Picture this scene from The Fast and the Furry-ous, the first Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon:
Wile E. Coyote draws road markers on the ground leading to a cliff. Then he paints a tunnel on the cliff, and hides.
MEEP MEEP. The Road Runner comes rushing up, and runs straight through the painted-on tunnel.
Wile E. Coyote comes out of hiding, puzzled. He takes a step back, gets a running start – and slams himself into the painted-on cliff. Of course there’s no tunnel there. And just as he’s staggering back to his feet, MEEP MEEP, the Road Runner comes rushing back out of the tunnel, and runs over Coyote again.
Screenwriter William Goldman once wrote the following:
“In a sense, a screenplay, whether a romance or a detective story, is a series of surprises. We detonate these as we go along. But for a surprise to be valid, we must first set the ground rules, indicate expectations.”
Like a screenplay, a sales letter is also a series of surprises. And if you want to know how to detonate those surprises in your sales letters, MEEP MEEP, it’s all there in that scene from the Fast and the Furry-ous. You’ve got two choices. Can you see them?
You might expect me to tell you. But no, I will subvert those expectations. You’re on your own for this one.
But for other tunnels and other copywriting lessons, you might like to get my daily email newsletter. Simply send $0 to the ACME company, and you will get something in the mail very soon.