Imagine someone hands you the following message–
“Riguardo a gli dice il mio segreto di dollaro di
milione per scrivere di copia di vendite. Questo è
qualcosa non ho mai detto nessuno altro nel mondo
intero. Lo dirò giustamente adesso, se lei promette a
tiene quest’un segreto. Stato d’accordo?”
You wouldn’t be too interested in it, would you? It
would look strange. Confusing. You might assume it’s
from another language, but unless you knew Italian, you
would only be guessing to the language and the message.
What would you do?
Obviously, you would need to translate the message.
How? In this case, you might just go online at a great
website for translating languages, enter the above
text, and quickly discover that those words in Italian
actually mean—
“I’m about to tell you my million dollar secret for
writing sales copy. This is something I’ve NEVER told
anyone else in the entire world. I’ll tell you right
now, if you promise to keep this a secret. Agreed?”
Ah! Now it all makes sense! Now you know what the words
mean and you are free to enjoy them, act on them, or
just dismiss them. But at least now you’ve gotten the
communication. Relax. Breathe. Smile. Ahhhhhh…
But what does all this translation business have to do
with how I write hypnotic sales letters, ads, and news
releases?
In a nutshell, translating is EXACTLY what I do in
writing sales copy.
When someone hands me a technical manual on a new
software program—with the idea they want me to write
a sales letter for the software—what I do is
translate that manual.
In short, I do the same thing the language translation
website does. I simply look at what the manual says
the software does, and then I translate it into
benefits that make sense to you, the consumer. In a
way, the manual is written for techies, much like
Italian is written for Italians. I have to translate
both so you can understand and make sense of them.
If I don’t, you won’t care.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
Recently I was hired to rewrite a brochure. My client
handed me their draft. It read well. There were lines
such as, “When was the last time you felt OK?” Well,
nothing wrong with that. It works. But I found a way to
translate it into something more meaningful,
understandable, and emotional. And I did it with just
one word. I wrote, “When was the last time you felt
fantastic?”
The translated line communicated better. It’s the
difference between hearing the line in Italian or in
English. As Mark Twain put it, it’s the difference
between lightning and the lightning bug.
But maybe that example is too simple…
At another point in their brochure they were trying to
explain the concept of suppressing emotions, and how
suppression could be harmful. Their words were fine,
just as Italian words are fine. But they didn’t
communicate in a way most people would hear. So I
translated their words to, “Suppression is building
bombs. When you bury an emotion, you bury it alive.”
See the difference? I do this with all my copywriting.
I take what I’m handed and I translate it into
benefits, clear language, and bottom line emotion. This
truly does feel like translating languages to me. And
like learning any new language, it takes time to
master.
I take the copy given to me, turn on the part of my
mind that knows how to speak copywriting, and I
translate the words in front of me into words YOU
can understand.
I also do this “Copywriting Translation” with news
releases. For example, last month I was hired to write
a news release for a woman’s book. I could have written
a headline that said, “New book explains how to
communicate better,” which is what the book was about.
But that’s Italian. It doesn’t speak in emotional terms
or in a way most editors want to hear.
After doing some research and learning more about the
author, I translated the above headline to instead
read, “Female Pentagon Advisor Reveals Tips to
Success.” The latter is far more intriguing. All I did
was translate her book into news. I took it from
Italian to English. I took it from English to Emotion.
I took it from words to power.
What’s the secret to being a good “copy translator”?
I could probably quote a relevant line from any number
of books on marketing. But I’ll grab one from a 1965
book I just received today. It’s by Robert Conklin. The
title is “The Power of a Magnetic Personality.” He
wrote:
“Putting it simply, it means this: Every time you state
a fact, describe how that fact will benefit the other
person.”
There you have it. It’s what I’ve been saying for
years: “Get out of your ego and into your reader’s
ego.” Translate what you want to say into simple words
and concepts that make sense to your readers.
I hope I’ve done that with this brief article. I began
with the idea to tell you how I write sales copy. But I
didn’t want to just say, “I translate all words into
sales copy,” which may or may not make sense to you.
Instead, I wanted to describe, with examples, what I do
so you truly comprehend it. Finally–
“Adesso che lei sa il mio segreto, va avanti e traduce
le sue lettere di vendite, l’advertisements, e le
liberazioni di notizie nell’ones che farà lei milioni
dei dollari. Piacere!”
Translation: “Now that you know my secret, go forth and
translate your sales letters, advertisements, and news
releases into ones that will make you millions of
dollars. Enjoy!”
Dr. Joe Vitale is holding an intensive training
in his copywriting methods September 11-12
in Austin, Texas. Only 10 can attend. You
will learn Dr. Vitale’s hypnotic writing formulas
and become certified as a Hypnotic Copywriter.
Cost is $5,000. To register, write copy@mrfire.com
Get a crash course in hypnotic copywriting
by grabbing many of Joe Vitale’s works at —
The Hypnotic Library
And get his famous writing software from —
http://www.HypnoticWritingWizard.com
Dr. Joe Vitale is the world’s first Hypnotic Marketer.
He is President of Hypnotic Marketing, Inc., and
author of way too many books to list here, including
the #1 best-selling book Spiritual Marketing: A Proven 5-Step Formula for Easily Creating Wealth from the Inside Out, the
best-selling e-book Hypnotic Writing and the
best-selling Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, “The
Power of Outrageous Marketing.” His latest books
are the best-selling The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History! and Adventures Within: Confessions of an Inner World Journalist. He’s being called “The Buddha of the Internet.” His main
website is at www.MrFire.com
