
Expert Copywriting is needed to make sales fly off the shelf. People don’t like to be sold to. It’s the art of persuasion while presenting your product without directly trying to sell.
Here are some great tips to convince them that they really need your product, hang on your every word and make your sales fly off the shelf.
A Good Title to Grab Attention
Here are a few more titles I could have used…
- Copywriting : A few Tips to help You Sell More Product
- Tips to Sell more
- Make your Conversions go through the roof
- My Secret Zoom Method for Escalating Your Sales 1000X overnight
- Write Copy like a Master and have a queue of Clients at your Door
Five ways to say the same thing. I came up with these in just a few seconds. There are of course an infinite number of ways to say the same thing…. but which one will actually SELL?
Copywriting is Everywhere
If ever there was a skill in demand, it is copywriting.
It is everywhere
- Blog posts
- Sales Pages
- Landing Pages
- Ads Online
- Ads on TV
- Ads on the Radio
- Billboards
- Emails
If you can learn the art of persuading a prospect to buy, you will have a great skill, even a career. Good copywriters cost a fortune to hire. Every Marketer needs good persuasive copy to get sales.
This article is a description of some of the more common methods of selling and some of the things to consider before you lay out your copy.
Good copywriting is however not something you can attain, by simply reading an article or two or by buying a course. It takes practice. Follow the main points in this introductory article and try writing your first Ad or post. Most people’s first attempts are rubbish so don’t worry too much. In later articles in this series, I will expand on some of the main components such as Headlines, USP and Hook and you will see how to improve your piece to make it work.
If you get to the point where your copy is working well and your sales are rocketing, you will have a marketable skill in huge demand.
There are big differences in the copy used in Blog Posts, Sales pages, Emails and all the others in the above list. The way you would word a blog post for example would be greatly different to an Ad.
Also don’t mix up presentation with Copy. Strictly speaking a copywriter deals only with words that sell, not the format of the presentation, although on occasions it might be prudent to point out obvious problems, for instance, if the webpage designer puts your copy onto a background which obscures or makes reading your copy difficult, then obviously the copy will not do its job.
Copywriting Basics
Here are the major points that should be considered, before you publish.
What you say in your copy depends on the prospect’s position in the buying cycle. If he is totally unaware of the problem or solution, your text needs to bring these to his attention, whereas if you have sent him several emails outlining the problem the solution, and your product to solve the problem – then your text has a much more narrow focus
What’s in it for me:
Your copy should focus on benefits for the client like time-saving, cost-saving, NOT the seller’s features like dimensions, quality, tech, company history, etc.
Who is your Client: be sure to compose a customer Avatar, know who you are selling to, age sex, demographic, wants, needs, pain, or problem. Selling tech to a young tech-savvy guy is going to be totally different to a computer-phobic 60plus-year-old.
The Buying Cycle:
What level of product/service AWARENESS does your reader have?
If the page you are composing is a landing page, you need to know which content page or Ad actually sent your visitor here. The Headline and copy for someone Unaware of the product, is going to be vastly different from the copy aimed at those Fully Aware of the problem/pain/product
Levels of Awareness:
- Unaware: They don’t even know that they have the problem that you are selling the solution for. They need indoctrination. Introduce the problem. Diagnose the problem. The Ad that they clicked will have had a wide scope, they may have found your content on a blog post describing the problem or telling a story on Facebook.
- Aware of Problem but Not Aware of your Product: Empathise and concentrate on Pain, Solution, and Benefits
- Solution Aware: Here you can use social proof, previous customers feedback, or reviews. Also, introduce what is special and unique about YOUR solution
- Product Aware: They know all about your product (and its competitors) and may also be on a list receiving your emails. All you need to do is re-present (if possible) a new improved offer OR maybe introduce some scarcity like “this month only” or “last 100”
What you say in your copy depends on the prospect’s position in the buying cycle. If he is totally unaware of the problem or solution, your text needs to bring these to his attention, whereas if you have sent him several emails outlining the problem the solution, and your product to solve the problem – then your text has a much more narrow focus
The Headline
This is such an important part of the Sales letter/blog post that I leave it until the post is complete before composing it. The Hook ( below ) will give you the main components of your headline. SEO is important for Blog posts – but not necessarily your job if you are just the copywriter.
The Headline is what readers see in search results so it must grab attention, but not appear spammy. If I had titled this post “How to 10X your Sales with my Secret Zoom Generator Method” you would suspect it to be a scam, so don’t go overboard
What is your USP
State it clearly, concisely, and with brevity. Who are you helping? With What Problem? To Achieve what benefit? Through which Unique Solution?
Show the prospect that you understand their pain/problem. Create Trust, empathy. Speak to the person directly and use the appropriate language for that niche eg. For Doctors – their ‘customers’ are patients, For retail – ‘customers’, For legal businesses it would be ‘Clients’
Tell a Story or Educate the reader
Introduce the solution, avoid hyperbole, and tell a story, that must be believable. Or try an educational method, and set out the steps to take to make the solution but there are a number of ways to do this to lead the reader on to read all the way to the end of your story or presentation.
- Leave out sufficient details to make them unable to succeed without YOUR proprietary method
- Tell them WHAT to do, but not HOW to do it
- Tell them the 5 things that this product is NOT eg. Competitor products have fillers ours is pure, Our product is not diluted, Ours protects against xyz, Ours has no abc which are filtered out
- Describe some methods to do X, but not the best way
- Tell them the mistakes that lead to problems or What NOT to do when trying to do X
In each case you explain the details, establishing your credibility and expertise
Introduce the Hook
What Benefits does your solution have over others? List the benefits and features. the features may create a logical reason to buy. The benefits will create an emotional reason to buy
This is the process of creating a HOOK – an idea that grabs attention and persuades the reader to find out more
If testimonials or user feedback/reviews are available, use them.
How to Stop procrastination
The last bit of buyer resistance is Procrastination.
you simply need a reason they should buy NOW, eg. you can use ‘scarcity’
- Price Scarcity – the price will rise soon
- Premium Scarcity – the bonuses only available for limited time
- Quantity – only limited number left
- Offer Scarcity – the cart will close soon
Note: Don’t always use scarcity it can look spammy. You can just get the prospect to imagine how it feels to have your product X completed, installed.
OR you can show how NOT doing X is not an option because – market conditions are moving OR all your competitors are all doing X.
CTA – Call to ACTION.
Be clear, and give precise instructions on how to go forward. Be sure there is only one possible action on the CTA page – leave off the navigation menu and sidebar or any other distractions.
You can however use two ( or more ) buy buttons – going to the same Check-Out page, it may be prudent to include one above the fold and one right at the bottom of the page ( where almost all readers expect it to be )
Simplify your text if possible
Scan over your page when it is complete and if it is possible to remove anything that can be misunderstood or you can say the same in simpler terms, then do so. To be accepted by the widest audience, it should be written with quite a young reading age in mind.
Sometimes space for your text is limited so a compromise has to be made. If there is no limitation, then make the piece as long as it needs to be.
If there are 10 reasons why X is better than Y, don’t limit it to 5. Never leave out any argument that might sway your audience your way. There is no ‘right’ length for a sales pitch. Conversely, if your argument is weak or worse full of holes – cut it out.