I have.

It all started when Michel Fortin posted a link to a YouTube video.  The video title is “Validation” and it is described as “a fable about the magic of free parking.”

I watched “Validation” and loved it for the message, the story, the beauty and the music.  Over the next few days I thought about the film constantly.  I forwarded the link to family and friends. I couldn’t get “Validation” out of my mind.

Finally, I figured out why.

Not only is it a feel-good short, it also provides a great copywriting lesson for connecting with your reader.

Before I ruin the experience of simply watching an excellent short, please take a few minutes to watch Validation before reading about how free parking connects to copywriting.

Copywriting and Validation

Did you see how effectively Hugh (the parking attendant) changes the emotional state of the people seeking validation?

Each one of the people he validated finally felt like they mattered. The felt that someone “got” them.  And that’s what copywriters need to do.  They need to “get” their target market.

But how do you show this in written copy?  You do it by…

Validating the Reader’s Experience

When you write copy, you’re writing to a reader who has a need, desire or problem.  Your copy should convince the reader that your product (or service) can meet their need, fulfill their desire or solve their problem.

To do that, you need to get them to trust you.  One of the most effective ways to start building trust is to show the reader that you know what they’re going through. You know how they feel.  That’s what Hugh did for the parkers seeking validation.

Writing for the weight loss market?  Talk about the frustration of trying clothes on in a dressing room.  Describe the humiliation of having to go to a “big & large” store.  Mention the “skinny clothes” in the back of the closet that the reader hopes to fit in some day.

When you do that, your reader starts nodding along with your copy. She recognizes that you “get” her.

Writing to flamenco dancers? Describe the preparation rituals.  Include the scent of the make up.  Describe the how the weight of the hair ornaments tug at her hair when she whips her head during a turn.  Get specific – mention the Menkes shoes, the letras, the palmas and the remates.

You don’t know what a “letra” or a “remate” is?  It feels weird to read those words, right?  Well, that’s how your readers will feel if you miss the mark on validating their experience. Don’t worry about what a letra or remate is – the point is that if you were writing for a flamenco audience, you WOULD know.

This is part of the process that John Collier describes as entering into the conversation in your prospect’s mind.  This helps you connect with the reader and direct the conversation.

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) practitioners call this pacing.  Harlan Kilstein, the Grand Pooh Bah of using NLP techniques in writing, teaches how to use pacing to establish rapport with your reader and how to use what he calls “future pacing” as a powerful technique that motivates the reader to buy.

But that’s a topic for another post.  For now, master the technique of validating your reader’s experience.  When you do, it will make your reader smile and your “cash register” sing.

Imagine that you’re coming home your sweetie at the end of the day.  When you walk in the door, do you want to be greeted with a passionate embrace?  Your bodies writhing against each other and your lips pressed together in a blissful urgency full of promise and desire?  

Or would you rather be greeted with indifference and a recitation of the items that you still need to complete on your mile-long “honey-do” list?

If you choose the “passionate embrace” option, then you probably know how you can increase the odds in your favor.  Slipping a romantic love note into a pocket for your sweetie to find later in the day; sending a flirty email to get thoughts racing and blood flowing; maybe even having a special gift delivered ‘just because’.

You know that all of these thoughtful gestures will trigger the right emotions and help set the mood for romance when the two of you finally connect at the end of the day. 

Copywriting is no different.  

You want your writing to trigger the right emotion and set the mood for your prospect.  When you set the mood, they’ll be more receptive to your copy.  And the sooner you set the mood, the more effective your copy will be.

Now if you’ve studied copywriting at all, you know that the Headline gets all the love – as well it should.  It’s what catches the reader’s eye and gets prospects to stop what they’re doing and read your ad.  John Caples pointed out that if the headline doesn’t draw the reader into the copy, the best copy in the world can’t sell the product because the copy won’t be read.

So, given the importance of the headline, wouldn’t you like to set the mood for the prospect before they even read your headline?

Heck yeah, you do!

And the way you set the mood is by using a prehead.  The most powerful way to use a prehead is to trigger the right emotional state and then tap into that state with the headline.

I’ll give you an example.  Think of the Biz Op market.  Let’s start with a headline example:

Slash Your Learning Curve And Explode Your Online Profits Now…
By Doing Two Simple Things That You Already Do Every Single Day!

The prospects are people who are dissatisfied with their income and with the restrictions of a “j-o-b”.  They dream of being their own boss, controlling their own schedules and raking in the dough so they can be free to spend their time as they like.

On top of all that, because they are reading magazines, surfing the internet and watching infomercials about how to achiever the freedom the dream of, they’re inundated with success stories and images of wealth.  As a result, they feel like they are the ONLY ones on the planet that aren’t living the good life.  

In the world they’re exposed to, EVERYONE (but them) is driving a Ferrari, living in a mansion, and working 1 hour a month under a palm tree on a beach.

Now imagine you’re one of these prospects, you’ve been trying to make money online without much success, and you come across this prehead, followed by the headline:
 

Tired of struggling online while everyone else is getting rich and living lives of freedom?                  

Slash Your Learning Curve And Explode Your Online Profits Now…
By Doing Two Simple Things That You Already Do Every Single Day!
 

Can you see how the prehead sets the emotional state for the reader and supercharges the headline? Very powerful stuff.

I guarantee that tapping into the emotional power of the prehead is the equivalent to romancing your sweetie throughout the day.

Remember that.  Then, go do something nice for your sweetheart.

Is she a Baby Boomer or a GenX? Was her British invasion The Beatles or Duran Duran? What’s her income range? Is she urban or rural? Red state or blue state? Married with kids or single and loving it? Is she Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, or Samantha? (If you’re in the women’s market and you don’t know who they are- catch up!)

You’re probably thinking Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.

Heres the thing. Pinning down the demographics of your target market only scratches the surface. What you may not realize is this: with women, you have to go deeper.

At least 50% of my current clients are with me because they didn’t go deep enough. Even after crafting campaigns that match the age, sex, income, and education levels of their market they sought me out because their results told them they missed the mark. Striking the mother load of the women’s market goes further than conventional market segmentation.

You see, once you know your prospects age, affluence, and social tendencies you need to drill down several more levels. Because just like populations can be segmented by desired characteristics for effective targeted marketing, an individual – particularly a woman – can be as well.

On any given day, one woman fulfills a multitude of roles. Mom, wife, ex-wife, daughter, boss, employee, volunteer, caregiver, sister, friend you get the idea.

To really sell your product you need to know what role she’s fulfilling that generates a need for your product or services her idiodemographic.

Step into her shoes as she’s filling that role and get under her skin. If your product is for exasperated mothers, appealing to her competency as a leader in the corporate world can cause your campaign to fall flat on its face. She may be a skilled vice president who is proud of her work, but believe me, you’re pushing the wrong buttons at the wrong time, and she isn’t going to buy.

Smart companies rely on funnel vision for their marketing. By starting with the broad demographics most businesses are intimately familiar with, then drilling down to the idiodemographic characteristics of your ideal prospect, your marketing message pierces to the heart of her motivation.

You need funnel vision to reach the one woman who has agonized, fretted, and lost sleep over the very problem you can solve when your ad hits the newsstands or airwaves. And shell know, deep in her core, that your product or service is exactly what she needs and she wont rest until she has it.

Done right, your deeply targeted message will have a domino-effect transmission, moving from emotion, to pocketbook, and into the complex referral network so characteristic of women who are satisfied customers. Funnel vision is the one of the quickest ways to devise an effective campaign strategy that resonates with your ideal prospect immediately. Its the difference between reaching and connecting. Anyone can reach women. To sell to women, you have to connect with women.

Here’s a weird quirk I’ve discovered about myself since I started working from home: I’m not the best time manager in the world.

Why is this weird? Because when I worked for “da man” (actually I was in an all woman department-it was a hoot!) I managed the bejeebers out of time. Multiple projects, training teams, proposals, grant applications, you name it, I managed it. On schedule and under budget.

The thing is, everything at the university was predictable. So, I databased, spreadsheeted, and mail-merged my way to uber-efficiency. I haven’t reached that level in my own business, but it is one of my longer term goals.

In the meantime, I’ll share a bit of time-management savvy that I learned very quickly.

Set boundaries.

It’s that simple.

Set office hours that work for you. Transact business during that time. If your family needs attention, do a quick reality check.

Pretend you’re in a cubicle surrounded by your coworkers and ask yourself “If this was the first week at a new job, would this activity be acceptable?” A quick phone call probably would be. The visit from your sister-in-law to review People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive! issue is probably not appropriate.

Now if George Clooney stops by for a visit, well, there are exceptions to every rule. But I digress…

I know it’s hard to resist family, especially if they’re home at the same time you’re trying to work. But if your children are old enough to entertain themselves responsibly, or if another adult has agreed to watch them during your business hours – take advantage of these precious productive moments – once they’re gone, you can’t get them back.

The hidden benefit of sticking to your guns on this one is the freedom you’ll have when you aren’t working. Never again will you feel guilty about decorating cookies with your kids rather than working on your client’s project.

Why? Because you know you put in an honest and productive day’s work, and you’ll do it again tomorrow.

Trust me, you’ll get far more satisfaction out of work AND personal time if you set boundaries.