The name sounds a little too familiar, doesn’t it? You must be wondering, “Where have I heard of this before?” Well, you are right – I have borrowed it from the famous “Doctor Strange: The Madness of Multiverse” movie. Just as the realities change with a simple shift in actions in the fictional story, so do our marketing results in real-time – so much in common. But how could a story be so relevant to the reality we are living in? This is exactly what we will discover throughout this article, and by the end, you, my dear readers, can let me know if this article had the potential to drive some change in your reality, possibly some positive ones (cross my fingers).
• What’s All the Fuss About?
Let’s understand it hypothetically, shall we?
In Universe A, this blog creates a sensation—it becomes a buzz-worthy post that people go gaga over!
In Universe B, my post fails to garner the attention it was supposed to and soon vanishes into nothingness.
But how does this happen?
With every word I write in the blog, I invoke different emotions, which, from a broader perspective, translate into positive or negative reactions, much like how Doctor Strange creates infinite realities when he tries to save America Chavez in the movie. So, each of my decisions to choose particular words has to be precise and in sync with the preferences of the target audience. Otherwise, I risk ending up like the Sinister Strange from Earth 838 or Zombie Strange.
• Into the World of Examples: From the Copywriting Perspective
1. Picture the PPC ad!
You launch a PPC ad, wherein you promote your revamped SaaS product. There are two scenarios: one leads you to a pit and the other lands you the pot of gold. In both cases, however, you have the same target audience, the same visuals, and the same landing page where it is dropped. So, the million-dollar question is: why does one fail in one universe and the other soars high in the second one?
What really happened here?
You tweaked the headline a little – that’s what invoked a bunch of positive/ negative emotions and changed the results for you.
Is This Even Real?
Universe A Headline: Our platform now has 5 more features!
Outcome: The target audience fails to connect with the product; hence, low emotional engagement, CTR, and lead generation.
Universe B Headline: Introducing our game changer: the key to unlocking your team’s full potential.
Outcome: The target audience buys into the emotion of higher productivity and more success, which increases the CTR and contributes to the lead conversion process..
2. The Engaging Email Campaign or not?
You launch an email campaign to demonstrate an upgrade in your project management software to the COO. While the outcome in Universe A is negative, your actions lead to just the right amount of engagement and conversion in Universe B.
What changed?
The subject line!
Is This Even Real?
Universe A Subject Line: Check out the brand-new project management features on our platform!
Outcome: Low email open rate and conversions stick to a minimum, thanks to the weightless chatter about the product.
Universe B Subject Line: Take up more projects and deliver the existing ones -- all at 10x your current speed!
Outcome: All-time high open rate and increased conversions. You owe it to the clear and precise words (10x) used.
• Not Just A Your Average Piece of Advice
Dreamwalk Into Your Customer’s Reality
The Movie Reference
In the movie, Dreamwalking (an action) lets Doctor Strange control himself in another universe.
The Marketing Parallel
Remember, it’s not just about the features of your product, but what your customer gains from it-- so dreamwalk into their goals and desires. They buy, so you build! Therefore, it makes sense to prioritise learning how your features can affect their success -- weave that into words when reaching out to them.
Your Data is Your Darkhold: It can trap you into darkness if not used judiciously
The Movie Reference
The Darkhold (a magical book) gives great power to the bearer but becomes dangerous if misused.
The Marketing Parallel
Picture this: You had a product with great potential, but it failed because of the words you used while marketing it. You have data (in the form of metrics) for the same; study it and see how you can succeed. Neglecting the data, thinking it’s bogus, can only lead to failure.
Avoid The Incursion At All Costs
The Movie Reference
In the movie, when two universes collide (an Incursion), both realities are destroyed.
The Marketing Parallel
Do not stuff your content with too many ideas; instead, be wise enough to put out one message at a time, whether writing a subject line for an email, a headline for a PPC, or any other form of content.
• It Ends Here
Since you are here, I think I have done a fair enough job to have you hooked into my piece -- for the better, I hope. And because we will be parting our ways briefly, let me wrap it up by asking you to pause and reflect on what you have learned here today and implement it to unlock your best reality. To actually land in a universe where you experience success with your copywriting, you need to swear by these words.
In any case, I have a few more posts lined up for the same series; they shall be titled Design and the Madness of Multiverse, Audience Targeting and the Madness of Multiverse. Hope you stay tuned for these.