Copywriting
- Study
- Respect people’s intelligence
- Discuss – don’t sell – make your content informative
- Touch their emotions
- With your guidance, let them decide to make the purchase
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Copywriting really cannot be learned in a day. It actually requires lots of practice and you really should study other people’s copy before beginning.
First of all, customers want to feel like they have made the decision to make a purchase themselves. That is what is meant by the phrase that they do not want to be sold to. Rather than walking away with a purchase that they feel they were tricked into making based on some ludicrous sales pitch – they will feel better if they can justify the purchase. It is your job to give them the justification needed to make them feel good about their purchase. Always remember that you are dealing with a savvy consumer.
In today’s world most people know when they are reading hype and their intelligence is insulted. People are too intelligent to buy into a lame sales pitch. Why are people at the site in the first place? It’s because they are seeking information. You have to present information to them in a way that acknowledges and confirms what it is that they need to know. Then your copy should tell your readers that your product will provide that very information and it will end their dilemma.
Be sure to include the benefits of the product (the end result that the consumer will enjoy) – things like more money, better health, peace of mind, etc. Your job is to lead them to the ideal product – not necessarily to focus on the product itself – make it seem as though they are discovering it’s potential. Then, as intelligent beings, they are in control of making the very wise decision of purchasing the product you have presented to them.
Don’t try to ‘sell’ the customer on the technical aspect of something, instead, focus on selling them what they want. Try to get inside the potential customer’s head and discover the reasons they might be wanting such a product. For example, if you are writing in order to promote a plant fertilizer that magically results in faster growth of the plant and beautiful blooms — why do you suppose a customer would want such a product? There could be several reasons, like, maybe they want to save themselves some work, or maybe they want to produce prize-winning blooms, or maybe they want a plant to grow faster in order to establish privacy or a screening effect, etc. In most cases the customer really isn’t too concerned with all the chemical interactions that occur in order to make that happen, they are concerned with what they will get for their money. And what is that? You need to spell that out for them in simple but detailed terms. You can use a bulleted list if you like – in this case you might include such things as the following:
- You will enjoy a beautiful garden that is extremely easy to tend to.
- It will be weed free.
- It will be the envy of friends and neighbors.
- You will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment each time you gaze at the beauty you have created.
- And more..
From the list above you can see I was aiming to touch on things that would matter to the person. As people, we like for things to be about us. And if we find a product that meets ‘our’ personal needs and a sales letter to match, then we are very happy. We feel that we have a ‘friend’ in the company and the product. You could include statements like, XXXXX product can save you hours of gardening time, and the results will be more time to relax and enjoy the beautiful flowers you have grown from seedlings. That’s the magic of XXXXX product, you get all the glory and it does all the work. You’ll soon be recognized as the local gardening expert and envied by others. Just imagine how proud you will be when friends ask for gardening tips and advice.
Work to find a need that the customer may have for the product and fill it with the information you have on hand and creative use of words that refer to emotional needs. Anytime you can fill an emotional need you tug at their heart strings. Does that sound like manipulation? It is! But it is done in a way that makes the customer feel good, because in the end he is getting what he wants = his needs are being fulfilled and he feels proud of his decision to make the purchase. Of course, if you happen to have information about how the product works ( the technical side of things ) you can include it too. There are some people that will want to know about that.
Writing sales copy takes awhile to master and writing effective sales copy does not always happen, even with people that are good at it. You have to get in the mindset of the target audience. If the market uses slang or particular terminology related to the product/niche, then you should use it – but be sure to use it correctly. It’s important that the customer feels he/she can identify with the sales copy as it is written. They need to feel that the writer really understands their dilemma. And yes, regardless of the product that you are promoting, you want to look for the problems that it solves so you can use that as an emotional pull toward the sales. I prefer to only write copy for my own stuff – I know exactly who I want to promote it to and what I believe they will like about it. It is more difficult to write good sales copy if you are unfamiliar with the product so if you are writing copy for someone else you should either get a review copy of the product or learn all you can about the product before writing.
Just keep in mind that you are writing copy for the customer. Your goal is to first remind him of a problem he may have, then discuss the dream solutions and follow that with how your product does all of those things and more. It can be tricky not to be salesy when selling is your goal. But by presenting information in the right way you will in fact sell the customer in a sort of way that seems almost subconscious – as if he simply gathered information and decided to purchase your item. In fact, some sales letters actually use an article format. This is a successful method that is often seen in magazines as well as online.
Customers are left with the impression that they are simply reading an authoritative article about a problem and the introduction of a new product that solves the problem. They feel they are enlightened and ahead of others because they found this article so the purchase is a no brainer.
Before you attempt to write copy for anyone you need to study copy that you find impressive. Let’s face it, we all see sales copy daily – and some of it is a total waste of our time. We know instantly whether it’s full of fluff and hype or if the copy is worth reading through. When you come across sales copy that is well written – save it to a swipe file. Then you will have examples of good copywriting styles at your finger tips when you need them. This will be a tremendous help to you as time goes on.
