These five simple steps will help you avoid common copywriting mistakes!
Does your brain freeze over when it’s time to write content for your website, a new ad or flier? You’re not alone. In fact, most business owners feel this way. Writing is one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. When you love to write, you really, really love it (like I do.) And when you hate to write, you really, really hate it. I get it; however, I also know most of the people that say they hate to write, only say that because they’ve never been taught how to write from their heart. Heart-based writing is a lot like working out. When you first start, it’s painful; however, once you start doing it on a regular basis, it gets easier…and faster. And get this, it actually becomes enjoyable, too. Don’t believe me? Read on to learn how to write copy that sells.
How to Write Copy That Sells
Tip #1 – Sell Benefits, Not Features.
Often, I see people talk about their product or service based on features. For example: “This e-course is one hour long and it’s in webinar format.” Those are the features. The benefits are that it takes less than an hour to complete and you can do it from anywhere that you have an internet connection and a device to watch the video on. Do you see the difference? Features tell, benefits sell. Always write with those two things in mind and you’ll solidify your customer journey.
Tip #2 – Focus On What Makes Your Ideal Client Tick.
What keeps your target audience up at night? What makes them emotional? What makes them cry? What makes them laugh? What scares them? 90% of sales are based on emotions, 10% on logic. In heart-based writing you do have to address logic at some point, but really, when you’re selling with your heart, you’ve got to use emotional words that tap into how your audience feels. What is your audience missing out on if they’re not using your product or service? What can they gain if they do use it? That’s heart-based writing at it’s core.
Tip #3 – Keep it simple!
A lot of times, people write paragraphs and paragraphs of copy. I love words. So much so that I can get really verbose if I don’t watch myself. If you’re writing for the web, it’s especially important to keep things simple. That means you need to make your content easy to scan. If a potential client visits your website and sees nothing but paragraphs and paragraphs of unformatted text, most of them won’t take the time to read it. To make your page easy to scan, use bold headlines, sub-headlines, bullet points, and short paragraphs (no more than 3-4 sentences.) And don’t forget about color. When you break up text with colored headlines, it can make a world of difference.
Tip #4 – Always use a call-to-action!
People are dying for you to lead them and tell them what to do! Don’t make it difficult for them to take action when they’re looking at your marketing material. If you want them to call you, tell them to call you! If you want them to click on another page, tell them to click on the next page. Tell them the cost of indecision and then spell out exactly what action you want them to take next, so they don’t have to think and they can just follow directions. It may seem counter-intuitive but just trust me on this one. People like to be led.
Tip #5 – Keep tone in mind.
If you ever have face-to-face conversations with people, make sure your marketing copy is written in the same tone in which you speak. You don’t want to write something in one tone and then have the customer show up and have a completely different brand experience. If you’re a casual person with a laid back friendly style, allow your writing to reflect that. Likewise, if you’re more buttoned up. Write using a tone that matches the emotional response (or lack thereof) you are hoping for.
So there you have it: five tips on to on how to write copy that sells. Because that’s the real key here, right? We’re not just writing content for fun or to have something to fill up a page. We’re writing content so that people will do what we want them to do. Enough said.
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