Writing an ad? These tips and warnings from Patricia Berry will help you to get the very best response.
- Start by choosing a single benefit of your product or service that you wish to highlight. This is your “principal selling position.” To choose this, ask yourself what specific benefit makes your product or service different, better, or special. Is it price? Convenience? Reliability? How do you differ from your competitors?
- Write attention-grabbing headlines. This is essential. Because people are overloaded with information, they skim read — especially on the Internet. If your headline doesn’t get their attention, everything else might go unread. Your headline will often highlight your principal selling position.
- List all the features of your product or service and then translate each of these into a benefit for the customer. One way to do this is to look at each feature in turn then ask yourself, “So what?” If you were a customer, why should you care about this feature? For example, don’t just say that your product is fast (a feature), tell the customer that it will give them more free time (a benefit). Better still, paint a picture of them using their free time to go to the beach, read a book, or relax.
- Write copy that emphasizes the benefits in a way that makes an emotional connection. Let’s say that you’re selling toothpaste. A feature might be that it contains fluoride. Sure, but that’s boring. Rather, say that it “Lessens Tooth Decay!” or even better: “Brush with Boffo and Avoid the Dentist’s Drill!” See? You’ve turned a dull feature into a strong emotional benefit linked to people’s fear of dental procedures. Isn’t that more effective than “Contains fluoride”?
- Start with your strongest selling points. The first few paragraphs are particularly important. Use them to create a desire for your product or service by briefly touching on the major benefits that it will bring the customer. You don’t have to go into too much detail up front, because you can expand on these benefits later. Do try to get your big guns in early, though.
- Use testimonials to sell. Good, believable testimonials from real people will help sales, particularly on the Web where establishing credibility is a tough job. To boost credibility, ask your testimonial writers if you can include their contact details, together with their testimonial.
- Write with a natural style. Don’t try to be pretentious or overly friendly. Just write it the way you’d say it.
- Decide whom you’re writing for and why. What tone are you trying to convey, light hearted or serious? What level of jargon are you going to employ? Suit your language to your intended audience.
- Strengthen the final sales pitch with some or all of these techniques:
- A good deal (“20% off”)
- Urgency (“This week only”)
- Risk free (“Comes with a money-back guarantee!”)
- End by telling the reader what to do. “Ring now” or “Click here to order now for immediate delivery.” Make ordering details clearly visible and easy to follow.
A WORD OF WARNING
Looking at these tips, it might seem that good advertising involves manipulating the emotions of your customers. Yes, it does. Selling is a blatant form of emotional manipulation that involves convincing your customer that they want to buy your product or service, and they want to do it now.
Is this unethical? Well, it can be. It depends where you draw the line. In point No. 9, I said that your sales message should include a sense of urgency. A common ploy on the Web is to include a statement such as “Offer closes this Saturday.” If you go back to the site the following week, though, the offer is still available. If you were tricked by such a claim, would you order from that company again?
By all means, use these tips to write as persuasively as you can. But remember that if you attract sales by deceiving your customers, you risk poor word of mouth, refund requests, and no repeat business — not to mention legal action.
Be as persuasive as you can possibly be, but avoid the temptation to be too persuasive.