I’m at the seaside for a few days. Last night, after the fortieth glass of aperol, the decision was made to go for an “early-morning swim” today.
Today however, thanks to that same aperol, morning came later than usual. And then there was breakfast and some packing and a bit of standing around on the balcony. The early-morning swim plans turned into mid-day swim plans.
And then it started to rain. There would be no swimming after all.
Typical. At least in my life. Because in my experience, you can screw up in two ways:
You can take action and do something dumb… or you can not take action and miss an opportunity.
I’ve noticed in my own life that I’m much more likely to not take action, just like this morning, than to get overeager and get into trouble.
And I guess I am not the only one.
I read in Daniel Kahmenan’s Thinking Fast and Slow that we humans have a reliable bias in this direction.
It’s not just laziness.
But somewhere deep down in our monkey and lizard brains, we believe we will regret a mistake much more if we actively did something to bring it about… rather than if we just sat by, staring out the window, watching the clouds gather.
If Kahneman is right — and why wouldn’t he be, the guy’s got a Nobel Prize after all — then it’s another notch in favor of writing over-the-top, emotionally supercharged, manipulative sales copy.
Because sales copy, in spite of what many people will tell you, is not just like an ordinary conversation. You can’t just present a sober, reasoned argument and have people jumping out of bed.
Instead, you’ve got to create such desperation and fury in your prospect’s mind not only to overcome his natural laziness… but to overcome his fear of trudging all the way down to the beach, and then getting drenched in ice-cold rain. That’s gonna take some hyperbole. It’s gonna take some drama.
Finally, here’s a vision I want to paint in your mind:
I have an email newsletter. Each day I write a short email about copywriting and marketing lessons I’m learning.
If you like, you can sign up for the newsletter here. Or you can just wait. The opportunity will still be there tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that.