential points first, you’ll never get to the important things, and you’ll lose your reader in the process. On top of that, you won’t have a nice framework on which to hand those supporting points. So make sure your main points are in plain sight, like mountain peaks poking above the clouds, before writing the rest of your draft.

Even if you go long, at least you’ve included the big ideas first.

Your outline or mind map should reveal your “large rocks.” If it’s an outline, it should look like the main stump of a tree. If it’s a mind map, it should look like the center of a ripple from which supporting ideas flow.

A well written piece of copy is really that organic! You can’t escape these natural laws.

People crave order. Even a mind map that looks like a bowl of linguini becomes orderly once you follow the connections.

And once you understand those connections, think how easy it will be to describe them to your reader!

That’s where your writing finesse comes in.

Identify your main ideas, then write mini headlines for them.

Now, I want you to name each “large rock” or each of the strongest branches protruding from your tree trunk. Give each one its own headline. You can come back and rename them later if you want.

When you take the time to write subheads that support your headline, you’ll find that you start getting really good at writing headlines. Why? Because in condensing ideas down to short, punchy copy that tells a rich story in one swoop, you’ll become a better copywriter.

Ideally, you could take your five best headline ideas and use them all within one piece, giving top billing to the strongest one. I’ll show you how in a minute.

The best thing about subheads? The better they can each stand alone, the easier it will be to write the copy that follows each one. This way, you give yourself a purpose; sort of like a mini assignment to flesh out each idea and tie it into your story. The structure you offer your reader aids in her understanding, and ultimately helps her to do what you want her to do when she reads your copy.

By providing your reader with simple, organized structure aided by subheads, you measure out neither more nor less than the reader needs to understand the main idea within each part of your piece.

Subheads function as agreements, keeping you, the writer, on task; while promising one clear benefit to the person willing to invest time and energy to that particular section.

As a writer, I just love the boundaries a good subhead demands. It makes things so easy!

What makes a compelling subhead?

Remember that a subhead’s purpose is not to introduce a new original thought, but to support the overarching thesis of your piece. You are not introducing a new idea with each subhead and ensuing paragraphs. Rather, you are supporting the main idea. AWAI copywriters Michael Masterson and Bill Bonner suggest using the 4 U’s (Unique, Urgent, Ultra specific,Useful) to write killer bullet points. Your subheads follow the same criteria.

Make it Unique.

A powerful subhead, for example, explains one unique part of your subject in a detailed way. In this post, for example, my point is to explain how subheads provide clarity and structure to your web content and copywriting. My job is to circle the wagons around the big idea of clarity and structure. How do I do that? I name each wagon, without repeating myself. Each section beneath each subhead is different from every other. They are all unique tangents, and they work off a single idea.

Make it Urgent.

Second, a subhead should be worthy of it’s job. You’re going to put some copywriting lipstick on it (adding bolding, or a larger or different font), so it should do more than just transition your reader to the next section.

By the way, the practice of inserting bold or italicized transitions to visually break up the copy is fine — writers do it all the time — as long as you understand those are not subheads, they’re just sexy transitions. A bona fide subhead urgently directs the reader to the content below it. It tells the reader, “To skip this next part would be a mistake!” It commands attention.

Make it Ultra Specific.

Third, it provides specific reasons to continue reading. When you quantify an argument or point with details like statistics, proper nouns, places and numbers, the value of your content hits home because it satisfies the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the ruler of logic and reason. So go ahead and say “Two out of three nursing students know this easy memory trick” to pull your reader in. Specific details make for delicious copy.

Make it Useful.

The only reason your audience reads your blog posts, articles, and web pages, is to get something they can use. Remember that most readers scan your copy to ensure that they’re in the right place to get it. Great subheads show them quickly why they should invest some time there.

Five Conversion Benefits of Skimmable Subheads

Subheads are reader friendly. They allow you to lob key ideas to your audience so that they can quickly pick them up.

Without actually reading the whole thing, your reader could probably carry on a casual conversation about the topic on a plane or at a dinner party, thanks to you, dear writer.

Sometimes it’s difficult to see the value in providing awesome copy to readers of your blog or sales copy. If you’re like most entrepreneurs and small business owners creating content, you may get ridiculously caught up in the numbers of visitors we get, where traffic comes from, and how many new subscribers we attract. We want our website to be popular, and we want it to convert in some way.

Subheads help conversions, but they also keep your reader interested.

Ultimately, if you serve up juicy content to readers in search of information, some will recognize it and return to your blog, allowing you to build trust and loyalty with your followers.

Don’t you take notice when you come across a website that consistently puts out good, organized information you can use? Just imagine impressing your boss, a new client, or your boyfriend’s parents with information you got from a few well-written subheads in a blog post. (I know I’ve done it.) Even if you didn’t read the whole thing word for word, a blog post you can skim for essential points provided by subheads, delivers a wallop of value! You’d probably bookmark that site or add it to your must-read feed, right?

Besides helping the reader get the gist of your content quickly…

Subheads provide a visual outline.
Subheads reinforce the main idea in different ways.
Subheads p-u-l-l-l a reader’s eyes down a page, past the fold, all the way to the bottom (if they’re good!)
Subheads support, organize and build on a central idea.
Subheads get people to read your copy twice (yes twice!) by encouraging an initial scan, then a more thorough read.

Coming from a place of service, subheads deliver massive, good old fashioned value.

One more thing…when placed on a sales page, they elegantly move a prospect to the CTA — the “Click to reserve” or “Act today” button — with just a little more finesse.

And that’s the ultimate goal of great copywriting.

Looking for a skilled copywriter to be part of your team? Learn more about MyTeamConnects services here.

Doll picture, Flickr CC: MeddyGarnet

Cairn picture, Flickr CC: Darron Birgenheier

Does Real Conversation Convert To Web Copy? Let’s Find Out!

March 4, 2014 by jennifer mcgahan 7 Comments

If you struggle with copy and content, then I want to talk with you! I’ll be selecting about 5 – 10 entrepreneurs, small biz owners, and others in business for themselves to participate in the “Talk to Copy Project.”

Just fill out the survey below to get started.

Here’s how it works:

1. I will host a call.

2. I’ll ask questions about your business, organization, or website you’re promoting.

3. You tell what you do, what gets you excited about your business, how you serve your clients best, etc.

4. Then I’ll transcribe the call and turn the actual spoken words into chunks of copy each participant can actually use on their website or in email.

My hypothesis is that with a few small tweaks, I mean edits, I can show how easy it is to turn real conversation into awesome web copy that compels people to want to read more.

It’s a win-win! You get some free copy to use any way you want, some exposure for your website when I publish the results — and a lesson in copyediting, too, because I’ll share the edits here. And I’ll get to test my theory.

Want to play?

Please answer the ten questions. After I receive your completed survey, I’ll send you my newly formatted ebook Find Your Ideal Clients: The Secret To Irresistible Free Opt In Offers, which looks cool on a Kindle, by the way.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

The Squeeze Page: The Difference Between Direct Response And Content-Rich Copy

November 7, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

A little fun in the field this week. I’ve been playing with an ad campaign for a squeeze page and thought I’d share what I’m doing. A friend and client asked for help on an ad to place in a large national website’s “classified ads” page. Here’s how we’re breaking it down.

Before you write the ad, you need the squeeze page the ad will lead to. A squeeze page is a page made for the purpose of collecting email addresses. In a pure squeeze page you don’t have any other way out (except for the web form where the reader opts in to a list, or the back button in the browser. So the viewer is literally “squeezed” into making a decision. Yes: opt in, or No: close the window or go back where they came from.

I usually write either of two kinds of squeeze page (if possible, I like to test both):

1. Content-rich, written with an open loop.

2. Copy-intense: more persuasive, direct response style writing.

In the first case, I write content, an article on a subject that will make the reader want to learn more.

You can do the same thing by writing an article or making a video explaining something of interest or solving an immediate problem for the reader. But you must keep an open loop. You mustn’t exhaust the subject. That’s very important. You always have to leave something out, something important but that you obviously didn’t get around to talking about. It’s the next part of the subject that needs to be discussed. Maybe you only provide a partial list of possible solutions and then you ask the reader to opt in for a free report that covers the rest of them. For example, “How to command your audience’s attention within 10 seconds of your speech.” Once you tell how, then you offer to show them how to keep their audience’s attention through the rest of the talk. Your reader sees you as an expert on the subject and will (hopefully) opt in to get the rest of your speaking tips.

Another way to use content is to lead the reader to another problem. For instance, now that you have this short term problem taken care of, you’re going to run into this other issue very soon. Again, you are telling your reader, “We’re not quite finished with this. I’d love to tell you more, but this article is getting a little long. Opt in for the rest of the story.” For example, the content of the article could be on finding a good physical therapist who can work with your arthritis. But now you’e going to need to find a way to fit the PT into your schedule. So the free opt in might be “How to fit PT into your work schedule and still stay productive” or “How to warm your boss to the idea you’re taking time off work to go to physical therapy.”

Still another way to use content on a squeeze page would be to cover one subject and then tell the reader there are other complementary topics she might enjoy. Let’s say your article is on “The ten steps leading to a great webinar.” At the end of the article, you would add, “If you enjoyed this article, get “Ten resources for webinar success,” or “Get 30% more leads from your webinar.” Based on the knowledge you just shared about the prep-work for a webinar — hinting at all the benefits of hold a successful one — your reader would opt in for more information from you on the subject.

There are so many ways to use content creatively to entice interest and build your list. You can probably think of many more, once you get started applying these ideas to your own industry.

The second way to encourage someone to opt in is more of a copywriting, direct response-style option.

In this case, you’d include copywriting elements that encourage the reader to take action using testimonials, social proof, security, survival, authority, scarcity, or any of the other powerful influencers on human psyche.

This style works best with a strong voice of authority, or a personal story the author tells about his or her own offer. You can cover a lot of ground this way, and really bring the reader into your mission, your community or tribe. Information providers apply this style of copywriting well because through it, they can be warmly and personally persuasive.

You can write a longer page, or, using bullet points and a short summary of the benefits, keep the page clean and clutter-free. Either style results in the invitation to download or register for the free gift, your opt in offer.

Now for the ad directing the reader to the squeeze page:

The next step is to create a short ad leading someone to the page. For an average PPC ad, let’s just assume you are limited to about the length of a tweet, 140 characters, give or take. A typical Classified ad, Facebook ad, Google Ad or Tweet all have about the same restrictions.

For the first, content-heavy article style of squeeze page, it works best to describe the content of the squeeze page directly.

The opt in at the end actually comes as a surprise benefit of reading the article all the way through. Your reader isn’t really surprised, but if the content is good, entertaining, relevant, and helpful, the reader will probably play along and opt in. This is why it’s important to include compelling content writing with some flair and promise…not just some soulless, dry article. You are laying the groundwork for a small decision to be made. People don’t say “yes or no” to a faceless, boring string of words. People say it to a person, and they say it to themselves. Make sure your content is infused with personality.

So let’s use the example of the webinar: If the article in the content rich squeeze page was “The ten steps leading to a great webinar,” you would reveal the outcome of the squeeze page. “Planning your best webinar yet: how to prepare an event that goes without a hitch.” Or something like “What do all good webinars have in common? What the Pros know about planning for the big event.” Or simply, “Ten steps for hosting your own lead-generating, profitable webinar.”

In the case of the direct response style squeeze page, where the opt in is the actually to download the free report “The ten steps leading to a great webinar,” you would go a different route.

In this case, the opt in is the content. It is the promise you are asking the reader to trust you to provide, if they give you their email address. So you need to go at this from a different angle. Your ad should not promise the “ten steps” directly, but point the reader to an honest discussion about the benefits of holding webinars in general. Like “Why you need to plan a webinar that rocks their client’s world,” “The benefits of an awesome webinar” or “How lead-generating webinars help your grow your network and boost your industry clout.” Then when your reader clicks on the ad and arrives on the page, your copy does the rest. The only obvious action is to find out how to hold a great webinar yourself.

Breaking down the ad and the squeeze page into a natural sequence of events will improve the chance that your reader will opt in. If you’re not sure if that connection is naturally received by a reader, please get an unbiased friend or colleague to walk through the sequence and give you their opinion.

Of course I’m happy to have a look, too. Fresh eyes on your content and copy will help you hone your message and touch the hearts of your best future clients.

Easy Step-By-Step Recipe for Web Content Your Audience Will Devour

October 28, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan 2 Comments

Want people to consume your web content and even come back for more? There’s a recipe for that.

Want to stand out from everyone else in your field? Think of one teachable moment and offer a solution in a recipe-style format.

No matter what your field of expertise, you can break common complex problems down into small, workable chunks and eloquently expand on each one. Think about it. You already do it every day.

Think of a current problem one of your clients had recently. Did you help solve it? I’ll bet it’s not the first time you’ve encountered a problem like it. In fact, you probably already have a system for delivering that particular solution.

When you applied that solution to the customer’s problem, did it “work?” If the answer is yes, don’t hold back: share that step-by-step solution with others who have a similar complaint or roadblock.

The beauty of a soulful step-by-step solution — one that takes the time to point out the wisdom and meaning inherent in each step — is that it moves the audience to a place of possibility. While the problem itself may take some time (maybe even weeks or months) to solve; just contemplating each step exposes your ideal clients to your methods and organizational abilities. The client already senses that they are in the hands of a trusted advisor.

As they fill out a questionnaire, or listen to a discussion, or watch a slide deck or video, the step-by-step recipe you provide in your web content builds the case for your helpfulness and competence. They get a sense of what it would be like to actually work with you.

When it comes time to hire someone to help them with the job at hand, who will spring to mind? YOU.

Resorting to an habitual food analogy, I ask that you take the Beef Stew Challenge.

Pretend you have all the basic ingredients you need on hand. You open the laptop in search of a recipe. Something new, something you haven’t tried before. A new combination of steps perhaps, to give it some WOW. Enter the search bar. Go ahead and Google “Beef Stew Recipe.” I’ll wait.

Here are a couple of my results: On one hand you find a basic beef stew recipe claiming “while there are hundreds of variations on this traditional recipe, it’s hard to improve on this version’s savory and comforting goodness.” Fine. It will do.

Then you find this… an image-heavy “let’s-build-this” missive, complete with an aside about the cook’s Basset Hound Charlie chasing a squirrel. By infusing the recipe with rich inner musings and visual details of what’s going on outside her kitchen window, the Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) truly shows you exactly how to savor the experience of simmering stew…

One moment at a time.

What makes Drummond’s recipe-style story so compelling? The anticipation. The organization. The promise of a final dish. And the step-by-step visual layout. Her stew seems richer, yummier, more adaptable to the ingredients you happen to have on hand. You get the sense that cooking in her kitchen isn’t an exact science, but an activity filled with imperfection, humor and joy.

It’s web content that pulls you in and makes you want to stay. (Added points when your readers read other blog pages or engage with you on other online social sites!)

Your industry doesn’t have to be food related to make use of the step-by-step method for creating web content. Think of the possibilities and apply this concept to your business:

The organization coach: With the right guidance, suddenly it seems possible to tackle that project they’ve been avoiding, like de-cluttering an overstuffed attic.
The business trainer: Taking time to lay out each step relieves sales managers of the overwhelm inherent in training a team on a new piece of software.
The relationship coach: By breaking down a stressful problem into easy, logical increments, you infuse a peaceful, can-do attitude. Eg. showing your concerned father-in-law that computer technology isn’t making the kids less teachable.
The financial advisor: Steps can simplify and repair even long-held habits, eg. helping a disengaged family member take on more responsibility and awareness of the family finances.
The dog-trainer: Even a mundane task like giving the dog a bath can be infused with soulfulness if you separate and show how to savor each step.

Don’t be the source of web content for content’s sake. Next time you’re searching for a way to transfer information, try the recipe-style content creation.

List all the ingredients your client has or will need.
Think through your process and list all the steps required. While you should be able to fill in every nuance and gap, don’t feel like you must go to those lengths in a blog post or white paper. It’s enough to state them and why they help move the process to the next step. When you work with your client one-no-one, then you can go into the fine details.
Finally show your reader or viewer what the finished result feels like, sounds like, or looks like. The transformation should be obvious.

While you can supply the recipe in your web content, most times you can’t actually “do the cooking.” That comes next, when your client hires you for your services. The idea behind the recipe is to make your readers hungry for more.

Want to learn more about finding and building relationships with your best clients by creating compelling web content? Request a self assessment sheet for your business.