Here’s a confession:
I’m not in this field because of the money or supposed freedom that copywriting brings.
Sure, that’s why I got into it in the first place. And I guess if I didn’t make any money, or if the work conditions sucked, I might move on to something else.
But the real thing that keeps me going in copywriting, that sucks me in and fascinates me, is learning more about myself and about other people.
Because it turns out that direct response marketing is an incredible lens to allow you to see inside people’s psyches, and what they really respond to.
Case in point:
Joe Sugarman of BluBlockers fame once told a story about his cousin, who was a psychiatrist. The cousin was hired by the San Diego Chargers, an American football team.
The Chargers wanted to find out what separated football superstars from the rank-and-file of all the others players. After some MK-Ultra type research, Joe’s cousin figured out there were two personality types who became superstars. They were either:
A. Egomaniacs
or
B. Deeply religious
“And when you really think about it,” Joe said, “what did they have in common? A very strong belief in either themselves or in a higher power.”
I’m not here to tell you to believe in yourself, or in a higher power.
I’m just here to point out am important fact in case you ever want to sell something:
If the thing that sets superstars apart is that they believe, either in themselves or in God, then what does that say about everybody else? What does it say about the 99.9% of people in any field who are not superstars?
They don’t believe. Or at least they don’t have anything focused to believe in.
And mercenary thought it might sound, smart marketers have been taking advantage of this lack of belief to sell trillions of dollars worth of stuff.
Because smart marketers give prospects something to believe in. An external thing… and yet, a thing that doesn’t require religious feeling or faith in the supernatural.
That thing is called the mechanism.
The mechanism is usually described as “how the solution works.” And it is that. But it’s really much more. It’s hope and belief in something outside yourself.
Of course, after a century-plus of creative mechanisms — cold showers and hyperventilation, buttered coffee, adaptogenic mushrooms — you can’t just hold up a bag of rocks and say, “Here, believe in this.”
You gotta come up with a mechanism that threads the thin line between exciting and exotic and believable and achievable.
I got a mechanism for you. It’s called “The John Bejakovic Letter” and it’s been called the most insightful newsletter about copywriting, marketing, and influence. In case you’d like to sign up for it, click here and follow the instructions.