Is Your Reader’s Brain Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool?

Congratulations! Your new digital training course is ready to launch. It’s a great one. It has the potential to help your tribe solve big problems and accomplish big goals.

But now you face a challenge. You have to market your course. You have to sell it. I have some ideas to help you that you might not have heard before. So keep reading…

A question for you…

What’s one thing you MUST do to win at marketing and sales? Something that, if you fail, will cause your ROI to plummet like a lead balloon?

There are many things, but here’s one we’ll focus on today…

You have to grab and keep your potential customer’s attention. This can be a big challenge. Research shows that attention spans are shrinking.

Not only do you face this problem, but it’s getting tougher. The audience you want to woo and win over are bombarded with advertising and marketing messages. And digital content in general.

So you aren’t just competing against advertising. You are competing against crazy cat videos!

But, fear not…I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

There is a “switch”, a “gatekeeper” in your marketing content and copywriting readers’ brains. Use this properly (we’ll talk about how), and it can help you attract your audience to your offer like slivers of iron to a powerful magnet.

Ignore it, and you are likely to bang your head against the wall in frustration, while your sales numbers dwindle.

I Admit It. This Story Embarrasses Me

I did a dumb thing…

In August of 2015, I was on the verge of moving from Austin, TX to San Antonio, where I now live.

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was woefully negligent at that time with my dental care. I had not been to the dentist in 6 years. And I paid a steep price, as I’m about to reveal.

One night, eight days before my move, I felt a numbness and tingling in one of my molars. I then noticed something was loose. I thought it was just the old crown.

I went to the nearest dentist I could find the next morning. To my shock and dismay, it was not just the crown. It was the whole tooth! The dentist ended up pulling it!

Well, as you might guess, I immediately gained a new sense of urgency about my dental care. Getting my problem (to paraphrase marketing legend, Perry Marshall, my “bleeding neck”) solved was a priority.

The second day I was in San Antonio, I was driving down the freeway and saw a billboard which seized my attention.

Like I’m guessing you do, I ignore most billboard messages. But this one grabbed and kept my interest from the get-go.

Why? It was for a local dental clinic. I made a mental note of the clinic’s name. As soon as I got home, I googled it, contacted them, and set up an appointment.

The happy result? Six years later, I have clean, straight, healthy teeth and a smile I’m proud to display.

As an email and conversion copywriter driven to help digital course creators, e-learning and training providers, and information marketers, I’m always looking to “up my game”. I am a constant student of copywriting, persuasion, influence, sales and buyer psychology.

My diligent efforts seem to be paying off. Over the years, a lot of marketers and business professionals have spoken highly of the work I’ve done for them. Testimonials like this one from noted branding expert, national media figure, best-selling author and NSA Hall of Fame Speaker, Bruce Turkel are common:

“John is a master of the use of language. He produces a product that anyone can use with confidence and pride. John’s work and character reveal an integrity that stand out.”?

I want to share with you now an idea I think you will LOVE! An idea that just might give you an “unfair advantage” over your competitors. An idea that can help you grab and keep your readers’ attention focused like a laser on your message! And help you bring in a lot more sales.

Enter the RAS…

Humans have a feature in our brains called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). It serves as a filter, a “switch” or “gatekeeper” of sorts. If information we are exposed to is something we don’t view as relevant or important to us, the RAS blocks it or discards it.

On the other hand, if it IS important to us, the RAS welcomes it, with open arms so to speak, into our conscious minds.

THAT is why my attention was fixed on that billboard when I ignore so many others. At that time, finding a dentist was critically important to me.

Even though the dentist who put it up may not have known it, he used my RAS to his advantage. He now has several thousand dollars of my money. Which I gladly paid him!

The RAS can work wonders for your marketing as well. If you let it.

Here are three specific actions for you to take to help make that happen.

1. Research your audience to gain a deep understanding of what makes them tick. What they love. What they hate. What their pressing problem or cherished goal is as it relates to your digital course, training program or information product. Find out the specific words they use when talking about their problem or goal.

2. Harness the power of empathy. Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes. Imagine what their problem, the one you can help them solve, feels like.

3. Put their exact words into your copy and content.

Let’s focus on these for a moment. Let’s take the hypothetical example I often use, the Fountain of Youth Fitness program. This is your baby, and you want it to sell like crazy.

So what do you do? You do deep research on your ideal buyer. You know him or her better than they know themselves. You find out the exact words and phrases they use, and you put them in your content and copy.

Think about it…

If you find out your ideal buyer says “I’m so sick and tired of my joints hurting all the time”, and you ask in your copy “Are you sick and tired of your joints hurting all the time?”, do you think you might grab their attention? And hold it?

And make it much more likely they will buy from you?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are nodding your head in agreement and answering with a resounding, enthusiastic “YES!”.

As you’ve probably guessed, I love writing and talking about the RAS and how to use it to boost sales results.

I invite you to check out this article I wrote on the RAS a few years back, and watch this more recent video.

Let me ask you…

What are your thoughts? Do you have any questions? Do you have a specific marketing project you need help with? Are you interested in the services of a true copywriting and marketing professional driven to help you win, put a smile on your face and help you sleep better at night?

I’m here for you. You can reach me at [email protected].

Here’s to your success!

John

John Rugh is an email and conversion copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and award-winning speaker. After reaching the conclusion that the formal academic system had failed him, in 1999, John set out on a journey of self-education that continues to this day.

He has made the strategic decision to combine his passion for learning and training with his love of using his copywriting, marketing, and sales skills to help leading companies in the exciting world of information marketing, digital course creation, e-learning, and online training prosper and thrive like never before.

?You can reach John at https://johnrugh.com/contact-me.

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