News You Can Use - January, 2001

If you can keep a secret, I'll finally explain my million dollar method
for writing sales letters, ads, and news releases. All you have to do
is keep reading this new issue of Joe Vitale's "News You Can Use!"
e-newsletter, which begins right now...

* Imagine someone hands you the following message--

"Riguardo a gli dice il mio segreto di dollaro di milione per scrivere
di copia di vendite. Questo è qualcosa non ho mai detto nessuno altro
nel mondo intero. Lo dirò giustamente adesso, se lei promette a tiene
quest'un segreto. Stato d'accordo?"

You wouldn't be too interested in it, would you? It would look strange.
Confusing. You might assume it's from another language, but unless you
knew Italian, you would only be guessing to the language and the message.

What would you do?

Obviously, you would need to translate the message.

How? In this case, you might just go online at a great website for
translating languages, enter the above text, and quickly discover that
those words in Italian actually mean---

"I'm about to tell you my million dollar secret for writing sales copy.
This is something I've NEVER told anyone else in the entire world.
I'll tell you right now, if you promise to keep this a secret. Agreed?"

Ah! Now it all makes sense! Now you know what the words mean and
you are free to enjoy them, act on them, or just dismiss them. But at least
now you've gotten the communication. Relax. Breathe. Smile. Ahhhhhh...

But what does all this translation business have to do with how I write
hypnotic sales letters, ads, and news releases?

In a nutshell, translating is EXACTLY what I do in writing sales copy.

When someone hands me a technical manual on a new software
program---with the idea they want me to write a sales letter for the
software---what I do is translate that manual.

In short, I do the same thing the language translation website does
at http://www.freetranslation.com/. I simply look at what the manual says
the software does, and then I translate it into benefits that make sense to
you, the consumer. In a way, the manual is written for techies, much
like Italian is written for Italians. I have to translate both so you
can understand and make sense of them. If I don't, you won't care.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Recently I was hired to rewrite a brochure. My client handed me their
draft. It read well. There were lines such as, "When was the last time you
felt OK?" Well, nothing wrong with that. It works. But I found a way to
translate it into something more meaningful, understandable, and
emotional. And I did it with just one word. I wrote, "When was the
last time you felt fantastic?"

The translated line communicated better. It's the difference between
hearing the line in Italian or in English. As Mark Twain put it, it's the
difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

But maybe that example is too simple...

At another point in their brochure they were trying to explain the
concept of suppressing emotions, and how suppression could be
harmful. Their words were fine, just as Italian words are fine. But
they didn't communicate in a way most people would hear. So I
translated their words to, "Suppression is building bombs. When
you bury an emotion, you bury it alive."

See the difference? I do this with all my copywriting. I take what I'm
handed and I translate it into benefits, clear language, and bottom
line emotion. This truly does feel like translating languages to me.
And like learning any new language, it takes time to master.

Now I take the copy given to me, turn on the part of my mind that
knows how to speak copywriting, and I translate the words in front
of me into words YOU can understand.

I also do this "Copywriting Translation" with news releases. For
example, last month I was hired to write a news release for a
woman's book. I could have written a headline that said, "New book
explains how to communicate better," which is what the book was
about. But that's Italian. It doesn't speak in emotional terms or in
a way most editors want to hear.

After doing some research and learning more about the author,
I translated the above headline to instead read, "Female Pentagon
Advisor Reveals Tips to Success." The latter is far more intriguing.
All I did was translate her book into news. I took it from Italian to
English. I took it from English to Emotion. I took it from words to power.

What's the secret to being a good "copy translator"? I could probably
quote a relevant line from any number of books on marketing. But
I'll grab one from a 1965 book I just received today. It's by Robert
Conklin. The title is "The Power of a Magnetic Personality." He wrote:

"Putting it simply, it means this: Every time you state a fact, describe
how that fact will *benefit* the other person."

There you have it. It's what I've been saying for years: "Get out of
your ego and into your reader's ego." Translate what you want to say
into simple words and concepts that make sense to your *readers.*

I hope I've done that with this brief article. I began with the idea
to tell you how I write sales copy. But I didn't want to just say, "I
translate all words into sales copy," which may or may not make
sense to you. Instead, I wanted to describe, with examples, what
I do so you truly comprehend it. Finally---

"Adesso che lei sa il mio segreto, va avanti e traduce le sue
lettere di vendite, l'advertisements, e le liberazioni di notizie nell'ones
che farà lei milioni dei dollari. Piacere!" $$

* If you want to master the art of "Hypnotic Writing," consider
signing up for my next e-class, to begin January 16th. You'll get
three in-depth lessons on how to write news releases, sales
letters, and ads. You'll also get several bonus articles by top
copywriters, persuasion masters, and even one by a
famous direct marketing guru. On top of all that, you'll get
three assignments which I will personally review. All this for
only $1,500. Seating is limited to 25 people. Write me right
now to reserve your spot in this e-class: joe@mrfire.com.

* Mark your calendar to spend February 24 and 25 in Atlanta
learning how to use spiritual techniques to make your business
and life a fantastic success. Best-selling author John Harricharan
has put together a powerful line-up of speakers, including me. Get
more details at http://www.insight2000.com/seminar/. To confirm
your seat, call John's office at 770-591-7650 (M-F 9-4 Eastern Time)
or email him at john@insight2000.com with any questions. (Be sure
to tell John I sent you. He's a great guy. Tell him him for me.)

* Good news! If you think you're ready to publish your very own eZine,
or discover how to write response-pulling sales letters, or learn the inside
secrets to rank higher in search engines, or find out how to create powerful
news releases, visit http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?outrageous/coedbook

* On a recent flight to San Francisco, I enjoyed reading NLP guru
Michael Hall's book, "Dragon Slaying." It reveals an encyclopedia worth
of methods for transforming the negative voices in your head into whispers,
allies, or nothing at all. I love how Hall uses descriptions of Charlie
Brown cartoons to illustrate "dragons." See http://www.neurosemantics.com

* And on the trip back from S.F., I enjoyed reading Marcia Turner's new
book, "How To Think Like The World's Greatest Marketing Minds." It's
more journalistic than psychological, but the business lessons from Nike's
Phil Knight, SW airline's Herb Kelleher, Martha Stewart, Madonna, and
many others, is entertaining and educational. At http://www.amazon.com

* Check your local PBS TV listings for a new show called "Great
Entrepreneurs." I'm a guest on the one about P.T. Barnum, to air
in late January, 2001. (You do know I wrote "There's A Customer Born
Every Minute," the only book ever written to reveal the marketing methods
of the great showman, don't you? Check it out at http://www.amazon.com.)

* Need someone to talk to? You can even get counseling online.
Check it out at http://hop.clickbank.net/?outrageous/phdtalk.

* A one-stop colossal website packed with links to a stunning amount
of local, national, international and maybe even intergalactic business
news can all be found at http://www.ceoexpress.com/. Whew!

* FREE! "Timely Time Management Tips" is an ezine to help you increase
your personal productivity and give you more time for your personal life---
with less stress. Subscribe http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement

* I'm always astonished with what is available online, for free, that
I at one time would spend good money to buy. Many inspirational books on how
to change your thinking to change your life, many from the late 1800s, are
online at http://website.lineone.net/~cornerstone/framepage.htm. Reading
text on my computer screen isn't as heavenly as holding an old book, but at
least this way we can enjoy the wisdom without losing our shirts.

"Nothing in life is all of a piece. There's good in bad times,
and bad in good times."

-- J. C. Penney, "Fifty Years With The Golden Rule" (1950)

Happy New Year!

Joe Vitale
Author of way too many books to list here

PS - Have you seen all of my websites?
http://www.mrfire.com lists my books, tapes, & free articles on marketing
http://www.HypnoticWriting.com offers my first e-book, now a bestseller
http://www.CreateAdvertisingThatSells.com offers my first e-video

You are receiving this because you either asked to be on The Copy Writing
Profit Center's exclusive announcements list at http://www.mrfire.com, or
you are a personal friend of mine. If you don't want to receive these
monthly messages, just send a polite note to me at remove@mrfire.com, and
I'll take your name off my list. BTW, your e-mail address will never be
sold or given to anyone by me. Finally, feel free to forward the
above to your friends. Thanks! -- Joe

$$ Translation: "Now that you know my secret, go forth and translate your
sales letters, advertisements, and news releases into ones that will make
you millions of dollars. Enjoy!"