I love going onto online entrepreneurial forums and reading
posts about copywriting. One of the
things that encourages me to keep writing copy is when
people post things like:
“Easy Steps to Writing Converting Sales Copy”
Or
“The Simple System to Writing Ad Copy— So Easy a Moron Could
Do It”
The reason why I love reading posts like this is because it
makes my job far more secure than it already is. The fact that the majority of people will
take the easy way out and try to side-step the process of learning, writing,
rewriting, studying, getting a good mentor, buying courses - using the tar out
of them, while spending a copious amount of time writing some more, kinda makes
me feel special .
Because the fact of the matter is, that writing advertising
copy is like any other skill, it takes a lot of time, effort, patience , perseverance
and good teachers to be world class, or at least good enough to lead a prospect
through a sales process and convert him or her into a sale, plain and simple.
But, for those that are skeptical, let me point out a few
for-instances that might convince you that I’m telling you the truth. I know what you’re thinking, “He’s just
saying this so I won’t write my own ad copy and hire him instead.”
If only it were that easy!
Yeah, I Fell For It!
While it is true I am a freelance copywriter, I would like
to point out that I too, originally bought into the idea that you could take a single
course and master the art. I took a
course from a reputable ad copy and marketing guru, fully expecting to “master”
the skills and techniques by taking the one course.
My first attempt at ad copy was anything less than
spectacular, and looking back I can see that there were several reasons for
this. First of all, the product that I
was selling online was in a niche that had a large audience and I failed to
find a “niche within a niche” that would be far easier to target.
But that wasn't the only mistake that I made. The biggest mistake I made was not defining
and understanding the difference between the benefits of my product and its
features. Without a clear road map showing prospects how
my product would benefit them, I was dead in the water. So, I clearly didn't have an understanding of
my own product or how to benefit my prospective customers.
You need to know your product and service inside and
out. You need to read every bit of
literature on the business, you need to use the product, and interview people
that have used it as well as talk to people that work in the company (unless it
is your own business you are writing about.)
Another fundamental and huge mistake I made, was I did not have
a clear picture of what my ideal customer was like. I forgot the marketing commandment of “Thou
Shall Not Market To Everyone”. So I had
absolutely no idea what kept my prospects up at night or what they were afraid
of.
To read an article on this, read, “Pain the Magic SalesButton – How to Use Discomfort on Your Prospects” .
Take a look at how Dan Kennedy describes how criminals find their Target Market:
The bottom line of all of this is that before you even write
a word of ad copy you need to do background intel on your prospects or
customers.
Without that, you can’t even
get started!
Once you have all of that background you can actually start
to craft your sales letter, and you’ll have a much better chance of writing
copy prospects can relate to.
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