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Who Cares What the CEO Thinks? 

I don't like TV too much because... when you turn it on, it's hard to turn it back off.

That said, there are two programs I do watch. How? I buy them. On DVD. It's great, no waiting a week for the next episode, no commercials, and plenty of behind the scenes interviews with the writers. Granted I'm always a season behind everybody else.

For example, one of the shows I watch closely is LOST. When I visit Nicole in the hospital we'll pop in a few episodes and watch it like a movie.

LOST is a great program to study to help you write engaging, hard-to-put-down copy. The show's writers know how to use curiosity to get people's attention. They know the importance of withholding information to keep people interested.

Interestingly, the executive at ABC TV who gave the go ahead on LOST was "removed" for initiating such an out-of-the-box project. At that point ABC was on the verge of bankruptcy its ratings were so poor.

LOST is now their top rated show -- even though they fired the guy who said let's give this $2 million pilot-episode a try.

They just didn't think a show about a plane wreck on a deserted island in the tropics would be well received by the general public. Now in it's third season, they know they were wrong.

Such fandom has been built up around LOST (none of which I participate in) from magazines to countless websites. In online forums across the world viewers are sending messages back and forth trying to figure out how the series will end.

Unlike most programs, it doesn't have 45-minute self-contained stories. Every episode cliff-hangs into the next.

There were such pressure and time restraints to get the show on the air, that they were still writing the first episode while casting the characters. The writers really didn't know how the series would end when they started. Some people think they still

don't know.

So, you have these writers, who probably spend an hour or more a day surfing the net collecting ideas from their viewers. Finding out what their audience expects, what they want. No wonder the show's a hit. It's not responding to what the CEO at ABC thinks will work. It's based on what people say they want.

That's the power of knowing how to interview your target market. Most copywriters don't do this. They don't sit down with the people they are selling to and find out what they really want, what makes them keep on coming back.

Why are they willing to pay your client money for whatever product or service he’s offering?

When you know this, you can communicate it in your copy, and easily increase conversion.

Though there are probably no forums out there that you can tap into to find out what people think about the exact product/service your clients sell... all you need is an in depth one-on-one interview with 4-6 of your prime prospects.

Best place to learn how to interview for the purpose of copywriting is from a former TV-talk show host, turned copywriter, who reveals everything in his Secret Six approach. Find out more at...

www.realitycopywriting.com/secret_six

Because it's not about what you think, what I think, what your brother thinks, it's what your prospects think at a subconscious level -- what really makes them respond, and become loyal buyers for years and years.

Capture, captivate, convert,

John A. Manley

p.s. And to get a copy of LOST, season 1 or 2, head over to...

www.realitycopywriting.com/links/lost/

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