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Today, I’m going to reveal one of the biggest secrets of direct response copywriting.

But first let me tell you how I discovered this secret…

I’ve copied a lot of sales letters and landing pages by hand, for the sake of practice (an old copywriter’s trick). Of course, I copied winners, not losers. 

I always wondered how these great copywriters compelled perfect strangers to buy their clients’ products.

Then one day I realized that … usually … these winning promotions were NOT being written to cold prospects–to perfect strangers.

These successful promotions were written, often, to warm prospects–people who had seen the ad or the brand numerous times before … or bought a similar product … or who had already opted into the marketer’s list.

Many newbie copywriters miss this. They think they can just write a sales page, drive the traffic, and count their money.

If this were true, then every good copywriter would be making a fortune linking to a sales page directly off Facebook ads. 

But it doesn’t work this way. Successful promotions through Facebook ads usually depend on lead generation (two-stepping), not direct sales. So …  a free e-book, or free online course or webinar (very common lately), or the like. Then the marketers sell their products to that list, now “warmed up.”

Why?

Because it’s a lot easier to sell a product or service when you’ve developed some relationship with the prospective customer and when they’ve come to know, like, and trust you or your brand–especially when that product or service concerns an intangible outcome.

Selling a purse is one thing. The customer can see it. But when you’re selling something more intangible, it’s more difficult.

Services in particular are a difficult sell, because there’s more risk involved.

So here’s the secret: direct response copy works best with frequency. 

Frequency increases familiarity, which increases liking, which increases trust … which in turn reduces risk.

So don’t be like my one friend … God bless him … who always sends one-off sales letters and always comes up empty-handed. Then he wonders why his direct response tactics aren’t working.