Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Rainmaker.FM

The Digital Commerce and Content Marketing Podcast Network

  • Home
  • Shows
  • Hosts
  • About
  • Home
  • Shows
  • Hosts
  • About
  • Member Area
  • Log In
Menu
  • Log In
  • Free Training
7-Figure Small with Brian Clark
Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing
Get More Clients With Smarter Email Marketing
Hack the Entrepreneur
Members Only
Rainmaker.FM Elsewhere
Site Success: Tips for Building Better WordPress Websites
StudioPress FM
Technology Translated
The Digital Entrepreneur
The Missing Link
The Showrunner
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Youpreneur with Chris Ducker
Zero to Book
Rough Draft
hosted by Demian Farnworth

065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

  • Social:
  • Link:
  • Embed:
https://rainmaker.fm/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/rough-065_2.mp3
Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes
Previous Episode:064 A Mild Warning for All Headline Writers More Episodes Next Episode:066 All Great Writing Boils Down to These Four Emotional Appeals

All Episodes:

October 21, 2015

102 The Beautiful Message Joseph Campbell Was Really Trying to Tell Us

October 8, 2015

101 The Greatest Storytelling Guide This Side of Saturn

September 1, 2015

100 The Episode That Explains the Future of Rough Draft

August 31, 2015

099 A Better Way to Find Big Ideas (That Make You Stand Out)

August 27, 2015

098 How to Grab Great Ideas (Without Using Your Hands)

August 26, 2015

097 The Problem with the ‘Hell-For-Leather’ Writing Movement

August 25, 2015

096 Why These Famous Time-Management Techniques Are Ruining Your Productivity

August 24, 2015

095 Freaking Out Over the Thought of Writing a First Draft? Try Scaffolding

August 20, 2015

094 How to Avoid Obscurity by Misusing Language

August 19, 2015

093 A Creative Email Trick for Becoming a Plain Spoken Writer

August 18, 2015

092 Let This Stupid Machine Read Your Copy Out Loud

August 17, 2015

091 This Free App Will Help You Write Bold and Clear Copy

August 13, 2015

090 Four Writing Lessons I Learned from This Depressing Music Project

August 12, 2015

089 The Clear-Copy Rule of Writing for the Web

August 11, 2015

088 Three Ways Writers Must Adjust in a World Dominated by Social Media

August 10, 2015

087 How This Social Media Thing Kicked Web Writing Right in the Feels

August 6, 2015

086 An Elegant Story on Outsmarting Career Obsolescence

August 5, 2015

085 Raise the Stakes! 13 Writing Ideas That Really Work

August 4, 2015

084 The Two Things That Make a Dull Product Irresistible

August 3, 2015

083 Proof That Stories Can Increase the Value of Even ‘Worthless’ Items

July 30, 2015

082 Could Podcasting Make You a Better Writer?

July 29, 2015

081 When Do You Abandon the Editing Process?

July 28, 2015

080 Four Ways to Get Attention by Rocking the Boat

July 27, 2015

079 A Brief Introduction to the Art of Catching Hell

July 23, 2015

078 Six Storytelling Lessons from a Famous Urban Legend

July 22, 2015

077 Vexed by Your Bankrupt Vocabulary? Listen to This

July 21, 2015

076 Why Writers Need to Develop a Sense of Humor

July 20, 2015

075 Listener Challenge: Could You Read 100 Books in a Year?

July 16, 2015

074 How to Get Massive Attention with a ‘High-Concept Pitch’

July 15, 2015

073 A Lesson in Swagger from a Wooden-Legged Civil War Soldier

July 14, 2015

072 Six Ways to Becoming a Completely Original Writer

July 13, 2015

071 The Oldest Writing Trick in The Book

July 9, 2015

070 Eight Things Every Writer Should Know about Landing Pages

July 8, 2015

069 The Fascinating Truth about Boring Topics

July 7, 2015

068 How to Craft an About Page That People Actually Read and Share

July 6, 2015

067 The Psychology Behind Winning Email Subject Lines

July 2, 2015

066 All Great Writing Boils Down to These Four Emotional Appeals

July 1, 2015

065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

June 30, 2015

064 A Mild Warning for All Headline Writers

June 29, 2015

063 How Every Creative Must Think about Marketing and Advertising

June 25, 2015

062 Do Millennials (Really) Hate Long Copy?

June 24, 2015

061 These 4 Sales Principles Can Improve Anyone’s Writing

June 23, 2015

060 How to Use the 5 Stages of Audience Awareness to Dominate Online

June 22, 2015

059 Why The Most Hated Headline Structures Work So Well

June 18, 2015

058 This is the Most Fun You’ll Ever Have “Explaining the Mechanism” …

June 17, 2015

057 The Doomsday Cult School of Specificity

June 16, 2015

056 How to Sweep Away Skepticism with a Dramatic Demonstration

June 15, 2015

055 Meet the Tragic Poster Boy for the Emotional Brain

June 11, 2015

054 A Straightforward Research Method for Finding a Potent Hook

June 10, 2015

053 What You Don’t Know about Your Product Can Kill Your Copy

June 9, 2015

052 Three New Ways to Write a Headline (and When to Use Each)

June 8, 2015

051 Want Copy That Actually Works? Start with Mass Desire

June 4, 2015

050 The Curious Secret to Building Trust and Credibility

June 3, 2015

049 My Second Most Favorite Copywriting Formula in the World!

June 2, 2015

048 How to Get Lazy People to Care about Your Ideas

June 1, 2015

047 My Favorite Copywriting Formula … Ever!

May 29, 2015

046 How to (Rapidly) Build an Audience with Content Syndication

May 28, 2015

045 Solve Your Online Proofreading Problems With This Simple Trick

May 27, 2015

044 The Profanity Princess on Finding Your Voice

May 26, 2015

043 The Oddest Story About Overcoming Obscurity You’ll Ever Hear

May 21, 2015

042 10 Odd Books That Will Improve Your Writing

May 20, 2015

041 How to Read a Book in 2 Hours

May 19, 2015

040 The Shocking Way to Master Any Book

May 18, 2015

039 Nine Copywriting Books for Web Writers

May 14, 2015

038 The 8 Rules of Ruthless Editing from David Mamet

May 13, 2015

037 Revealed: The Perfect Blog Post Length

May 12, 2015

036 The Aggressive Work Ethic of Highly Creative People

May 11, 2015

035 The 10 Rules of Rough Drafts

May 7, 2015

034 5 Ways to Create the Perfect Ending that Your Content Deserves

May 6, 2015

033 6 Simple Rules For Writing Effective Dialogue

May 5, 2015

032 Use Internal Cliffhangers So People Never Stop Reading

May 4, 2015

031 226 Transitional Words and Phrases Every Writer Should Know

April 30, 2015

030 The Great Paragraph Hoax

April 29, 2015

029 5 Ways to Write a Seductive Sentence

April 28, 2015

028 How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Verbs

April 27, 2015

027 How the Perfect Article Is Framed by White Space

April 23, 2015

026 The Best Articles Always Have This (and a Great Headline)

April 22, 2015

025 The Anatomy of a Hyperlink That Woos Readers

April 21, 2015

024 The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Bullet Points That Work

April 20, 2015

023 How to Create Exquisite Subheadlines

April 16, 2015

022 Four Safe Ways to Find Your Writing Voice (and One Dangerous One)

April 15, 2015

021 The Two Kinds of Knowledge Every Writer Needs

April 14, 2015

020 The Crazy Thing Writers Do to Become Exceptional

April 13, 2015

019 How to Answer the Most Important Question About Becoming an Exceptional Writer

April 9, 2015

018 Four Things That Can Make Writers Famous

April 8, 2015

017 A Small Gift for Your Dark Days as an Obscure Writer

April 7, 2015

016 Steal This Episode

April 6, 2015

015 David Sedaris’ Guide to Writing Brilliant First Sentences

April 2, 2015

014 Six Proven Ways to Open an Article With a Bang

April 1, 2015

013 How I’ll Make You Read Every Single Line of This Article

March 31, 2015

012 The Ugly Truth About How People Read Online

March 30, 2015

011 The 3 Pillars of Great Web Writing

March 26, 2015

010 How to Use RSS to Write Better Headlines

March 25, 2015

009 How to Write Headlines that Get Results

March 24, 2015

008 Where Headlines Have Gone Horribly Wrong

March 23, 2015

007 A 12-Minute Crash Course on Link Building (Ugh)

March 19, 2015

006 An Idiot-Proof Guide to Writing Blog Posts That Google Loves

March 18, 2015

005 Keywords: Your Love Affair With the Language Your Audience Uses

March 17, 2015

004 How Search Engines Work, Part Two

March 16, 2015

003 How Search Engines Work, Part One

March 3, 2015

002 The Unbreakable Law of the Web

March 2, 2015

001 Two Challenges All Digital Content Must Conquer

July 1, 2015

065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

During the past four months one of the things I’ve been trying to experiment with is telling more stories. Historical stories, fake stories, personal stories.

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

See, what I’m trying to do is make the audio more visual. And I’ve found that best way to do that is to share stories. Illustrations. Anecdotes. Et cetera.

Audio really challenges your storytelling abilities because you must paint a vivid picture. You might have noticed a string of stories in the last few episodes.

So, no surprise I’d have another one for you today. It’s a made up story, a parable, and the reason why I want to tell this story is to illustrate a point I made a few weeks back. In the show on “Reason Why” copy. I want to bring this point home for you.

It’s a short story. But I think you’ll enjoy it …

  • The ultra-unique angle that makes a product, service, or idea stand out
  • How explaining the hook allows you to add credibility to your claims
  • The embarrassing genesis behind this story

Listen to Rough Draft below ...

065 A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” CopyDemian Farnworth
  • Social:
  • Link:
  • Embed:
https://rainmaker.fm/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/rough-065_2.mp3
Download MP3 Subscribe by RSS Subscribe in iTunes

The Transcript

A Mildly Spooky Illustration of “Reason Why” Copy

Voiceover: This is Rainmaker.FM, the digital marketing podcast network. It’s built on the Rainmaker Platform, which empowers you to build your own digital marketing and sales platform. Start your free 14-day trial at Rainmaker.FM/Platform.

Demian Farnworth: Hello there, friendly friend. You are listening to Rough Draft, your daily dose of essential web writing advice. I am Demian Farnworth, your host, your muse, your digital recluse, and the Chief Content Writer for Copyblogger Media.

And thank you for sharing the next few minutes of your life with me.

So, as of today, I’ve got 65 episodes under my belt. In about four months, and that’s close to 200 pages of scripts, and one of the things I’ve been trying to experiment with this whole time is telling more stories. Historical stories, fake stories, personal stories.

The Ultra-Unique Angle that Makes a Product, Service, or Idea Stand Out

What I’m trying to do is make the audio visual. And I’ve found that the best way to do that is to share stories. Illustrations.

Audio really challenges your storytelling abilities because you must paint a vivid picture. You might have noticed a string of stories in the last few episodes.

So, no surprise I have another one for you today. It’s a made up story, a parable, and the reason why I want to tell this story is to illustrate a point I made a few weeks back. In the show on Reason Why copy. I want to bring this point home for you.

It’s a short story. But I think you’ll enjoy it.

So, without further ado … here’s a story I’m calling “The Hook and the Hitch.”

“I need to show you something,” he said.

He led me through the screen door, around the barn, down a slope with slabs of limestone set into the hill, and along a narrow path winding through a thick stand of beech.

When we finally broke through the last of the trees I felt the wind, saw the circling sea hawk, and gasped at the sudden drop as the ground disappeared before us.

A hollow feeling shot through my stomach and legs.

We stood on a cliff overlooking a bay of dark water surrounded by steep cliffs slanting toward the afternoon sun.

“Do you see that little fishing hut down there?”

When I strained I could make out a little two-door, two-window house with a light blue roof, possibly metal.

“Yes.”

“You can live in that hut. Fish from the shore. Drink water from the spring behind the hut. Build a garden. Everything you need to get away … to rest … to live a simple life.”

Something in me stirred.

“Any visitors?”

“A few. A fisherman may come into this bay. Trappers may come down to fish. But people just like you. People who understand you and where you came from.”

I was hooked.

I imagined climbing cliffs every morning, writing in the afternoon. During the summer I could swim in the bay and sleep under a blanket of bright stars at night. In the winter I could trap beaver and dog sled through the forest.

“What’s the cost?”

He smiled. “A dollar a day?”

I let out a deep breath. “So, what’s the hitch?”

He shrugged. “It’s haunted.”

Now, sorry to disappoint you. But I don’t have an ending for this story. I know that’s cruel. But I think I accomplished what I was after …

See, this short story illustrates two important copywriting concepts. What are they? Think about it for a moment.

How Explaining the Hook Allows You to Add Credibility to Your Claims

The first clue was in the headline: the hook and the hitch. So, let me tell you what those words mean:

Hook: the ultra-unique angle that makes a product, service, or idea stand out … tied deeply into the emotional condition of the prospect. It’s the “aha moment.” In this case, the hut in sheer seclusion provides a sanctuary for the main character to recover. From what, we don’t know, but that’s not important at this point.

Hitch: Otherwise known as “the catch” … your hook is so unbelievably cool there has to be a catch. This is the reason why. Explaining the why behind your offer. In the case of the story, the catch was the reason why the hut was so inexpensive (it was haunted). And explaining the hook allows you to add credibility to your claims. It allows people to make a decision based on all the facts. Even the ugly ones.

The Embarrassing Genesis Behind This Story

Okay, obligatory embarrassing confession to increase my warmth quotient moment.

I totally get it. The word “Hitch” is a stretch. It’s not the typical phrase you would use. “What’s the catch?” is the typical way of saying it.

However, that phrase came from a conversation I was having with a friend. I was explaining to him that you need a good hook when describing a product … but then, off the cuff, you have to follow up with the hitch — I meant to say reason why.

Then the light bulb went off.

I dropped the phone, wrote the story, and went to run it by my wife … who, after some minor tweaks, said. “I love it. But I don’t think people actually say what’s the hitch?”

Hm.

It sounded so natural at first, but then when I looked it up I couldn’t find any references (except an awkward mention in an LA Times article … there were a dozen mentions of Christopher Hitchens, aka the Hitch, however) … and the dictionary didn’t have any mentions of hitch as a synonym for “the catch.”

However, looking up synonyms for the word “catch” I discovered the reverse: a reference to “hitch.”

Enough justification for me. I hope for you, too. So, let me know what you think of this episode, this story, this concept. Drop me a rating or review on iTunes if you haven’t already. Thank you to everyone who’s shown their support this way. To people like Andypanda 5976, SmBizPro, and Shlomo626.

Couldn’t do it without you guys and girls. Thank you. And until next time, take care.

Never Miss New Shows and Episodes on Rainmaker.FM

Get the best of the Rainmaker.FM network in a single weekly email, along with two weeks
of free training that will change the way you think about online marketing ...

Free Registration

You might also like...

Hack the Entrepreneur

How to Expand Your Thinking

Listen to episode
Youpreneur with Chris Ducker

Getting Ahead of the Game on Paid List Building, with Amy Porterfield

Listen to episode
The Mainframe

Deadly Conversion Busters: Building a Targeted Audience

Listen to episode
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing

3 Observations on Trends (but not Predictions) for 2018

Listen to episode
Rough Draft

089 The Clear-Copy Rule of Writing for the Web

Listen to episode
The Digital Entrepreneur

The 6 Top Online Marketing Trends for 2018

Listen to episode

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You ByWP Engine

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Copyright © 2023 Rainmaker Digital, LLC. Powered by the Rainmaker Platform.

Privacy Policy  ·  Refund Policy  ·  Cookie Policy  ·  Terms of Service  ·  Contact