Something interesting arrived in the e-mail this morning. A link to something called the AdWords Black Book and out of sheer curiosity, I took it upon myself to visit the site.

The AdWords Black Book is sold out, however, if you’re looking to get started with AdWords, check out AdWords Miracle.

Lately, I’ve been completely enamoured with sales letters and the varying techniques that marketers use to get their points across, so it should be no surprise that I took a shine to the AdWords Black Book sales letter.

So much so that I added it to my swipe file. It’s not often that I go around swiping sales letters simply because so many sales letters are very cookie cutter and unvaried.

Okay, I don’t care much for the giant black book idea above the fold and requiring a user to click or scroll before they get to read the information, but the concept is interesting.

It should be known that I don’t just read the words of the sales letter, that’s not entirely what makes a good sales letter. I look at the fonts, the colors, the imagery, and the story line.

Three elements that I caught right away and thought were worth testing on some of my own sales letters.

  • Mystery - you’ll notice reading through that it doesn’t start with the standard “From the desk of…” and nowhere does the author mention his name. He actually offers an explanation of why he’s chosen to remain anonymous[1].
  • Scarcity - the author has limited the total number of copies that he will sell to 500 in order not to saturate the market and create an unnecessary amount of competition. The author even mentions this limited quantity and hammers home the limited quantities message multiple times throughout the sales letter
  • Jedi mind tricks - well, not so much Jedi mind tricks, but it is a good dose of marketing psychology. Only wise, secure, experienced, and even a little naughty marketers are to purchase this book according to the sales letter. The information is super top secret amongst the pros and people naturally have a desire to be accepted. They want to be on the inside loop and that may help to bolster sales.

There are a few more notable techniques used in the AdWords Black Book sales letter, but nothing that’s not being done to death by other marketers.

Definitely a nice quick lesson in marketing tactics.

1 - Though the author attempts to conceal his identity, it’s not that difficult to figure out who he is with a little ingenuity. I believe The Rich Jerk did a much better job of concealing his identity. Though most know who he is by now, it’s still being debated to this day.

The AdWords Black Book is sold out, however, if you’re looking to get started with AdWords, check out AdWords Miracle.

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