Selling in Print

How to write copy that sells

"Salesmanship in print" extends way beyond advertising.

Yes we can help you with your Yellow Pages ad, and your corporate brochure, and your web site. But you need much more than that.

Why?

Every written word coming out of your offices must SELL. That includes all printed ads, business letters, press releases, proposals, PowerPoint presentations, tender responses, newsletters, e-zines, web site copy, email signatures, telephone scripts, messages on hold, and more.

Imagine a direct mail campaign that makes your mailbox bulge open with cheques? A newspaper or magazine ad that sends your phone into a frenzy? It would be great, wouldn't it?

The challenge is hitting on that elusive combination of words and strategy that delivers ... and delivers powerfully and consistently.

Who?

When you need copy that SELLS, but you don't have the time or the talent to write it yourself, then you call us, and we do it for you.

All of our copywriters have extensive experience in direct marketing, or sales, or both.

We focus on writing copy that sells through every step of your sales and customer relationship management processes.

We can also coordinate the graphical and production aspects of print where required.

How?

Writing effective communications material can give tremendous focus to your marketing and sales activities, all of which must be coordinated for maximum effect. So we prefer to gain a thorough understanding of your company and your market as part of any assignment.

The steps we take with our clients in order to create successful copy follow tried and tested principles long established by specialists in the direct mail and advertising industries.

Caution

If for example, you were to you send out 500 letters to prospective new customers, that’s like making 500 sales calls. You can live with one bad sales call. Even a few. But you wouldn’t want your sales people to make a bad impression 500 times, or do a poor job 500 times over. Each sales letter, brochure, advert, etc is like sending out a sales person multiplied by hundreds of times, so you want to send your best person to each of those appointments. Therefore it’s very important to invest the time to get the best ROI you can.

What are the steps?

Even if we told you, it would take years of practice for you to become a competent copy writer. So we are happy to share with you some of the main steps we take with our clients in order to create successful copy for them.

Competitive advantages

Making use of our 48 page copy writing manual, we’ll first find out all about your product or service, how it compares with your competitors’ products and what benefits it provides your clients. We’ll determine your points-of-difference by researching your products manufacturing and delivery process, all its features, your market share, positioning, pricing, etc. This gives us a strong sales arsenal that we can use in your communications piece to help ensure you get great results.

Client input

Once we’ve done that, we’ll then get a feel for what makes your clients tick by getting first hand feedback from your clients (where possible). We find out what frustrations they have when dealing with people in your industry and what concerns or questions go through their minds when they’re making a purchasing decision. We also find out what needs your product fulfils. Knowing your customer enables us to ensure that the copy we write and the material we produce presses your client’s ‘buying buttons’.

Creative process

Then we brainstorm the strategy, the concepts and the copy appeals which are most likely to have the strongest possible impact.
Only once all of the above is completed do we then go about creating the various components of your communications piece, with the following considerations in mind …

Considerations

	Tone/style – the type of ‘voice’ your piece is written in, and the style, needs to be in keeping with the positioning of your product AND with the characteristics of your marketplace. There are all sorts of different copywriting styles, some will work effectively for mail order and others work better in a business-to-business situation. We’ll select a style or tone of voice that best matches your product and ensure all the copy is written in that style.
	Layout plays a crucial role in the results you’ll achieve. The overall design of the piece will be in keeping with the image of your product, it will appeal to your marketplace AND most of all, be easy to read. You’ll agree that it’s pointless creating a marvellously creative design if the copy is hard to read. Your communications piece will comply with 21 readability guidelines to ensure it is easy to read. We create a visual concept that is designed to ensure your reader’s eye flows easily, uninterrupted all the way through your piece.
	Headline – this is the banner or the front door of your advertisement or brochure. With a powerful headline, you’ll attract people’s attention enough to make them want to read on. With a poor headline, you almost guarantee that they won’t give your piece a second glance. That’s why we can spend much of our writing time on the headline alone – because it’s the most important piece of copy in your material.
	Offer – incorporating a powerful ‘limited’ offer in your advertising material maximises your responses by giving people a reason to call you ahead of your competitors. It also eliminates procrastination. Having said that, offers aren’t appropriate for ALL products or ALL types of communication pieces. We’ll assess the need for an offer in your communications piece and, if an offer is needed, we’ll then develop one that is likely to appeal to the needs of your market and best maximise your responses.
	Body copy – it’s important that the body copy of your marketing piece does 6 things. It must flow well, be easy to read, be benefit oriented, involve your reader, increase pace at the end, and finally, get people to act. We have thorough checklists in place to ensure that the copy meets the above criteria.
	Call to action – unless you’re embarking on a pure ‘Coca Cola’ style awareness campaign (and even if you are, in some cases) a call to action is important. It tells your reader what to do, how to do it and when, and makes it easy for people to buy from you. Your piece will include a strong call to action with enough options to make enquiring about your product very EASY.
	Credibility – people only buy from those they trust. Three important ways to create trust in the buyer when using written words include: 1. Testimonials – where available, we’ll always encourage the use of testimonials as hearing it from the ‘horse’s mouth’ makes your claims believable. 2. Proving your claims – where possible, any claim that we make in your marketing material will be backed up with specific facts, eg specific results clients have achieved, research or test results. Again, this is another way to enhance your credibility and minimise scepticism. 3. Guarantee – if you have a guarantee it will be clearly stated in your material, because a guarantee is a fantastic way of allaying people’s fears and therefore increasing your conversion rates. If you don’t have a guarantee, we’ll suggest ways that you could develop one.

Testing

We can create a ‘text book’ perfect ad, but ultimately it’s your market that will decide whether or not they want your product. So, if your budget permits, we will recommend that we test a number of variables before we embark on a full-scale assault. That way we can ensure we use the approach which provides you with the best return on your promotional dollar. It might be a variety of headlines, offers, timing, or media – all these factors have a tremendous impact on your results.

Summary

As you can see, there is a lot to know and do in order to be successful with words that sell. That is why so few get results without help. And it is why you can’t be half-hearted or you may as well not bother, or worse, you may create a negative impression.

If you currently supply a good product or service which meets a market need, we know how much effort you have already put into getting this far. So don’t take your feet off the pedals in the final straight.

Call us on 08 9271 7661 to request an obligation free assessment of your current copy materials and to discuss your future needs.

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