Copywriters and magicians have a lot more in common than you think. Great copywriters are literary wizards, word hypnotists and masters of persuasion. Spellbinding audiences through carefully crafted phrases, closed-door techniques and psychologically designed situations are tricks that both magicians and copywriters keep hidden up their sleeves. The question is: how can writers use these methods to their advantage? Sit back and prepare to be amazed...
1. Attention Management
In a world of instant gratification, audience’s attention spans are at an all time low. With attention at such a high premium it’s hard to break the mold, but not impossible. Author Henry David Thoreau claims, “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” Magicians and copywriters achieve their desired effects by only showing you what they want you to see. Once you grab your audience’s attention, you can steer it where you want it to go – and away from where you don’t. As master pickpocket Apollo Robbins explains in his TED talk, “You can’t attend to something that you're not aware of…” The same holds true for copywriting, where the main goal is to direct the audience’s focus on your takeaway message and call to action.
2. The Illusion of Truth
Pen and Teller create interest by repeating the same trick again and again, turning water into coins and dropping it into the fishbowl. Then – when our brains are on autopilot, expecting the same outcome as the last two times – something different happens to catch the audience off-guard. The repetition within the trick makes it more “real” in the audience’s minds, as they watch Teller continuously turn water into coins. This is the illusory truth effect in action; the more you hear a message, the more likely you are to believe it’s true. Repetition often works better with a subtle approach – especially when combined with storytelling tactics. Before you know it, your smooth, rhythmic copy will have readers eating out of your hands.
3. Disrupt Then Frame!
Another sleight of hand technique used by magicians and copywriters is called Disrupt Then Reframe (DTR), or what hypnotists refer to as the ‘Handshake Induction’. They achieve this by creating a distraction that disrupts audiences’ resistance – making them more susceptible to persuasive framing. This is one trick that Dynamo likes to play, when he shuffles his cards “dynamo style.” Once our subconscious mind is occupied, it puts the rest of our brain in a trance-like state that is much more receptive to cleverly planted information. Subtle interruptions and manipulation of focus aren’t new to magic, advertising or psychology fields – but they sure are effective!
4. Close All The Doors
Don’t be fooled by all the smoke and mirrors - ‘closing the doors’ is what should concern you the most. The key to every successful performance, sales pitch or marketing exercise is stomping objections. To suspend disbelief, magicians (and copywriters) work to dispel every last bit of doubt in your mind by addressing your concerns… then squashing them like bugs. Think he’s hiding things up his sleeve? The master magician rolls them up to his elbows and performs the same feat again, leaving you with only one logical explanation: it must be magic!
Studies have shown that the brain appreciates speed more than accuracy, so to overcome objections you need to anticipate them before they arise. Copywriters ‘close all the doors’ by adding testimonials, statistics and social proof into their writing – convincing audiences that your products and services are the only logical solutions to their business problems.
5. Mental Forcing
Another trick in the magician’s toolkit is ‘mental forcing’ or ‘creating the illusion of choice.’ At Wordsmith, we like to call it ‘consumer empowerment.’ Creating the perception that the audience is in control, the magician invites you to “Pick a card. Any card.” Seems fair, right? It’s only when you examine the deck that you realise all the cards are the same…
British magician Derren Brown uses this technique extensively during his performances, choosing audience volunteers “at random” by throwing a Frisbee into the crowd, or casting a net for audience members to submit “unprepared” questions. While it seems like audiences are in control of the process, it’s all just part of the illusion.
In the end it all comes down to your hypnotic words. Magicians’ "patter" (the script they deliver during their tricks) involves humour, confidence, storytelling and perplexing anecdotes to sustain audience’s interest throughout the performance – and the same holds true for copywriters. By controlling the discussion, eliminating objections, disrupting conventions, creating truth and guiding attention, your next piece of copy will thrill audiences and leave them spellbound. Just don’t let readers in on the trick!