The long copy sales letter - a format I’ve been investigating for selling a book I’m writing - is under scrutiny from one of its foremost practitioners.
Copyblogger got my blood pumping a little harder this morning with this line:
“While 2006 was the year online video went big, 2007 will be the year when we all see how it is best utilized for marketing.”
Copyblogger cites copy writing expert Michel Fortin, a fellow who made a cool million in a single day from a 50 page sales letter in a recent post. Fortin wrote an extensive PDF that is essentially a Cluetrain Manifesto for online long copy sales letter writers.
It’s an exuberant and up beat meditation on the evolution of the sales letter in Web 2.0.
My personal key take away was:
“Salesletters that have videos are going to increase over time. In fact, those with mini-infomercials embedded throughout not only are showing to be more effective in terms of sales but also will become increasingly popular, too.We first started to see this with videos used for testimonials on a salesletter, or with “tours” that showcase the product being sold. But now, we’re seeing copy-writers and marketers getting increasingly creative in how they incorporate videos in the sales experience.”
And folks, with video and audio search engines like PodZinger that create textual transcripts for their index, your video efforts could well become your biggest money maker moving forward.
Selling with video is nothing new. Copywriters learning to sell with online video IS. Fire up your cameras. Practice on your eBay listings. Roll cameras and sell!
read:
The Death of the Long Copy Sales Letter
The Death of the Salesletter: Web 2.0 and Its Impact on the Future of Internet Copy (PDF)
Posted on January 8, 2007
