If a copywriter sold $6 billion worth of products over the years, would you listen to what he had to say about headlines? I would think so.

One of the best ways to educate ourselves as copywriters is to listen to the advice of marketers who started selling products long before the internet age. And without a doubt, Ted Nicholas is one of the first names that should come to mind. When you look at lists of top 10 copywriters you don’t always see his name – he doesn’t seem to get quite the publicity as, say, Clayton Makepeace or Gary Bencivenga. But when he gives advice I pay attention.

Keep reading: Ted Nicholas on headlines

Whether we like it or not, groups of humans act a lot like herds. In action, opinion and even feelings, people are natural followers of the particular group they belong to. Even in the most extreme situations, group-think tends to overcome individualism.

As a copywriter and marketer these are good news for you, because by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll realize that once you can influence how a group thinks, you will be able to automatically persuade new members to conform without even trying. How? Let’s get some background first…

Keep reading: Moo! Exploring our conformity to groups

Have you ever watched a movie so arresting that it made you completely forget that all you were watching is fictional? We all have, plenty of times. Actors like Anthony Hopkins, Sean Penn and Robert DeNiro seem to have the natural ability to cause that effect on command… and they can, but their ability is not natural. They have studied and perfected a series of techniques that are known as “method acting”.

In method acting, an actor goes deep into the skin and mind of the character and studies every little possible detail. By becoming the character, they are able to suspend your disbelief and convince you that what is happening on the screen may actually be true. But the truth is that they are fooling you, you have not lost your mind… instead, you have willingly stopped disbelieving in the fiction.

Keep reading: Method copywriting – Your ultimate goal

Once you’ve written your award-winning copy, you’re all done, right? Well… not exactly. Wise marketers always keep an eye toward the future. While your product might remain the same in the months to come, people will not.

Their needs will change, technology will change and their goals will be adjusted to fit their lives better. By tracking customer feedback, you will be in a good position to tweak your copy from time to time (or rewrite it completely) to better fit the emotional standing of your target audience.

Keep reading: Is it time for a copy re-write?

If you’ve studied copywriting for any length of time at all, you have probably stumbled across the acronym AIDA. That stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. This formula has been used by copywriters (especially direct mail copywriters) for years and years. However, I find that it is a bit incomplete.

While I recommend that you base your copywriting process on the AIDA formula, I do want to add a few elements to it that will dramatically increase your copy’s performance by appealing to the emotions of your customers.

Keep reading: The advertising formula that always works