“The best copy written by an A-List copywriter and costing $100,000+ can only deliver mediocre results it if not backed by good strategy.”
~ Debra Hilton
How Do You Measure Marketing Success?
The late Jay Abraham, a direct response marketing legend, told the following story at Dan Kennedy’s “7 Figures Academy. It has important lessons for every entrepreneur, business owner, and marketing manager who want to build a lasting business:
Once upon a time, the famous copywriter Gary Halbert and a man named Chase Revel were both selling a similar fake diamond offer.
Gary wrote his typically brilliant ad which you can see above this article.
Gary, who ran his own promotions as often as he freelanced, spent around $30,000 to run this ad, which brought in approximately $42,000. After refunds and other costs he made around $7,000 profit for less than a week’s work and, as you can see, the ad is one that has been tweaked and re-run, copied, and held up as a copywriting example for others to follow.
Chase then ran his promo. His ad was decent, but it didn’t even cover his $30,000 ad spend on the front end and no-one has bothered to copy it. However,…
Chase didn’t just create an offer. He created a business with a back end. He didn’t even make a profit on the lead generation, but through repeat sales, an intriguing story, and a well-designed and executed marketing plan he made $25 million in sales on the back end.
That’s the difference between being strategic and tactical.
Copy is Important: Strategy is Critical
One of the key characteristics of A-list copywriters isn’t just their fees and royalties… It’s their insistence on knowing that there is a robust strategy behind the promotion or, at the very least, robust tactics.
The longer I work in the industry the more acutely aware I am of the importance of the marketing strategy behind every promotion. You should be too!
If your back end is unsustainable or shaky, then a fantastic offer and copy will just highlight the flaws more dramatically. I remember one campaign I worked on before I learned to interview my clients more thoroughly than they interviewed me:
- Market was a perfect match for the Message;
- Budget and technical aspects stacked up;
- Design was spectacular;
- Delivery and back end was a disaster;
- End result = Break even (and they were lucky to do that!)
As the Gary Halbert-Chase Revel story illustrates, you can do a lot more if you have a solid strategic business plan behind your brilliant copy.
You can only imagine what the result might have been if Gary’s ad had been attached to Chase’s business strategy!
How Healthy is Your Back End?
So, what about your back end: i.e. everything that comes after the ad and the initial response to it?
Authors are classic culprits in this area. They write the book, put it on their website (and maybe also on Amazon or other online sellers), and then expect to be swamped with demand for their speaking, consulting, and other services. Sometimes they add blog posts and social media presence to the mix and then sit back thinking, ”Now the floodgates will open.”
Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Not even for Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. However, as I mentioned last week… Success loves speed. You don’t need to wait until your back end is perfect before you start advertising, you just need to make sure it exists and is fairly solid. Next week I’ll talk about lead generation secrets.
Writing Better Copy is a Start and…
My book Dynamic Direct Response Copywriting not only provides an insight into how to research and write powerful advertising copy that irresistibly attracts your ideal prospect and pre-disposes them to work with you. Hidden in the pages is also important information on building a profitable, evergreen back end for your business.
Purchase your copy today HERE