Direct marketing is a lot like fishing. And not just because people and goldfish have similar attention spans.

After decades of writing a wide variety of direct response campaigns, I’ve found that approaching the messaging like a fisherman approaches his sport is one of the most effective ways to create high converting copy.

That’s why I call this approach the Fisherman Framework. Here’s what’s involved:

Lure or bait

The first step in the Fisherman Framework is to entice your target audience. Just as fishermen choose specific lures or bait to attract specific types of fish, you should choose your lure to attract your specific audience segment. What’s in it for them?

If your target audience already knows your company and has a desire for your product, then an attractive offer, such as a sale, could be an effective lure.

For prospects who are in the first few stages of awareness (or any of the stages for that matter), the lure will be the benefit of what you’re offering. Since benefits are about the reader more than the product, this may vary for different segments.

For simplicity, though, you can break this down into Pain and Gain. Your lure will be something that alleviates pain or helps the reader gain something worthwhile.

Pain points are the motivation behind many products and services, and they are great motivators for your marketing prospects as well. The more immediate and frustrating the pain point, the better it is for a lure.

Let’s say your prospects have been in debt for years due to high credit card APRs. They may feel like they they’ll never get ahead of it despite making monthly payments. Being able to finally break free from the debt treadmill would be a great lure for a 0% APR credit card offer.

Promising a gain can also be effective, especially if it is tied to a strong emotion like greed or pride. People want to get more money, be more attractive to the opposite sex, and increase their status, just to name a few things.

Toothpastes that tout whiter teeth are a good example. That’s one of the benefits of the product, but the real lure is improving the user’s appearance. The copy should tap into that early and often.

Hook

You only have a few seconds to engage your reader. If you don’t hook him in your opening, you could lose him before you even get started.

Great openings often use emotions, curiosity, or a combination of the two to hook readers.

Consider these examples from successful direct mail campaigns:

“These must be the best-kept secrets at the IRS.”

“I’m sitting here in my wheelchair today, mad as hell, trying to control my anger, but without much success.”

“America has a drug problem, but it’s not the one you think.”

What are those secrets at the IRS? Maybe they can help me keep more of my hard-earned income.

Why is the writer so angry? Is the answer going to make me angry, too?

What kind of drug problem is it then? Should I be worried?

The reader has to keep reading to find out the answers to these questions.

Hooks aren’t just for letters, though. Here’s an example from a famous print ad:

The first sentence in this VW ad is “This Volkswagen missed the boat.” That’s not what you’d expect to read in a Volkswagen ad, so you naturally want to know more. What was wrong with it and why are you admitting it?

Reel

Once a fisherman has a fish on the line, it’s time to reel it in. The same is true with your marketing.

After hooking your readers, you need to reel them in by overcoming potential doubts, objections and anything else that puts distance between them and the sale.

These are just a few specific ways to do that.

Present benefits. The more readers understand what the product or service will do for them, the more value they will see in it. Paint a picture of how the reader’s life will be better once he or she responds to your offer. 

Answer questions. Doubt kills conversion. That’s why you need to anticipate readers’ questions and provide answers. Some common ones include: How does it work? Will it work for me? What makes it different than alternative solutions? Why should I believe you?

Offer proof. It’s natural to be skeptical of claims made in advertisements. Backing them up is the best way to counter that. When possible, show results as specifically as possible through things like statistics, before and after images, and demonstrations.

Social proof is another great way to build credibility. Include testimonials. State how many customers your have. Show the media companies where your product or service has been covered.

Reduce friction. If you want people to respond to your offer, you need to make it easy. Anything that gets in the way of that is friction. Make your offer easy to understand, easy to take advantage of (limit the number of fields in forms, for instance) and as low pressure as possible.

Catch

In this final step, you get the reader to take the action you want. It requires a strong call to action and, ideally, a bit of urgency.

The best calls to action reiterate the offer and emphasize the benefit of taking action. “Sign up for your streaming music free trial” is not as strong as “Start your free trial and put millions of songs at your fingertips today.”

But you don’t want to just tell the reader why she should respond. You should tell her why she needs to respond now. If she procrastinates, you may lose her forever.

Create urgency with expiration dates, limited quantities or fear of missing out on the full benefits.

Try the Fisherman Framework the next time you need to write high converting copy

Even if you’ve had success with other copywriting frameworks such as AIDA or PAS, the Fisherman Framework is worth testing out. You’ll be glad you did.

Happy fishing!