All Posts Tagged With: "copywriting"

(Fifth in a Series)

Essentially this is put up or shut up time in your copy writing. You’ve gained attention with a great headline, made sure your copy is focused on customer needs, stressed benefits and set yourself apart from the competition.

Now it’s time to deliver the goods. You can just say you’re the best. You have to prove it.

The most powerful tool you have for backing up your claim is to provide tangible evidence of superior performance in your field of expertise. You need to show — with facts – that your product or service is successful in providing the benefits and other results you promise.

One way to spotlight your track record is with case histories and success stories in your copy. Real life examples about how your product or service solved a customer problem allows the reader to empathize with the situation and celebrate the victory. If they can see themselves benefiting in the same way, you’ve done a good job.

Testimonials from satisfied customers are another effective tactic in convincing prospects that you can do what you say. Make sure to use testimonials from comparable customers.

Running a list of your current clients — and including how long they’ve been with you — provides a subtle endorsement, especially if you have a number of long-time clients. It shows you’ve been successful in building relationships that endure. Clients don’t stay around long if you’re not meeting and exceeding their expectations.

(Next: Establish Credibility)

Popularity: 38% [?]

(Second in a series)

When it comes to writing persuasive copy, set aside your ego and focus on the customer. They don’t care about your experience, your awards, your family or your plans for the future. They just want to know how you are going to meet their needs, satisfy their wants and solve their problems.

Persuasive copy gets inside the head of your specific audience and anticipates their questions, their doubts and their concerns. Persuasive copy deals with those issues by focusing on the customer.

If you were selling a health insurance plan to small business owners, which opening do you think would attract more attention: “Let me explain the Smith-Johnson Employee Health Benefits Plan” or “Are you tired of getting inferior health coverage for outrageous premiums that threaten to put you out of business?”

Obviously the second approach is far more attention grabbing. The first approach is focused on the seller; the second touches on an important issue that affects hundreds of thousands of potential customers.

A great way to ensure you are focusing on the customer and not yourself is to count the number of time you use “you” vs. “us” or “we” in the copy. Two “yous” for every “us” or “we” sounds about right.

In writing persuasive copy that focuses on the customer, it’s essential to understand their point of view. Conduct focus groups, attend trade shows and talk to your current customers to get to know the way they think, what’s important to them, and what motivates their decisions. Speak to those points in your copy and you’ll push the buttons that trigger them to do what you want.

(Next: Stress Benefits)

Popularity: 42% [?]

From copywriting tips to vintage ads, this week’s Stumbles offer a smorgasbord of information.

1. Having killer copy is just one aspect of running a great blog. Making it visually appealing can be just as challenging. The folks at Pro Blog Designer offer some tips on spicing up your blog post photos.
2. Even writers who have been at it for 30 years occasionally struggle when it comes to word usage. Affect or effect? The differences between an atheist and an agnostics? Capital or capitol? Stop by Confusing Words to get things straightened out.
3. How can copywriters use the right words to stir emotions? What are some of the hot-button words and phrases that motivate people? Dean Rieck at Copyblogger offers “12 Tips for Psychological Selling.”
4. I love Gmail and I’ve only scratched the surface of its potential. There is so much you can do with it to stay organized. Jim Barr explains the genius behind Gmail with Gmail Tips.
5. Heres’ a two-for-one bonus. I love old time ads. Most look silly and superficial now, but at the time they were state-of-the art. Well Medicated offers 50 Vintage Advertisements while Excitement Machine displays Ebony ads from 1972.

Popularity: 78% [?]

In just the last hour, I’ve read a half dozen blog posts in which the authors opine that copywriters have “a fraction of a second,” “a single moment, “the blink of an eye,” “precious little time,” “no more than a few seconds,” and “only an instant” to catch someone’s attention. I’ve been told that HR people look at resumes for only five seconds, that visitors will leave my website if they are not immediately intrigued, and that people can be turned off by the typeface I use on my blog.

That really puts a lot of a pressure on those of us who make a living communicating. Imagine, having so little time to get people to pay attention. It’s a wonder anything ever gets done.

But is all that really true? Are people so busy they make important decisions that quickly? Will someone turn down an opportunity to get useful advice from an expert because they don’t like the color of his masthead? Will an editor turn down a good story because the headline wasn’t catchy enough?

I don’t think so. At least it’s not that way with me. If it’s something important, I take my time to consider it carefully.

Now, I’m not about to advocate rambling sales letters, off-the-wall color schemes or hard-to-read type.

But I think we can dwell too long on being clever or funny or different and forget that our main goal is to share useful information. Most people do take time to evaluate things of substance that are put in front of them. They are not manic mouse clickers or serial page-turners. Give them more credit than that.

Popularity: 43% [?]