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It's what tells you when you've used the wrong word, or when you're hitting a wrong note with an explanation. If you're really "in tune" with your prospect, you'll feel what's right and what's not in your copy.

This takes some practice. How much depends on how well you communicate in the first place, and how comfortable you are with putting yourself in someone else's shoes.

Remember, unless you’re selling a book on seduction or child-rearing or the like, you don’t want to hit these notes head on. You want to consider which aspect of the process your product addresses and tailor your copy to the emotions that would exist if the prospect were to achieve the state they’re buying.

You do that by painting pictures of the state and using language that drives home that your product can help them achieve that state.

For instance, consider the following situation: You come home. A woman meets you at the door. You have dinner. You get a phone call. You listen to some music.

Those are the facts of the case. How the prospect perceives them depends on the emotional parts of the description. They are very different, for example, if the woman is described as your maid, your wife, your current girlfriend or your daughter.

The description of the house will change the “state” that’s created in the prospect’s mind, as will what you actually have for dinner.

The phone call is a perfect state-setter. What is it about?

What kind of music do you listen to, and with whom? What are you doing while you listen? What else is going on around you?

If you’re describing an autoresponder system, you can tailor your copy in much the same way. The ability to schedule follow-ups could be portrayed as a matter of control (power), convenience (freedom), automation (security), professionalism (prestige), or even technical sophistication (luxury).

A lot of you probably just read that and thought, “So what? He’s talking about benefit statements. I already knew that!”

You’d be almost right to think that.

The difference between copy that uses this effectively and copy that doesn’t can be very subtle. It’s a matter of awareness and the consistency of the state you evoke. There are specific and powerful emotions that are associated with each part of the spectrum that leads to reproductive success. You want to keep these in mind while writing.

For example, suppose you’ve just delivered a strong summary of the benefits that your product will deliver to the middle manager who follows its advice. It grabs the reader’s attention and makes it clear that you really can help them advance in their firm, get more and larger raises and do it all more efficiently.

Many copywriters would stop there. All they’ve really done is convinced the prospect they can upgrade their own “feature set” by making the purchase. That will work often enough to make the ad profitable, but it leaves a lot of money on the table.

How much more effective do you think it would be if they added something that created a feeling of the state that your prospect desires?

Paint a picture of what they can do with the extra money and time and security. Tailor it to the desires that are typical of the person most likely to want your product. In this case, middle management, you would be talking about primarily married folk with children and not a lot of disposable income. The provider/teaching stage. So, you’d describe a better house and car, better schools for the kids, more time with the family... Things like that.

If your prospects are younger women and your product relates to their own self-image, you’d address very different things. Confidence, attractiveness and relationships (romantic and otherwise) would be among the top triggers.