Flashback Friday: If your clients wants an inch – give them a mile!

Hiya CopyStar!

True or false. Your job is to write your client one strong sales promotion.

If you answered true – you’re MISSING OUT on some serious MOOLAH! Here’s the simple reason why:

You can NEVER be certain your ONE, strong headline on that cover will work! So why put all your eggs in ONE basket? Here’s what I mean…

… my clients shell out $50,000 or more for me to write them a sales promo. But my smart clients can get 2… 3… or even 5 new promotions for the same price. How?

By giving me the freedom to create multiple cover tests!

Cover tests are awesome. They allow you to change the entire look and feel of your sales copy by just changing the cover.

That means you can test different headlines and cover designs for just pennies on the dollar. But the news gets better:

YOU and the client get more chances for a winner!

Like I said earlier, why put all your creative eggs in one basket – hoping YOU picked the winning headline and cover? Let your market decide – with cover tests!

Here’s an example of how one of my smart clients got a big bang from his creative buck…

A few years ago I worked on a health promo for a hemp product. We tested 3 different covers:

So – which cover test won?

Well – I’ll tell you this: My entire theme of the package tied in to the “Woodstock Years”. From beginning to end – I talked about this phenomenal period in American history. I knew my market would “get it” – and really get hooked on this amazing story. Well guess what?

They may have the loved the idea once they started reading the promo – but the cover that really snatched their eyeballs was NOT #3. So if I had put all my eggs in one basket – I would NOT have gotten a winner! Fortunately…

…the market LOVED cover #1 – and I got a winner, winner, chicken dinner! Woo hoo!

It was by far the strongest headline and the official new control – meaning it was the cover my client used to mail hundreds of thousands of pieces throughout the year. Now I will tell you this…

… cover test #2 was a close second! So when the first control cover started to fatigue – my client was able to switch to the 2nd cover and keep mailing the package! And that meant even more royalty checks for me!

So you see why the client is happy? He didn’t have to shell out more moolah for a new package! And you see why me – as the copywriter is happy? Yep – multiple cover tests mean a longer and steadier flow of income! Now, that’s a true “win-win!”

My clients and I have gotten some great successes with this approach – and so can you whether you’re a newbie or experienced copywriter!

If you’re a business owner – you can get more leverage from your sales package if you do this:

Ask your copywriter to create 2… 3… even 5 different cover tests with the final copy submission. And test as many of these covers as possible!

Why request 5 covers when you only plan to test 1 or 2?

Because the optimum time to get the BEST ideas from your copywriter is while she’s hot and heavy working on your project!

If you wait 2 or 3 months later to ask for new cover tests, your copywriter has probably purged all that info from her brain and has to start cold.

Strike while she’s sizzlin’ hot – and you’ll most likely get her best ideas! You can always test the other covers at a later date.

If you focus on testing aggressively with each and every new creative idea – you’ll soon discover you can have several controls from the same package!

Not only does this type of testing make sense – it can deliver hefty cents to your bottom line!

Yours for stellar results,