Be Bold or Die!

For years I volunteered at a local radio station. It was my job to host two hours of radio that no one listened to. I learned quickly that it’s extremely easy to be boring. All you have to do is be yourself, be normal. If you want to tune people out, talk in your everyday voice and tone.

If you want to get attention or even just keep people awake, you have to give your personality more power.

What seems over the top to you actually comes across as normal on the other end. Do you ever judge a TV presenter for smiling too much or a radio host for being too energetic? Nope. It’s normal.

For me, a generally quiet, introverted dude who doesn’t like being the center of attention, this took some getting used to. I trained myself to be more energetic and outspoken. I practiced making bold statements that got attention. I started speaking louder too. I even used my arms and hands expressively in the studio even though there was no one around to see me.

People can feel your energy.

This has strong correlations with copywriting.

Recently I was sending out pitch letters to local businesses and here’s the headline I ran with:

“Want more customers and more sales? It all starts with the right message”.

My first reaction is that it’s too bold. I feel like I’m promising too much.

My instinct is to play it safe and say something like “Hi, my name is Alex, I’m a local copywriter who believes they can improve your business with marketing blah blah blah”. BORING.

The first headline makes a promise and describes the benefit to the consumer. The second one talks about me — yawn.

The same principle applies in copywriting or radio: what sounds outrageous to me, sounds plausible and expected to my potential customer.

Of course, my only caveat is that you should remember who your target audience is and write according to the brand that you are representing.

I was recently listening to a podcast by James Wedmore and he challenged online business owners to be bold in their guarantees that they offer. It’s well known that offering a solid refund policy takes the risk out of the purchase and increases sales.

A common objection to this is that people might request a refund. James’ response is “YES! some people will request refunds”.

The underlying assumption is that your product might not get the results that you claim so offering a refund is risky.

The question therefore is: “Do you believe in your product or not?” If the answer is yes, then make a bold promise and stand behind it. If you don’t, you’ll be lost in the crowd.

Have you ever heard a company say “you should only work with us if you’ve done your research and are sure about it.”?

NO!

They say “why shop anywhere else? We are the best”.

Be bold.