Illusory superiority, the above-average effect, the superiority bias, the leniency error, and the primus interpares effect all are meant to define pretty much the same thing – most people think they are better (or unquestionably different) than the average people. “Yea maybe for them, but…” is the default response of our reader, even if it’s subconscious. With our “even if” introduction we’re taking the common objection away from our reader.
This insight into our readers will also will help us stop making assumptions about people’s need for our offer. If everyone thinks they’re special and unique their initial reaction to our arguments is “It might work for them, but it won't work for me.” Understanding this will help us craft better openings to our arguments, building a better case for reading further.
A subtle goal we should keep in mind is that everything we write should, in some way, keep our reader engaged and moving down the page.
“What’s important is that you start addressing a person’s objections before they even have a chance to think them. Your prospect feels like you can read their mind – and that your product can actually solve their problems.” - Benyamin Elias - Dir. Content Marketing @ Active Campaign
Example: The exercise program that help even the most time crushed person lose weight!
Even if Introduction: Even if you don’t have hours to spend at the gym, this unique program can work for you, let me explain. (Keep building, here you can even start talking in terms of your own experience.) I used to get overwhelmed thinking about the time commitment I’d have to make if I really wanted to reach my fitness goals, I’m sure you can relate. Time is something we all could use more of, and with all the demands of daily life it can be easy to conclude that if something’s going to get cut, it’s exercise. But here’s the truth, you can accomplish so much more, in so much less time, if you simply take a few moment’s to learn the “80/20 rule of fitness.” Below you’ll find the routine even the most time crunched person can use to get noticeable results, fast! —
After our introduction it’s time to jump into the meat of our topic.
If this is an email, we may choose to send them directly to our offer at this point with a call to action to “find out more”. If this is a sales page we can continue our content marketing piece by sharing the “outline” of our training, focusing more on the benefits of each steps than the techniques, eventually leading to our call to action to buy if they want to get the full system. As a content piece (blog post, ebook, white-paper) we still want to focus on the benefits, but our reader can benefit from a bit deeper dive into the tactical parts of our topic; eventually leading to a call to action to learn about our offer. We’ll dive further into the tactical content in Method 7 - Teach, Transform, Transact.
