Here’s a quiz question for the criminal mastermind in you:
How might you sneak into Buckingham Palace?
How might you make your way over the castle-like walls and fences, past the hundreds of armed guards, the thousands of staff, the sensors, the alarms, and the vicious and bloodthirsty packs of attack corgis?
How might you get make your way to the heart of the labyrinth-like structure, all the way to the queen’s bedroom, so you can breathe on her, while she’s asleep in her own bed?
Think about that for a moment, but only for a moment. Because really, it’s quite easy to do. Here’s how, in just five steps:
1. First, climb up the 14-foot wall and over the barbed wire and rotating spikes.
2. Then, shimmy up the side of the palace. If you need help shimmying, use a drain pipe or something.
3. Then, find an open window. There’s sure to be one.
4. When you get into the palace, then walk around aimlessly. Don’t worry about the staff and the guards, because they will arrange themselves in just such a way that not one of them will notice you.
5. Finally, stumble upon the queen’s bedroom. The door will be unlocked. Open it, enter, approach the bed, pull back the curtain, and start your heavy breathing.
Does that sound like it would work? Does that sound like a credible plan?
Well, credible-sounding or not, it actually happened. At around 7am on July 9 1982, a certain Michael Fagan did just what I told you.
Fagan, an unemployed and not very mentally stable English man, climbed over the walls of Buckingham Palace and into palace itself, then rambled around, unnoticed by all the guards, staff, and corgis, making it all the way to the sleeping queen’s bed.
This is a true story, a slice of real history.
And if you found it interesting or surprising, then that’s kind of my point.
In order for the above story to have any worth at all, you have to believe that it’s real, that it’s documented history. You have to believe that it really happened, and you have to believe that you can go and check the details yourself if you want to.
On the other hand, imagine if instead of being a historical incident, this unlikely “story” were part of a Disney cartoon or an Ocean’s 11-type heist film.
“So stupid,” would be the only reaction that the audience would have as they walked out of the movie theater. “The corgis would have smelled him a mile away. Couldn’t the writers have thought up something a little more life-like? A little more believable? Something with at least the ring of truth to it?”
So that’s actually my point for today.
Truth isn’t where it’s at. But having the ring of truth — now that’s a different story.
And as in cartoons and heist films, so in sales letters.
A couple days ago, I did a copy critique for a business owner of an ecommerce brand.
He had written an advertorial telling his own true story.
Only problem was, his story, dramatic and true though it was, sounded unbelievable. The tears… the sleepless nights… the worried looks from his wife…
I mean, this guy’s business is selling dog food. Literally.
So it didn’t matter much if his dramatic story was true, which it was. It didn’t ring true. And so my advice to him was to tamp down his true story, or to swap it out altogether, and find some other stories, which, true or not, at least have the ring of truth to them.
And now, you might think I will transition into an offer for consulting or copy critiques, where I point out obvious but damaging flaws in your advertising.
That won’t happen.
I had those offers, consulting and critiques, during this past summer. But I closed them down as of today.
Because I now have a regular offer to promote at the end of each of my daily emails. It’s my Most Valuable Email course. And I’ll tell you the following curious fact:
While the core MVE training is about a clever email copywriting trick, the course also comes with a Most Valuable Email swipe file. This file collects some of the most effective Most Valuable Emails I have personally written.
Each of those emails contains a valuable marketing or copywriting idea.
And MVE swipe emails #17, #18, #19, #20, and #22 contain five valuable ideas about how to write formulaic stories. Stories that sound like other stories that people have heard a million times before. Stories that, because of their familiarity, ring true to your audience.
So if you are trying to figure out how to shape your own personal history into something that your prospects won’t reject as A) boring or B) a manipulative lie, then these specific Most Valuable Emails might be worth a look.
They are available inside the complete MVE training.
In case you want to get your mastermind paws on them, here’s where to go: