Ever see the World War II film entitled: “A Bridge Too Far”… here’s the recap from Wikipedia:
The film tells the story of the failure of Operation Market Garden during World War II, the Allied attempt to break through German lines and seize several bridges in the occupied Netherlands, including one at Arnhem, with the main objective of outflanking German defenses.
The name for the film comes from an unconfirmed comment attributed to British Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, deputy commander of the First Allied Airborne Army, who told Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the operation's architect, before the operation: "I think we may be going a bridge too far."
Unlike many war films, this one recounts a major mistake… a massive error in terms of truly understanding the nature of the forces arrayed against them – which led to tragic and painful defeat.
This kind of “bridge too far” mistake is made in copywriting all too often. After grabbing attention with a significant, attention getting initial assault (ala the tale in the movie), the writer assumes all defenses are now spent and therefore you can coast the rest of the way… often with just a mere “slogan” or “catchphrase” - rather than making the serious effort to produce a substantive argument in their copywriting.
So you need to build a REAL bridge from “Attention” to “Close the Deal” – like this:
1. Ask people to do something it makes sense for them to do and that they might be reasonably expected to do. Give them a bridge to you that is non-threatening, safe and easy to walk across.
2. Gift them of something of immediate value just for walking across the bridge.