Page 180 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

One of the publishers I work with explained that, frequently,
renewals aren’t the point. Where you depend on ad revenues for
the bulk of your profits, page rates are critical. Buying circulation
through incentives allows you to charge your advertisers more to
reach them. She then went on to brief me to produce a series of
letters that would connect with the reader through the underlying
proposition. In other words, sell the product not the offer. Were
there discounts and incentives? Sometimes, yes. But they were
always subservient to the proposition.
The relevance to what you’re selling? You may not have the luxury
of being able to afford to buy customers at a loss to feed a second
revenue stream. So make sure you sell the product based on its true
appeal to the prospect, and only nudge them with your offer.

In practice

• Complete the sentence: Your life will be better when you buy

product X because you will . . .

• Talk to long-time customers and ask why they bought from you

originally and why they’ve stayed with you.

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