A Simple Mnemonic for Creating Perfect Plans
A simple but powerful
Reading Sections
OK. You've stated your commercial goals....You want more sales.
Good.
You want $150,000 additional sales this financial year.
Excellent.
You want $150,000 additional sales at a 30 per cent reduction in cost per sale.
Fantastic.
How are you going to achieve these things?
What do you want your copy to do?
You need to break down your goals into objectives for your writing.
Here's a simple but highly effective little mnemonic to get you on the right track.
KFC:
what do I need my reader to know and feel after reading my writing?
And what do I want them to commit to?
Why is this mnemonic so powerful?
Let's break it down …
K
This is all about knowledge.
And that means facts.
Despite my earlier rant against feature-led copywriting, you do need to include the facts about your product.
You're giving your reader the information they need to justify their decision to buy from you.
F
What do you want your reader to feel?
This is the killer point.
It's a hard question to answer, too. When I'm taking a brief from a client, I always ask this. Some struggle.
They'll say, “I want them to feel that we offer 2,000 updated company profiles every month.” And I say, “That's not a feeling; that's either true or it isn't. What do you want them to FEEL?”
F-statements should be something like this:
“Excited by the prospect of being our customer.”
“Worried that if they do nothing, they could be missing out.”
“Reassured that we are a trustworthy company to do business with.”
“Envious of people who are already our customers.”
“Desperate to sign up.”
“Worried that if they do nothing, they could be missing out.”
“Reassured that we are a trustworthy company to do business with.”
“Envious of people who are already our customers.”
“Desperate to sign up.”
What they all share is unprovability. These are emotional responses and hard to verify validate or measure. Or not by us mere copywriters, anyway. But here's the big point. If you can get your reader to feel any of these things, they are hugely more likely to buy from you.
C
Sales people call it the close.
Copywriters call it the call to action. You have to decide what you want your reader to DO. Maybe it's simple. Buy now. Maybe, though, it's a little more complex. Recommend a friend. Or open their diary and block out two days for a conference in San Francisco when they live in North Dakota. But whatever it is, you need to be specific and direct. Don't be vague here. Tell them EXACTLY what you want them to do, when and how.
I'd say probably all copywriters manage to get the K. It's very rare to find a piece of copywriting where the copywriter imparts not a single fact to their reader. Many will get the C. Even the most jaded hack or wet-behind-the-ears beginner knows you need to ask for something. But few, very few, copywriters ever reach out to the reader and try to elicit an emotional response. In other words, get them to F.
This, as I have already suggested, is where all buying decisions get made. And the good news for copywriters? It's more fun, and more challenging, working on the F. You need to tell stories, paint pictures, involve your reader in your sales pitch and bring them along with you.
If you follow your own KFC plan rigorously (and why have one if you're not going to?) you'll realize you've set the bar pretty high. It takes a lot of thought and then even more hard work to write words that will excite your reader (or worry them) but it's not AS hard as many copywriters think. And the results more than justify your investment. Later on in this book, we'll look at some writing techniques for achieving the KFC task.
This is the end of the file.
