What a C.I.A. Black Ops
Officer Taught Me About CopywritingWhen I was in the Air Force, I had
the opportunity to attend avery "special" training course taught by
very "special"instructors.
One of my instructors was a former Navy S.E.A.L. who had left theNavy
to join the C.I.A. as a special operations officer. Thisguy had seen
combat in several different theaters of operation,during many public
(and some not so public) conflicts.
One of the things he taught us during this "advanced" trainingcourse
was a highly specialized shooting technique called the"Mozambique"
(also known as the double tap failure drill.)
This is the primary handgun shooting technique used by all eliteU.S.
military units, such as the Navy SEALS, Army DELTA Force,C.I.A. Black
Ops and a few others I won't mention by name.
The basic technique is to fire two rapid shots (called a "doubletap")
to the targets center of mass (middle of the chest) andthen raise
your weapon up in a straight line, just a hair and putanother round in
the center of the head.
Two in the heart. One in the head.
In a real life scenario, this technique is devised to provide
aguarantee of eliminating your target even if the bad guy iswearing
body armor (and thus the two rounds in the chest areineffective.)
We trained on this technique for days. Against stationarytargets,
moving targets, simultaneous engagement of multipletargets, from prone
position, crouching position, behindbarricades, single handed firing,
firing with our weaker hand (tosimulate an injury to your primary
shooting arm), under low lightconditions. Every scenario you (or some
sadistic ex-SEAL, C.I.A.spook) could imagine.
The entire time our instructor is yelling. "Two in the heart, onein
the head! .Two in the heart, one in the head! .Two in theheart, one in
the head!" Over and over and over.
One of the other "students" in my class asked a good questionduring
our training. He asked, "If this technique is designed totake down
terrorist wearing body armor, why don't we just takethe head shot
first? Why not always take head shots?"
The instructor's answer made the wisdom behind technique clear,"
Unlike what you may see in the movies, a headshot is a verydifficult
shot to make. Particularly in a high pressuresituation, where the "
target" is shooting back at you. The firsttwo shots to the body are
the most important, because they helpget your sights centered and
focused on the target, making theheadshot much easier. It's simply a
matter of raising yoursights in a straight line and firing."
Okay. So you are probably wondering what in the heck all of thishas
to do with writing copy.
Let me try to explain.
The problem with most copywriters is they keep taking "headshots"
first. They focus on "logical" reasons to buy and thefeatures of the
product, rather than going for the heart withmultiple strong emotional
appeals.
But this style of "head first" copy demonstrates a
basicmisunderstanding of the buying and selling process.
Your prospects make decision to buy based on emotion (heart) andthen
justify those decisions with logic (head.)
All buying decisions are emotional.
Emotion is what causes people to take action. Because of thisyour
copy needs to hit them straight in the heart. It needs touse powerful,
emotionally charged words to link your productsbenefits directly to
your reader's deepest emotional wants anddesires.
Now this doesn't mean that you can avoid weaving the logicalarguments
into your copy. As I mentioned, people still need thelogical side to
help justify the purchase decision. Withoutgiving them the logical
reinforcement they need, buyers remorsewill set in and you will have a
higher rate of refunds andreturns.
However, for each logical reason you give, you need to make aminimum
of two emotional appeals.
Just like the C.I.A. training drill you should shoot for
twothirds-heart (emotion) and one third-head (logic.)
By maintaining a balance between emotion and logic, your copywill
have the emotional power to sell them and the logicalarguments to help
them justify the buying decision.
So to write effective copy you need to remember the ratio. Twoin the
heart, one in the head.
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