Entries Tagged 'sales writing' ↓

One of the most effective online marketing tools is the press release. However it is often misused or under-used.

Let me ask you something – in the past 12 months how many press releases have you made on behalf of your company?

20, 15, 10, 5…less…none?

When should I make a press release?

The simple answer is whenever your company does something it wants to shout about. If it’s news, press release it.

Want some examples? OK, here is just a selection of scenarios where you can spread the news through press releases:

• The launch of new products or services on your web site
• You want to publish the results of an online survey you’ve been running
• To publicise a seminar you’re hosting
• You are launching a new website
• Your company has won an online award
• Publicise online products or services you’re giving away
• If you’ve started an online club/forum
• If you’re lucky enough to have someone famous to endorse your product
• Launching a joint venture with another company
• If you’ve written a new eBook

That was just a list off the top of my head. I’m sure if you have a think you’ll find an angle you can press release about right now.

Press release golden rules

Of course, if you want your press release to stand the best possible chance of being published, you’ll have to make sure it is written correctly. By following these simple steps you should be able to create something interesting, readable and printable.

• Make sure your release reads like news and not an advert
• Only send your release to media related to the topic of your press release
• Keep it one page in length
• Your header, contact information and release date should be at the top of your release
• Use short, simple sentences and double space your lines
• Your header and first few sentences must grab your readers’ attention
• You should tell a story and mention your business, product or service in the body of the press release
• Proofread your press release looking out for grammar and spelling mistakes
• Proofread your press release looking out for grammar and spelling mistakes
• Proofread your press release looking out for grammar and spelling mistakes

No I haven’t gone mad. That last point is meant to appear 3 times. You can’t afford to send out a press release with errors in it.

Don’t forget if it’s new to you, it will probably be valuable news to someone else so shout about it.

These press release tips are brought to you by freelance copywriter Sally Ormond.

This blog concentrates on the mechanics of writing a sales letter. Copywriting is a skill that has been around for donkey’s years so what I am about to impart is not rocket science, but rather age old skills and techniques that are well tested and proven.

A sales letter has 3 main components:

Headline

If you don’t grab your reader’s attention immediately you may as well give up now. Your headline is what will draw your reader into your sales later.

Don’t be gimmicky or clever – the best headlines will sell the benefits of your product/service and arouse curiosity. Make your headline specific, include: what you are selling, its price (only if this is one of the key points that makes your product/service attractive), what’s in it for your reader (the benefits) and finally what will happen if it doesn’t work.

Wow, that’s a lot to take in, but here is an example that really works. It is from Domino’s Pizza:

Hot Pizza Delivered to Your Door in 30 Minutes or Less of it’s Free

Brilliant! Your reader knows what they are going to get, when they will get it and what will happen if something goes wrong.

Oh, just one other thing – don’t end your headline with a full stop. As you know that particular punctuation mark tells you to stop reading and that is the last thing you want your reader to do!

Offer

This makes up the bulk of your sales letter.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your reader already knows what you are talking about. Be explicit – tell them how your product/service is going to benefit them -‘it will save you time’, ‘it will save you money’…get the picture?

Although you need to sell your product/service, if you are too salesy you’ll turn them off. Keep it light and interesting. Make them believe they need your product, motivate your reader to take advantage of the offer that you’re presenting right away (limited to 50 places, offer ends 31^st March…).

Call to Action

This is soooo important. If you don’t have one you might as well have been writing a postcard to your nearest and dearest.

The CTA is crucial in any sales writing. Make it clear, simple and concise. Don’t confuse your reader now. Hopefully they are ready to get out their credit cards and buy so tell them what they have to do – buy now, call now etc.

The slightest bit of ambiguity will see them swim off in someone else’s direction and you’ll lose the sale.

So as you see, don’t try and reinvent the wheel. The key behind successful copywriting is to use the formulas that have been developed but put your own spin on what you’re writing.

Aunt Aida isn’t, as you would imagine, a sweet old lady living with hundreds of cats who spends all her time baking cakes. In fact, Aida isn’t even a person. But as a freelance copywriter, I can’t live without her. She provides the backbone to all my writing.

AIDA is all about the elements that your writing needs to make a sale. If your copywriting skills are going to be effective you have to learn how to:

• Capture your readers Attention
• Arouse their Interest
• Create a Desire
• Get them to take Action.

That would be far too much information to impart in one article, therefore I shall break down the process and here we shall look at how to go about grabbing your readers Attention.

How does a copywriter grab their readers’ attention?

First things first, if you are writing a sales letter, your attention grabber is an effective headline. If you are writing an email then it is the subject line.

For the purpose of this article I shall be looking at writing a sales letter. Your headline will be at the top of your letter but, to create instant impact, it can also be on your envelope as this will be your first opportunity to grab the attention of your reader.

So what type of headline works best?

• One giving news?
• One promising a benefit?
• One that arouses curiosity?

One that sells or promises benefit will always be a winner, but the most powerful one is the one that is a combination of all three.

If you are stuck for ideas try starting it with ‘How’ or ‘Now’:

‘How this copywriter will increase your sales conversion rate’

‘Now, even better quality, even lower prices’

When is the best time to write it?

I’m not referring to the time of day here. Everyone has their own opinion on this; some say at the start before you write the body of your copy, others say at the end. There is no right or wrong answer so go with whatever feels right to you.

One tip is to come up with several headlines and then pick the best one. You may find that different ideas occur to you at different times in the writing process.

Forget the full stop

Never, never, never end your headline with a full stop.

Why? Well, what does a full stop tell your reader to do? That’s right, stop reading – that is last thing that you want to happen.

How long should it be?

Quite simply, as long as is necessary to get your message across. But be sensible. A headline that goes on forever will be a complete turn-off.

So that about wraps up how to grab your readers’ attention. If you have any other ideas why not post a comment? It would be great to hear someone else’s take on this.

In a few days I’ll post the next article in this series addressing how you can arouse your readers’ interest.

I cringe every time I read something that is writer-centred. Look at me, aren’t I wonderful! Frankly, I couldn’t care less and neither could your reader – don’t believe me? Then read on.

The other day, a sales flyer appeared through my door with my other post. It was very colourful and had several nice images dotted here and there to break up the text.

It was quite pleasing to the eye so I thought, why not? I was just about to have a coffee so I had a bit of a read just to see what they had to say – I believe it was from a conservatory company.

Well, after the first paragraph I’d learned all about how long they’d been in business, they had told me about the wonderful calibre of their sales team. I then moved on to read about the amazing glass they used and their wonderful weather resistant frames. They had also won a local award or something…as you can tell, I was beginning to flag by this point.

They had made one fatal mistake – they had forgotten who the flyer was going to.

Paragraph after paragraph they told me about themselves. I am sure they are very good at what they do and undoubtedly deserved the award, but what they didn’t do was tell me how their company’s product would benefit me.

OK, you could argue that I am intelligent enough to work that one out for myself. But because the flyer was all about them my reaction to it was ‘so what?’ Why should I spend my time and money contacting a company that paid so little attention to the needs of its potential customers?

The moral therefore is no matter what medium you are writing for, your writing must be centred on the reader. They probably aren’t particularly interested in how long your business has been going. But what they are interested in is what you can do for them to help them save money, time, etc.

Sally Ormond