A few weeks ago, I was going through the great A-list copywriter, Kim Krause Schwalm’s course, and she reminded me of something I had learned a few years ago.

She said when you’re doing research for copy, there are 3 levels of information you can gather:

Level 1: Things your prospect is aware of and is willing to tell you (e.g. wanting to lose weight because of your health).

Level 2: Things your prospect is aware of but is too ashamed to admit to you (e.g. their ex leaving them because of their weight).

Level 3: Things your prospect is not even consciously aware that is related to their problems (e.g. many people that are obese were abused when they were younger and develop an unhealthy relationship with food as a result).

Now, when writing your marketing message (emails, ads, sales pages, etc), you need to utilize all the information you know about your prospect … however, you have to be careful:

For level 1 information, you can put it outrightly in your sales copy and it will be accepted by your prospect.

You could still say level 2 information, but you have to be careful.

However, for level 3 information, you cannot directly mention it in your sales copy, or your prospect would simply be turned off.

What do you do in this case?

You hint at it.

There are things that can be said and will be readily accepted by your prospect, but there are things that can only be hinted at for them to be fully accepted.

And usually, what is implied is more powerful than what is said, because your best ally is your prospects’ imagination.

This reminds me of the story of Joseph in the Bible:

Joseph was sold by his 11 brothers because he was his father’s favorite child.

However, after selling Joseph, they dipped his robe in blood and sent it to their father, but they didn’t say that Joseph was killed. Instead, they said:

“We found this robe, please identify whether it is for your son or not.” (i.e. they hinted at it).

And Joseph’s father (Jacob) said:

“It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”

And the Bible goes on to say that Jacob tore his garments and mourned his son for many days.

That is the power of allowing someone’s imagination to do all the work for you.

Just remember, there are things that can be said outrightly and will be accepted … however, there are things that must only be implied if you want to get the maximum response from your marketing efforts.

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