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Crisis Copywriting 101

by 11 Comments

Real Estate Agent Biz-Dev MailingThe economic turmoil taking place today affords savvy marketers a great opportunity to win the hearts and minds of their prospects, yet few have the courage to take it.

Case in point is the teaser copy on this mailing, offering business development for real estate agents.

The headline: “Learn How to Make More Money Every Month Selling Real Estate While Working LESS Hours”

The sub-head is classic duck-and-cover.

“Inside Is Everything You Need to Know to Finally Start Generating, Working With And Closing All the Prospects You Need — Even In This Challenging Market.”

Challenging is one of those timid words marketers use when they don’t want to say the word: “PROBLEM.”

It’s also a word that causes the needle to wiggle on most peoples’ B.S. meters.

Now, the guy who mailed this piece is an accomplished marketer.

He knows as long as new real estate agents are in the game, they’re fanatical about making money as realtors. Almost to the point they’d ignore a sack stuffed with $100 thousand on their desk in favor of receiving a call for a listing appointment.

But the problem is the exodus of realtors from the profession is so massive, he’s not even close to the wavelength they’re on. With an 11 year inventory of condos in places like Miami, no positive thinking…no coaching club will keep newcomers meaningfully in the game.

There’s blood in the streets and everyone knows it.

And that’s the golden opportunity.

Come right out and admit the market is terrible and only getting worse. Not only that, most realtors reading this mail piece will be long gone by this time next year.

Then follow up with the promise.

One of the best examples we have of the effectiveness of the damming admission followed up by a powerful, provable advertising claim comes from the brilliant ad writer and Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton published the following zinger of a recruitment ad in the London newspaper, The Times, on December 29, 1913.

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

The ad brought in around 5,000 applications virtually overnight.

Our prospects are smart. As long as we tell it straight, we marketers have nothing to fear no matter if there’s blood in the streets. After all, they’re counting on us for hope…and band aids.

Filed Under: Blog, Direct Response Copywriting Swipe File, Real Estate Advertising

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael Martine says

    August 17, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    That Shackleton ad is such a classic. Even the weaker version people use now of “this isn’t for everybody” works wonders.

  2. copyguy says

    August 18, 2008 at 6:46 am

    Seen it many times and every time I see it, the more I admire the writer behind that ad.

    Such a genius…

  3. greg says

    August 19, 2008 at 12:47 am

    Hi Lawrence,

    Speaking of connecting to the market, I recently posted something to my blog I think you’d like.

    It’s a recording of the very end of a Jeff Paul biz-op teleseminar gone terribly wrong… and I think I’m the only guy in the whole world with the actual recording.

    Two years ago Jeff did a JV with some idiotic company who abused his list.

    I caught the whole thing on tape and did a post about how to treat your customer list right and never abuse them.

    It’s also interesting to hear how these guys in the biz-op market REALLY talk.

    –Greg

  4. RJ says

    August 19, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    Hey Greg,

    What is the name of your blog – I’d be curious to hear that. I used to be a Jeff Paul fan back in the day.

  5. greg says

    August 20, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    Sure no problem. It’s GregThompson.org

  6. admin says

    August 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    Hi Greg.

    I visited your site and listened to that audio with a mixture of astonishment and humor.

    Part of me felt like I was walking on the seediest stretch of 11th Avenue in (pre-Disney) NYC during the late 80’s.

    But this is far from the worst case of irresponsible list ownership.

    Circa 1990, one of the biggest financial newsletter publishers, a multi-million a year operator, burnt his whole list of paying subscribers by promising they’d get rich with an MLM he endorsed in his newsletters.

    Most of his subscribers followed his recommendation and plunked down $1,000 to get in.

    As you can guess, the MLM was a scam and blew up in a very public outing in The LA Times.

    The newsletter publisher not only didn’t collect his kickback but saw his subscribership quickly melt down to zero and he was quickly out of the newsletter business for good.

    That’s why Santyana’s timeless quote is especially pertinent in marketing: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

    Recently, all the “big names” promoted an info product by a (very talented albeit flawed) marketer who was arrested for fraud.

    Not one of those marketers ever stopped for a moment to ask a few questions or to dig a little bit deeper. Fortunately, for most of them, their subscribers hadn’t a clue that they were promoting a product that landed it’s author in jail.

  7. RJ Purvis says

    August 22, 2008 at 2:27 pm

    Greg,

    You have a great blog – you are an excellent writer.

    Cheers,

    RJ (Ron) Purvis

  8. greg says

    August 22, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Wow, yeah that’s pretty bad. I never heard that story before 🙂

  9. greg says

    August 22, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Thanks Ron. That means a lot. Especially on a day like today, I needed to hear that 🙂

  10. Ron says

    August 22, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Greg,

    re: the jeff paul call.

    all I gotta say is: wow…just wow…

  11. admin says

    August 22, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    Ditto Ron.

    Dig your writing style, Greg.

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