From Headlines to Deadlines

Here are some more of the basic tips I put together recently, aimed at business people wanting to create compelling sales copy.

Once again, they're just as valid for you as a copywriter who's being paid to write it for them:

Naturally, you will start with an attention-grabbing headline. You have a few seconds at most for this to do its job, so it must strike a chord with your intended audience, by highlighting the main benefit of your product or service, which...

Eases pain

Reduces fear

Saves effort or time

Makes or saves money


And you simply must tell customers what you will do to help them, before you bore them with who you are and how your great-great-grandfather started the firm in his garden shed a hundred years ago...

In other words, benefits first. Always, or you've lost them already...

'You will impress customers with the quality of your service and your products and by the integrity of your dealings with them, not by the excessive verbosity or pomposity of your literature.'

So just say what you mean, and what your customer wants or needs to hear.

What they need to hear, and what you need to tell them, is what benefits they will get if they buy your product or service. Reduce this to its basest level - 'no more back pain' will sell far more than any explanations of how your painkillers or exercise programmes actually work, at least to start with. Some people will be interested or need convincing though, so have the detailed information readily available. Just don't lead with it.

Transfer ownership - that is, use 'you' and 'your' when you talk about your product and its benefits, so your customer can 'see' himself or herself enjoying the benefits rather than vainly aspiring to them - 'As you relax on your luxury yacht,' for example.

Build desire, by listing benefits, emphasising how easily those benefits can be obtained, and as a general rule by not leading with the price. Unless, perhaps, a new lower price for something you know they're already sold on is the main benefit.

Did I mention benefits?

And building desire, by listing benefits and transferring ownership?

Always close with a 'call to action'. Tell them exactly what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to do it.

And deadlines? Make them an offer they'd be crazy to refuse. Having sold them on the idea of buying, offer the product to them at a much lower price than usual, but for a strictly limited period. Or offer bonus items at no extra cost, but only if they order now.

Create urgency and they're more likely to act right away.

And countless studies show that if a 'prospect' doesn't act now they almost never act later and the sale is usually lost. So build on their fear of 'missing out' by repeating the deadline, limited numbers or whatever.

Make it very, very easy to act: a simple click on a website or email or a pre-paid envelope in a direct mail piece, and always offer them a cast iron money-back guarantee - the longer the better.

Whole books have been written about how to write sales copy. In fact probably hundreds of them, so I've barely scratched the surface here, but I hope it's given you a good start - and hopefully whetted your appetite to learn more. Believe me, it's a very lucrative business when you learn to do it well!

Roy

PS. Always include at least one PS which repeats the main benefit(s), repeats the fantastic offer and its urgency, and gives them one final chance to act.

That's really all for now!

Roy