Sales Copywriting & Paedophiles

I’ve always been a word-nerd. Even before I got into sales copywriting and before the internet.  When I was a kid, while my friends were playing sports I was collecting old magazines, newspapers, ads and books simply because of the way the stuff was written.

It tickled my fancy.

Even now when I take my kids out to a new restaurant, one of our bestest games is picking out the typographical errors or grammatical mistakes in the menu. My wife just sits there and rolls her eyes.

It gets worse. Not many people know this but in 1997, over the course of the year I read all 1258 pages of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1983 Edition). My wife thought I was nuts (she still thinks I’m strange).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that intelligent to know or remember what all that stuff in the dictionary meant (thankfully as a professional sales copywriter you don’t have to be), but I found it incredibly enjoyable.

I know…It’s a bit sad, really.

So what’s that got to do with Paedophilia?

Words Evoke Emotions

Words evoke emotions.  I find that whole concept intriguing and delicious. Words evoke emotions because ‘meaning’ is attached to words.

Just think about it for a second. Compare how you feel when you read or hear the word ‘paedophile’ compared to, oh I don’t know… the word ‘Caucus’. While you could probably argue there might be a connection between those two words (we won’t go there), for most adults the word ‘paedophile’ probably evokes a moderate or even extreme emotional response.

So why is this concept so relevant to business? Because emotion causes action. And buying stuff is an action! Capturing minds is one thing; capturing hearts is quite another.

No matter what your business is, if you are serving people, you need to be able to tap into the emotions that motivate them. In fact, legendary marketers like Claude C Hopkins and later on David Ogilvy, and Gary Halbert figured it out early and started to apply it to the advertising message.

And it’s still been dished up today.  Why? Because it works.

Emotions Cause Action

Someone once said that ‘selling is the transfer of emotion’.  I agree. Marketing strategies (including copywriting) without emotion just will not work. We live in an emotional world. Emotion stimulates the mind 3000 times faster than rational thought.

Emotions drive our behavior; the world is driven by emotions. Rational thought leads customers to be interested… but it is emotion that sells.

We know from research that generally, people really aren’t much interested in features or attributes of a particular product or service.  What they really want to know is if a product or service suits their needs, wants and personality. It is all about benefits and peoples’ values.

Creating Winning Sales Copy

To me, the definition of ‘winning’ sales copy is copy that can sell stuff.  Period.  I reckon it’s the only measure of success.  But in the majority of cases, that’s not what happens!  Most of the time it ends up being boring, unengaging, full of platitudes (my pet peeve) or else tries to be too clever, like it’s trying to win some award for creativity.  Advertising agencies are repeat offenders for this kind of palaver.

No, great and winning sales copy needs to be founded in the basics that have been proven to work.  These include:

• Researching all of the features & benefits of the product/service.  In my view, thorough research is 80% of any furture success.  Questions like why, how, when, where and who need to be asked and the writer needs to connect with the ’sweet spot’ of the customer.
• The headline is one of the most critical factors to consider.  It’s argued that 80% of the decision to continue reading the ad or message is based on the headline.
• Suitable structure is next.  I, and many other direct response copywriters  use ‘AIDA’ which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action – as a a basis for which to structure a piece of writing.
• Compelling writing – with no platitudes – that draws the reader to the outcome you seek is everything (even if the outcome is just to read on).  The right words used in the right place and at the right time are less about science and more about art.  You (and your audience) will know when it works!
• Your offer needs to be strong.  Compelling copy with a crappy offer helps no-one.  It’s like low alcohol beer. Pointless.  A solid risk-reversal like a guarantee and social proof like testimonials, reviews and video all contribute to the overall effect.

There are others, but I’m sure you get the point.  And besides, I dont want this article to be a cure for narcolepsy!

Success online is more than just being at the top of Google and having a website that looks prettier than an Aston Martin.  Nope.  What we need is visitors to the site to do what we want them to do.  It could be buying something, giving us their contact details, getting them to join our newsletter, blog or RSS or whatever.

We call this ‘conversion’.  And one of the biggest things that drive conversion is…the words that people read on the page.  It’s a fact.

What’s Missing From Most Website Sales Copy?

This may sound queer, but in my opinion the thing that’s missing from good sales copy – that stops the bank account growing…is the selling!

Salesmanship (or should that be salespersonship) is the juice that can turn average sales copy into volatile and urgent growth.

But wait. Don’t confuse salesmanship with hype, sleaze or that creepy feeling you get after you’ve shaken hands with a desperate real estate agent.

No, what we mean are the following skills and attributes that can get us genuinely excited about parting with our money – with absolutely no buyers remorse later on.

They include:

• An ability to create an immediate connection with me that doesn’t stop
• An ability to hold my attention throughout the transaction
• An ability to empathise and understand what my real concerns, problems or issues are (even if they are unrealised by me)
• An ability to express benefits easily and match the attributes (features) of your product or service to my actual situation
• An ability to ’speak to me’ in a manner and tone that I understand on an emotional level
• An ability to reasure me and develop trust that leaves me confident that your solution can solve my problem and improve my life
• An ability to bring me to take immediate action, because it makes complete sense to

And a few more…

So, think about this question:

If the sales copy on your website and marketing collateral ticked all of the points above in your business, what difference could that make to your company’s turnover?

Sales Copy Services

Good sales copywriting is like a pair of happy rabbits …it keeps on producing.  When you combine that with a top search engine ranking and a hot offer…the results can be spectacular.

Would you like to learn how to transform your business with winning sales copywriting and salesmanship? We’d like to show you how we’ve done it for others, and how we can do it for you.

Please go ahead and request a free interview and let us help.

Thank you for reading this.

Rhys Coffin
Director
Strategic SEO Specialist
Internet New Zealand Ltd

E: rhys@internetnewzealand.com