Hook And Reel Them In | Copywriters Best Friend

One of the copywriters best friends is the 'hook point'.

Using a hook, the copywriter forces the reader to latch on to the copy until his curiosity and hope that the hook point instills becomes satisfied.

In simple terms. The hook is the big attention grabber of the sales piece.

Position vs Hook

The position reflects the broad beliefs, frustrations and desires of the prospect in relation to your products/services USP.

Positioning is about creating a single slot in the prospects mind where he pins your product to
a position is only one position.

Kleenex = tissues

Fairy = washing up liquid

Heineken = beer

Red bull = energy drink

The narrower you can focus the position, by creating a new category in the market, the better.

First there was beer. Miller, Heinekn, Carlsberg. Which to choose?

Then there was Miller Light. A 'light' beer. So if you was concerned about callories and weight, Miller Light owned the position in your mind for the best beer to have.

You can use the following format to help identify your company/product positioning statement.

My product helps [whom?] do [what?] better than any other product in the world by [how?]

The Hook

And the hook is the specific concept that forces them to be interested specifically in what you have to say.

You can have a product position and a specific hook for a specific promotion. You will not always use the same hook, but you always have the same position.

E.g. John Carlton uses this as his opening body copy paragraph.

There are four 'dirty little secrets' among professional golfers… secrets that no amateur ever learns on their own… and the professionals like it that way

The hook is the 4 secrets alluded to, that the golfing prospects will then want to know.

When you next judge the merit of a piece of copy, try to identify the actual hook. Which should be used very early on in the piece, but not necessarily in the headline itself.

Originally posted 2008-05-24 15:51:51.

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