How to Make Content that Hooks and Sells! TJEMP – SCCMH [Podcast 99]

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Transcription: 

Jim Edwards: We’re going to start the Podcast with a polka instead of ending with a polka this week, we’re going to start with the polka.

It gets everybody in the mood everybody loves a polka on a December day.

Right?

Stew Smith: Right.

Jim Edwards: Hey everybody, Jim Edwards here and welcome back to the Sales Copywriting and Content Marketing Hacks Podcast.

I’m your host, along with my trusty host, co-host, and Podcast Producer, Mr. Stew Smith.

Welcome Stew!

Stew Smith: Hello, Jim.

And today, we’re feeling fine with Episode 99.

This is our 99th episode, which is pretty freaking cool!

Stew Smith: Yes, I would say.

Jim Edwards: And it shows that we, if nothing else, are stubborn.

Stew Smith: So, we’re making it happen even when sitting in a parking lot.

Jim Edwards: That’s right.

Stew Smith: Waiting for my wife.

That’s right.

So, what are we talking about today, Stew?

Stew Smith: All right. Well, it kind of segues into the previous live show we just did.

So, for those that are listening, we’ll be able to flow right into this one.

How to make content that hooks and sells?

Jim Edwards: Oh, well, that’s easy, Stew, we’re going to be done with this in a good 29 minutes!

So how do you make content that does what?

Stew Smith: hooks and sells?

Jim Edwards: Okay, so those are actually two different things.

Stew Smith: Yes.

Jim Edwards: And so, the first thing you got to do with your content, even if it’s the best content in the world, if nobody sees it, reads it, or listens to it, it doesn’t do any good.

So, you’ve got to have a really, really, really good hook.

Now, what is a hook?

A hook, typically, when we’re talking about content, is that headline or the title of your content piece.

It’s the, it’s literally the title of your blog post.

It’s the first words that come out of your mouth when you do a video, it is the title of your article, it is what you put as the first, the title of your video, it’s the very first thing that somebody sees, or reads to let them know if this is something that they’re interested in, or this is something that pertains to them.

And if it’s something that they need to pay attention to right now.

Now, it’s funny, I don’t remember which book it was, but Seth Godin and I have a complicated relationship with Seth Godin, the author because some of his stuff is amazing.

And other events like, hey, Seth Godin, Captain Obvious, but he’s a smart dude.

And he’s a great self-promoter.

I think the book was purple cow was, that was the purple cow book.

And he talks about in this was actually pretty eye-opening, said, people are like cows.

And so, they got their heads down, and then something happens.

And they pull their head up.

And they ask a series of questions consciously or subconsciously, but they asked them really, really fast.

So, the first question is, is this?

Does this pertain to me?

And if the answer’s no, you know, they put their head back down?

If the answer is yes, then the next question is, can it kill me?

Is it important?

Can it kill me or cause me harm?

Or is it?

Is it something that has to do with something super, supercritical in my life?

If the answer is no, boom, head back down, chew on the grass?

If the answer is yes, then they’ll pay attention that that’s literally what the criteria are. Does it apply to me?

And is it something I need to pay attention to right now, because it’s going to kill me, it’s going to make me rich, it’s going to help me to be successful with the opposite sex, whatever it is?

It’s that basic lizard-brain stuff.

So, what you got to do is you got to hook people in a way that’s not catchy, and or excuse me, that’s not cute or funny, or gimmicky.

But in a way that’s going to make them go holy crap, I got to pay attention to this, I need to go to the next step.

Now, that’s the whole purpose of the hook for any content.

That’s it.

That’s its job, once it’s done its job, which is to stop people in their tracks, pre-frame them for what’s coming next.

That’s it. That’s there.

That’s the whole job.

All right.

You’re done with that.

It’s not to sell people.

It’s not to really even start.

And when we’re talking about content, it’s not to start educating them.

It’s not to do anything other than to hook them in pre-frame for what’s coming next.

Such a good example.

Stew, you recently did a post where the hook was something about an African proverb and becoming a US Navy SEAL or something.

What would you remember what that hook was?

Stew Smith: Yeah, it was How an African proverb will help you pass selection and never think about quitting.

Or something.

But a better one was Gary Halbert, a headline wizard that I used, and it was, “Have you ever seen a spec Ops Candidate cry?”

Jim Edwards: Okay, that would there you go that that one came from the

wizard?

Yeah, like, yeah, that

It was a good one.

Now.

Why?

Because it’s emotional.

It’s very targeted.

Obviously, you’re only going to share and show that that hook to people who are in your target audience, but it’s, it’s an emotionally driven hook; it’s just going to grab people’s attention.

So how do you create an emotionally driven hook?

Well,

Stew Smith: the same way, one of the big keys is to include the name of the person that you’re talking to now, not necessarily their physical name, though.

I’ve seen people do that with articles and content and stuff with mail-merge and other things that you can do with dynamic webpages.

But their name is based on who they are.

So, in this case, a spec Ops candidate is a very, very specific group of people that are trying to become

An Air Force pair of jumper and navy seal.

I’m Greenbrae.

What Mar sock, not really Mar sock, though those guys have already been in the Marines for three, four years already.

Stew Smith: Yeah, they’re still candidates.

Jim Edwards: Do you ever get those guys?

Stew Smith: Oh, yeah.

Jim Edwards: Oh, you do?

Okay.

I figured I didn’t know that.

You would get those guys too.

Okay.

Cool.

So, but two very specific groups of people, that when they’re a candidate, that’s their whole life, their whole life is tied up in getting a shot at becoming an elite warrior.

So to see that title.

Have you ever seen a spec Ops Candidate cry?

Is it going to get all of their attention?

I got it.

I never really heard from you.

What were the results of that article?

Stew Smith: Oh, that was an insane one.

Yeah, especially on social media, because it got shared a couple 100 times.

You know, I probably had close to 1000 clicks in a 24 hour period, just on my Instagram, right?

Jim Edwards: Just on Instagram, just on Instagram.

And then me my article, and it’s still popular.

In fact, if you google spec Ops, candidate cry, you’ll see it.

It’s a good one.

It’s a good, good article.

And I just try to, you know, discuss some of the reasons why that happens.

And you know, underprepared.

And I just found it.

Yeah.

Jim Edwards: So I just found the article.

So yeah.

Okay.

Very cool.

And I’m assuming you made sales from that, too.

Stew Smith: Yes.

Jim Edwards: Okay.

So that was the second part of your question was so the first part of your question was, how do you put a hook?

How do you hook people with your content?

And that’s how you do it.

It’s emotional; it calls out to them.

It also oftentimes will contain something that they want or something that they want to avoid.

So how to blank without blank, how to get an X-ray contract without?

I don’t know what would be the rest of that?

How to get an X-ray contract without What?

Without?

Failing anything?

Yeah.

Okay.

Like,

how to get or how to get a spec Ops cut.

How to get an X-ray contract on the first try.

Stew Smith: Yeah, there we go.

Jim Edwards: How to cut to the front of the line to grab an X-ray contrast.

How to how to cut to the front of the line to grab a spot at buds What do you think?

Do you think that would be a good one?

Stew Smith: Yeah, I like that one.

I’ve been playing around with one now, you know, how you talk about the emotions, you know, obviously crying is an emotion.

Now I’m thinking about one how to laugh in the face of failure or how to laugh in the face of pain and, you know, whatever.

I’m trying to laugh case of the quit monster.

Stew Smith: Yeah, quit name or the quit demon, something like that.

Jim Edwards: But the thing is, you call out to Him.

You call out to what they want.

You call out to what they’re afraid of; you call out to what they want to avoid.

You call out a problem.

They know that they have, and they really want to solve.

They call you to call out to the things that they’re concerned about, which are usually problems, questions, roadblocks, and results that they PQR2, which by the way, is taught at length inside of copywriting secrets you can get a copy of copywriting secrets for free at copywriting secrets calm the real physical book, not some lame-ass PDF, but you can actually get a real copy of the book just pay a small shipping and handling it.

The reason I just don’t give it to you for free is that I know if you pay $9.95 shipping and handling, you’re serious about learning something that can change your life.

I do like that for some can talk that sounded right off the cuff didn’t let’s do that.

So the next thing is the actual content.

Because before you can sell your content, you got to actually provide great content.

And what makes great content is something that helps somebody learn something it gives them it basically it entertains and empowers and educates all at the same time.

It doesn’t have to be 10,000 words; you can educate, empower, and entertain a with a meme.

You can do it with a two-minute video.

The key, though, is that you give them an excellent, awesome piece of content.

You give them a great bite that makes them want more.

I like to think about it.

Do you like burritos stew?

Stew Smith: Yes.

Jim Edwards: Do you like tacky toes?

Those guys don’t like chiquitos.

Okay, so you ever been to Sam’s Club?

Stew Smith: Yes.

Jim Edwards: Okay,

Have you ever been walking through the massive food aisle and there’s some little lady there and a hairnet who’s giving away little pieces of burrito, and you had in you’re kind of hungry, and you take a little bit of that burrito.

And you’re like, dang, that’s pretty good.

And she looks at you and says, Hey, big, strong, man,

we have

84 burritos present right here in this freezer for $12.95.

And you can get at them right here.

And you say, Wow, that was great.

You had the little bite.

And now you want more.

So you pick it up, and you’re like, Man, it’s 12 bucks, we already got $5,000 worth of crap in the two carts that we’re pushing piled up to here; I’ll get that too.

And then six months later, that pack of burritos you have to throw it away because you ate one.

And the rest of them are freezer burned.

And it’s this giant thing that your wife’s yelling at you that you’re taking up space in the freezer.

So that’s what you need to do, not…

tongue in cheek…

Do what the content is you give them a great big juicy bite, then the way you sell is to look at them and say, by the way, if you like this, you’ll love this.

If you liked this tip I gave you on how to create amazing headlines, you would love my book copywriting secrets. By the way, you can get a free copy of it at copywriting secrets calm, just pay small handling; it gives you the benefit of 20 years of my experience selling 10s of millions of dollars of products, online and offline.

In fact, it’s been called a modern-day classic Click here to get your free copy.

So it’s like, holy crap, the dude gave me a cool tip.

And now he’s got something that makes perfect sense for me to get sure I’ll click and check that out.

I just summarized for you the last 20 odd years of my marketing, with articles and videos and everything else.

That’s all you got to do.

You got to hook them, give them a great snack, give them a great bite, and then offer the next logical thing.

Invite them to the next step.

And some people will take it and some people won’t.

But

that’s how you can pitch people every single day.

Stew Smith: Absolutely.

Jim Edwards: Nobody is going to get pissed off.

Nobody’s going to get upset.

Nobody’s going to get mad.

They’re going to thank you for it.

And it’s that little Ping.

Hey, don’t forget, I got this book.

Hey, don’t forget I got these videos.

Hey, don’t forget I got this webinar coming up.

Hey, don’t forget. Don’t forget, don’t forget, don’t forget to like, okay, yeah, yeah.

Cool.

Hey, thanks for the reminder.

And then eventually, they go, Hey, you know what, I’m ready to join the Jim Edwards method premium.

I’m ready to get Funnel Scripts, I’m ready to join stews, PT club.

It just makes sense.

It clicks, and you don’t know what’s going to make it click for everybody.

But if you just if you use that pattern, hook them, help them…

Oh, whoa, I like it.

I see

What you’re doing.

Don’t hook them.

Help them.

What would be an age that we could use for the last part, hook them, help them, and hand them the next step?

Hook them help them with a handout.

Oh, hand up, hook them, help them hand out a hand up.

Todd’s not quite there.

But it’s good.

Stew Smith: You’re almost there.

Jim Edwards: I’m almost there.

Hook them.

Help them.

And what’s the last part, guys?

Help me out those of you that are here live?

What would be the last what would be the thing because what I’m trying to say is just what Stew said

Hook them, give them bonds and, sell them, and sell them.

How could we, you know, hook them help them.

And Ooh, this is cool.

Handle him.

And okay, that’s Bob just said this.

That’s how you got me, Jim.

I bought your book and recently joined the Jim Edwards method premium, dude.

Thank you, Bob.

We’re glad you’re here.

Stew Smith: Hey, here’s another tip for you.

Yeah.

If you’re looking for content that does this, I suggest the hidden persuasion wizard.

One of my favorites.

Yeah, that’s good stuff.

Stew Smith: One of my favorites to do everything that you’re saying.

And then you throw in a Gary Halbert headline, bam.

You’re tearing it up.

Yeah, that’s actually really good.

That could be like a landing page in an hour type thing to move people on to the next thing is using the Yeah, yeah, using the Gary Halbert headlines.

I mean, that’s like some strong almost, that’s some crazy psychology going on there that I love Howard headlines combined with the hidden persuasion wizard.

And some of the other stuff.

Be good.

They got to get that I got it.

I’m not going to.

I’m going to be obsessed with this Third Age thing, though.

Hook them help.

Because that’s like, really, that’s a really cool take on an old idea.

It’s, it’s, it’s hooked, but for the contents, hook them help them.

Stew Smith: And basically, you’re trying to come up with a synonym for sell, right?

Well, no, no, I’m not trying to come up with a synonym.

Synonym, synonym seminar.

Stew Smith: I like cinnamon too.

I’m not trying to come up with that, but I’m trying to come up with an idea, for it’s not really selling them. It’s moving them on to the next step.

You’re not selling at this point. You’re, you’re, you’re moving, you’re giving a call to action.

You’re moving into the next step in the process your it’s not sales, these are cool.

Bill said handle.

Bob said harass.

Other people do that Bob.

And bill says quote them.

Steve said close them.

And Carl says stealth them.

Bob says to hold them, herd them.

Oh, hell, I can herd or hurt him.

Oh my God, that’s good.

Hook them, help them, herd them.

Herd them on to the next step.

That’s cool.

Do you need to go, dude?

Stew Smith: In about a minute,

Jim Edwards: Is she out?

Stew Smith: She’s out. She’s coming.

Jim Edwards: We’re going to wrap this up, guys.

Stew’s got to go because he’s got to pick his wife up, and I don’t want to hear her yelling at him.

So, we appreciate you all.

If you need some help with your fitness, head on over to stevesmithfitness.com; if you want to join our group, head on over to the Sales Copywriting And Content Marketing Hacks Podcast group on Facebook and pick up a copy of my book at copywritingsecrets.com.

I’m Jim Edwards, and we will see you next time for Episode 100.

Stew Smith: Yes, 100! I will see you later.

Jim Edwards: Bye, everybody.