No matter how good your products/services are, if you cannot sell the story, then you cannot sell the product. Sales copywriting is quite possibly one of the most important skills to have as a digital marketer. Professional copywriting can captivate audiences, sell a problem and exemplify a solution. To have effective sales copy you must first acquire key pieces of knowledge about your niche and audience. Just below we are going to go over Principles of Sales Copy, How to Write Effective Sales Copy.
Principles of Seductive Sales Copy
In order to write effective sales copy you must first understand the principles of sales copy. These simple sales techniques can help you as a marketer better understand your audience and what they are seeking. Understanding your audience is key if you want to become a killer copy writer. These principles are going to require some very extensive research on keywords, competition, and audience. Let’s dive in!
Step 1: Keyword Research
When it comes to kicking off a new product launch or even a new business, keyword research is essential. Keywords refer to common search terms that internet users use when searching for content or products. Helpful tools like Keyword Planner or Scope can give you insight on monthly search volume for keywords. Which you can then use to then make insights about top trending products and competition.
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Utilizing keywords effectively can help rank your product higher on platforms like Google or Amazon. Which in turn generates more traffic to your products and more conversions. Effective Keyword usage implements terms of a variety of volume and competition. If you are a launching a new product/service aim to rank for lower competition keywords. Overtime this will give your product/service more authority. Giving your product/service a better chance for ranking for those higher competition keywords.
If you are not doing preliminary keyword research, then you are missing an important step in the principles of effective sales copy. Not understanding the volume and competition in a certain niche or audience is like putting all your money on Heads while flipping a coin.
Step 2: Understanding the Competition
Unless your developing brand new technology or services that the world has never seen before, you are going to have competition in your area. But do not look at competition as an unconquerable beast. Look at the competition as a playground of audience data that you can interpret to create the best possible product.
You want to know exactly what customers hate about your competitions product? Then go read the reviews! One of the best locations for specific insight on product failures is the negative (1 star) reviews. This is where customers are going to explain, in detail, exactly what is wrong with the product. This information is extremely valuable because it gives you a direct understanding of what the audience is NOT looking for. Which, if you have effective sales copywriting skills, you will address in your product sales copy.
Search for the Problems
Addressing how your product overcomes the problems that the competition suffers from in your sales copy is extremely effective in converting cold traffic to paying customers. In example, when researching the competition for motorcycle face mask, there were some key problems that were consistent across many competitors:
- Neither Bandanas nor neoprene face mask fit snugly, which causes the mask to fall down or fog up riding glasses.
- They do not provide protection from high winds, rain, bugs, debris
- Bandanas and Neoprene masks are inconvenient to put on or take off.
Addressing the Problems
Here is how I used the knowledge about the problems audiences were having with other competitor products.
“Don’t let bandanas and neoprene masks fog up your riding glasses. Get a face mask that is tailored for your face, the Leather Face Mask has metal ridges around the nose to allow the rider to create a personalized snug fit which will reduce fog up.
” Don’t fumble around with tying your bandana on, our masks implement Velcro attachments to make it easy to put on, take off, adjust or disassemble our mask. Leather Face keeps it easy and convenient! “
” Ever ride down the highway and catch a rock in the face with a bandana on? Or have you been cruising down your favorite country back road wearing a neoprene face mask just to take a grasshopper right in the upper lip? Leather Face implements multiple layer technology that protects the rider from sun, wind, rain, bugs, debris, etc. Our Outer Liners are made of high quality leather that reduces the impact from projectiles. Backed by our soft suede inner liners, the rider is totally fully protected even in the most dire of situations.”
Addressing the problems that your competitors have in your sales copy will get the customer thinking “Oh yea that *product* does do that…I hate when that happens.” It’s these thoughts that will convert a competitors client into your loyal customer. Think of cold leads like a middle school child. You have to walk them through why the competitions product is not a smart purchasing decision. At the end of the day the customer wants to feel they made a smart purchase, identifying the problems with the competition will make your product look like the only solution for them.
Audience
Audiences are possibly one of the trickiest areas of digital marketing. Understanding an audience is like making a new friend it takes time and research to figure out exactly what they want. In order to fully understand your target audience, you want to look for audience insights and inputs.
Audience Insights
Audience Insights are very easily attainable and can be a fantastic basis for a customer profile. Insights on Facebook and Instagram can provide incredible metrics about gender, age, geolocation, martial status, household income, family size, purchasing behavior and so much more! Facebook Insights is my favorite tool for getting a detailed understanding of income, buying behavior and interests for a new audience.
This data is incredibly powerful when in proper hands. Let’s go back to the example of making a new friend. Let’s say over a couple of months you have gained knowledge about your friend and their birthday is coming up. How will you choose the perfect gift?
By using the insight you have about their interest, behaviors, etc. Choosing the perfect product for your target audience is just like choosing the perfect gift for your friend’s birthday. You must first understand who they are and what they like before you can go choosing the perfect product.
Audience Voice
Typically, effective sales copywriting is written from the perspective of a friend. Think about it, who would you buy from first, your friend or some business? 9/10 times people are going to say friend. Why? Because a friend is someone you can trust, someone that is honest with you, someone that you can go to for a second opinion and approval. By writing from this perspective a mysterious brand can feel like a long time friend. When this metal association happens, there is little you can do to persuade a customer to go with a different product.
Look for Hot Words
Do you know what “Hot Words” refer to? Hot words is consistent language the audience uses. The words they use could refer to products, features, or actions they take. Most Hot Words are found by looking through audience inputs and searching for common phrases or words.
For example, one of the best places to find Hot Words is reviews. Whether it be negative (1 star) or positive (5 star), reviews can be home to a plethora of hot words. Go through and read all the best and worst reviews on your competitors to get an understanding of what language the audience uses. This process is extremely tedious, however it is going the extra mile that shows the difference between a good marketer and an unstoppable marketer.
These hot words can be placed throughout your sales copywriting to push the audience buttons. Referring back to the example on motorcycle masks examples of Hot Words are:
- best value; smart purchase; worth the money
- durable; longevity
- breathable
- protection
- snug fit; contours face; conforms to face
There are many more Hot Words we could use; but you get the picture. These words are highly seductive to the target audience. Sprinkling these throughout the sales copy will hit on key points (hot buttons) that they audience wants to hear. Making your overall product seem that much more attractive.
Putting It All Together
You know have a full in depth understanding of the principles of effective sales copy. Utilizing this information when writing sales copy will not only give you better insight as to who your target audience really is. But it will also give you the tools and knowledge necessary to tell the story to the audience in a captivating way. That will have them begging for your product by the end. With great power comes great profitability!
