Where Sales Copy Fails

Sales Copy is one of the most important things to learn and master in order to become successful. But it's not THE most important...

Communication is key, whether you are trying to squeeze a huge marketing message into a small classified ad or Adwords box... or writing a 9 page sales letter... or corresponding with potential clients via snail mail or email. Your copywriting skills could certainly give you the competitive edge!

However, it's not the "be all end all" of marketing. Several of us got into a discussion over at Turning Ideas Into Dollars (private membership site) regarding marketing and marketers - who's who, and why, what differentiates them and - well, just a whole slew of personal thoughts and observations. It really brought up a lot of good points...

One of those points was about copy vs reputation. Here were my comments on that (minus the details):


I honestly didnt read the copy... as I was pre-sold on hearing [Marketer X] after having just recently gotten my hands on the [Product].

Similar to the [Product] by [Marketer Z] - the copy almost talked me OUT of buying the guide, but I was pre-sold on having the info. It was something I'd been on the hunt for... and then [Marketer Y] gave it a really good review and lead-in... so I bought anyway.

Which would lead me to believe that sometimes reputation or relationships overcome copy - - although I still say copy should be a super-high priority.

There are people with *excellent* copy out there that I just wont buy from due to prior experience with that person or their reputation. And people that I will buy from - or products I will buy, anyway - regardless of the copy.


Obviously this applies very heavily within the Internet Marketing group... but what about outside of it - in other industries? Would you agree that Brands, Names, Reputations & Relationships always overpower copy or sales messages - or are there exceptions?