Focus 25 Days on Your Copy
#1 Focus On Who The Customer Is
As we turn our focus onto the most important people in your life this month, we also want to give you everything you need to bring clarity and focus to your copy!
Your customer is the most important person in your business. And that’s who copy speaks to directly!
So let’s get to #1…
Before you start writing, it’s critical that you know who your customer is and what makes them tick. We come across companies that simply do not know WHO they are selling to…
Yikes.
Here are five questions that we ask companies to focus on who your customers are:
1️⃣ What problem does your product or service solve?
2️⃣ Who has that problem?
3️⃣ What makes them want to buy from you?
4️⃣ Can they afford what you’re pricing your product or service at?
5️⃣ Will this dramatically improve their lives?
We just released a half-day session with our top copywriters for $100 off. You can use that time however you want to, whenever you want to. This is the perfect solution for companies that need a little assistance getting in the right direction but don’t want to commit to improving their conversion rates (and ultimately sales).
#2 Focus On What Your Customer Needs
As marketers, it is so easy to focus on how to position your product right, explain how you’re better than the alternative, and why your customer should buy from you now.
But that doesn’t address what your customer actually needs.
➡️ No one actually needs the new iPhone 11. What they need is the ability to capture moments exactly how they remembered them – and that’s why the iPhone 11’s camera does.
➡️ No CEO needs leadership coaching. What they actually need is for their team to trust and follow them.
Here’s your task to focus on your copy….
List 3 “needs” that your customer segment (we worked on Day 1) for each product or service.
A helpful question is ask yourself is… “What the biggest thing you hear from your existing customers?”
If you need help brainstorming your customer’s needs, we want to invite you to get on a Brainstorm Session with our team. For this week only, you can access this for 25% OFF.
#3 Transform Any Features Into Benefits And Add More Benefits
Can we let you in on one secret? Most people do not make decisions based on logic.
Yep. That’s right.
Most people – being the emotional beings we are – make emotional decisions. They only use logic (like features) to back up their decisions.
One thing that we practice in our own marketing and our client’s copy is to transform features into benefits and add more benefits.
How do we accomplish that?
We ask these questions…
➡️ How does your customer feel before and after using your product or service?
➡️ Does their status change after they buy your product or service?
➡️ Do they feel any different after the purchase?
➡️ What newfound freedom do they now have after using your product or service?
➡️ You have this one feature, but so what?
What features are you having issues converting to benefits? Contact us and we’ll help you out for free.
#4 Forget about the design While you're writing copy
#5 Build a unique selling proposition to use as your foundation for copywriting
That’s why it’s critical that you write *and* use a unique selling proposition as the foundation for your copywriting.
Feel free to use this template to build your USP:
Our [company / product / service] is the only one that helps [your customer] solve [their specific problem] by [unique promise or benefit].
#6 Nail down the brand voice you want to use and stick with it.
It is oh-so important to know your voice and to actually use it! In a couple of days, we’re releasing a template to build your own brand voice.
Why create a brand voice?
As the spokesman for the business, you cannot be everywhere. Sometimes, you’ll have other people writing for you as you. They need a guide to follow so that your readers won’t know the difference.
#7 Focus Each sales page around one big idea.
Each sales page should be focused around one big idea.
It’s so easy to get distracted with so many benefits, features, etc. Stick to the one big idea! If you stay focused in the sales letter, you’re going to be exponentially better at converting sales.
Why?
Because sales letters that are distracted simply distract the reader. Distracted readers find other things to do and click out of your page. Not what you want to have happen.
Too many ideas? Create separate pages for those ideas! 💡
#8 Break up your copy with whitespace and different font styles.
Effective copywriting breaks the grammar norms usually associated with essays or articles. It does not need to adhere to those rules.
Instead, break up your copy by using that “enter” or “return” button.
Create whitespace to interject emotion or voice into the copy.
Don’t be afraid to also change up the alignment, font color, or even the font.
Both these strategies help to keep the reader interested. But that of course only works when the copy is worth reading! 😉
If you need help with your copy, we can help advise and write your copy to improve conversion rates, reduce customer acquisition costs, and ultimately increase sales! 💰
#9 Build a hook
The sales letter either wins or loses with the first line of copy. That’s why it’s so important to build a hook into your headline to capture your reader’s attention.
This hook should be both interesting and mysterious enough for a reader to want to read more. 🧐
#10 Record your progress and the changes You make as you test.
#11 Offer a guarantee that makes it easy to make the purchase decision.
Are you scared of offering a satisfaction guarantee? A 30-day money back guarantee? You’re not alone.
It can be scary because what if…? Someone takes advantage of it? Everyone wants their money back?
By offering a guarantee on a product or service that you know your prospects will love, it makes their purchasing decision that much easier.
We’ve even see companies offer money in addition to the refund just because they are so confident that you will love their offer.
That’s ambitious.
Can you do something similar in your business?
Can you make it that much easier for your prospect to transform into a customer?
Get to it!
#12 Get emotional and connect with your customer.
Your customers are human beings.
Emotional beings.
Beings that have pain, fears, motivation, stressors, sorrow, joy, and excitement.
There is no product or service on this earth that does not have an emotional element to it. Don’t believe us? Leave a comment to challenge us and we’ll give you the emotional twist.
So how do you get emotional in your copywriting?
First, come from a place of humility and humanity. When you are sitting in your customer’s seat, what are they feeling? Why are they feeling that way?
Then once you figure out that core emotion they are feeling, twist it into a more positive tone. We are in the belief that positivity will always beat out negativity.
What are some of those positive tones? Hope, insight, enlightenment, wisdom, relaxation, love…
Remember, 99% of humans make emotional decisions. They only use logic to justify their decision. Let’s get emotional!
#13 Transform Any Negative Copy into More Uplifting Copy.
There’s simply too much negativity in the world. It doesn’t take long to get bogged down by worldly occurrences. That’s why we encourage our clients to always turn any negatives into a positive.
Sure, you need to address the pains, needs, and struggles your customer has… But work on twisting those around by providing them with a solution, a transformation.
Be a light in the darkness. 💡 Your customers will be thankful for it.
#14 Build a Video Sales Letter Into Your Existing Landing Page.
We all learn and intake information differently. Some people learn through audio, movement, speech, pictures, etc. The same goes for sales letters.
For our tip, we would be amiss if we didn’t talk about video and how much value it can add to your landing page. It’s visual and has audio.
Here are a few tips to get started:
Record either yourself or your screen on any device. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is your audio quality. Invest in a good microphone or just sit in a quiet area when recording.
Make a bold statement up front and get them instantly hooked into the video. Some of our favorite video sales letters (VSLs) are when the speaker acknowledges that they are in the screen, try to break out of the video, or call out the viewer. It makes it personal and unique.
Story tell the benefits of whatever you’re selling. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. Like a good movie though, you have to keep the plot moving.
#15 Ask Questions throughout your copy to get your customers to say "yes".
Sales copy shouldn’t be a monologue. It should be a conversation between the author and the reader. That means that your reader needs something to respond to.
Ask questions throughout the sales letter and get your customers to nod their heads as they continue reading through the copy. You want them to agree with you on everything – the pain point, the the problem, the benefits, the offer, and eventually the price.
#16 Make your copy a conversation rather than a one-sided lecture.
No one likes to be lectured.
Right?
It doesn’t feel good.
So why does so much copy feel like a lecture?
Our tip for the day is to make your copy a conversation.
Write it as if you were having a conversation with your reader. Thread their responses into the copy.
The goal is to get them to agree and track with you.
#17 Research 7 times more than you actually need.
Copywriting is more research than it is about actually writing. Because copy needs to be all about your customer, we need to investigate what makes your customer tick. We also need to learn more your product and competition.
So if you feel like you’re researching too much, you’re on track.
But if you haven’t researched anything, then this may be your tip to focus on your copy.
#18 Use an Active voice rather than a passive voice.
This is one of our biggest pet peeves… Use an active voice when copywriting. Essays, technical papers, and other traditional documentation use passive voice. As a result, many college students or individuals with a formal education background fall into the habit of writing passively. It makes it mundane and there’s no real action present.
Copy must be active because we expect our readers to act.
Let’s take an example of a passive sentence and convert it to an active sentence.
❌ Products at XYZ Company are manufactured in the USA.
✔️ XYZ Company manufactures its products in the USA.
See the difference? There are many readability scores like the Flesch-Kincaid or Flesch Reading Ease that help you identify those passive sentences in your copy.
#19 Be ultra specific so your target audience can immediate connect.
Lately, we’ve come across a number of companies who do not want to narrow in on a niche or a specific customer because they don’t want to shut themselves to potential sales.
We argue that companies will be more profitable if they actually tell the world who they serve. The goal is for the customer to identify themselves as they’re walking in your “door”. Get ultra specific on who your target audience is and give them very unique examples so that they can connect quicker and deeper.
Bob Bly – a top copywriter – says this, “Since so much advertising is vague and general, being specific in your copy sets it apart from other ads and creates interest”. How are you being specific in your copy?
#20 Avoid using too much industry lingo and terminology.
Have you ever been in a meeting where someone starts spewing out lingo, terms you’ve never heard of, or long acronyms?
It makes you feel inadequate, unintelligent, and like you don’t belong in the room.
Ouch.
It doesn’t feel good.
That’s why we try to avoid any industry lingo in copy, especially when it’s not explained.
What if you reader is in the industry?
Great! Are they still the decision maker?
Or do they have to send that material to the decision maker? Make their lives easier and the buying decision quicker by taking out that lingo.
#21 Remove any weasel words (or ambiguous words) from copy.
We hope…
We believe…
We think…
We may…
Do you see the pattern?
What follows “we” are wish-washy words that don’t command or promise anything. It’s weak language that we call weasel words.
Instead of using those ambiguous words or phrases in your copy, use works like “will” or “can” or better yet… Action words.
This increases your authority and confidence.
Let’s look at a couple of examples that can quickly be transformed…
FocusCopy may be able to help bring clarity and focus to your website copy. ➡️ FocusCopy will bring clarity and focus to your website copy.
FocusCopy can write anything that sells products, services, or even ideas. ➡️ FocusCopy writes anything that sells products, services, or even ideas.
#22 Back up claims with testimonials and customer success stories.
What’s better than promoting your own products or services? Someone that has used it – your customer.
The best copy is the words your customers have said. Use those exact words! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist.
No need to get fancy either.
Testimonials create a sense of FOMO or fear of missing out.
Your customers will begin to think… “If all these people are happy, then I want to be happy too.” How do you get testimonies?
Ask for them.
Like sales, if you never make the ask, no one is going to volunteer their credit card number.
#23 Use "You" more than "We". Focus on your customer
Check this ratio in your existing copy. ⬇️
First… How many times have you used your company name, “we”, or “our”? Count them up.
Then… Count the number of times you use “your” or mention the customer by name.
We : You
If you are using a whole lot more of the “we”, it’s time to switch your focus to be more customer focused.
You > We
The more you focus on your customer, the more you are going to be customer centric.
The more you are customer centric, the higher conversion rates you’re going to see.
The higher conversion rates, the more profit. So…
“You” = $$$
