Posts Tagged ‘sales writing’

Every freelance copywriter will know that every new project brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Which is why it is vital that, before you start anything, you clearly understand the goals of your project. If you know where you need to end up, it will be a lot easier to get there. One of the first questions you should ask your client is what is the purpose of the project? For example, if you are writing a sales letter it is important to remember that what you are writing is going to replace a personal visit or face to face conversation. Whereas face to face a salesman can make eye contact, gain clues from the customer’s body language and counter objections as they arise, your letter can’t do that so the ...

As a copywriter I am frequently asked by my clients to write direct mail sales letters. These are quite an art form in themselves and can be quite complex to write. But the work begins long before you actually put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. In fact this is true for just about any form of copywriting. If you launch in without a lot of thought, you are very unlikely to produce something that will be strong enough to sell. There’s a lot of ground work to get through before you should even consider writing. The first stage is to know your market. How can you convince someone to buy something if you don’t know what they want? But not only do you need to understand who you ...

Everyone is feeling the pinch right now, but there are some things that really shouldn’t be cut back on – especially if you are running a business. You are in business to sell, right? And the most powerful tool in your sales armoury is marketing. Marketing needs words; words that sell. So unless you happen to be a freelance copywriter as well as a business owner, why are you trying to do it yourself? If you car breaks down you take it to a mechanic, if you are unwell you go to the doctors, if your pet needs some TLC you take it to the vets. You wouldn’t try to do any of those things yourself, so don’t try and write your own sales copy. No one knows your business like you do I’m not ...

I think I probably need to clarify the title of this post before I receive a barrage of complaints and insults from fellow copywriters. By saying we are ‘plain and simple’ is not a reference to looks or intelligence. Rather that we are adept in the subtle art of plain speaking. When people discover I am a copywriter they are sometimes disappointed with my every day vocabulary levels. They assume that because I work with words, I will speak in a way that would suggest I eat a dictionary every morning for breakfast. They sit in awe waiting for me to deliver a rhetoric so complicated they will be left open-mouthed as they try to fathom what I said. Simple wins every time Being a copywriter has nothing to do with  the number of ...

If you are a copywriter, you have to be an extrovert. That doesn’t mean to say you have to get off your trolley constantly – well you could, might it play havoc with your writing. Your gregarious nature means you have to be personable so you can build rapport with your clients. You also need to be a great listener – that way you’ll understand exactly what they are looking for. And you have to understand your reader – you have to get to know everything about them. The first two things are reasonably straight forward to achieve, but the last one is a wee bit tricky. Getting inside your readers’ heads can seem an impossible task. I mean, half the time I don’t even know what’s going on inside my own head! But taking ...

Can you write in such a way as to create an emotional bond with your reader? Now there’s a question for you. You can probably guess that I am going to say “yes you can” otherwise this will be one of the shortest blog posts in history! Building rapport with your customers is something that requires a bit of work and a lot of thought. I wasn’t born a copywriter, this was one of the many skills I have learned. It’s easy to connect with someone face to face, but when it comes to the written word things get a little trickier. Show you care “Hey. I’m hired to write sales copy not get emotionally involved with my readers.” Well if that’s your attitude then perhaps copywriting isn’t the career for you. A ...

How does asking questions strengthen your copywriting? Humans are naturally curious creatures. From an early age we learn to questions – why? If you have children you’ll know what I’m talking about! If you were in a sales position with your customer physically in front of you, it would be easy to keep their attention. You can maintain eye contact, you could take them to a side room to chat undisturbed, you can use body language and intonation. But what happens when you’re not in front of your customer? What happens when you have to communicate to them via a brochure, website or sales letter? Don’t panic – it can still be done. As a freelance copywriter I use a simple technique to stimulate a ‘conversation’ with reader even though you are not physically ...