them. But at least now you’ve gotten the communication. Relax.
Breathe. Smile. Ahhhhhh...
But what does all this translation business have to do with how I
write hypnotic sales letters, ads, and news releases?
In a nutshell, translating is exactlywhat I do in writing sales
copy. When someone hands me a technical manual on a new soft-
ware program—with the idea they want me to write a sales letter
for the software—what I do is translate that manual.
In short, I do the same thing the language translation web
site does. I simply look at what the manual says the software
does, and then I translate it into benefits that make sense to
you, the consumer. In a way, the manual is written for techies,
much like Italian is written for Italians. I have to translate both
so you can understand and make sense of them. If I don’t, you
won’t care.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
Recently I was hired to rewrite a brochure. My client handed
me their draft. It read well. There were lines such as, “When
was the last time you felt okay?” Well, nothing wrong with
that. It works. But I found a way to translate it into something
more meaningful, understandable, and emotional. And I did
it with just one word. I wrote, “When was the last time you
felt fantastic?”The translated line communicated better. It’s the difference be-
tween hearing the line in Italian or in English. As Mark Twain put
it, it’s the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
But maybe that example is too simple.At another point in their brochure they were trying to ex-
plain the concept of suppressing emotions and how sup-
pression could be harmful. Their words were fine, just as
Italian words are fine. But they didn’t communicate in a
way most people would hear. So I translated their words to,My Secret to Hypnotic Writing