When I was a kid I LOVED playing Monopoly.

There was a strategy I would use that would completely demoralize my opponents – usually my brother and neighborhood boys – but always resulted in my win.

And the occasional overturned table (my wins didn’t always go over well).

Throughout the game, when nobody was looking, I would stash some of my money in my socks (fortunately tube socks were “in” back then).

Then, late in the game, when I would have to pay rent on a high end property, and my opponent started rubbing his hands together with excitement because it looked like I was too low in funds to pay, I would nonchalantly whip out a stash of $500s and $100s.

This was very satisfying to me, of course.

I didn’t use this strategy every game because I wanted the boys to be on their toes.

Besides, I had other Monopoly strategies I used as well (maybe I’ll share those in upcoming posts, as they are applicable to business too).

What are the “money in your socks” aspects of your business?

I’m not necessarily talking about literal money (although that helps too)… or things that make competitors overturn their tables (although that could be fun too)… but things like:

* Colleagues you know you can call on at a moment’s notice to get help with a problem.

* Authors, speakers, bloggers who, when you take a break and spend some time with their material, leave you inspired and energized.

* A key piece of software or a never-fail strategy that will help your website rise in the rankings past your competitors.

* An email copywriter on hand who can quick write up some awesome emails for you.

If you have anything to add to that list, let me know.

Wishing you many “money in the socks” moments in your business and the satisfied feelings that come with them.

My daughter had her first tennis practice of the season yesterday and the coach asked each girl to pick a word to use to help them focus whenever they feel tired or like giving up.

She chose the word “engage” from Star Trek.

“Engage” is what the captain says when he or she wants the ship to move forward.

Below is a clip of Captain Picard saying “engage!”

I see they included some other words in this clip. I noticed how these words are so applicable to everyday copywriting situations and I like how pithy they are:

“Let’s see what’s out there.”

“I’ve lost contact.”

“Make it so.”

“Red alert!”

“Report.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Get it done.”

“Aye.”

I think it’s a great idea to have a word like that so I’ve swiped “engage.” I think I’ll start swiping all the above phrases too.

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” –Andy Warhol

As an email copywriter there is much I appreciate about Andy Warhol.

He made the above statement during the latter part of his career, when his goal was to cement his legacy as a “business artist.” Unlike many artists, he was a meticulous businessman and made a lot of money.

In that way he was adept in both left and right brain activities, much like us copywriters who have to be both creative and able to do research and know about things like split testing.

Warhol started out as a commercial artist in the 1950s. He had success on that front but, as a result, he wasn’t taken seriously when he would having showings of his paintings.

It wasn’t until the 1960s, when he showed his series of Campbell soup paintings to the public, that he finally gained acceptance as an artist.

Warhol was able to see the beauty in everyday things like soup cans, Pepsi bottle caps, and Brillo pad boxes.

As an email copywriter, I’ve learned to do the same. I can look at a story in Google news about, say, the metabolism of orangutans, and find an analogy that works for an email in almost any niche.

Or look at an artist like Warhol and find the inspiration for my own life and work.

My pre-written email pack for Panic Away has been our bestselling pack the past few months, even outselling the weight loss packs.

So I was pondering today why that is.

What’s with all the anxiety?

Well, money is part of it, if these blog posts titles I came across today are any
indication:

“The crisis of middle-class America.”

“As rich get richer, everybody else stagnates, and middle-class dreams die.”

“22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America.”

I typed “anxiety” into Google News and these were the most recent stories on
the front page:

*There’s a “persistent and overwhelming” level of anxiety among families living near the Gulf coast.

*The National Institute of Mental Health reports that anxiety disorders affect
about 40 million adults every year.

*Last month’s retail sales reflects “new anxiety.”

*Anxiety about undergoing anesthesia leads 1 in 4 to postpone surgeries.

Anxiety is everywhere. 40 million people.

I think all of us know someone who struggles with it or has experienced it ourselves.

So what does this have to do with your business?

No matter what type of list you have, the chances are great that many of the people suffer from anxiety and would benefit from a product like Panic Away.

Panic Away has been a bestselling product for 6 years, so it’s not a flash in the pan.

So if you haven’t checked out my Panic Away email pack yet – or any of the other pre-written email packs I have for sale there, now would be a great time.

And as you read the emails, who knows…maybe you’ll even pick up a tip or two about how to minimize your own anxiety, if you struggle with that.

Have you heard of voice actor Billy West? I hadn’t either until I read an article that said he’s considered the “new Mel Blanc.”

I sometimes call myself the Mel Blanc of Copywriting because an email copywriter has to be good at writing in many different voices. Mel Blanc was famous for being “the man of 1000 voices,” including the voices of many Looney Tunes characters, such as Bugs Bunny.

I know copywriters mostly talk about persuasion and marketing but the ability to write in someone else’s voice is also a necessary skill.

What Billy West says about voice acting also applies to email copywriting:

“You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer,” he explains. “You watch people and study them the way an alien would. … It’s also kind of an ear a voice performer has, where they’re able to hear things in real life, and they’re able to grab hold of it and then amplify it through another character or a direct impression.

An email copywriter needs to be able to write conversationally and should develop an ear for the cadence and words used in everyday conversation.

When writing for a client, I always try to listen to audios, watch videos of them or talk on the phone with a client so I can hear their actual voice. If that’s not possible I make a point to read their blogs, articles, tweets, etc. so I can become familiar with their voice.

Being able to master voices is the key to helping clients develop a rapport and trust with their prospects and customers.

As you know, there are many opportunities in your daily life to practice persuasion skills.

Those of us who are parents have even more opportunities to have to use persuasion.

Last week I had to take all four of my daughters in for blood draws at the clinic’s lab.

As you might imagine, they weren’t excited about this, and neither was I. The youngest two (ages 6 and 8 ) had never had a blood draw before so they were even more anxious.

At first I tried to use hype to lower their resistance.

“We’ll make it a blood draw party! Treats afterwards!”

Of course they didn’t fall for that. And you’d think I would’ve known better, being a copywriter.

Next I decided to tell them a story about how their six-year-old cousin had several vials of blood taken from him last summer and he handled it like a champ, no tears.

That didn’t lower their resistance either. I guess hearing a story secondhand about someone else’s success isn’t all that interesting. Again, you’d think I would’ve known better.

I realized I needed to dig deeper and tell a personal story and show them I know what the fear of blood draws is like.

So I told them about when I was six weeks pregnant with their 14-year-old sister. I had unexpected bleeding and went to the doctor. I marinated in anxiety in the examination room chair, afraid I was having a miscarriage.

The doctor patted me on the knee and told me he wasn’t going to do an ultrasound because he thought it would be too emotional for me if we couldn’t hear a heartbeat.  He sent me to the lab instead to get a blood draw that would determine whether or not I was still pregnant.

“How do you think I felt while I was getting a blood draw that would tell me whether or not your sister was still alive?” I asked the girls.

Their eyes got big as saucers and they hung on every word.

Then I told them how powerful blood is and how it can tell us so many things about what’s going on inside our bodies.

They literally started tugging on my arm and begged me to take them to the lab immediately for their blood draws.

They did this even though I also told them a story about how I once had a blood draw that ultimately gave me bad news. I felt it was important that they know the full score in the event this blood draw, or one in the future, gives them news they’d rather not hear.

As it turns out, they were very brave during their blood draws. The youngest cried with empathy during her 8-year-old sister’s blood draw but remained stoic during her own.

Few things are as powerful as a story. This applies to your business as well.

Many of my clients are unsure of their stories at first or think their stories are too boring. Sometimes I have to really work at pulling their stories out of them.

If you need help discovering..and telling…the selling stories in your business, drop me an email. You should also check out my post about how to uncover your story.

As you know, your story is an essential part of your sales page and other marketing materials.

When putting together a sales page, the story ranks right up there with the marketing research information in importance.

Sometimes it’s difficult to uncover your story because it’s so easy to overlook the details in your life that make for a good story. If you write copy for clients it can also be a challenge to pry a story out of your client.

This is why it’s helpful to ask questions and play story detective. I start out by scouring the client’s blog, Twitter page and other materials, looking for any details I can use for a story.

Here are 5 questions I sometimes ask clients if they don’t already have a story for me to write about:

1. Here was where I was at before I discovered my magic solution:

2. Here are all the bad things that happened to me before I found the magic solution:

3. My desperate attempt to find a solution led me down this path:

4. Here’s how I finally found the solution:

5. And here is the reason I am now going to share that solution with you:

If you still don’t get a good story even after asking questions, as a last resort you can write a fictitious one or show a story example from another website. Sometimes this will help remind the client of a story of their own. It’s worth the extra effort it takes to find the selling story beneath the product.

Remember the rock & roll 45?

Singles used to be a big deal back in the day. Unfortunately it’s a format that seems to have been abandoned by a lot of rock & roll artists.

According to Bono of U2, the rock & roll 45 “is the evolutionary peak of the species…it is by far the most difficult thing to pull off and it is the very life force of rock & roll: vitality, succinctness and catchiness.”

Vitality. Succinctness. Catchiness.

These are attributes email copy should have as well. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that email is the life force of marketing.

Bono again:

When rock music forgets about the 45, it tends toward progressive rock, which is like a mold that grows on old, burned out artists who’ve run out of ideas…it’s an infuriating thing for me to see indie rock & roll give up the single to R&B and hip-hop.

We see the progressive rock effect in marketing too, where marketers forget about email and their relationship with their list and have run out of ideas.

What Bono says about writing singles for other musicians reminds me of what it’s like writing copy for clients:

Writing songs for other people can be so easy. You’re out of your own head and into someone else’s. It comes quickly and you write it down.

If the mold has started to grow on your own marketing…if you still haven’t found what you’re looking for… maybe it’s time to let someone else come into your head and write some email for you.

Here’s what a recent client said about what I wrote for her:

“Anita, you’re not gifted, you’re a genius! People will really feel like it is me speaking to them personally, even fans who know me well. From a psychological perspective you hit all the right buttons. I could never have written those emails – I am just too close to the trees.”

Aristotle said “A whole is beginning, middle and end.”

This applies to stories, emails, sales pages and blog posts too.

You have to have all three elements – not just one or two.

While leaving a medical appointment at a clinic a couple of months ago, I walked alongside a janitor on my way to the elevator.

He sang the entire time while carrying his supplies and putting things in order. He’s an older guy so his songs were from a different era and far more pleasant than the usual Top 40 hits piped through speakers.

We entered the same elevator and he paused to chat with a woman who was exiting the elevator.

During our elevator ride he spent the entire time telling me what a wonderful woman she is and how he wished he could chat with her in Spanish, her native language. He was generous with his praise even though I didn’t know the woman.

As we left the elevator he immediately started singing again as he set about his cleaning tasks.

I was only with him for about 30 seconds so there was no chance to ask him how long he’s worked there or get any details about his life.

Even though he didn’t say a word about himself,  those 30 seconds in his presence told me volumes about him.

Normally when passing people in a hallway at a medical clinic you usually don’t give them more than a moment’s attention and you certainly don’t remember them two months later. The same is true of most websites.

When people drop by your website you probably have no longer than 30 seconds to make an impression before they move in.

Are you like the singing janitor and stand out from the crowd by being different and by NOT blabbing endlessly about yourself or your product?

Do you leave them with the desire to learn more about you and your story?