online and noted all the other similar ads running for places
like hers. It was clear she had to word her ad differently.
I suggested she begin her ad with a question. Since all the
other ads simple declared, “Great location!” or “Great
view!” she needed to stand out from the crowd. So we went
with: “Do you like walking, hiking, or just watching trees
and birds?” She liked the headline and used it in her ad.
What did you notice?
On the denotation level, the message is along the lines of just the
facts: I helped Nerissa by creating a unique headline for her.
But on the connotation level the communication is more like,
“If you want an ad written, call Joe. Even his girlfriend goes to him
in a pinch.”
When you create your own Hypnotic Selling Stories, keep in
mind there are two messages being communicated: the direct one
and the indirect one.
The first should hold the attention of people.
The second should sell them.
In fact, this entire chapter has a denotation and a connotation.
The denotation is that every story has two meanings.
What is the connotation?
(Hint: It’s whatever you concluded from the chapter. There is no
right or wrong answer.)
My friend Blair Warren, author of the powerful book The For-
bidden Keys to Persuasion, says this:
“One reason stories are so persuasive is that they allow peo-
ple to draw their own conclusions. Ironically, the conclusion
drawn must be based on the material as presented in the
story—material placed there by the storyteller. Thus, the les-
son for persuasion is, tell a story that doesn’t “ram a conclu-
sion down your audience’s throat,” but one that naturally
leads your audience to make the conclusion that supports
your proposition. As the following excerpt explains, peopleHYPNOTIC WRITING