You know Paula Deen, right?

She’s that cook on TV with a southern drawl, platinum blonde hair, and a love for butter.

I haven’t had many of her recipes, but the ones I’ve tried threatened to send me straight into a sugar coma.  Delicious?  You bet.  But healthy?  No way in the world…

Unfortunately, Paula was diagnosed with Type II diabetes about a year back.  And now she’ll probably have to cut back on the sugary, buttery goodness.

Let’s just hope that doesn’t stop her from coming out with delicious new recipes.

Anyways… how is this relevant to writing copy in any way?

Patience, my friend.  Give me a second.  Paula can teach all of us something about writing better copy.

Let’s start off by taking a look at how a “typical” ad campaign develops.  You see:

The Life-Cycle of an Average Ad Campaign Misses Out on a Key Ingredient to Create the Most Effective Results!

What do I mean?

Well, let’s say you come up with a smashing idea for your new ad campaign.

You know exactly what you what you want to sell.  There’s a hungry market frothing at the mouth for the solution that you’re offering.

All you have to do is lead the horses to the water (your water) and they’ll drink it dry.

How exactly do I do that?  You wonder.  How do I get them moving in the right direction?

So, you think about it for a while.  When nothing insightful comes to mind, you decide to just roll with your good headline, blow through the copy, and shore it up with a rock-solid offer.  You trust the power of your offer will carry the day.

But then your results miss the mark.  Your headline’s good, your offer’s good, but the campaign doesn’t “click.”  Something about your body copy got lost in translation.  You lost potential customers somewhere in the middle of your promotion.

Here’s the thing: writing body copy isn’t as sexy as dreaming up a good headline.  It doesn’t tickle your fancy like crafting an offer – and calculating your anticipated profits – does.  Writing body copy is pretty mundane.  But you can’t afford to neglect it.  Not if you want to write ads that blow open wallets.

What do you need to do to turn yours around?  And how do you get motivated to do it?

Well, here’s where Ms. Paula Deen comes in to save the day:

You Can Improve Your Body Copy by Thinking About it in Terms Ms. Deen Understands: Butter

This is weird.  I know.

But think of creating an ad like baking a cake.  There’s a recipe to follow.  And, when it comes to your body copy… the unhealthier, the better.

You see, the recipe for tasty (i.e., persuasive) body copy calls for butter.  Lots and lots of butter.  Paula Deen is no stranger to this delicious dairy product (if you haven’t had Kerrygold butter, you haven’t lived as far as I’m concerned).  Whew.  Wait… what was I saying?  Anyways, Paula Deen is no stranger to butter and you shouldn’t be either.

After you’ve come up with an irresistible headline and you’re ready to trudge through your body copy, stop for a second and adjust your mindset.  Think of each sentence in your body copy like butter.

I’m not saying the sentences have to be “tasty” in that they have to be witty, creative, etc. (though that can help).  I’m saying each line in your body copy should like butter in the effect it has on your prospect.

Each sentence should be like butter because:

Each Sentence in Your Body Copy Should “Grease the Pan” So Your Prospect Can Slide Right Along to the Next One!

Before Ms. Deen starts cooking (during and after too, it seems…) she always greases the pan.  Always.  And so should you.  That’s what good body copy does.  It becomes a lot less boring when you view every sentence as an opportunity to slide your prospect’s eyes farther down the page and ever closer to your offer.

You turned on the stove top with your headline.  You caught your prospects’ attention well enough to pull them away from our scatterbrained culture.  This is huge… and essential for any successful campaign.

But it isn’t enough.  You can’t assume that just because you caught their attention you’ll hang onto it long enough for them to see your offer.  You can’t just go through the motions in your body copy and assume the cake will turn out fine.

Your prospect’s attention is like a firefly.  If you want to keep it in the jar, you need to put a lid on it before it flutters away.

So, what I’m saying is:

It’s Time to Rekindle Your Relationship with Your Body Copy and Stop Treating it Like an Unwanted Stepchild!

There, I said it.

Want to stop “losing people in translation?”  Then stop ignoring the giant chasm between grabbing your prospect’s attention and sealing the deal.  It’s time to put up a rope bridge and guide your prospect along to the offer that’s waiting for him.  You can’t expect him to jump on his own.

Go through your body copy with a fine tooth comb.  Cut out unnecessary words, but make sure to tell the prospect the full story about the product or service you’re offering.  Don’t limit yourself to arbitrary rules that force your copy to be a certain length.  Make it easy to read.  And make sure each sentence greases the pan.

If the headline’s good enough, the offer’s good enough, and (most importantly) the desire in the market is there, all you need to do is to NOT bog your prospect down and carry them over to the other side.

Smooth sailing… right into the offer.  And smooth selling too.