Take 5 minutes, and read this:
8 powerful speech techniques used by Barack Obama
Good sales copy, in the words of the prophet, is salesmanship in text. And make no mistake, all those techniques ARE salesmanship.
Every one, from the repetitions to the tone to the focus on story, is designed to sell you – in this case, sell you on Barack Obama. Of course, to the crowd in front of him on election night, the sell was easy. To the people it was really aimed at – the 47% who didn’t vote for him, and in particular the moderate Republicans he’s going to want to work with – it’s rather harder.
Only time will tell if it worked, but regardless, these techniques are worth learning.
Your copy should sound like it’s being spoken. In particular, it should sound like it’s being spoken like this (the speech itself starts at 2:36):
And you can help it do that by incorporating the techniques outlined in that article. That speech is expertly designed to play on the emotions of its listeners and give them a common vision. The vision its deliverer wants them to have.
