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How to Build Trust in Copywriting

John C. A. Manley | August 20, 2008

In today’s REALITYcopywriting e-column…

		How a Wood Carver Sold Me a Drum: His sales pitch wasn’t even 60 seconds! I wasn’t even looking for a drum. Find out how to do the same in copywriting…
		It’s NOT About Credentials and Track Records: In my humble opinion, REAL trust is a result of a much deeper emotional bound. A connection you can replicate in copywriting…
		Overnight 2.6% Conversion Rate Jumped to 4.6%: Copywriting coach Shaune Clarke shows how one reader increased his copy’s performance with only a few simple changes…

Jonah, my 18-month old son and I were down at an outdoor art exhibit last weekend. Jonah, being blind, wasn’t too interested. As I pushed his all-terrain stroller through paintings and photographers, we heard a tapping sound admidst the sea of easels.

Jonah arched his head forward, honing in on the sound. He loves repetitive noises — a common trait amongst blind children. (In fact, I hear him banging the floor in the kitchen as I type these words.)

We followed the tapping sound to a dark-skinned man chipping the shape of an African goddess from a three-foot piece of wood. Jonah was soon out of the carriage playing with the Guyana artist’s mallet, feeling the carvings and giggling as Nii Addico spoke in his rich accent.

Selling With Genuine Empathy
and a Desire to Help

Nii had plenty of questions about Jonah. He didn’t even talk about his art much. Nii is such a genuine person — I would have trusted him to babysit Jonah if I had to. Anyway, after he found out Jonah loves banging the floors and walls he suggested I get him a handmade African drum.”A gift that woud last his entire life.”

That’s when I found out, in addition to statues and masks, Nii handcrafts drums of all sizes. (He wasn’t allowed to bring them to the “Art in the Park” because the city likes to keep it quiet.)

Did I feel like he was
just trying to “sell me something?”
No way!

A drum for Jonah was a great idea. I naturally trusted that Nii makes some of the best drums this side of the Atlantic. I was already sold and couldn’t imagine myself buying one from anybody else. We’re making arrangements to buy a hand drum for Jonah for Christmas.

Trust, as you can see, allows you to sell in a natural way without having to put your prospect into a “benefit-vice-grip.” It’s a critical element you need to make sure is in every piece of copy you write.

Real Trust Isn’t About Credentials and Track Records

Real trust, I feel, is different than proof. Proof is important too, and helps build trust… but deeper trust comes from how you express yourself and empathize with your reader. Real trust is an emotional response, not an intellectual response.

By coincidence, I received this email, about last week’s e-column (Why Copy That Over Claims Often Underperforms) on the same subject of building trust in copy…

An Email I Received Today From Copywriting Coach Shaune Clarke
		Hey John, Your “ah ha moment” blog post REALLY “got” me. So much so that I had to go back to it today and read it for the second time. I particularly like this piece… “But hey, if you don’t have a method for figuring out what your prospects really want, you might as well shout big claims and hype. Promise them the moon. It’s as good a guess as any. “But when you know what they want, then Indirect Persuasion becomes possible. Where they sell themselves, because they were already sold. “Sure, there’s an elite group that you can sell these BIG DREAMS to — with backend products. That’s great. But those type of people don’t require much selling, they just need you to show them that you can deliver. ” You’ve really said something powerful here. It’s true — there is a segment of the market who will respond to “The Big Dream.” And with the old model of copywriting there’s a formula to attract that segment. Obviously, that segment is getting smaller and smaller but that’s another topic. The truth is that’s there’s a lot of people who won’t respond to inflated promises… who — just like the ones who do respond — want to get their problem solved. They CAN be sold to! The key is… Now, let me be clear… We do want to push “buy buttons” — no question about that — but wouldn’t it be better to push the… “This guy is believable — I can trust him” button? No one can argue that TRUST is a huge selling tool — one that is completely missing from exaggerated copy. Here’s been the problem… There hasn’t been a model — a formula to go by to produce copy that pushes this Trust button. Of course, that’s why I created The 13 Steps to Dynamic Copy and set up my coaching over at www.NewCopySecrets.com. It’s interesting, John… Even though you were an “Early Adopter” of my work it’s just now that “Those With Credibility” are daring to endorse my work. (It does “grate” the swipers and hypey guys.) Brian Keith Voiles was first and then Terry Dean. I just had one of your readers send me an email saying he almost doubled his response rate (from 2.6% - 4.6%) just from making some changes he picked up from a teleseminar I had done. What I’m getting at is… It DOES work — you can connect, empathize and build trust in your copy and it will sell! A beautiful thing I say! Sorry for the rant John — what I really wanted to say is… Thanks for having the courage to promote me — especially when it wasn’t so popular to do so — I know you took some heat for it! Much appreciated, Shaune

Back to Me: Imagine that? Trust and empathy being the route to higher conversion rates. No more hard-selling copy. No more over-the-top copywriting claims. No more working you reader up into a buying frenzy.

Click here to find out more about Shaune’s advance copywriting coaching program. There are a few spots left for the next 12-week program beginning in September. If this interests you, I’d look into it ASAP… or you may have to wait until 2009.

P.S. If you’re new to Reality Copywriting please click here to subscribe via our RSS feed or to receive an email subscription plus a free recording of “How To Write Copy That Sells Through the Coming Recession” please click here.

P.P.S. To check out Nii Addico’s African art and drums you can visit his website at www.creationafrica.com.Let him know JONAH sent you.

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