“Abraham Lincoln said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” That may be true in government, but when it comes to selling products, bullets are one of your most effective weapons.”

~ Debra Hilton

The Beauty of Bullets

Bullets (sometimes known as ‘Fascinations’) are relatively short, highly targeted, extremely powerful pieces of copy that make people want to respond or take action. They get their name from the bullet-shaped dot that used to precede them in newspapers and magazines.

Bullets aren’t always short, many of them span several lines.

Here are some bullets from  famous copywriters just so you can see what you are looking for and recognise them when you see them:

• “A near-perfect business model for coaches that lets you potentially up-sell hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars worth of your services – 100% naturally, and without pressure or hard selling. Page 112”
• “Insurance policies everybody buys but nobody needs.”
• “Potbelly buster for men. Lose an inch of belly fat for every 2 weeks…. Without exercise! Details on page 193.”
• “What you should never tell your accountant about your taxes. It could come back to haunt you.”
• “Never shop for a used car on a rainy day. There’s a good reason.”

Now obviously, taken out of context and mixed around like this, they’re not going to make you pull out your credit card and buy anything…

Which brings me to another point about bullets: how they are written and stacked matters!

The mere existence of bullets on your landing page, letter, advertisement, or email is irrelevant if they don’t work together to build credibility, curiosity, desire and emotional connection.

However, psychologically coherent bullets are persuasive magic for the right prospect.

Bullets Arouse Curiosity

Effective bullets make you think…I’ve simply got to find out what this is about. They make you keep reading, and they often make you buy a product simply to find out what solution is being offered.

I play a game with bullets sometimes and try to guess what the answer to the tease will be… ie. When I turn to page 193 (if I have the book) what will I find? Sometimes, the answer is not there. Sometimes, it’s there… But you need to think about it and that’s OK assuming that the people who will benefit from your product are thinkers.

There’s a fine line you need to walk with your bullets between the intriguing tease that makes prospects curious and the results or answers your product actually delivers.

If you mislead your readers then don’t be surprised if they resist your offer next time you sell something. This ought to be the simple ethics of: don’t promise what you can’t deliver! – It is also the powerful strategy of: make it your goal to attract long-term repeat customers, rather than one-hit wonders.

Unfortunately, many marketers are so keen to attract attention and interest in the product that they forget about this… Or else they simply haven’t followed Marketing Principle #1 which is “Know Your Product.”

Bullets Increase Desire

One of the dangers business owners often fall into in their marketing is to assume that their readers already deeply understand what it is that they are buying. This is rarely true, even in the case of ‘obvious’ purchases like tax advice or headphones.

Use bullets to demonstrate how your product or service satisfied some unusual areas of need and makes their life and health richer and better. Stating the obvious is not a waste of ink and attention… It’s a powerful strategy used by the most engaging and influential teachers to help students link the skills and knowledge they already have to the skills and knowledge they are trying to gain… So that the students work harder and are more motivated to succeed.

Bullets Drive Sales and Hit the Mark

Last week I read two affiliate sales pages for the same product. The sales pages had a many things in common:

• Both were written by highly respected copywriters who have written for the biggest names in the direct response marketing world (Agora and Boardroom);
• Both were written by people whom I follow and from whom I learn a great deal;
• Both offered their own bonuses in addition to the product being sold;
• Both wrote those pages to profit from affiliate sales;
• Both used classic sales tactics like bullets, comparisons, two-track reading path, appeals to emotion…

AND one of them (not the A-lister) was infinitely more persuasive than the other! It was definitely the quantity and quality of the bullets that made the difference and the emotive value-stacking that they delivered.

I started with the question:

Why am I interested but have no intention of taking action when I read the one page, but determined not to miss out when I read the other?

And ended with the conviction that if you want your sales pages to convert better, then you need to invest more research, time, and effort into understanding your target market and crafting persuasive bullets that stack value.

If you’re not comfortable doing that because you don’t believe in your product then either improve your product or service or sell something else!