Creating Winning Sales Copy

Everyone in business is in the business of sales. You may not be peddling widgets, but we’re all selling something. Like it or not, commerce depends on marketing: a high-pressure, highly competitive field where genuine talent seems to be diluted with morons. I’ve worked with a lot of highly impressive and capable marketing professionals, but I’ve also dealt with too many who fall into the other camp. The fact is, being effective in marketing requires intelligence, an intuitive and intimate understanding of human psychology, and a finely tuned talent for communication.

Personally, I rank selling myself up there with paperwork and taxes. I’d rather be doing actual design work than making a sales pitch. I’d rather be doing just about anything else, for that matter. But success in business demands we master not only our own craft, but also those fields that we depend upon to stay afloat (and prosper). In my case, I’m helped along quite a bit by way of the fact that I also happen to have a university degree in psychology, so I’m able to mesh what I know about design with what I know about people.

And what I’ve learned about people is that they like being sold to, just about as much as they like selling. A lot of marketing firms like to aim for the lowest common denominator, which I find not only insulting and ineffective, but outright unnecessary. Screaming “BUY ME, DUMMY” at someone tends to have the opposite effect.

Writing good sales copy for advertising purposes is even more difficult. You need to compress your ten-page sales presentation into a few brilliant, effective and easily digested words.

Now, a lot of new businesses can’t afford a professional copywriter, though it’s not an area that should be overlooked or underestimated. IF you’re taking it upon yourself to craft your own sales copy, there are a few basic points to keep at the front of your mind.

Sales copy should be genuinely compelling.

Grab your audience’s attention with an effective, well thought out headline. What you’re saying is just as important as how you say it. Your message needs to be clear, attractive and relevant. And for heaven’s sake, don’t SHOUT.

Offer a clear incentive. This is your call to action. What do you want your audience to do? And just as importantly, Why should they? You need to be forthright and to the point, without being demanding, narcissistic or desperate.

Sweeten the deal. It sounds trite, but people love freebies. I’m not saying you should give away a free TV with every truck you sell (we actually did get a free TV with our vehicle – it’s a piece of garbage we could do without), but be sure to point out any added-value offerings that would make you stand out from your competitors.

So boiled down, we’re looking at three components:
• Entice
• Engage
• Extend

Think about the last ad that actually made you want to follow up, then deconstruct it.

Remember, your audience is you.