The pointy end of any sales letter is the offer. This is where, after seducing and persuading your potential client, they have the chance to take action.

By this stage, some of them want what you offer. Some of them need it. A few are curious enough to give you a go and see what happens.

But no matter what, it’s never as simple as saying ‘buy now’. Crafting a good offer is a delicate artform – up there in importance with the headline and first few paragraphs.

If you get everything else right but make mistakes here, you’ll still convert some readers to clients. It sure will cost you, though.

Think of the rest of the sales letter as having emotional momentum. Something heavy travelling fast is a tough thing to stop… but an easy thing to derail.

It’s like Unstoppable – that new Netflix drama about a runaway train. If you don’t slow down at sharp bends, you risk coming off the rails. Or, to go classic, it’s like Speed, where a baby-faced Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock almost flip a bus… and do flip a subway train.

Craft that offer wrong and everything comes apart.

Continue reading “Hit that offer with Unstoppable Speed” →

As I write these marketing guides for hypnotists, I’m finding more and more links between the two disciplines.

Here’s another neat one:

When hypnotising someone, everything you do builds towards an outcome. You may or may not know what that outcome is at first. Sometimes it takes a little exploring, and that’s okay. Let’s say you’re going for a classic smoking cessation outcome.

You put them in a trance to be open to the idea of quitting smoking.

You give them direct suggestions to quit smoking.

Indirect suggestions reinforce the idea of quitting smoking.

Stories, metaphors and a deep trance state bypass the part of them that wants to keep smoking.

You build and anchor resourceful states to help them quit smoking.

And on and on…

Everything you do supports your outcome. They are different approaches, used in their own time, all around the one critical idea.

Continue reading “May Your Sales Letters Flow like the Trance State” →

One of the points I keep making is that, as a hypnotist, you already have elite marketing skills. It’s simply a matter of applying them in a different context.

Well, I say ‘simply’. That can be more challenging than it seems. I’ve spent a lot of time and money figuring out how to transfer the skills from one to the other.

But trust me – you have a head start over layfolk.

Because there are two things that come naturally to you. They seem like opposites, until you begin to use them. With a bit of clever skill, you forge these two elements of writing into a single piece of work.

When you do that, you’ll notice something:

People will start to like your writing.

Continue reading “Balance Nothing with Everything for Captivating Writing” →

As I’ve said before, you want your message to stand out. If everyone else is saying ‘black’, consider how to say ‘white’. When everyone offers a spoonful of value, give them a bathtub full.

It’s exactly like the Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite of what his instincts say. After all, his instincts hadn’t helped him. So instead of lying to a beautiful woman, he admits that he’s unemployed and living with his parents. Instead of sucking up to the boss at his next interview, he berates him.

And it works.

Of course it does – most of the battle in life is getting people to pay attention to you. I mean, really pay attention.

That beautiful woman would have to fend off advances all day.

A job interviewer sees dozens, if not hundreds, of seemingly qualified people.

And your clients ignore thousands of marketing messages by lunchtime.

How do you stand out?

By doing the opposite of everyone else.

Continue reading “The George Costanza School of Therapeutic Marketing” →

You probably know how to mesmerise people with a glance. The hypnotic gaze is a useful skill – one that many hypnotists rely on.

But what if they haven’t met you yet? If they’re still browsing the web, then you need to captivate them with their glance, not yours.

Because a glance is all they’re going to give your offer. If it doesn’t suck them in immediately, then they’ll move on.

This is the brutal truth of digital marketing.

A truth that you can use to your advantage.

Let clients ignore other websites and offers. When they fixate on yours, it’ll be all the more powerful for them.

And all the more profitable for you…

Continue reading “Captivate hypnosis clients with a glance (but not the way you think)” →

What if you had to write a ten-page sales letter, one that would turn readers into clients? If you have a copywriting background, you’d shrug and get cracking. If you don’t, though, that can be a smidge intimidating.

But what if I changed the rules?

How intimidated would you be if I told you to write one line?

That’s it. One short, snappy, line.

It doesn’t even need to be a full sentence.

And all it has to do is convince people to keep reading.

You can take an hour to write this line. Or a day, or a week.

Take months if you need.

Continue reading “How to Suck at Marketing and Get Clients Anyway” →

When you describe what you offer, what should you focus on?

That’s a question you need to answer before you write about your products and services. Whether you’re using a sales letter (long, persuasive webpages that lead towards a sale) or squeeze pages (similar idea, only shorter and with no other links).

Because if you write in a way that potential clients don’t like, then you’re fighting uphill.

The ideal sales letter is not like every other marketing message your client reads. It’s something that they can’t forget about and won’t leave.

If their phone buzzes, they’ll ignore it so they can finish reading.

You may have experienced this yourself – an advertisement of some form that’s simply perfect for you. The product or service is exactly what you need, and the deal is right. It’s a no-brainer to buy.

What wizardry infuses ads like these?

Continue reading “Hypnosis Clients Don’t Care About Hypnosis” →

If you’re designing a website for a hypnosis business, you should take inspiration from Principal Skinner. As any fan of The Simpsons can tell you, Skinner is an uptight, rules-loving bureaucrat. His career highlight was making the school so monotonous that the students blinked in unison.

You don’t want to strip all life, creativity and fun out of your website. So surely you should do the opposite of what Skinner would do, right?

Not necessarily.

When used correctly, blandness is one of the most important things your website could have.

Continue reading “The Principal Skinner Guide to Web Design” →

Never design your website’s homepage without thinking about your clients. What are they doing? How are they feeling? Why are they visiting your site in the first place?

A lot of people decide they want to see a hypnotist and start Googling. It doesn’t take them long to find your business’ website.

Then what do they do?

They start looking for reasons to eliminate you. Their cursor practically hovers over the X that closes the tab. Why? Because when they found your site, they also found others. Maybe dozens of them. They are going to cull the list and they will be ruthless.

So don’t give them a reason to eliminate you.

Continue reading “You Might Be an Ericksonian Hypnotist, But Your Website Isn’t” →

The My Friend John technique is a thing of beauty. It shows how creative you can be with the hypnotic process.

If you want to hypnotise someone, one way is to describe “your friend’s” experience. You talk about how they didn’t know what to expect at first but quickly began to relax, a sense of peace spreading through their body…

It’s sublime, subtle and something out of fantasy. Like a demon that can be controlled by its name, you can invoke hypnosis simply by describing it.

You can’t listen to a story without beginning to live it. If someone tells you about their trip to the dentist, you can see yourself in the waiting room.

Even if you’ve never been to their dentist, you can imagine what it might have been like.

So when you hear a story that’s rich with hypnotic language that describes someone going into trance, it’s hard to resist.

It’s a beautiful induction.

And it’s something you can use to build your business.

Continue reading “The “My Friend John” of Your Hypnosis Business” →