My wife wanted to get out a "light" DVD on Friday night. Now light means funny and relaxed
and more than once I have got out DVD’s of this genre and they have turned out to be absolute
fizzers – very different to the movies I have been getting over the last month (including Milk
and Doubt) which I highly recommend as brilliant movies.
Â
So I reluctantly agreed. And after checking out Rotten Tomatoes, my new bible for reviewing
movies before I hire them, I figured Marley and Me had ok ratings, so decided to get that out.
Why am I going to tell you about Marley and me?
For a few reasons, really.
Because the key to a good movie… like a good sales letter… is understanding your audience and
being able to connect with them.
Â
That’s why I am such a big fan for doing questionnairres and research before putting pen to
paper on a sales letter.
Obviously, with a movie your audience is everyone.
And this movie managed to connect with a few large groups of people…
1. Pet owners (the dog was Marley)… and there are plenty of pet owners all over the country.
2. Couples who have gotten married and had kids (and the changes which happen afterwards)
3. Couples who are considering gettting married (and the fears and concerns which pop up beforehand)
4. Kids who love dogs.
You get my point.
Marley and me touched on hot buttons for large groups of people and I think Jennifer Aniston
& Owen Wilson did a brilliant job of playing their parts.
Â
One other thing I found interesting in the movie was Owen Wilson worked for a newspaper. He
reluctantly started writing a column after they were short staffed.
He thought he would be terrible.
It turned out he was brilliant. Why? Well in his bosses words it was because…
HE PUT HIMSELF INTO IT
And that’s the key to writing great copy to existing customers. You simply cannot pitch people
all the time or they’ll get sick of you showing up in their mailbox.
You must instead…
Inform
Stimulate
Motivate
Entertain
and educate
And you cannot hide behind your copy using clever strategies and processes.
The good news is this actually makes it easier to write great communications because the
easiest thing in the world to do is be yourself.
In the movie, Owen’s character talked about his dog, his family, etc. and all the crazy things
his dog did and how he felt about it.
He really made an effort to connect with his readers. And that’s why his column
was successful.
Why don’t you do the same? Truth is, in my experience if you do it right, it’s far more profitable
to write a "column" communicating with your prospects and customers than it is to be a
journalist writing a column.
Â
You can learn the fundamentals to writing this sort of thing by writing programs such as
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow however the bottom line is the best
thing you can do when developing relationships with people is just be yourself, "put
yourself into it"Â and write from your heart.
All for now,
Scott Bywater
Copywriting That SELLS
Suite 21, Seabridge House
377 Kent Street
Sydney  NSW 2000
1300 88 21 91
Â
http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/quote
http://www.scottbywater.com
Â
