Method copywriting – Your ultimate goal
8 Comments · Filed on: Copywriting · Internet Marketing · Persuasion & Influence
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 actingâ€.
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.
This willing suspension of disbelief does not happen only in movies or the theater. It also happens when you read a good novel… and most importantly, it can also happen when you read a good sales letter or marketing piece.
How many times have you been in a situation where someone is trying to sell you something (a product, a service or even trying to get you to subscribe to a particular idea). You are listening to the pitch, but are thinking “I’m being sold and I am not going to get pulled into thisâ€â€¦ but then something happens and bit by bit, detail by detail you end up caving in.
At some point during the sales pitch, and usually without you noticing it, you got carried over and ended up buying the product or accepting the idea. You don’t realize when it happens, but suddenly you hear your mind racing ahead and picturing vividly how good your life will be once you start using the product.
It happens all the time. People “suspend disbelief†not because they have been fooled or tricked into something; but because they actually want to believe in what they are hearing. Something in the writing resonates with their most heartfelt needs and they end up giving in.
Your ultimate goal as a copywriter should be to suspend the disbelief in your readers and make them day-dream about your product while they are reading the sales letter. This is what’s called “method copywritingâ€.
How can you achieve “method copywriting� The theory is simple, the reality takes long hours of practice. To achieve method copywriting you must: 1) Understand the deepest needs and desires of your prospect; and 2) ignore everything else and focus most of your writing in persuading the prospect that your product is what will ultimately meet those needs and desires.
If you don’t do your research and dig deep into the mind of your prospect, you will never find her most heartfelt needs, her deepest desires and her most authentic feelings – and without knowing them, method copywriting is a virtually impossible task. You’ve got your homework… go out there, start your research and try to achieve the ultimate goal: suspending the disbelief of your readers through method copywriting. 
8 comments so far ↓
Comment #:1 by Alex Kay
Yes, method copywriting really is the most effective “tool” you can use when selling. Great post, keep it up!
Comment #:2 by Leon
Do you have any recommendations or resources on how to learn method copywriting. It seems that most copywriting books and gurus say the same thing about their copywriting methods: 1) Understand the deepest needs and desires of your prospect; and 2) ignore everything else and focus most of your writing in persuading the prospect that your product is what will ultimately meet those needs and desires.
Does “the method” use a different way of understanding your customers?
Comment #:3 by Miguel Alvarez
Hi Leon.
“Method copywriting” per se is not a copywriting course. It is a way of writing better copy by taking elements from human psychology.
To learn more about this, I recommend you take a few minutes to read the series of posts I did entitled “Understanding human nature” (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4). In them I share a lot of information about the human psyche and how we’re all more similar to each other that we want to admit.
Cheers!
Miguel Alvarez
Copywriting.com
Comment #:4 by seema
Thanks a lot Miguel,
You know how I stumbled here on this site?
One day I was very much depressed by all blames from my husband that I am good in communication than him, but still not marketing and helping him grow his website .
That comment made me depressed and I thought of putting my feelings on a blog. I showed my blog to him and he was more than impressed,
but advised me that I need professional copywriting skills which I lack so that my blog looks more intresting.
That made me google for copy writing forums, and here I am in midst of so many fine writers.
Thank you.
Comment #:5 by Raplh Lee
Cool tip thanks. Anthony Hodgkins rocks
Ralph
Comment #:6 by Robert J Chamberlain
dude, i am an aspiring copywriter. i have the skill, marketing savvy and know-it-all attitude of a great direct marketer in the making, but i need a process to follow, an outline if you will…
the emotions that i can pack into my copy will make a reader want to latch onto a product as if it is their deepest, most intimate secret and it is all theirs, but i am overwhelmed by the small, little steps to begin a business and begin sending queries to prospects.
what i need as an aspiring copywriter is not methodologies (i have that down), but a mentor’s outline, not the lame descriptive who what where when why how how much etc., but a kit which will help me analyze the keywords and products myself.
i am a 24 year old dude, who has been working on websites for about a dozen years now, but none have really became super successful.
i have therefore been doing PCP marketing and it is draining me. i really want to do copywriting full time, because writing is my passion.
do you have any suggestions for someone in my shoes?
thank you for a little bit of your time, and if you could please e-mail me some hints or tips. great post!
Comment #:7 by Michelle
This post is fantastic! I look forward to reading your posts on the human psychology. Your presentation of how we can effectively copywrite and reach our target market is wonderful.
I look forward to learning more.
Comment #:8 by Deb Lamb
As a writer myself, I see exactly where you are coming from and your right, it takes practice and more practice. That is how all of us that write really hone in on our abilities to capture our audiences attention. You have provided some excellent information and great advice. Thanks so much and I’ll be back for more!
Deb