This is a concept I got from the book Great Leads and has really helped my flow in writing marketing emails for ColorBliss.

It's a simple idea:

The concept was that every great promotion has, at its core, a single, powerful idea.

But something that's easy to overlook. When I look back at all the email broadcasts and sequences I've sent over the past two years, very rarely am I communicating one powerful idea. I'm very scattershot--a list of all product updates, here are some things to try, etc.

Here are Ogilvy’s exact words on the crucial importance of the Big Idea: “Big Ideas. Unless your advertising is built on a Big Idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. It takes a Big Idea to jolt the consumer out of his indifference — to make him notice your advertising, remember it, and take action.

I think this gets to a deeper point--based your copy on one big idea, and then everything in that copy supports or builds on that one idea--including the call to action. The call to action should be the natural next step from your big idea.

Here is a sample from the book:

Subject Line: The Easiest Product to Sell Online

Dear Early to Riser, Would you be interested in investing $175 to make $20,727? That’s exactly what Bob Bly just accomplished!

See how he did it below … and how easily you could do the same.

MaryEllen Tribby ETR Publisher

Dear Friend,

There’s no product easier to create or sell online … … than a simple, straightforward instructional or how-to e-book.

Why are e-books the perfect information product to sell on the Internet?

• 100% profit margin. • No printing costs. • No inventory to store. • Quick and easy to update. • No shipping costs or delays. • Higher perceived value than regular books. • Quick, simple, and inexpensive to produce.

My very first e-book has generated $20,727 in sales (so far). My total investment in producing it: just $175.

Now, I want to show you how to make huge profits creating and selling simple e-books — in my new e-book “Writing E-Books for Fun & Profit.” Normally my e-books sell for anywhere from $29 to $79, and later this year, “Writing E-Books for Fun & Profit” will sell for $59.

However, to make it affordable for you to get started in e-book publishing, I’m letting you have “Writing E-Books for Fun & Profit” for only $19 today — a savings of $40 off the cover price!

For more information … or to order on a risk-free 90-day trial basis … just click here now.

Sincerely, Bob Bly

P.S. But, I urge you to hurry. This special $40 discount is for a limited time only. And once it expires, it may never be repeated again.

Some key principles:

  • A great idea is
    • Big enough to stir interest
    • easy to understand
    • immediately convincing
    • clearly useful to the reader
  • "The Rule of One is not only one big, central idea. It’s a fully engaging piece of copy with five necessary elements":
    • One good idea
    • One core emotion
    • One captivating story
    • One single benefit
    • One inevitable response
  • "So, the idea has to be strong. Yet, it also has to be easy to understand. And easy to believe. That last part — being easy to believe — is key."
  • Lead your advertisement with one, and only one, powerful idea
  • Make sure that the idea creates an emotion, a single emotion, which will compel the reader to respond
  • Make sure that the idea creates an emotion, a single emotion, which will compel the reader to respond
  • Support that idea with one engaging story or compelling fact
  • Direct the reader to one, and only one, action

You can see all my highlights / notes from the book here: Great Leads.

Pro tip - copy this content, pull your latest marketing email, and then ask your favorite LLM to reimagine your email using the rule of one.