The power of negative thinking

In his book "Breakthrough Copywriting", copywriting ace David Garfinkel teaches a persuasion principle he calls "negative optimism", which he defines as "the optimal use of negative thinking in your copy".

Here are the steps to writing copy based on negative optimism:

1. Acknowledge the negative thoughts and emotions the prospect may be thinking or feeling; e.g., "You think you got problems. I'm sure you do. We all have problems. I remember..."

2. Validate these negatives by talking about your own experience or about someone else's experience. Talk about how hopeless and overwhelmed you felt.

Note: If you can't talk about it from your own personal experience, don't make something up. Find someone who had this experience, understand what it was, and talk about it from their point of view.

3. Reveal that you found a solution and then transition by promising to share your solution with your prospect.