I have a reputation, not just online, but off as well, for being a straight talker. And that’s putting it nicely.
Blunt is probably closer to the real term I’m looking for.
Although my level of patience has grown considerably over the years, it still falls direly short at times. That’s why this new spin I’ve just finished giving to one of my affiliate campaigns is at once spectacularly refreshing as well as amusing.
Ah the Holidays.
Last year I quietly resolved to spend more time with and be more tolerant of my family members and “forced acquaintances”. It seemed like a great idea at the moment but after spending several days at allsorts of family functions, I’m starting to wonder what in the world I was thinking.
And over the night of the 30th, I was irritated. Borderline furious is more like it.
One of my campaigns was doing ok but not great. It could definitely use some overhaul.
I read the squeeze page and review over and thought to myself “Alex, this sounds pretty good, I’m not convinced you can do much better than this”.
And yet as often happens in business, you either need to suck it up and do better or drop out of the race. And since that’s not my style, I hit two birds with one stone.
I completely changed the style and tone of the campaign from the straight benefit type that caters mostly to desire, all the way around to a borderline offensive “shit or get off the pot” attitude ridden piece.
This was very much a reflection of my mood as I’ve been biting my tongue for days now.
The sad truth is that the people near you – family and friends – don’t want your advice. Even when it’s painfully needed or if you have the “perfect” solution, they couldn’t care less. In fact they will resist you with all their might and then some…
And another truth is that it sometimes feels good to be extremely direct about things. But you can’t do that in the real world, unless you want to live as a hermit and be remembered as jerk.
When I was done, not only did I feel like I’d just gotten $500 worth of therapy, I also had a solid piece of copy that I’d had more fun writing than almost any that came before it.
At first the conversion rate was basically unchanged. Therapeutic but not too profitable.
But then the next day was the best day the campaign ever had. 44% more optins than ever before and a full 75% increase in sales with the same ad spend.
It might yet be a fluke but I suspect otherwise.
Truth is some people need hand holding and soft coaxing to get something done. Others like to be told what to do in no uncertain terms. They like to be barked at, verbally pummeled and swiftly kicked in the pants when they don’t respond properly.
And that’s why you should not try to please everybody. You will probably fail to make anyone happy, not to mention having less personality than a cardboard cutout of Al Gore.
Right now, that’s really good news to me. For this particular campaign, I really fell into a groove and wrote a 5 page report and 4 pages of auto-responder follow ups in record time.
I don’t want to give the campaign away, but here are some of the words you will find if you ever do come across it: sissy, crybaby, whiner, loser, tire kicker, gutless, pathetic, wanker, and past but not least, some P word that I have to cut out since I don’t use profanity on this blog and I’ve already stepped halfway across the line.
Give it a try with one of your next campaigns. Don’t stray too far from the beaten path that’s getting you results but do inject a dose of daring and personality. The results might surprise you.
P.S. If you’re a family member and you’re reading this, I wasn’t talking about you.
