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If you would like to know how watching a special kind of movie can triple the response of your next sales promotion, then you're going to find this particular article very interesting.
Here’s why: One of the little-talked about tricks the late (and brilliant) copywriter Eugene Schwartz taught was to watch the movie Lethal Weapon two or three times in a row…in one sitting.
Believe it or not, he considered this one of the best (if not the best) training methods in the world...for anyone who sells for a living. Especially copywriters.
Why?
Because –- as Eugene Schwartz put it –- there is a certain “rhythm” in the way the scenes are laid out in Lethal Weapon. From the opening frame...it starts you on a very specific “process” that continues all the way to the closing credits. A process that makes it hard to get sidetracked during the movie.
For example –- and I have recently done this myself, so I can confirm Gene Schwartz was not making this up –- if you take a stopwatch with Lethal Weapon and note the time between each action sequence, you will discover there's only about three minutes (give or take).
In other words…every three minutes the movie throws another blast at you. Another person gets blown out of a helicopter. Another corpse lands on someone's windshield.
And so on.
Here’s the point: As crude and violent as all this is...it is actually...from a strictly copywriting point of view…pure genius.
Why?
Because this constant “3 minute shuffle” of all-out action, violence and mayhem makes it all but impossible to get bored.
It's true. Even if you hate violent movies...even if you think the story's lame...even if you can't stand co-star Danny Glover…I think most people would have to admit the movie is anything but boring.
What’s this got to do with your copy?
Everything...because this tightly woven “rhythm” of blasting, shooting, killing and hard-core butt-kicking…is actually a physical entity you can identify, copy and ultimately use in your advertising…with astonishing results.
Gene Schwartz actually called it "brains smashing against windows" copy. If you want to see examples of this then simply go to http://hardtofindads.com (it’s free to register) to the section that says "34 Million Dollar Ads."
Did you do it? Okay good. Now, did you notice how most of those ads contain this exact same “Lethal Weapon” rhythm Gene Schwartz described?
How there's some sort of fascinating claim, dramatic piece of news, interesting fact, riveting story, etc…in just about every single paragraph?
Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
And the good news is...if you copy this rhythm of throwing some kind of “action sequence” at your reader –- that keeps yanking them back into your sales pitch before they even have a chance to think about “changing channels” on you -- then your shot of making the sale goes up at least 100%. Probably even more. Doing so has skyrocketed response on my own ads...and I can practically guarantee it will for yours, too.
Ben Settle is a seasoned freelance copywriter and direct marketer. If you liked this article then check out Ben's website at http://bensettle.com -- where you'll find over 500 pages of advertising ideas, strategies and tactics just like this one -- as well as rare swipe file ads and hot marketing information not easily found anywhere else.
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