10 Questions to Improve Your Advertising

Writing copy can feel like throwing darts.

Copywriting frameworks are templates that help you organize your writing to maximize persuasion.

I came across a book called The Sixteen Word Sales Letter by a guy named Evaldo Albuquerque.

Evaldo writes for Agora Financial, which generates hundreds of millions in revenue per year from effective sales copy.

The book explains how he writes copy quickly and effectively:

“The secret to converting copy is to define the one belief, then answer these ten questions.”

What’s the One Belief?

Below we’ll break down each of the 10 questions…

But first…

The Funniest Commercial Ever

I don’t normally watch or enjoy commercials.

But this is the FUNNIEST commercial I’ve seen in years, if not ever.

Watch it or die.

10 Questions Your Copy Should Answer

To support your one belief, your copy should address the following 10 questions.

1. How is this different from everything else I’ve seen?

   Explain your offer’s unique value proposition.

2. What’s in it for me?

   Self interest is supreme. Explain the benefits.

3. How do I know this is real?

   Establish legitimacy with social proof and testimonials.

4. What’s holding me back?

   Name and disarm common objections.

5. Who/what is to blame?

   Explain why competing products/services haven’t worked (it’s not their fault).

6. Why now?

   Urgency. Focus on the potential gain or opportunity cost at hand.

7. Why should I trust you?

   Establish credibility.

8. How does it work?

   Make it easy and quick.

9. How can I get started?

   Minimize friction.

10. What do I have to lose?

    Minimize / remove risk.

While The Sixteen Word Sales Letter is intended for writing sales copy, it’s a valuable framework for any marketing.

• Organize your landing pages to answer these questions in turn

• Brainstorm ad angles answering each question separately

• Anticipate responses to your offer and make it stronger

I’m guilty of recognizing the value of frameworks yet failing to organize them so they’re on hand when I need them.

I wrote this post to save this framework for myself.

If it helps you, bookmark it or share it with a friend.

And I highly recommend buying the book if you found this useful.

-Brian

PS - here’s an effective ChatGPT prompt you can use to generate big ideas and alluring benefits for anything you’re marketing.