Dear Reader,
Let’s start with a story:
Once upon a time, in the 1980’s, copywriter Gary Halbert wrote an ad for Entrepreneur magazine. The ad was for a business opportunity… and for some reason… Halbert put a bullet point in the ad that said:
* Fake cocaine: A legal substitute that fools even the experts!
For the record, this business opportunity was not being promoted by the Mafia… and… strangely enough… had nothing to do with the narcotics industry.
But… get this: People called for years after the ad ran… trying to find out about the “fake cocaine”.
Hmn!
What’s the lesson here?
Simply this:
The most POWERFUL human emotion you can tap into is CURIOSITY!
And, Good Sirs and Fair Maidens, one of the very best ways to drive your reader wild with curiosity… is to load your sales message with… and apply… an orgy of bullet points!
More often than not, the most insanely profitable sales letters, ads and web sites are laced with a HUGE list of ultra-compelling, benefit-driven bullet points.
And, in case you’re not sure what a bullet point is, let me explain:
A bullet point is a block of words (copy) that offers a compelling benefit or “secret knowledge” to the reader. They are called bullets because they are usually preceded by a little round dot that looks like a bullet hole. Just like this:
*
Although a round dot (like above) is the most common symbol used for bullets, you can also use check marks, arrows, numbers, letters… and… anything else that draws attention to the point you are about to make.
Speaking of which, the most powerful bullets apply what I like to call: “The Teaser Torture Treatment”. That’s to say, they’re loaded with a healthy dose of curiosity and reward!
Perhaps the best thing for me to do to help you “get this”, is to open fire with a list of bullets from my “private” swipe file.
Check out the bullet points below, and see if you can grasp just how POWERFUL a properly constructed bullet can be (Note: all of the following bullets were written by copywriter John Carlton… because… hardly anyone can touch him when it comes to “bulletizing”):
* How to control the RPMs of your ball’s spin with pinpoint accuracy! (So instantly accurate, you’ll be able to practice with your 8-iron in your living room… and never hit a lamp or knock a picture off the wall!)
* How to eliminate “skulled” shots that roll too far! (This trick alone will shave a dozen strokes off your next round.)
* The simple little tip that automatically insures your clubhead is ALWAYS in the perfect position upon impact with the ball. (Ernie Els has this down… it’s the reason he’s known as probably the most accurate golfer in the pro game!)
* The Real Reason people choose to buy anything — the secret truth long known by master salesmen, sociologists and “con men” finally revealed!
* How to “read” the signals of women who are dying to date you right now! (They think they’re being obvious, but I’ll bet you’re blind to these signals. Just learning this one secret — how to “read” women — will boost your “romance potential” through the roof!)
* How to turn everyday items in your pocket (or your wife’s purse) into vicious weapons that will (1) show you mean business, (2) instantly frighten anyone with an ounce of common sense, and (3) allow you to dominate any situation with a single blow!
* How to maintain the “right” kind of peak sexual energy that excites women! (Most guys worry — unnecessarily — about “performance”… but you won’t, anymore!)
* The one huge mistake all inexperienced fighters make in their head that guarantees they will be turned into victims… and how to “parlay” it into an advantage that will give YOU an instant 200% increase in your chances of winning — even if it’s your first fight ever!
* Why your weight, strength, speed and agility are the least important parts of winning a street altercation! (And why the one simple secret that is important will give you an immediate and enormous advantage over any other fighter you meet!)
* How to automatically avoid the blunders that get even nationally-ranked karate masters demolished in street fights! (It’s called “Stress Shock Phenomenon”, and once you’ve stored this knowledge in your nervous system, you’ll never “freeze up” or panic when your adrenaline starts to flow and the dirt hits the fan! Yet there isn’t a karate studio in the country that knows how to teach this crucial part of winning fights!)
* Why your fist may be the absolute worst weapon you can use in hand-to-hand combat! (And exactly how to strike so you won’t damage any part of yourself!)
* Simple fight-ending moves that require no strength whatsoever! (I know of arthritic 80-year-old grandmothers who have knocked young male attackers senseless!)
* How to use a little-known “positioning secret” to completely cancel out the superior size or experience of your attacker! (Size and strength are meaningless when you know this secret!)
*How to gain an immediate “Psychological Edge” when someone pulls a knife on you… and how to spot the 4 most common methods of knife attacks so you can win with a minimum of fuss and blood!
* The secret “reward” for men who give their women the “fuel” for feeling in love all day long, every day! (Not one man in a thousand understands this “fail-safe” secret of excruciating happiness… and those who do almost never share it with even their closest friends!)
* How to “touch” a woman to guarantee mind-altering sex… a technique so simple it’s astonishing that nearly 3/4’s of all women never learn it themselves!
* Why smart men know how a simple “secret” non-sexual act at home can — when handled correctly — take on the “charged” quality of a warm, sexually-satisfying feeling for many women! (It’s so simple it’s almost like “cheating”!)
* What women really want from a man! (Nine out of ten men are absolutely floored by this secret!)
* The amazing reason why Prozac is so popular in this country! (Almost no one understands the startling sexual implications!)
* The secret of finding the most efficient aerobic program for burning off fat with your specific body type! (Leo researched for 7 months with professional bodybuilding stars in the U.S. and Germany to discover the key to this “inside” secret!)
* Details of the all-new “Eat Everything You Love” diet that frightened the professionals… until they saw Leo change into the leanest, meanest muscleman they’d ever seen! (It’s the easiest, yet most potent diet you’ve ever seen… one you can live on happily for the rest of your life! Leo was gobbling banana milkshakes, carrot cake, soda pop, ice cream and “Mama Juanita’s” super-grande burritos on “carb-days” throughout his training!)
* Why the “experts” you read about in the muscle mags are just dead-wrong in much of their training advice for you for maximum growth! (Even though a technique may have worked for them, it might not work for you… especially if you follow the advice of juice-heads who have spent most of their lives training on steroids!)
* How a “secret” 5-inch change in your hip placement translates into massive power for your golf stroke! (Not one pro in a thousand even suspects the potency of this simple adjustment!)
* Why the new “lag” in your swing will cause your buddies to shake their heads… until they see you consistently out-drive them by 40, 50 and 60 yards off every tee! (I guarantee they’ll make you play with one of their balls, just to make sure you aren’t cheating somehow!)
* How to use the secret of “choking down” to master any club in your bag… no matter how horrible you were with it before!
* The single most important move you can make in any altercation — it’s what your body wants to do, but what most people panic about and refuse to allow themselves to do! (Yet it will save your life!)
* How to use a simple “cat-like” move to instantly position yourself to deliver the easiest knock-out blow imaginable — a strike so natural your grandmother could pull it off against Mike Tyson!
* How to instantly “shut down” an attacker’s testosterone levels, using your body’s own built-in “brick”. (Even a 90 lb. woman possesses this amazing rock-hard weapon!)
* When to use the most simple strike you’ll ever learn… an unstoppable natural move so effective in ending fights it’s not allowed in full-contact karate tournaments! (Instant disqualification — it’s also a move that 99% of the most brutal street fighters you’ll ever encounter have never seen before… and don’t know how to defend against!)
* How to use the “hip-swinging secret” soldiers use to drop opponents instantly — no speed or strength required, yet it’s like driving a 160 lb. bar of lead into the bad guy’s belly! (It’s so effective, you don’t even have to come close to hitting your “target” area… even the sloppiest attempt by you will bring him to his knees!)
* How to use a super-effective, completely unexpected technique straight out of the “Three Stooges” to cause any attacker to automatically (1) back up, (2) raise his hands in defense, and (3) blink rapidly… all of which instantaneously reverses the tables and makes your attacker suddenly vulnerable to a fight-ending blow you can deliver in your own sweet time!
* Why all elite soldiers are given “permission” to use the one street fighter’s Secret Weapon we are all taught from kindergarten not to use… and how you can use it to quickly remove yourself from any situation where you have been surprised from behind!
* How to use the other “dirty” street-fighting tool not allowed in any civilized boxing or karate match… because of it’s immediate ability to disorientate and topple your opponent! (It also works when you do it incorrectly!)
Hoo! Haa!
Has that list got your motor neurones firing?
Yeah, thought so!
By the way, notice that the bullets above use what is called: “The 1-2 Punch”.
That’s to say, they allure to a benefit… then immediately pile on another “hidden” reward. Just like a boxer, they soften you up with a jab… and then follow up with a vicious knock out blow that lodges the benefit in your mind!
Anyhow, if you want to write insanely profitable sales copy, you should give your bullet writing skills a “workout”.
What you do is simple. For starters, you copy out… in your own handwriting… those bullets printed above… so you have a neurological imprinting of what it’s like to write world-class bullets.
And soon… sooner than you think… you can start writing your own bullets… that will intrigue the hell out of your readers… and have them practically frothing at the mouth… aching to be “let in on the secret”… FORCING them to buy whatever you are selling!
I’ll bring the curtain down on this article with a sage piece of advice from copywriter Gary Halbert:
“You should put every bullet you can in you sales message because you never know what is going to make them buy”.
Amen!
Warmly,
Michael Silk. “A Connoisseur of Curiosity!” The World’s #1 Info-Marketing Copywriter.
Copyright 2005 MLS Direct Marketing
Author: Michael Silk
