Photo by Steven Depolo

The goal of your marketing is to have people stop to pay attention to it, listen to your message, and then take immediate action. But these days, with lots of competition for attention, how can you be successful?

Follow the examples of professional burlesque dancers. They know that their goal is to create interest and hopefully desire in the audience. They first position them self as something worthy of desire, then sloooowly share that connection with the audience. If the pacing is wrong, then the audience loses interest. If the pacing is right, and the energy is focused, then the performer can do no wrong; it has the audience’s full attention.

In your marketing copy, you need to first grab the audience’s attention with a promise that they can’t ignore. You need to confidently state that you’re worthy of attention, and slowly share your worthiness with your audience. If your copy is a menu list of features, then your conversation is over – they look at the menu and either it “clicks” or it doesn’t. But in any event, it’s not memorable.

So start with something enticing – an “image” that the reader can “see” (the image can be carefully written prose, photographs, video, etc.). The only goal of the start is to get their attention. Next, slowly get the reader to see them self in the picture. Is that image even more enticing?

Now, show a little of what you’re describing in detail. Not too much, but just enough to show that you can deliver on your promise. Still reading? Good. Show a little bit more of what you can do. Now what? Ask them to take action – email you, call, complete a form, whatever is appropriate. And so you don’t throw cold water on your prospect – make sure that however you continue the conversation one-on-one, you maintain the same level of seduction.