When writing compelling copy or selling, focusing on the pain points your business solves is essential.
But…
Focusing on pain points is not synonymous with scaring your prospect.
Too many people resort to fear when marketing.
Example A:
"A financial crash is coming! Are you prepared? Purchase my $999 video course to prepare for the inevitable."
When you use scare tactics, you get attention quickly. But it's fleeting attention.
Once they realize you were bullshitting, or they get over whatever horrible thing happened, they're gone. And likely will never come back.
No one has ever created an intimate and lasting relationship built on fear (except megachurch pastors using hell as a fear tactic).
Your marketing should create fruitful relationships. Not fleeting attention.
How do you create fruitful relationships?
Use empathy and provide solutions.
Anchor those solutions to specific pain points but do not use fear to scare them into a purchase.
Doing this will make getting their attention difficult. But in the end, it's worth it.
"When you inspire people and gain their attention with empathy and solutions, it's a whole other level of professional satisfaction. Saying constructive, uplifting things makes it a little bit more of a challenge to get that initial burst of attention, but when you get it, it's real. For the right reasons." — Josh Brown (The Reformed Broker).
Here's an example of what this looks like:
Example Z:
"I was 29 when the 08' crash happened. I lost everything. My decisions left my family in shambles.
Whether a crash comes next week or in five years, I'm prepared for it. Are you?
Learn the five steps I took to make my finances recession-proof by purchasing my new book."
The differences between examples A and Z are subtle in perception but significant in reaction.
The first is using a financial crash to scare you into a purchase.
The second uses my personal experience to share my solution (which you can purchase) to protect your finances from a market crash.
Can you feel the difference in empathy?
Beware: Snake-oil salespeople will dance on the thin line between scaring and caring. They will make it feel like they care but sublimely use fear to secure a purchase.
Excellent copywriting is like a knife.
In the hands of a surgeon, it can save a life.
In the hands of a robber, it can take a life.
The lesson: Focus and talk about the pain your product can relieve your prospect of in a way that does not scare them but motivates them into purchasing.
Sounds easy but much more difficult in practice.
🧠 // JO