If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Anatomy of A Sales Message – A Step By Step Writing Guide

Now that you’re familiar with the philosophy behind effective marketing, let’s get down to more practical matters:  writing a sales message.

Every sales or marketing message has the same basic structure.  Whether it’s an advert in the Sunday paper, a postcard, an online sales letter, a television commercial, or even a flyer stuck under the wipers of a car, an effective sales pitch will almost always include:

• Headlines – attention-grabbing words that convey the biggest benefit of using your product or service. They should be emotive and have impact.
   
• The body copy – From the very first line, each paragraph should go about answering the ‘what’s in it for me’ question that your reader will be asking. Don’t go on about how great you and your company are, offer the reader something of benefit and then repeat that offer.

Speak directly to your target reader on a personal basis, use the word ‘you’ more than the word ‘I’ in your sentences. The first line of the first paragraph should preferably include the main benefit of your product or service. Body copy also includes these elements:

• The proof  - testimonials, endorsements, etc that prove your offer is what you claim
• The bonus – an additional value (“But wait, there’s more”) offer to transform your main offer from good to irresistible
• The guarantee – a removal of risk so the consumer has no fear of disappointment
• The call to action – a statement of what the consumer has to do to place an order, with an incentive for them to act quickly
• The postscript – a restatement of the biggest benefit

The beauty of this 7-part ‘template’ for sales messages is that you only have to write your main sales copy once.  After that, it can easily be adapted to fit whatever medium you’re using it in:  website, autoresponder, newspaper ad, etc.

The elements of all sales messages remain consistent.  As a result of this consistency, master marketers have created a foolproof methodology that allows them to create effective new messages easily.  Soon…you’ll be able to do this as well.
 
An Overview of Sales Message Creation

Before you lay a finger on the keyboard or pick up your favourite pen and start thinking about the words you’ll write, I think it’s valuable for you to have an overview of the process. 

13 Steps to Creating Your Sales Message

Step 1 – Do Market Research

Build a foundation of knowledge.  Learn all you can about the prospects in your target market and about your competitors. 

This step will help you determine what people want and how you can give them what your competition doesn’t.
 
Step 2 – List the Features and Benefits

Write down all the features that your product/service has to offer.  Then write about the tangible benefits and emotional benefits that the features deliver.

This step will help you zero in on how consumers will use your product/service to solve their problems.

Step 3 – Create Your Offer

Don’t just offer a 10% discount (unless price discounts are highly effective in your marketplace) - be creative. How about a free report or product sample, or a free gift related to your product and the reader’s interest in it? Get into the mind of your target reader and consider what benefits are making them buy your product. Zero in on this need and tailor your offer to match their desire.

Step 4 – Pick Your Delivery System

Decide how your message will be delivered – in the post, on the web, etc.  Will it have photos or graphics?  If you’re sending your message through the mail, will you include a mail-back order form or tear-off sheet, plus a pre-paid business reply envelope?

This step is focused on making maximum impact with minimum expense.  It’s where 21st Century business owners can utilize technology to save money.

Step 5 – Write Lots of Headlines

Most copywriters will typically write dozens of headlines and then test them before settling on the one they’ll use.  Later, you’ll learn the ‘how to’ tricks the masters use to create them.

This step has two benefits.  As well as developing the perfect, irresistible headline for the sales message that you’re writing, you will end up with lots of ‘nearly as good’ headlines that can be used throughout your advertising as pre-headlines, sub-headlines, and sub-headings.

Step 6 – Create An Excitement-Building Opening

The opening is the portion of a sales pitch that immediately follows the headline.  The language is laser-focused on pushing the reader’s emotional buttons and building excitement for the benefits provided by the offer.

This step builds on your headline and compels the reader to keep reading.  (Here’s a marketing secret you may not know:  if you can get your reader past 350 words they’ll be more likely to read the whole letter.

Step 7 – Present The Details Emotionally

Expand on the bare-bone facts of your offer – the features– with emotionally provocative picture forming words and a comprehensive list of the benefits the consumer will receive.

This step marries emotion and logic to convince your prospect that buying what he/she desires is an intelligent decision.

Remember that every single buying decision is an emotional one.

Step 8 – Prove Your Case

Sceptical prospects, always fearful of being scammed, need a reason to trust your claims.  Enlist third parties to do the job for you with endorsements, testimonials, statistical results, news articles, quotes, etc.

This step inspires confidence and tells your prospect ‘people like you are buying this’ and ‘people you respect are buying this.’  Both of these are extremely powerful.
 
Step 9 – Explain Why

If your offer sounds “too good to be true,” prospective customers are likely to be sceptical unless they know the reason you are making such an irresistible offer.  Explain how you are able to do what you do. 

‘The more you tell, the more you sell’ works as well in modern marketing as it has always done. Cover all your customer’s objections so he/she has got no reason not to buy. Think of the sales process as leading your prospect down a corridor, closing doors on their objections as you go – until there’s only one more door to open at the end  - the one that leads to the sale.

This step is an important way to counteract cynicism.  Additionally, while it makes your offer more credible, it also makes you more human. Imagine what questions you would want answered if you were going to buy this product – and answer them in plain English.

Step 10 – Assume The Risk Yourself

Bulletproof your offer with the strongest guarantee you can. The goal is to eliminate any perceived risk in the prospect’s mind that would be an obstacle to immediate action.

This step tells consumers, “You’ve got nothing to lose” and is extraordinarily effective at overcoming any traces of fear or hesitation.

Step 11 – Motivate Action

Ask them to act on your offer.  (You’d be shocked at how many sales messages leave out this most critical of steps.)  If you want prospects to call, then you must tell them to pick up the phone and dial XXX-XXXX right now.  Tell them exactly step-by-step what to do next…and make sure they know that they must act quickly or they could lose out.

This step makes it easy for the consumer to act by explaining the process (“Click here and you can download your book as soon as we’ve processed your payment).  It also lights a fire under your prospect so that procrastination doesn’t rob you of a sale. 

Step 12 – Give It One More Try

Add a post-script or ‘final thought’ to your message after it appears to be complete.  Since many readers check out the headline and then jump to the bottom of a message, you can use this prime position to highlight the chief benefit of your offer.

This step is the ‘last chance’ offer of your message.  If your prospect is still sitting on the fence, this can be the push that gets him/her on your side.

Step 13 – Review, Refine, and Try to Raise the ROI

Analyze the results of each marketing effort to determine whether it is paying for itself.  Make changes and test to see if you can generate more income with the same expense.

That’s it.  The ‘secret formula’ that has been quietly making people rich for decades.  There’s nothing magical or sinister about it.  Effective sales and marketing copy simply captures in words the essence of a face-to-face exchange with a prospective client.  Just remember that copywriting is

Salesmanship in print

…and the next sections are devoted to making you Salesman of the Year (or Saleswoman) for as long as you’re in business.

Let’s get started with HEADLINES….next time…