AIDA – The Copywriter’s Favourite Auntie (Part Two)

Are you ready for the next step? Do you want to know what happens next? Well, now that you have honed your headline writing skills and got your readers’ attention, you have to arouse their interest in what you’re selling.

How do you do that? Well, let’s suppose your reader has a problem – they could be feeling stressed, bored or unfulfilled. Your job is to find a way to tie your product to their problem as the solution.

A metaphorical arm around their shoulder

Freelance copywriters could also be described as counsellors as we have to show our readers that we understand how they feel and then we promise to take the problem away. What do they have to do? Simply buy your product.

The golden rule here is to ensure you write about the solution not the problem – negativity will result in your letter being folded into an aeroplane.

Try to answer this: ‘How will my reader’s life be improved if they do what I want them to do?’ Answer it in the first sentence or paragraph – they’ll want the answer immediately. If you’re not sure what your reader really wants bring in as many benefits as possible and be specific.

Sell the benefits

Remember benefits are anything your reader perceives as valuable or worthwhile – something that will help them make/save money, save time, get them promoted, make friends etc.

Make sure it is the benefits that you are selling and not the features – yes, the product might be recyclable but that is a feature. The benefit would be that it helps preserve natural resources. Get the idea?

Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, it will take practice to master this but it will be worth it. So now you can get your reader interested in your product because you have identified why your product will be of benefit to them. Brilliant!

But it doesn’t stop there. Just because they are interested and can see the benefits, doesn’t mean that they’ll simply hand their credit card over. You still have a bit more work to do before that happens.

The next stage is to learn how to create a desire for your product. See you in a day or so.