Once upon a time, I read a thought-provoking article by multimillionaire copywriter, marketer, and investor Mark Ford.
Mark’s article was titled, “Why Every Copywriter Needs a Big Idea”.
As you might know, the BIG IDEA is a very hot and trendy topic in copywriting circles these days. Mark even says the big idea might be the “best direct-marketing technique of them all.”
Woof! So what exactly is it?
Well, let me give you a few examples. There are a couple of “big idea” promotions that almost everyone agrees on —
1. Mike Palmer’s “The end of America” (the growing debt of the US government will lead to catastrophic consequences, buy our investment newsletter to figure out how to protect yourself)
2. Porter Stansberry’s “New railroad” (the rail made fortunes in the 19th century, fiber-optic cables can do it today, buy our investment newsletter to get our stock picks)
Those two promotions most often get hoisted up on the flagpole of the Republic of the Big Idea.
However, explaining what exactly makes a big idea big depends on who you ask. For example, Mark gives the following four-part definition:
A big idea is important, exciting, beneficial, and leads to an inevitable conclusion.
Sounds reasonable.
But when it comes to applying this definition in practice, that’s when things seem to get almost mystical, or as Mark puts it, Yoda-like.
(At one point, Mark even makes a distinction between a “big concept” and a “big idea”. Unravel that for yourself.)
The upshot is that I personally don’t stress about the big idea.
One reason is that I’m not sure what it really means.
Another is that I get the sneaking suspicion that a big idea is simply an idea that worked — which copywriting teachers, gurus, and coaches then retroactively mystify as part of their job.
Finally, I think that the big idea, as illustrated by the examples above, is only NEEDED in markets in the end-stages of sophistication — those markets that are so wary of hearing anything resembling a pitch that they need to be seduced and lulled by a new and surprising approach.
For example, that’s how the financial newsletter market is, like in the examples above.
But those aren’t the kinds of that I often write in.
So instead of stressing about the big idea, I simply look to come up with a hook — a story, a big benefit, a metaphor, a conundrum — to suck the reader in and to get him reading more.
And many times, whether that qualifies as a big idea, a big concept, or merely a sales hook, it’s good enough for me to make sales, even on cold, unfriendly traffic.
So if that’s something you do — running offers to cold traffic — then I hope you have reached an inevitable conclusion by now.
And I hope you want to talk about important and exciting ways to benefit your business.
If so, simply write me an email and we can take it from there, on a new railroad across America.