What The TV Show Criminal Minds Can Tell You About Copywriting

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By William Ballard

Some once said, “A belief is not merely an idea that the mind possess, it is an idea that possess the mind.” – Author Unknown

The question I am presenting to you today is, “What makes a prospect respond to a call-to-action, and actually be happy doing so?” I believe I have found the answer to that question in the television series Criminal Minds.

Yes, I know that sounds a bit crazy, but what you are about discover in this blog post will give you a life changing paradigm shift in your perception.

What you need to understand is that behavior (responding to a call-to-action) is triggered by an emotional release. However, the real question is what triggers the emotional release, not so much what triggers the behavior.

An emotional release is triggered by a logical impulse (or what I like to call the art of inception).
Ignite the logical impulse of your prospects brain, or mental vibration, and the behavior you desire your prospect to commit is inevitable. The following will explain this concept and develop you into the expert “profiler” you need to be in order to ensure that you are able to truly deliver the ideal solution your prospect is looking for.

Behavior is Triggered by an Emotional Release

If you are truly and sincerely looking to provide the best solution for the need your ideal prospects are having you must first walk in their shoes and experience what they experience. You must know everything there is to know about them so that you are able to know exactly how to provide the best solution for their needs.

Sometimes the ending is the best place to begin. In other words, before you can convince a prospect that your product or service is the best solution for their needs, they must first convince you that they are, and this is done by reviewing their past behavior. Start from the end and work your way back to the beginning.

You see, it is important to understand that every action or behavior is triggered by an emotional release. In other words, our emotions are like Sergeants in the military and our bodies are like the privates or corporals of the military. Our emotions give the orders to our bodies and our bodies obey and respond to those orders.

However, unlike the military, our bodies do not have an independent thought of their own. You see, there is a reason why people say such things as, “This thing or that thing must have a mind of its own.” It is because the mind gives the orders for the “thing” to act or behave in some way. Without a mental element, bodies are “lifeless”. Or, in other words, bodies will not act without an order given to it by a mental element.

Therefore, when you know the emotional element that triggers a desired behavior (such as a prospect buying your product or hiring you for your professional service) then you are able to trigger that emotion again and again.

In the case of the TV show Criminal Minds, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI first look at the behavior of an UNSUB (Unknown Subject) in order to discover the emotional trigger (or “stressor” as they most commonly refer to it as). In other types of detective units of law enforcement, they search for a motive, but with the BAU they search for a stressor (or emotional trigger).

As copywriters (or profilers in your own right), you must do the same. You must find the stressor or emotional trigger that ignites the desired behavior that you are looking for.

Every Emotional Release is Triggered by a Point of Logical (or Rational) Reasoning (The Point of Inception)

So, by now you know that you are looking for a particular emotional trigger that will ignite the behavior that you are looking for your prospect to commit, however, that is not enough. You must understand that inside every emotional trigger lies a logical or rational reasoning.

You see, once you know the stressor (or emotional trigger) that discovery will lead you to the point of logical or rational reasoning for the stressor. For example, in every episode of Criminal Minds, the show starts with the UNSUB or killer committing one of his or her criminal acts (of course, without you seeing the killer), and then transitioning to the BAU team who is reviewing the case of past killings. In doing so, the team is looking at the behavior of the UNSUB at each past crime scene, or in other words, clues that have been left behind to reveal certain aspects of the killers thinking or reasoning.

They find the emotional trigger and then discover the logical or rational reasoning that inspires the emotional desire. Consider the term “Sublime” which means: Impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe or veneration (Dictionary.com). We get the term subliminal from this word (consider the idea of subliminal messaging).

The term subliminal means: existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the behavior of the individual (Dictionary.com).

Every UNSUB in the TV show Criminal Minds is acting out a behavior that has been ordered by their emotions, and which was sublimely inspired by a logical or rational experience. This discovery is more like a revelation for the BAU and what ultimately leads them to their killer.

In the case of copywriting, the obvious behavior you are looking for is for your prospect to respond to your call-to-action (join your newsletter, buy your product or service, etc.), but in order to get that response you must know the emotion that will trigger or give the order for that particular response. In order to know that emotional trigger you must know the logical or rational reasoning that fuels that emotion.

In other words, your copy must be written in such a way that your prospects can relate to or connect to your message on a logical or rational level, and once you are able to make that connection your prospects emotions will become sublime or powerfully inspired to commit the behavior or action that you are looking for.

The question you need to ask your self is, “How does my product or service help my ideal prospect, customer, buyer, or client on a logical level?” Once you know that, then as your write your copy, write it from your ideal prospects perspective. This way your own emotional impulses are influenced by the point of logical reasoning (or the point of inception) and will fuel your writing on an emotional level, which will then guide you to the most powerful call-to-action.

To Get the Response (or Result) You Want From Your Prospect, Work Your Way Back From the Desired Action or Behavior into the Prospect’s Mind Where the Point of Inception Occurs

In closing, what you have learned today is that every action or behavior is triggered by an emotional release. Without an emotional release, there is no behavior. But without a point of logical or rational reasoning (or point of inception) there is no emotional release.

When you find the behavior you want, you discover the emotional release, and when you find the emotional trigger (or stressor), you will uncover the point of inception.

Follow this process every time before you begin write your copy, and in doing so, your prospect will have no other choice by to comply with your call-to-action.

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About William Ballard

Freelance Writer, Copywriter, Blogger, Inbound Marketing Specialist, and Author, William Ballard, helps small businesses and entrepreneurs, like you, broadcast their message across the Internet (and offline) and be seen as experts in their field. He has recently been dubbed the Expert Marketer of Writing.

William, a writer and content creator since 2007, enjoys sharing with others his experience on how to become a successful writer, blogger, and author. View more about William Ballard →

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