Sales Copy Writing -9 Steps to writing an effective sales copy

Sales Copy Writing -9 Steps to writing an effective sales copy

The indisputable fact still emphasizes the effectiveness of a sales copy, a photograph can enlighten you on the graphic description of a product but it can never detail the specs for you. This is the same with a video, it can as well detail graphic images but cannot gather traffic without an enticing copy to go with.

Most mistakes marketers keep making is discounting the effectiveness of a sales copy, many a time, they conceive disregard, not to even knowing what a sales copy is or in what manner it is supposed to come out and so they write whatever they suppose would pull customers to them which eventually resolves to fend off their potential clients.

One thing I would let you know as you read further is that you shouldn’t make the dire mistake of thinking a sales copy is some kind of one-time stuff. No! Your copy is expected to develop for the better as you conceive to target a new audience.

With that, we proceed to understand the whole concept of a sales copy before diving deeper into the steps involved in producing one.

What is a Sales Copy?

A sales copy is a text that encourages consumers/customers/clients to buy a product or utilize the service being rendered, a sales copy can be written in a variety of formats e.g. in paragraphs, on the surface of a jpeg(image), or in a list format. Are you clear on this?

Whatever manner you choose to write your sales copy, note that it would have zero influence on your consumers. The format employed is not a determinant of the quality of a sales copy, but what can birth positive or negative outcomes is how well the sales copy focuses on the benefits the consumers on the other end would enjoy from what you are selling.

No doubt, a sales copy has earned the factor of being dry, boring, a typical type of surgical anaesthesia that induces sleep, it’s fair that people should believe that because, really, marketers and copywriters who aren’t still aware of their purpose tend to make such sales copy that will knock you out cold under a 5 seconds mark. But having seen the content of this article should know that your sales copy must be hypnotic, attractive, and understandable. Remember your sales copy should work to convince clients to buy your product or services not give them a reason to sleep.

Recommended: Copywriting that sells -8 Elements of copywriting that drive sale

While working on a sales copy start with the notion that your clients consider your products and services as an infinite minus; as something unknown. Even though it’s a shoe or a wristwatch you’re planning to market start with a mindset of them not knowing that those products exist, automatically you’d be forced to tap into major pressure points, and you’d be forced to elaborate on facts that’ll put your competition to shame, you’ll be forced to call out the quality of your products in an appealing manner that would further force them to react positively. Employ the following steps and watch yourself piece together a killer sales copy.

Step 1: Begin with a single focus.

Choose a singular focus. Do you know that your audience has only one weak point, one need, one desire? No, no they don’t, they have multiple weak points and goals as well as needs, wants, and desires, but in the sea of all these goals only one stands out as primary the rest are auxiliary, compare this to a man, he has needs-

He wants a car

• A house
• An Ac cooling system
• A wife
• Money to settle bills
• Food
• Constant Air

All are major but one amongst the many is most essential, “air”. without that the rest can’t be acquired, before writing a sales copy have a single focus on what your audience wants based on their identity and customer data collection.

Step 2: Outline your goal.

You want to sell something right? How much of it do you want to ward off, is it a single pair of Sneakers? Or a dozen collection singlet? It is very important to have a defined goal this would put you in an understandable direction of which audience to go after.

Step 3: Identify your target

This involves you settling down and studying what your clients expect from your products or services, before putting a pen on paper use these factors to shape your thinking towards picking a target

• What problem is this person facing?
• How would he/she overcome it?
• What are his goals?
• How can I help?

Now elaborate specifically under each question and upon doing so, attach the benefits of your products to the above.  E.g.

• What is Emmanuel facing?

Answer: obesity

• How can he overcome it?

Answer: dieting

• What are his goals?

Answer: to become slim, but then again he likes eating

• How can I help?

Answer: well, I am not a diet doctor, so instead of telling him to stop eating, I’d just advertise my extra-large shirts for him, if he wears them, it’d be hard to identify his extra layer of fat. Problem solved.

Step 4: Entice with words

Using plain words laminated with a journalistic tone would no doubt chase your audience away. Brainstorm ways that can captivate and compel your audience to patronize you using provocative prose and wordplay.

Do you know that there is actually a cemetery in Australia that will make you want to die? The presentation is all that is needed to make you conclude with such, likewise your sales copy should come out in that very creative hypnotic manner that would blot out “no” as a response.

Take for example a Condom company that wants to advertise their latest product

“Humanity has been riddled by a hand full of problems, producing another one would be an early grave for you; why not kill your problem before they are born use…”

Or a cleaning company advertising their products and services

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness, we can bring you closer to your maker, why not use…?

Or a clothing and beauty line

“No one would ever know of your inner beauty except it reflects on the outside, let us make that happen, use our…”

Or M&M’s tagline; let it melt in your mouth, not in your hand

Step 5: Make it understandable

Aside from a boring sale copy, an unreadable one can also drive the audience away. Before aligning bulky dictionary words together to prove you are educated have you considered whether the person you’re trying to sell to is educated as much as you are? What is the tendency that he/she would understand the term “affiliate” if it is applied? Exactly,  while writing a sales copy picture every individual as a lane person, write to also promote readability so while writing see that this factors  would be made manifest;

• Relatable language
• Spacing
• Important points should be boldly represented
• An enticing story.

Most copies can take whole pages so be sure to be illustrative.

Step 6: tell a story

Use a tale to emphasize the usefulness of your product, it shouldn’t necessarily be a factual one you can just pull a narrative from thin air and array it in a manner that can be comprehended by the lowest denomination of humanity, this would help clients easily relate to your products. You can use testimonials and adopt case studies. For example, if I am to advertise a windshield and window frames I’d write;

it was around 1995 when the first set of bone-breaking caliber bullets were successfully smuggled into Ghana, upon the discovery of such the much fear that raved the city was left unmatched, citizens took to clear off the highways, doors were kept shut and every individual picked a kneeling position just to remind God of their allegiance to him, the issue of bugling and high way larceny by hoodlums started scaling over the long arm of the law.

people were left at the mercy of the conscience of burglars and criminals, but they was a man, a personal friend of mine, Mr. Anele Gueye, he was different. In the midst of the crisis he would always run and lock himself up in his car, he was the only one with a car in our compound, others were stolen but his couldn’t be, the windshield happened to be impenetrable to break, claw marks and overstretched lines were visible all over the windshield,

a proof that they had attempted to but couldn’t, oddly but true the same could be said about his window when the troublesome Ngororo boys from our neighboring compound always  played football, his window would always be the target, several times the ball had hit the window but  left it with little effect before he passed away due to cardiac arrest he had attested to patronizing Andrew Emeleme  glass root company, a company that produces windshield and durable glasses for windows.”

By targeting information about glasses and windshields I have told a story that relates and triggers an urge to by Andrews proposed “bulletproof” glasses. Likewise, you should also do similar by implementing fascinating tales and cheeping in the benefits of your products.

Step 8: highlight the icing on the cake

What are the features of your products? Turn them into benefits, when you are writing a sales copy  tell your customers what outcome they will receive if they purchase that very product, what purpose it serves and how it would influence their lives

Step 9: call to action

At the end of every sale copy, there should be a call to action, design an attractive button to serve this very purpose.