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CEOs and their owners have lost untold hours over sales copy failures. But, some key elements can help ensure that storytelling and marketing remain on track.
It’s frustrating to spend so much time on sales copy that doesn’t convert. A copy that converts right away can give you the numbers you need for your business to grow without interruption.
Even if your copy isn’t written by you, you should understand the structure of a good copy and its reasons. Otherwise, you could be left at the mercy of your marketing manager or agency, or worse, in the awkward situation of having to rely on others’ words. This is not a winning strategy over the long term.
If you aren’t a professional copywriter, where do you begin? These are the cornerstones that offer the most leverage in convincing prospects to take action.
4 Resources for Writing Incredible Copy that Converts
1. Headline
Your headline is your ad. It should grab prospects’ attention and draw them into your sales message. A headline must be relevant and tap into prospects’ core beliefs.
It should resonate with their deepest desires and aspirations. If done right, it will ignite a spark within the prospect’s emotional core.
The magic happens when you set up chain reactions that transform despair into hope, confidence to trust, fear into courage, and doubt into confidence.
This is a pillar that you will spend a lot of time on but once optimized it will be an emotional lightning rod to attract people to your message.
2. The lead
Every successful ad campaign starts with a “big idea”, the promise of the benefit you are offering. The lead is the first 150-700 words after the headline.
It serves two purposes: it reaffirms the promise of the offer and also explains who it isn’t for. A prospect might start to wonder if a headline is right for them.
Your lead is responsible for clarifying what your product is and what it will do. A reader who isn’t clear on what your product or service is will almost always say “No” if it isn’t. The winning lead will prevent this from happening by creating rapport and forging a relationship.
3. Bullets
These concise statements give a glimpse of the offer’s benefits but don’t reveal how it was obtained. Effective bullets are designed to stimulate curiosity.
Well-crafted bullets include elements of novelty, mystery, and promise, as well vivid imagery. These elements spark a prospect’s imagination and make it easier for a reader to take action.
If you are writing for an accounting company, you might introduce an exchange-style bullet-like, “Invest 20 mins with me once and you’ll save twenty hours a week for your whole life.” This sparks curiosity and draws people to your message and eventually to buy.
This is without question the most important pillar you should spend your energy on. In part, creating quality bullets will force your creativity to tap into it, and curiosity-driven thinking processes will help you find a treasure trove of other concepts.
These will build blocks for headlines, subheads, and your sales argument and also help you build out your…
4. Copy for the body
The body copy is the most important part of a sales letter. It is also known as the sales argument. This is because most readers will skim it in an unconscious (or conscious), attempt to answer the internal question, “What’s in this for me?”
Another reason why bullets are so important is that you can use unused bullets as subheads. A good subhead draws a prospect into the sales message and encourages them to move from one section to another.
The body of your sales argument is what the client interacts with. It consists of a combination of picture, promise, and proof, along with push tactics. This is interwoven with a unique selling proposition about your big idea. When done right, body copy can be a simple call to action.
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