Lesson 16: How connectivity is the key to linking Sam, your offering, and you

All about the fourth of the 4 Cs

This week you’ll finally write your headline. And to do that, you need to learn the last of the 4 Cs.

Connectivity.

To understand connectivity, let me give you a quick refresher on the basic principle behind the 4C Cipher. Back when I introduced it in lesson #3, I told you that it was not a formula for putting words together. Rather, it is a system for putting thoughts together.

Thoughts = ideas + emotions

Everything comes down to thought sequences because marketing takes place in Sam’s mind. The whole process of writing copy and using it in campaigns is a process of adjusting Sam’s mental innards, forming and filling his mind, to the point where he konws he should give you as much money as possible as often as possible — because in exchange you are going to give him something he wants.

Well, connectivity is all about the relationships and progressions between thoughts.

A very simple example is in basic logical reasoning:

1. All men are mortal

2. Socrates is a man

3. Therefore, Socrates is mortal

Now, this isn’t a lesson on logic per se, but connectivity certainly starts with logic. Suffice to say the three thoughts above are related, and the relationship is progressive and obvious.

This is a very basic example, and things get a lot more complicated with marketing, but ultimately it all comes back to connecting one thought with another in a logical sequence, until we reach whatever thought it is we want Sam to have (“I should sign up here” or “I should buy this product now” or whatever).

Where it gets complicated is that thoughts include emotions. So you need to build not just a logical sequence, but also an emotional one.

I guess it goes without saying that this is something with a lot of moving parts, and so we’re not going to exhaustively cover it in one lesson (and we wouldn’t want to). Today, I’m going to give you a high-level view and explain connectivity from 50,000 feet — how it works over the entire course of a customer relationship. Then later, I’ll bring it down to ground level and talk about connectivity in your sales page, and specifically in your headline.

To start, here are the three critical elements which must come together for connectivity to be “complete” and effective in any sequence of copy...