CRISIS Copywriting
in the Great Pandemic of 2020
2,000+ pages of ideas and essentials
for marketing in a post-COVID-19 world
(PLUS: The “When the SH#T hits the fan revenue plan”
And how to turn the largest captive audience in history into CASH)
Dear Marketing Friend,
You and I have never met.
But we find ourselves in some very interesting times… quite different than our world at the turn of the New Year.
I hope when all is said and done, we can have a beer together.
Quick disclaimer.
I’m not an armchair epidemiologist… nor am I some “pandemic pivot” Pied Piper.
For better or worse, I’m a skin-in-the-game marketer and entrepreneur who’s had himself as a client for the long haul.
During 9/11, I was a hapless direct mail marketer… living three miles north of the World Trade Center.
After the planes hit the towers that Tuesday morning, everyone was in a state of shock. I sat dazed in my apartment for days.
Once the feeling of paralysis subsided a week or so after the attacks, I couldn’t take sitting on my hands any longer and decided to test a direct mail drop.
When I got to the main post office on 8th Avenue with my small test drop, I was greeted by two armed postal police officers at the base of the sweeping steps.
Before I could get a word out, one of…
The armed postal policemen bellowed at me.
“The post office is closed!”
“What’s going on?” I asked, since it was a weekday morning.
“Don’t you read the papers, pal?” he shot back.
As if things weren’t dark enough, the anthrax attacks added a new layer of terror that suddenly landed hundreds of millions of mail pieces in limbo.
I trudged down 8th Avenue back home.
My apartment was a sixth floor walk-up with a view of the Empire State Building and I could walk everywhere I needed to get. Every day, a dozen take-out menus were wedged under my apartment door from an endless parade of delivery boys in the building.
If a mailing bombed and I was strapped, there was always the Cuban-Chinese, Sam Chinita diner down the block that served roast pork Cuban style with yellow rice and black beans for the princely sum of $7.95. One takeout plate was good for three meals.
The surreal atmosphere in Lower Manhattan lasted many months: from the acrid petrol smell that wafted up to 14th Street… to the dump trucks loaded with debris that rumbled down my street at 5:30 in the morning… to the Downtown restaurants and clubs that instantly went from packed to empty.
There was a feeling of shock… but also conviction that… everything would return to normal.
I wish I could say the same thing now.
Because many are starting to think the Great Pandemic of 2020 could make the Great Recession of 2008 look like a cakewalk.
I’m no pessimist.
If we keep our wits about us and keep moving forward — no matter the turmoil around us — we’ll live to tell the tale.
But here’s the thing.
The world of marketing and advertising has changed drastically since we set foot in the New Year. And…
“Good times” copy is over…
“CRISIS copy” is KING
It’s true.
In many markets… claims are BOUNCING OFF prospects like rubber bullets off a tank.
Tell a weight loss prospect today she can loose five “vanity pounds” and she won’t even hear you.
But tell her how lowering her BMI (body mass index) below 30 could potentially SAVE HER LIFE and you’ve got her attention.
The same is the case in many markets.
It’s the end of the line for bull market, “good times” copy for now… but that doesn’t mean your sales have to suffer because… there’s a WORLD of response waiting for you to tap with CRISIS COPY.
The legendary physicist, Niels Bohr, told us all we need to know about predictions.
Will we have the world’s biggest “block party” or… will the 2008 global financial crisis look like a mere dry run for what’s ahead?
That’s not our problem. You and I aren’t forecasters, friend.
Our job as marketers and copywriters is the same no matter what turmoil’s going on in the world and that is…
Putting offers in front of prospects!
You can’t worry about what you can’t control… but you don’t need to stay in “time out” either. Your skills as a marketer can help you prevail… especially in trying times like these.
We’re only on this spinning rock for so long and General Douglas MacArthur said it best: “There is no security on this earth. Only opportunity.”
As marketers and copywriters, our offers bring ORDER to the world of our prospects.
Don’t underestimate the importance of that right now.
And the best way for you and your prospects to succeed is with PROSPECT driven copy.
This is key because…
“PROSPECT driven” copy is as different from “product driven” copy…
as 2020 is from 2019.
Think about what’s going through your average prospect’s mind right now, beyond the obvious:
“When will the pandemic peak… when does home quarantine end… and will life return to normal?”
If you’re serious about response, you’ve got to dig DEEPER and get a profile of your prospect’s mind.
Like this.
Your prospect’s at her wits’ end cooped up for a month with a houseful of rowdy kids who refuse to take out the trash. She’s worried about her revenue coming to a screeching halt and fears about her financial future. She’s doesn’t remember her last spin class and she%
%