Bob Bly is an expert business copywriter, and uses that expertise to create a bond with a sales prospect. How? By making them feel like they are just like him.
Here's how he does it:
One of the easiest - and most effective - copywriting techniques for bonding with your reader is to show that you are like him (or her).
For instance, you can simply begin the sales letter: "Are you like me?" And then list the things you believe you have in common. Another method: Have the person signing the letter be in the same group as the person reading the letter. For example, when writing to doctors, have an M.D. sign the letter.
Why does this work?
Because people like, feel comfortable with, and respond to people who are like them. Conversely, they don't like, and want to avoid dealing with, people they think are fundamentally different.
You know this to be true. Conservatives hate liberals... poor people hate rich people... the elderly dislike the young... and vice versa.
Proof: According to a CBS News poll cited in The Week, 43 percent of Americans ages 18 to 44 were rooting for Barry Bonds to break Hank Aaron's career home run record this season. But of adults 45 or older, only 27 percent wanted Bonds to succeed. These older fans were rooting for the older guy precisely because they, too, are the "older guy."
Is there any other way to see it?
Have you ever had success in marketing by doing anything other than empathizing with the prospect - and showing that you understand him, are on his side, and are even like him? I've seen it done. But it's pretty rare.
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