“Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can’t.”   – Morris Hite

How to Write Sales Copy

The ability to write effective sales copy (or hire someone who does) is essential to any company. The power to demand attention and foster trust from your reader while demonstrating your capability to provide them with the valuable benefits they seek is precious. Creating effective sales copy is a skill that you will continue to hone throughout your career, and the investments that you make to improve will never stop paying off.
You don’t have to be a poet, wordsmith or author to create killer sales copy, you only need to know what benefits your reader wants and to express your ability to deliver those results while fostering trust, desire and urgency. In this section I will share a few strategies to help you hone your copy writing skills so that you can communicate and bond with your readers more effectively.
If you’re anything like me, the last thing you want to do is spend your time reading the same information over and over, so to save you time and your sanity I will teach you the sales copy rules that work for any medium, then follow up with the special factors to take into consideration for direct mail letters and Website pages, such as packaging and shipping for direct mail and online ordering systems to work with your online sales page. This way we can get through the material quickly without creating extra work or confusion, so let’s get started.

Tools for Writing Effective Sales Copy

Basically your job is to offer your clients the benefit they are looking for, make them believe you, believe in themselves and believe in your product, then ask for the sale. This can be quite a challenge to accomplish with a sales letter or Website page if you don’t have a system. Thankfully there are some effective strategies and techniques today that will make the job significantly easier.

Commit to One Objective

You must commit to a single goal for each piece of sales copy you create. It doesn’t matter if you are writing a sales letter, article, magazine advertisement, e-mail promotion, event invitation or creating a web page – if you try to kill two birds with one stone you will miss them both. Instead, commit to focusing your energy on getting the reader to take one specific step, perhaps place an order, register for your event, or sign up for your free Ezine. The action you want the reader to take can be anything you want, as long as you limit yourself to one option.
For example, if you are creating an opt-in “squeeze page” to collect contact information from your prospects so that you can build a relationship with them and promote your services, then don’t include a link on the opt-in page to follow you on Twitter. Don’t even think of inviting them to your Facebook fan page, and if you provide a link to your blog where they can peruse articles for hours, then you might as well forget about ever getting their contact information. I’m not saying that there isn’t a time and place to provide all of these options, but it’s not on your opt-in page. Keep your efforts streamlined and simple, and you will enjoy much more success.

Prepare to Write

You need to have a piece of paper or file somewhere that lists everything that you know about your client, from their hobbies, dreams and challenges to their favorite TV shows. Before you start writing review this information to help get you “in state” so that you are in the right frame of mind when you start “writing” to your client. Some people even find it helpful to name their ideal client to help them remember that they are not trying to reach out to the masses. Your goal is actually to connect with one person, in a way that makes them feel understood. Make sure to keep the primary focus on them – don’t get caught up talking about yourself the whole time.

Be yourself

Now that you have reminded yourself of whom you are talking to, remember that the two of you have differences. Don’t pretend otherwise. Since it is likely that you were in a position similar to where your client is now, use that to relate to them while speaking honestly about where you are now and how the journey has changed you. Your honesty and transparency will be appreciated.
Discover the next steps in How to Write Sales Copy, to be released Tuesday November 30th, 2010.

Additional Help Writing Sales Copy

Want to hire someone to write sales copy for your website?  Brassy Marketing can help you with that.  Just click the link above and call or submit your request in the form provided, or select the “contact us” tab at the top of the page.

Related Articles for Writing Sales Copy

The next steps in How to Write Sales Copy  (To be released Tuesday Nov, 30th 2010)
How to Create a Promotion to Increase Sales
5 Ideas for Promotional Email Messages
Article Marketing – How to Get Started
How to Create a Squeeze Page or Landing Page (including how to layout the sales copy so people will enter their contact information)