For many small business owners, writing sales copy is a nightmare. They sit with a blank Microsoft Word document open—the same document that has been blank for the last 45 minutes; and think, “I'm not a writer... How can I possibly write a persuasive piece of content?”
There's good news: Even if you are not a writer, you can still create sales copy that brings in quality leads and customers; if you understand just a few key ideas. In fact, you may even have an advantage if you are not a writer but are more business and sales focused instead. Your advantage is that you intimately know your product. As the business owner, no one can be more excited than you about your product or service. This passion will carry over into your copy allowing you to write knockout copy EVERY time.
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Have a Big Idea
The most important part of good copywriting is having a “Big Idea”. If you get the big idea right, even if you aren't a natural writer, you will have a sales page that is more likely to convert. The big idea is the reason you created your product or service. It is the painful problem that you solve or the big benefit that you offer. It is how your prospect’s life will change by working with you.
Most businesses try and sell their customers on a “small” idea. A small idea is the company selling you on how their software can increase your productivity 20%. But what is the REAL reason someone would work with you? For example, the big idea of the software mentioned above is that the business owner could take Friday afternoons off, go home two hours earlier each night and spend that time with family, completely stress-free. See how much more motivating that is than “increasing productivity by 20%”?
The way to discover your big idea is to ask yourself the question “My customers work with me because I help them [insert benefit/problem you solve] so they can...” – do what?
The answer to this question is your big idea.
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Hack the Emotional Circuitry of Your Audience
The human brain has three parts and three layers of complexity. It is split into the medulla (the lizard brain), the cortex (the mammalian brain) and the neocortex (the human brain). What all the research shows is that our human brain, the part of our brain responsible for analytical thinking and the part that makes us so highly evolved, is usually NOT involved in making decisions.
Duh, I’m sorry, what? Yes, that’s true! It is the lizard and mammalian parts of our brain that make our decisions and these parts of our brain don't understand logic. However, they do understand EMOTION.
What does this mean for your sales copywriting tasks? When you create content, don't try and sell to your audience using logic. Tap into their emotions by...
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Showing them their Future!
Your business is not a charity. No one will give you money unless you provide real value to them. You have skills and a value proposition. Everyone else in your target audience has an abundance of problems. If you show them how your skills will solve their problems, they will give you their business.
When you write sales copy, don't forget to tell them this. Show them EXACTLY what their future will look like if they give you their business. The more vividly you get them to imagine their new future, the stronger they will be gripped by their emotional brain.
When our brain visualises a mental image (this happens even when your eyes are open) it cannot tell if this image is real or imagined. Our human brain can tell, but it is almost irrelevant in the decision-making process. Our lizard and mammalian brains cannot tell, but they make the emotional decision!
As you tell your prospects a story of how their business lives could change working with you, and get them to visualise this image vividly, you unlock a lot of emotion within them. The more emotion you create, the greater desire the engaged audience will feel towards you and your product. The more emotion you create, the higher your conversion rate.
Want more help building a successful content marketing campaign for your products and services? Talk to our team of skilled and experienced copywriters at MintCopy. Call us today at 888-646-8003 or send us an email.