|  | Knowledge is the key to success According to Joseph Sugarman (one of the most successful copywriters in the world), the preparation involved in becoming a professional copywriter involves two kinds of knowledge: General knowledge and specific knowledge. Here is the difference between them: General knowledge: The best copywriters in the world are those who are curious about life, read a great deal, have many hobbies, like to travel, have a wide variety of interests, often master many skills, get bored and then look for other skills to master. They hunger for experience and knowledge and find other people interesting... they are very good listeners. If you don't fall into this category, you should start right away and build interest in everything you find on your way. This is a life-long quest! Specific knowledge: You need to become an expert on the product you are going to sell. Becoming an expert means learning enough about the product to obtain enough specific knowledge so you can communicate the real nature of the product. There is always a specific way that each product should be presented to your prospects. In short, the product has a nature of it's own and it's up to you to discover what the nature of that product is in the mind of your consumer. David Ogilvy called this nature "a product's inherent drama". Aside from having both general and specific knowledge, you need to have one extra key... "insider" knowlege about your target market. Your target market is the group of individuals who you will be trying to sell your product or service to - in other words, your prospects. You need to become an expert in how your target market thinks. You need to get involved with them and find out exactly what is it that makes their wallets tingle in desire to shell out cash. If you skip this crucial step, they will not give you their hard earned money. Period. Back to section 2 |