Copywriting Recap

Copywriting Recap

Because so few businesspeople have actually mastered the art of sales copywriting, any business owner who does so enjoys a distinct advantage over their competition. Doing so is not so difficult as one might assume though it does require diligence, practice and follow through.

Good sales copywriting must also flow from the assumption that no reader is interested in hearing a single word about the product. Assume negativity on the part of the audience and work from a position of someone who needs to make a case convincing enough to overcome this negativity. One need not change the entirely negative attitude of the reader, only get them into the state where buying seems to hold the promise of increasing their happiness.

Sales copywriting is essentially the same as is any other form of persuasive writing. It entails grabbing the reader's attention, involving them in the narrative and leading them comfortably and logically along to reach the writer's desired conclusions.

It does require practice, as does any other marketing skill to reach the level of effectiveness, and even perfection, that is required to ensure success. The most effective way to practice it is to engage in sort of a mentorship, learning from the best examples of sales copywriting that one can find and imitating those sources while turning them into something completely new and unique.

Like any language-based skill, copywriting requires that the author adhere to basic rules of style. The idea is to grab the reader's attention and not to let them go once that goal has been attained.

Grabbing the reader's attention starts with an effective headline. This headline does not need to be limited in length as does a newspaper headline and can very well be several sentences long. It should employ clever language and sometimes outright shock value to engage the reader.

Write as many headlines as necessary, even if the number gets to be 100 or more. The best headline may not come along for a long while but it's worth it to keep on going.

The first paragraph needs to clearly define the product and appeal to the reader's basic needs. This means making appeals to the natural inclination of any human being to increase their level of

pleasure and to decrease their level of pain. It needs to provide a good reason why the reader should stick around and listen to the rest of what the writer has to say.

Understand the differences between benefits and features using the simple rule: Benefits don't result in the reader being able to say "So what?" Features are open-ended and don’t immediately identify themselves as useful to the reader.

Use simple if/then statements to make the product more relevant to the reader. "If you need to lose weight fast, then you need to read about this product!"; "If you need a way to make money from home, then you need to attend this seminar!" These sort of statements limit the question and don't allow the reader to add their natural negativity to the equation.

Don't be afraid to offend! The best sales copywriters understand that offending the audience is sometimes the best way to grab their attention. Don't go overboard, of course, and be sensitive to the audience. At the same time, realize that if something is borderline offensive some very accomplished copywriters take this as a sign that they're on the right track.

Keep track of what you've written and see which sales letters are garnering the most success. These sales letters likely contain characteristics that can be used over and over again without losing their effectiveness.

Remember to rewrite ineffective sales letters and not to give up too easily. Get personal with those hesitant customers. "I haven't heard from you in a while and was wondering if you'd seen this new product," and similar statements drive the point home and make the whole affair more personal to the customer. Remember that the customer should feel as if they're being directly-addressed and that they're not simply the recipient of the latest corporate sales letter to be sent out bulk rate to thousands of clients.

Throw out your style guide. The advice that writers should avoid adjectives does not apply to sales copywriting. You're not selling a weight program, you're selling the best weight program out there and the amazing results are something that those who suffer the horrible anxiety that comes with being overweight need to be informed of. Remember the axiom "Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak".

Remember that those sales skills that apply in person apply equally in print. While writing, engage in a conversation with the client. Use the same persuasion techniques that work in real life. What's being used is language and the effects of language are largely the same whether it be of the spoken or written sort.

Have your efforts proofread and critiqued by friends and family. Better yet, hire a real editor. Don’t take any harsh criticism personally, regard it as an opportunity.

Remember that one is always selling a cure, not prevention. Prevention does not conform to the quick and easy requirement for any effective persuasion writing. Persuasion is not, in the minds of most consumers, worth spending a lot of money on. Cures, however, are oftentimes worth any amount of money, especially if they happen to be very easy and convenient cures that are relatively pain-free. Think of it in terms of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain: Prevention tends to minimize pleasure and require painful efforts toward self-denial. Cures offer only the alleviation of a pain. It's easy to see which sales pitch requires the least amount of work on the part of the salesperson.

Don’t overextend one's financial resources when launching a new product. Remember that it's very easy for even experienced and skilled investors to fall into the trap of allowing good money to follow bad. Take small steps first and test the waters. If the product shows promise, then allocate more finances toward promotion. This can include measures such as shooting video for promotion with home cameras instead of hiring a production crew and making use of a great deal of sales copy as it's one of the cheapest forms of advertising available.

If media is added to a campaign, be sure it's done right. Don't put a lot of gray space between images and text and don't allow media to interrupt the flow of text. The text must be easy to follow and not require the reader to make uncomfortable visual and mental leaps to follow what's being said.

Be honest. There is a fine line that sales copywriters tread between offering the reader a bit of shock and being realistic and honest. One does not want to end up offering up their credibility for a product that is of low quality or for cause of having made untrue claims. Being honest includes the following:

· Limiting special offers to a realistic time-frame

· Taking into account how many copies of any free demos are available

· Updating materials once a special offer has expired

· Not offering more than one can deliver

· Making no untrue claims regarding a product

The single most important asset a salesperson has is their credibility. Without it, they are simply a voice yelling in the wilderness that will not be heeded by any intelligent person. Remember that those customers who feel jilted will likely remember that experience for a long while and that it can take years to repair a damaged reputation.

Offer a guarantee and use your name on each letter you send out. Offer the longest-term guarantee possible. The longer the guarantee, the more a client is inclined to have faith in the product and the salesperson. Remember that vague guarantees that appeal to "satisfaction" are worthless, both to the sales effort and to the client. Never offer them. You're not cheating the client of anything worthwhile by simply skipping the entire affair.

Back up those guarantees! If a client's purchase doesn't perform as expected and they're treated respectfully and their money is refunded, they'll likely come away with a positive image of the salesperson as someone who stands behind what they offer.

Upselling a client is one of the most overlooked opportunities presented by copywriting. When that client is convinced, ready to buy and they have their credit card out, it's very easy to convince them to buy a little more.

If the customer has been persuaded into this state of mind, the copywriter has done their job. If the copywriter doesn’t take advantage of their, they're not reaping the maximum possible reward for their efforts. Remember to offer a bit more and to do it in a way that lets the client know why it can be done. The importance of saying why an offer can be made cannot be overstated. People react much more positively when they're given a reason that something can be done, even if the absence of a reason would still entail a good deal for them.

Conclusion

Learning the secrets to effective copywriting is so easy and is actually so enjoyable that any businessperson who fails to do so is simply robbing themselves.

First, they're robbing themselves of the best employee they'll ever have: The humble sales letter. This letter is always on your side, always backs your product and is always possessed of the best possible sales pitch. It works tirelessly to promote your products and the techniques one develops while writing it can be used over and over again.

Second, the amount that one learns about selling their products through writing is very impressive. It may well educate the sales person about benefits their products have which they hadn't considered before. It can help one refine one's sales pitch, both in person and online and help the salesperson understand why their product is valuable.

Third, it creates an opportunity to gain more from studying the competition. The competitors for any product have certainly created their own sales copy and studying theirs can help the marketer to understand where they might fill a gap their competition hasn't yet satisfied. It can also present an opportunity to challenge the competition on several fronts. This may mean better prices, a better product or simply backing one's products with the sort of guarantees that inspire confidence and that engender customer loyalty. Standing by those guarantees is a way to turn an unsatisfied customer into one who has a great deal of confidence in one's business practices and who won't hesitate to try another product from that salesperson.

Fourth, it's a skill one can keep developing over their entire career and a skill they may well be able to sell as a separate product! Those sales copywriters who are particularly skilled come at a high price. There's no reason that an independent marketer cannot refine, develop and perfect those skills until they are among the best. Just remember that getting started means starting small and allowing one's self some room for error. Try and try again, so to speak and learn from competition where possible.

This is simply one of the most cost effective ways to advertise and really one of the most effective at reaching clients. It works on paper and online and can help one build confidence in their sales skills and realize the results of the effort invested in very short order. Where finding new ways to market a product is concerned, sometimes learning a better way to employ a very ancient skill, the written word, is among the best available.

Get Started!

Get a pen and a paper and a file folder and start collecting sales letters that do their job well. Start writing them, by hand, and understanding them.

Once you've done this, practice, practice, practice. The more you write, the better you'll get. Soon enough, you'll have developed the skills it takes to write truly effective sales copy without paying the sometimes excessive prices charged by professional copywriters. If you do it well enough, you may even be able to charge those great rates for your own copywriting services!