1.

The King of All Copy Strategies from Jay

Abraham! And it has nothing to do with
writing a single word.
Jay Abraham’s first concern is NOT about the clients he works for.

He considers his real client the consumer of what his client is selling. Therefore he never sets
forth to make the people who hired him any money.

He’s there to enrich the person who hires him only after he or she’s has fulfilled on their promise
to give greater benefit, value, advantage, experience, enjoyment, protection –whatever the
glorious outcome was supposed to be – to the end user.

This stems from his Strategy of Preeminence principle.

Here is where you radically transform your idea about who you’re writing to. If you’re simply
writing to customers, as Webster’s dictionary would define as; people who purchase commodities
or services, you’re setting yourself up to write like a bum.

The dictionary definition of client is someone who’s under your care and protection.

Having a feeling of certainty that you can protect someone from danger is like having a
superpower.

Look at this example.

I started training to box when I was six years old and went on to win x amount of x
championships.

This meant that through my whole school career I was 100% confident that I could protect myself.
While this made my life easier, what was really intoxicating was being able to protect others. My
brothers, sisters, mom, girlfriends, friends, kids getting picked on.

I’ve come to the rescue of people in my life and I’m telling you there’s no feeling like it in the
world.

When I was a teen I was rowdy and known as a bad ass so people who wanted to make a name
for themselves would come at me.

I had activated the law of attraction in this area of my life.

I always held my own fighting one on one. Lots of people think they’re tough but once they get hit
right in their face with a punch that’s got 212 pounds behind it rather than a 12 pound arm punch
most guys hit with when flailing about in a fight, they instantly drop to ground and ask you to stop
or because they’re knocked out.

Do you have the power to protect your ideal client?

If you are genuinely coming to their rescue why would you let your copy sound like you’re some
limp wristed punk with a tin cup held out at arms length begging for money from your client? If
you have the goods, shame on you for not standing up boldly and saying so.

Protect is an extremely powerful word and by constantly focusing on whether or not the person
reading this would see you as their defender, you’ll never come across as a me-too. You’ll
always be seen as The most trusted advisor this specific individual could ask for.

You will NOT get this by falling in love with your product. You will NOT get this by falling in love
with being the fastest growing company. You will NOT get this thinking about what peers in your
industry will say about your ads.

You gotta connect with your client.

People will NOT trust you if they first don’t feel like you know their feelings, desires, frustrations,
fears, goals, hopes and dreams.

This is why if you’ve been in the person’s shoes you’re trying to sell something to at one time in
your life you have a major league advantage because you’ve experienced all of these at the gut
level.

Your story hits home with them. You’ve been where they are and you’ve escaped. Now you’re
offering to show them the way out of darkness and into the light. And once they follow you they’ll
be liberated.

Think about how powerful that word is. LIBERATED.

Liberators go down in history. Moses, Ghandi, Churchhill, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King
and so on. When you fall in love with the vision of seeing your clients free from their problems
and all your actions congruently demonstrate you are on their side and are their leader, their
protector, their liberator… shit, you’ll be unstoppable.

This is the place to write from. This is where Jay writes from. And is it no wonder that people
have responded to his copywriting for decades now, by sending him 5, 15, and 25 thousand
dollar checks.

2. Five Crucial Questions You Must Get RIGHT BEFORE The

First Word of Ad Copy is Written:

1. What’s Your REAL Product? We buy emotionally and justify with logic.
Products are like onions… they have layers.

Features: Size, weight, color, design

Functional Benefits: How it does what it does. The means to getting something
done.

Practical Benefits: Saves you money, Saves you time, makes you healthier,
produces wealth, enhances pleasure

Emotional Benefits: Excitement, relief, pride, peace of mind,

I dissected a J. Peterman ad for a weight driven wall clock. This is the ad copy for
it…

__________
Fascination.

A wealthy merchant’s home in Nuremburg or Amsterdam, ca. 1690.

Lot’s of rich silk and velvet fabrics, ornately carved furniture, glowing silver,
all designed to impress. But it is an amazingly advanced object like the ones you
see here that make visitors’ jaws drop.

Over 300 years later, they still have that effect.

Antique mechanical clocks with iron frames and exposed brass works.
Fascinating to watch, to listen to – the slowly turning gears, the precise “tick-tock”
sound and the clear chimes of the bells when struck on the hour.

People want to get close and touch them.

Look at how they masterfully transform before your eyes a mundane feature of this
clock into an emotional benefit.

Feature: Exposed brass works.

Functional Benefit: You can see the smooth precise functioning of your clock.

Practical Benefit: Fascinating to watch the slowly turning gears.

Emotional Benefit: Objects like the ones you see here make visitors’ jaws drop.
People want to get close and touch them.

You can do this for every single one of the features of your products.
Don’t be like the idiots at Circuit city that let some ad agency run this copy for their T.V.,

Samsung 46” Series 5 LCD HDTV

• 1080p resolution
• HD tuner
• SRS TruSurround XT
• 2 HDMI inputs
• 5ms response time
• Picture-in-picture

I pulled this directly from their site.

This is all education I get before I’m asked to decide to punch in my credit card number and give them
$1500 dollars of my money.

They ignorantly assume everyone knows what the jargon means. And if you do, they leave it up to
you to figure out it specifically impacts your life.

Don’t be stupid like Circuit City and victimize your clients and customers with an attempt at an ad like
this.

Make it easy and fun to buy from you like J. Peterman does.

3, 4, 5, 6. Here’s how I learned from Clayton Makepeace to turn

an ordinary product into a superstar.
1. Pry out every benefit your product can deliver.

2. Think of all the positive emotions these benefits address

3. Identify every negative issue your product resolves

4. Identify every negative emotion your product resolves

5. Find premiums to fill gaps not met by the product

2. Who’s Your Best Prospect?

You want to know on average, of all these for your market. Ethnicity, Sex, Age
Range, Education, Profession, Income, home ownership or not, Credit Card Usage,
Marital Status, Children, Financial Situation.
These are the surface level nice-to-knows. The list below taps into the deep
structure that you can actually write to.

What do they dream about?

What do they desire?

What do they love?

What do they fear?

What frustrates them?

What angers them?

What do they hate?

What arouses their skepticism?

What embarrasses them?

What are they most thankful for?

What are their sources of shame and guilt?

What are their secret self-doubts?

What are they proudest of?

What makes them happy?

Where do I find all this stuff?

Clayton says to BE the PROSPECT

You buy – and read – best selling books, magazines and newsletters on the subject of
what you’re offering.

Hang out at the relevant websites and blogs of your market.

Watch all the cable channels built around the subject of your product.

Learn how to conduct a powerful interview with your customers and clients. You come
at this from the angle of looking for a testimonial but you’re really looking to get to
know them. It might come across as weird if you call them and say you want to do
research on them.

Become friendly with likely prospects.

If you market is golfers but you’ve never golfed… get your ass out on the course.

Always write to the most emotionally charged people in your niche.

3. Who’s Your Best Messenger?

Would the letter be best coming from you or written in the third person?

If you’re the marketplace’s hero, then passion is critical to this selling message.

If you really need to do some bragging about yourself and your product you might feel
better doing it in the third person. Boasting coming from someone besides yourself will
let you go full blast with the praise about you or your service/product without making
you sound like a blow hard. This can work really well when it’s coming from a buyer
who was skeptical at first but as soon as they spoke with you and used your advice they
were converted into loyal customers.

4. What’s Your Best Focus?

When Dan Kennedy sells his newsletter what’s the whole letter built around? The
Most Incredible Free Gift Ever – all the free bonuses you get when you sign up for
the No B.S. Marketing newsletter.

He can’t give you all the powerful and and emotional benefits of the newsletter
because it hasn’t been written yet. But he can give specific and crystal clear
benefits of all the products you get as bonuses.

If you’re selling a membership or subscription to anything a tried and true way to

sell is to center your offer around all the bonuses someone is getting as soon as they
sign up. “Here’s how to get this all free… test drive this newsletter.
But if what you’re selling a product where the practical and emotional benefits are
clearly evident… lead with the product. And then use premiums to boost the value
and fill any gaps the product can’t.

5. What’s Your Best Approach Strategy?

USP VS. Advertorial VS. Personal Letter

USP – Use when you have a ton of powerful benefits and proof elements you can talk
about. B level copywriter approach. Very basic level of advertising.

Advertorial – Far more valuable than just a benefit laden ad. This is a way to
educate and enhance people’s life by giving them your letter in a way that reads
like a How-to do it book or article.

People nowadays are used to getting stuff free online so this aligns with that train of
thought. You demonstrate you’re a friend.

Use this approach when product is not unique. When it is complex. When the product
is topical. When benefits are part of a bigger picture. (weight loss)

You’re not leading with benefits so what are you going on?

Fears, Frustration or desire.

Positive or negative current events (How to survive y2k)
Conspiracies, frauds or cons
Forecasts
How - To

Personal Letter -- Fundraising industry built on these. This is where you can use the
Mackay 66 info.

Mongrel Promo – Magalogs and Tabloids. Stuff that looks like a magazine or valuable
content. People kept them around and mailers could tell because they’d get orders in
later.
 7. Direct Mail Checklist
1. Did you know that 70% of your orders may come from the people who live in the wealthiest
30% of zip codes? Have you considered zip code deciles?

2. Are you avoiding compiled lists. All you want are the “hotline” names. People who have
purchased a products in the last 30 – 90 days. Compiled lists are no better than mailing to the
phone book.

3. Have you found any lists that people rented multiple times? This is a good sign.

4. Have you found lists that consist of people who have bought multiple times?

5. Did you ask for a totally random nth selection test?

6. Are you rolling out to at least 2 – 5,000 names? Anything less won’t give you an accurate test.

7. Do you know if there’s enough margin in your product to keep you alive? A common mistake
is to undervalue the price of the product and your expertise. You need at least 8 to 1 price to
costs ration to make direct mail work.

8. Have you optimized your postage costs? Postage is going to usually be your biggest expense
so remember that every penny you shave off of postage turns up in straight profit. This does
not mean mailing bulk. This does not mean writing less than enough copy to sell your product.
It means if there’s a way to save money that doesn’t hurt your response use it.

9. What is your system for stuffing, folding, inserting, stamping, addressing and sending? If you
don’t have one you might want to look in the phone book for lettershops or ask some other
mailers what lettershops these use. These shops will save you lots of stress because for very
cheap they can fold, stuff, address, and stamp tens of thousands of letters for you every day.
Do yourself a favor though and tell them to get screwed if the ask you if you’d like them to
stamp them and take them to the post office. As nice as this sounds, don’t do it. Mailhouses
are notorious for charging you for full price of postage but not mailing all they charged you for.
Mail every piece yourself.

10. Have you gotten several bids from different printers so you know what you’re lowest possible
mailing cost could be?

11. Are the number of pages in your letter divisible by four?

8. John Fordes’ USP Checklist

Several years ago, AWAI Board Member John Forde created the following list of questions to help
identify any product's USP.
And keep in mind that you're not limited to only one USP for a product. Think about checklists you've
seen that compare their product with several named competitors ...
and how effective they've been in getting you to buy.

Here are John's questions:

1. How is my product really different from the

competition?

* Is my product of better quality?

* How so -- stronger, longer lasting, more beautiful, etc.?
* What are the features of my product?
* Does it have more or better features, and what are they?
* How does my product's performance compare to the
competition?
* How do we compete on price?

2. How clearly expressed are the benefits?

* Can I assign a number or statistic to my product's

performance?
* How much larger is the promise than the promises of
competitors?

3. Do we beat the competition on customer service and

fulfillment?

* How fast do our orders arrive?

* Do we offer email delivery or online archives?
* Do we tell customers where/how to buy other products
we recommend?
* Do we have a telephone hotline?
* What kind of guarantee do we offer?
* What bonus gifts come with my product?
* Do the premiums satisfy specific needs addressed in
the promotion?

4. How can I show that my product is reliable?

* How long has my company been around?

* What's our track record?
* What's the background of our product guru or
"champion"?
* What reputable 3rd parties use my product?
* What's the process by which we create the product?
* What testimonials do we have?

Where do you find answers to these questions?

Start with your client: the marketing director, the product developer, maybe even the company
president or CEO. If it's an information product, talk to the person who writes or edits it.

Next, go to the Internet. This is a good place to find out about your competition's products and what
they identify as their USPs.

You should also study spec sheets, manuals, testimonials (if available), and any other written material
for your product and those of your competition.

Coming up with your product's USPs does not take a great deal of work. And the time you put into it
will pay off with significantly greater response, because you will have specifically told your prospect
what makes your product better, different, unique.

9. What I Learned About The Invisible “A-

B-C” Process Virtually Every A-List
Copywriter Uses To Annihilate His
Prospects Objections. This Makes Buying
Your Product Seem Like The Most Sensible
Thing He Could Ever Do…
I learned this from Clayton Makepeace’s Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach product.

The legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz once said, “One fully believed promise has ten times the
sales power of ten partially-believed promises.”

This part is all about how to create “fully believed promise” after another.

We all know we need to use “Reason Why copy. But how do you do it?

Copy needs a clear, logical progression. This means you’ve got to start with facts your prospect
knows, believes or can easily see because you’ve used third party charts or graphs or comments in your
copy. Now we need to tie new benefit promises and claims to these facts.

Here’s an example of this in action:

Let’s say you’re selling gold stocks.

You could start by laying down several facts about gold stocks.

Gold stocks have jumped by an average of 25% everytime interest rates hit x%.
My clients average gains on buying stocks on my recommendations at these times have been
$100,000 to approximately $50, 000 dollars a year.

Top gold stock analyst, Mark Richstein, predicts the price of gold will be increase by 14% in
2008

CLAIM: Buying and selling the goldstocks I tell you to can lead to you’re bringing home at least
an extra $50,000 dollars in 2008.

Now I made up the example above but can you see how it would be so much easier for your prospects
to believe you after you’ve laid down three facts that back up what you’re about to claim?

This process adds muscle to all of your benefits.

An important question to ask yourself before you write is “What must my prospect believe in order
to make this purchase?”

Then, “What must my prospect believe first… second… third… and so on, in order to conclude
this is the opportunity of a lifetime?”

Then you take each point and arrange them in their logical order. Each point should build logically
upon the point made before. Each point should bring the prospect one step closer to what it is you
promise.

I’LL SEND YOU AN EXAMPLE OF A BLOCK OF COPY WHERE THIS IS EXPERTLY USED
SO CAN SEE HOW IT WAS USED IN THE REAL WORLD.
Completed last sentence… to buy now – FREE with your no-risk trial subscription to my monthly
newsletter.
This process of not too unlike making a case for your product in a one on one conversation with your
prospect. And it makes your writing flow. It always gives you a place to start so you’re never faced
with writer’s block.

You make your first point and support it with reasons why. Make the next one and support it with
reasons why. Down the list you go until there are no more benefits to talk about.

Pro copywriters ask themselves… How prepared is my prospect to believe my benefits?

You have total control over how you prepare your prospects for the benefits no matter where they’re at
when they see your copy. Rejoice in this fact.

Clayton was selling a Vitamin D product and one of the hidden benefits was that it had the power to
slash the risk of heart failure in half. He delayed talking about this in the promo until he could prepare
the reader to fully accept this fact. Most people know Vitamin D is important but have never heard it
has this kind of power.

Now the fact that it could slash your risk of heart failure sounds like a mighty hook doesn’t it?
Something that could use for a headline, right. Maybe not.

One of the reasons Clayton believes big benefit headlines bomb is that the reader hasn’t been prepared
for them.

We haven’t established a relationship with the people who see our headline and here we come in
barging in promising em the world.

And this why you can make dominant emotion headlines work. You’re not asking them to believe
some claim your making. You’re headline can say “The Dirty Two-faced SOB’s Did It Again.” And
on the next line talk about the two figureheads in the prospects world have made their life harder.

If you can get the persons head nodding that’s always good. We all need someone to sympathize with.
This builds an emotional acceptance for your ad and you if you’re the voice behind it.

For any of us who’ve sold anything we all know it’s important to get our prospect saying yes, agreeing
with us.

Using the process of presenting facts you can prove or that are already known can get your prospect
nodding in agreement with you.

Here’s a list of expressions that boost the persuasive power of your arguments. Think about how
lawyers might be heard on Boston Legal using this language and how it’s going to help you.

“Do you… ?” followed by

“Then”
“If… followed by “Then…”
“The reason for this…”
“Because…”
“Thus…”
“Therefore…”
“Consequently…”
“Here’s why…”
“As a result…”
“In fact…”
“Due to the fact that…”
“Evidence reveals…”

Page 290

10. 83 Questions I Ask Myself Before I

Ever Let My Copy Hit The Street
1. Are you focused as you should be, on selling one and only one thing in this ad?

2. Have you considered whether your copy big enough to read, especially if marketing to
seniors?

3. Have you written multiple headlines?

4. Will the theme or benefit presented in the headline and lead hit home with a significant
number of your prospects who are most likely to buy?

5. Did the headline and lead instantly seize your attention?

6. Were they instantly and completely believable?

7. Do they present compelling benefits to the prospect in return for reading this?

8. Do they explain why it’s crucial for the prospect to read this right now?

9. Can your reader grasp what you’re offering in three seconds or less?

10. Do they establish the qualifications of the spokesperson beyond the shadow of a doubt?

11. Did they sell you on reading the opening?

12. Does your opening stay in sync with the headline and deck copy or does it wander?

13. Did the opening copy deepen your desire to read on?

14. Are the strongest point(s) right at the very beginning?

15. Do the emotions you’re experiencing while reading make you want to continue reading?
16. Are key statements of fact supported by sufficient specifics to make them believable?

17. Does the spokesperson present a reason why he’s writing this – early in the running text?

18. Is the prospect told he/she will be offered something valuable “In a minute”?

19. Does the spokesperson’s personality and conviction come through loud and clear?

20. Does the copy feel like a one-on-one conversation between a two friends with a common
interest?

21. Are you continually using you and your in the copy so it feels like you’re talking directly
to them?

22. Are you using short sentences and paragraphs to keep the copy aired out and flowing?

23. Have you been using specific numbers (99.7% vs. 100%) in your presentation?

24. Is the emotional tone of the copy appropriate for the subject matter?

25. Is it clear that the spokesman has an emotional stake in getting this information to the
reader?

26. Have you admitted any mistakes or shortcomings that build credibility with your reader?

27. Is the prospect likely to find an emotional soul mate in the spokesperson?

28. Does the spokesman feel like a friend and advocate – and not just another salesman?

29. Do you feel as though the copy moves faster as you progress through the piece?

30. Are the practical benefits of the product and/or premiums fully dimensionalized?

31. Are the positive emotional benefits of the product/premiums fully developed?

32. Do you have your unique selling proposition explained?

33. Are the negative emotions that will be neutralized fully explored?

34. Have you broken up bullet points into blocks of 5 or 7 so you avoid the sea of blah.

35. Have you abandon “attractive” but distracting graphics?

36. For the graphics you have kept, do they all have tantalizing captions that reinforce the
graphic?

37. Are there entertaining elements sprinkled throughout – and if so, are they appropriate to
the subject?
38. Has the copy been written at about a sixth grade level? (No matter who you’re prospect
is.)

39. Is the copy laced with “lingo” that prospects/customers think or talk in?

40. Is your letter being written like it’s being spoken? (Using expressions like “listen” or “a
minute ago you heard me say”)

41. Do you have details that add to your credibility? (your exact location, description of the
neighborhood, etc. ?)

42. Are you using any third party endorsements? (Articles, influential peoples comments
about you, etc.)

43. If your headline is a Platinum headline, do all of your sub heads qualify to be gold
headlines?

44. In print salesletters are you ending your pages on cliffhangers?

45. Have you sparingly used no more than 3 colors and highlighter in your letter?

46. Is the value of the offer fully dimensionalized? Does it detail exactly what they’ll get?

47. Does your offer break apart each component’s value/price and compare it to package
savings?

48. Does the offer compare price apples to oranges? (Total gym machine vs. buying gym
membership)

49. Is price shown as odd ending number?

50. Is there a rationale given for the discount, premiums and other offer elements?

51. Do your bonuses have a high perceived value that you’ve totaled and presented?

52. Are the bonuses valuable enough to sell on their own?

53. Are you linking bonuses to fast response? (Time, limited quantity, first time buyers, etc.)

54. Does the guarantee re-emphasize the benefits and deepen the bond between you and your
prospect?

55. Is the guarantee worded in an interesting way?

56. How long is the guarantee?

57. Are there multiple guarantees?

58. Is there an unconditional guarantee?

59. A conditional guarantee?

60. Testimonials?

61. Have you written headline for each testimonial?

62. Do you have who you are copy in the letter?

63. Do you have proof in the form of graphics? (pictures, drawings, graphs, etc.)

64. Did you address the prospect’s desire for instant gratification?

65. Do you give people the opportunity to choose between basic and deluxe?

66. What is the compelling reason to buy now?

67. What is the urgency motivator?

68. Is this reason explained?

69. Would it be strong enough to get you to take action?

70. Has the close been crafted in a way that would make you feel like you were insane for not
ordering?

71. Did you feel your excitement peaking as you were coming up on the close?

72. Have you anticipated and answered all your reader’s possible objections?

73. Do your coupons or order forms state YES!... and restate offer in the first person?

74. Is there a unique incentive to use the fastest way to order now?

75. Are you enclosing more than one order form with your package?

76. Is your response device or devices key coded for tracking?

77. Does the order form have a headline?

78. How compellingly does the order form copy restate the benefits and guarantee?

79. Does it look like an order form and is it easy to fill out?

80. Have you told your prospect exactly how to respond with step-by-step instructions?

81. Have you informed them of any sales taxes?

82. Is everything you want your reader to do clearly stated on the order form?
 83. Does it start the bonding process by thanking the new customer for their order?

84. Does your P.S. either summarize the offer, reinforce a benefit, emphasize the response
deadline or add an extra detail?

85. And have you had someone besides you read this copy out loud?

11. The One thing I learned form Gary Bencivenga

(Arguably the greatest living copywriter) that will turn
your prospects from Passive Readers to Raving Lunatic
Fans.

Here's the formula in its most basic form. It starts with the prospect's problem, want, or
desire. That's where your marketing message should be anchored.

As a marketer, you must then make a promise to solve that problem, fulfill
that want or desire. Then you must provide proof that you can solve the problem in a
way that's believable. And then you want to offer an attractive proposition for acting
now.

Add those four up and you have persuasion.

And it's so simple. Make sure that you start with what somebody wants, that
you promise to solve their problem, that you prove that you can deliver on what you're
promising, and then make an irresistible proposition. Sale closed!

But, as Emeril would say, we can kick it up a notch and be super-persuasive.

You'll really get outstanding results if you solve an urgent problem...if your
promise is unique (not the same promise shouted by countless others)...if you make
your promise utterly believable with unquestionable proof...and then offer a user-
friendly proposition that makes it almost irresistible to act now.

Having every one of these components in your ad anticipate the prospect's objections.
And there are five universal objections to every sale...

The 5 Universal Objections—

aka as the "5 Exits of Escape"
1. No time
2. No interest
3. No perceived difference
4. No belief
5. No decision
First, when we're trying to open the sale, start the conversation, our prospects are
feeling, "I have no time. I'm just too busy. I don't want to enter a sales dialogue right
now."

OK, we anticipate and then counter that objection with the five-word strategy —make
your advertising itself valuable, otherwise known as the
Cracker Jack secret, of always having something so interesting and valuable in your
advertising that it prevents your prospect from tossing it.

If we do our job right on that score, the prospect's inner dialogue changes to "I have no
time. I'm too busy—oh, wait a minute, a little black book. Well, gee, I can't throw that
away...I'll look it over." So the "no time" objection is taken care of.

Then, as we start closing the sale that we've now opened, the remaining four
objections will be taken care of by The Bencivenga Persuasion Equation®.

Objection number two, "no interest," is countered if your headline addresses

an urgent problem in the prospect's life.

Objection number three, "no difference," is countered by your unique promise, which
sets you apart from all the others offering a solution.

Objection number four, "no belief," is countered by your unquestionable proof.

Objection number five, "no decision," arises because your prospect fears
making a decision, wants to "think it over," isn't sure about being able to afford the
price, worries about making a mistake, wonders about your guarantee, or has any other
uncertainties. All these should be countered by your "user-friendly proposition," which
addresses each concern in turn and closes with a powerful reason for acting now.
In fact, you can even assign a value to each component of The Bencivenga
Persuasion Equation® and have an amazingly reliable tool for predicting how well your
advertising will do.

Even in this room, full of very savvy direct marketing people, if we were to
hand out ads and ask each of you to rate them, we'd get many different opinions on
whether any given ad is good or not. Naturally, we could probably all recognize the
"straw man" cases, the ads that really stink. But with most other ads, we'd get wildly
different opinions.

The process I will now explain brings all those opinions much closer together, and,
more important, much closer to how the ad will actually perform in the marketplace. If
you're a copy chief or an art director or an entrepreneur and you want to know if a given
ad is any good, watch how simple this is.

Urgent (10) Problem (15)

Unique (10) Promise (15)
Unquestionable (10) Proof (15)
User-Friendly (10) Proposition (15)
"Crackerjack Secret" Layout = 20 bonus points
As you can see, there are eight terms in the formula. Four of the terms begin
with the letter P. And four begin with the letter U.

Whenever you must judge a piece of copy, award the ad 15 points if it

successfully meets a criterion beginning with a P, and 10 points if it successfully meets
a criterion beginning with a U.

In other words, if the ad, and especially the headline or first several sentences of the
body copy, directly address a prospect's problem (want or concern), award it 15 points.
If that problem (want or concern) is an urgent one, award it another 10 points.

If the headline does not directly address a problem (want or concern) of your
main prospects, award it nothing.

And do the same for each of the terms in the formula.

Is it clearly making a promise? Award it another 15 points. Is it doing it in a

unique way? Give it another 10 points.

Is there solid proof? Give it 15 points. If the proof is exceptionally compelling, strong,
and virtually unquestionable in its source, give it another 10 points.

Is there a clear-cut proposition to close the sale? Give it 15 points. If the

proposition is user-friendly, add another 10.

And, just to be sure we're surviving the initial screening, where ads are
ignored and tossed into the garbage if they look like ads, ask if the advertising itself is
valuable, if it contains a Cracker Jack prize, not a plastic trinket but usually a piece of
information or enclosed free checklist, booklet, guide, etc., that your market would find
impossible to toss, then give it 20 extra bonus points.

This adds up to 120 points. You can grade the final score just as you would
have when I was in college.

100 or better is an A+. The ad should be a blockbuster.

Anything above 90 is an A.
85 to 90 is a B+.
80 to 85 is a B.
75 to 80 is a C+.
70 to 75 is a C.
65 to 70 is a D.
Below 65 is an F.

This is not rocket science. Is the ad solving a problem? Is it an urgent

problem? Go through the whole list, and you'll quickly see that most of the ads inany
magazine would get very poor grades.

Just ask these simple questions because these are the questions your prospects are
asking as they encounter anything that you present to them.