Happy Holidays Crucible Readers

December 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’d imagine you’re too excited about the holidays to concentrate on a persuasive writing lesson this week. So instead I’m going to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you all with your pens ready in a week or so.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with this informative video (link via Michael Stelzner’s blog), which tells you everything you need to know about becoming an internet millionaire, but without having to waste your time writing copy:)

Happy holidays!

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog 

Writing Persuasively 3 - Features Tell, Benefits Sell

December 11, 2008 | 1 Comment

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“In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.” - Charles Revson

Whenever someone reads your website’s landing page or sales letter they’re not thinking about how clever the wordplay is but ‘what’s in it for me?’

They want to know how your product can solve their problem and benefit them personally, not how great your company is or how many speed settings your widget has.

If you’ve provided them with the right triggers, their imagination will also be picturing what life would be like if they took advantage of your offer. Justifying their purchasing decisions with logic comes after.

So your writing needs to be able to make the reader feel what they’d gain from agreeing to buy from you, which means you need to be able to write in the emotionally charged language of benefits, and not just features.

[Before the comments section gets flooded I think I should mention that there's an exception to this rule. If you're writing for experts in your industry, the technically minded or no nonsense business people then stick to features. These readers are more interested in what you're product actually does and how it's better than your competitor's, rather than reading emotionally driven prose. Give them hard data, facts and the bottom line if you want to earn their trust].

Features or benefits? What’s the difference?

In basic terms, features are what a product does and the benefits are what customers gain.

An electric drill’s features might be its multiple speed settings and four drill sizes, whilst its benefits are the smooth holes in a wall and being able to put up some shelves to showoff your sporting memorabilia.

Features are a product’s practical information and specifications.

Benefits are the basis for painting an emotionally charged picture of a better life with your product in it, which seduces your prospect and makes your offer sound irresistible.

Writing about benefits helps your reader to understand the full meaning of what your product promises to do for them.

So you need your writing needs to appeal to your target’s personal motives and emotional triggers.

What are my product’s benefits?

To assess what benefits you can use to create desire in your target reader, it can be helpful to write lists of:

  • The features - what the product actually does
  • Why each feature is included and what problem it solves
  • Why it solves the problem better than the other products available
  • What the customer gains from a problem being solved
  • What customer motives does the product appeal to
  • How will gaining a benefit make the customer feel

From this you should be able to compile a list of the problems your product solves and the benefits customers will gain, such as gratitude for finally hanging the wedding photos or becoming so filthy rich they can take twice daily showers in money.

When writing you’ll need to go through each benefit explaining in personal and emotional terms how your product can improve the reader’s life.

Give them real world examples of someone who’s reaped the rewards you promise, and keep piling on the benefits until they cant say no.

So whilst your competitors’ bland corporate copy continues to waffle on about cold features and their paradigm shift in forward thinking solutions, make sure you’re talking about benefits and the emotional rewards readers will gain from buying from you.

But before you start hammering them into your keyboard, we’re not quite at the writing stage yet.

You still need to structure how you communicate the benefits, so they seduce readers with a precisely worded, persuasive argument.

And, funnily enough, persuasive writing structure just happens to be the topic of next week’s article, so stay subscribed people.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting 

Writing Persuasively 2 - Planning Why You Are Writing, Who To And What Action You Want Them To Take

December 5, 2008 | 4 Comments

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“The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.” - David Ogilvy

As any lawyer knows, it’s not the strength of your words but the strength of your arguments that wins.

The same rule applies to persuasive writing.

Dazzling the reader with your use of a thesaurus or adopting a pushy tone isn’t the best way of convincing them to respond the way you want.

Persuasive writing is thinking on paper and salesmanship in print, rather than clever wordsmithing.

The aim isn’t to impress the reader with stylish prose, but to present your case as clearly and logically as possible. And this takes planning.

Before you go near the keyboard you need to know what your points are so you can organise them into a cohesive structure that takes the reader along a clear path of thought and leaves them enlightened and pulling out their credit card at the end.

And trust me, taking the time to plan what to write before you start saves a lot of time in the long run.

When composing your points, you need to answer:

  • Why am I writing?
  • Who am I writing to?
  • What action do I want them to take?

Why am I writing?

Why should someone agree with your point of view or buy your product?

If you don’t already know the answer to this then you’ll need to research your product in depth.

Tenacious research is crucial for shaping your argument, and you should have more information than you can use before you start writing.

It’s only through developing a thorough understanding of your product or service that you’ll work out how to make it sound enticing.

Crucially, you need to know:

  • What does my product do?
  • Why is it better than the competition?
  • What problems does it solve?
  • How can I prove its benefits?

After compiling your notes, write an ordered list of the points you need to make to persuade a cynical reader that agreeing with you is the smart thing to do.

Who am I writing to?

After your product the most important element of writing persuasively is your reader (although some copywriters would say it’s the other way around).

Different people have different motivations and aspirations in life.

So you need to understand what makes your target reader happy, annoyed and what keeps them awake at night.

Consider:

  • What motivates them?
  • What are they afraid of?
  • What do they want to gain in life?
  • What do they want to avoid?
  • How can you offer to make their lives easier?
  • What style of language appeals to them?
  • What counter arguments would they have to your proposal?

It’s through getting inside the head of your target reader that you’ll understand what triggers will propel them into buying your product.

People make decisions based on two types of triggers:

1. logical motivations e.g. saving time, money or being more productive

2. emotional feelings e.g. being more successful, popular or wealthy

So when structuring your writing you need to identify how you can appeal to both.

How can you make them feel that buying your product will make them more popular or successful, and what are the practical reasons why it’s money well spent?

Emotions can be powerful buying motivators, so use them responsibly.

What action do I want them to take?

Whether you want them to visit your website, signup for your newsletter or buy that instant, you need to be clear on what it is you’re ultimately asking your reader to do.

Because the action you want the reader to take gives you an indication of how much you’ll need to write. The higher the cost of taking action the more you’ll need to say to convince them of the benefits of doing so.

And it’s vitally important that you’re writing about benefits rather than features, which I’ll be discussing in my next post.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting 

Writing Persuasively 1 - Do You Want to Communicate or Confuse?

November 26, 2008 | 2 Comments

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“Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.” - David Ogilvy

Words are an undervalued asset in the business world.

Whether clouded in technical jargon, marketing buzz words or hype filled corporate claptrap, writing fails to communicate when it’s trying too hard to sound clever or impressive.

This misguided approach is further crippled by the popular use of vacuous phrases, such as ‘product evangelists’, ‘360 degree thinking’ and ‘paradigm shifts’, which merely sound like a replacement for genuine thought and fail to convey any real meaning.

When readers are bogged down in regurgitated hyperbole and cliches in this way they aren’t going to respond in the way you want, because they’ve either given up reading or can’t understand what you’re trying to say.

Indeed, business writing often fails to communicate, but merely confuses.

Writing clearly and concisely, on the other hand, is the style every business should adopt.

Because writing has the power to influence how people think, feel and behave, as well as differentiate yourself from the competition.

Words can be powerful.

Particularly when you know how to write them persuasively.

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing presents a succinct, logical argument which wins over readers with style and conviction.

It dispenses with the ambiguous, meaningless words and phrases used to sound important.

Instead it adopts structure, concise language and psychology to lead readers along a clear path of thought.

Whether it’s convincing them to agree with your viewpoint or buy your product, persuasive writing is powerful in provoking action because it connects with readers on both an emotional and logical level, crucial for winning the decision making process.

Everyone (including hard nosed business people) makes decisions based on how something benefits them personally; how it helps them avoid pain or gain pleasure.

So persuasive writing seduces readers by convincing them your proposal is the answer to their prayers, and will help them sleep better at night.

Words are powerful indeed when you know which ones to use to mesmerise prospects and spellbind them into becoming customers.

Over the next ten or so posts my aim is to help you discover how you can harness persuasive writing to communicate more clearly, present your viewpoint more convincingly and, hopefully, persuade more readers to take the action you desire.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting 

eBook on Persuasive Writing Coming Soon

November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Just a quick post this week to let you know I havent abandoned you and will be back blogging soon. Currently I’m working on an eBook on persuasive writing which I’ll be serialising on the blog before giving it away for free in a couple of weeks.

It won’t contain any groundbreaking info most writers don’t know already, but I’m hoping it will be useful for casual visitors looking for some advice on how to write clearly, with brevity and without some of the corporate speak and gobbledygook used by government councils and the like, which confuses rather than communicates.

I’m trying to take a new approach to blogging in which I can reuse content in other formats, and an eBook on writing clearly seemed an obvious place to start.

Hopefully, the first part will be ready next week so stay tuned Crucible fans.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog 

Business Blogging/Content Marketing Campaign Tips

October 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

Last week I offered some advice on why businesses of all kinds (whether you’re a one man band or continent spanning corp) should consider starting a content marketing campaign. People are constantly searching the web for answers, so if you can provide useful information in a way that promotes your expertise then you can increase the chance of turning a prospect into a customer.

So how do you go about it?

Get Wordpress

Unless your web developers were prudent enough to equip your website with a content management system, you’ll need somewhere to post your articles to. My entire website is built using Wordpress, so obviously I’m a big fan. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider using Wordpress as well:

Easy to use - you’ll need some basic techie know-how to upload the files onto your server and create a database; however, the instructions are clear enough that you should be up and running within an hour. Once installed you’ve got a dashboard interface you can log into from where you can fiddle with the settings and adjust how your blog works and looks.

Customisable - you’ll want Wordpress to reflect your branding and feature your logo; there are thousands of free themes you can easily customise or you can pickup a professional looking design for a reasonable price. My own multiple page website is a customised version of Brian Gardner’s Revolution theme.

Plugins - Wordpress has a global community of developers diligently creating programs to expand Wordpress’ functionality and make it ever more powerful. Popular plugins are available to optimise your blog for keywords, enable your articles to be easily bookmarked and to create an autoresponder for your favourite posts.

Capture email addresses - visitors can easily subscribe by email or RSS to your blog so you can maintain contact and build confidence in your expertise over time. Remember that less than 5% of visitors are likely to buy your product on the first visit, so don’t let all your extra traffic go to waste.

What to write

A common question asked by businesses is what should they write about? Well, you certainly shouldn’t use your blog as a vanity outlet and just talk about yourself. People search the web for answers and advice to assist their buying decisions; they don’t want to hear about office politics or how much money you made last year.

Instead, you should focus on the customer. Provide valuable content which shows empathy for their problems and subtly presents your product as the solution. What are the common questions people ask customer services or your sales teams? What are the hurdles you need to remove in case they trip up a sale?

Along with articles offering advice, you could include case studies of how you’re helped solve a problem, provide insight on the news and discuss wider topics within your industry.

Provide useful, valuable content which is focused on helping the customer, whilst weaving your sales message between the words.

Spreading the news

Unfortunately, running a blog isn’t a case of just building it and they will come. Whilst a few might absent mindedly stumble onto your posts from Technorati or another blog search engine, you need to throw your content out there in order to reel people back into your website.

Luckily, many publishing organisations are getting clued up to the fact that more people are reading their publications online. My advice? Compile a list of the trade magazines in your industry and then see which ones have websites accepting submissions.

Publishers know they need readers to make repeated visits if they want them clicking on the ads, so they also need a steady stream of fresh content to lure them back with. If they don’t already accept submissions, send them a politely worded email offering free content in exchange for a byline and a backlink.

If you’re a regular Copywriter’s Crucible reader you might be interested in knowing about a few of the places I submit my posts to:

Marcom Professional - create a profile, add your RSS feed address and your posts will be republished automatically

Internet Marketing NewsWatch - you can send them your URL and a brief summary to get a backlink from this popular site

Marketing Service Talk - part of a network of sites where you can register your details and email articles to the editor for publication

Small Business Brief - a business focused social bookmarking website

Business Exchange - Business Week’s social bookmarking site where you can submit marketing focused articles

Junta42 - accepts content marketing focused articles and a new target on my weekly list

The lesson I’ll leave you with is that business blogging/content marketing is a long-term commitment, and you shouldn’t expect a burst in traffic and sales overnight.

However, the nature of marketing is changing and consumers are increasingly demanding useful information in exchange for their time. Providing valuable content can be a differentiater and a key advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Content marketing, blogging 

Copywriter, PR Writer or Brand Journalist? You Decide

October 21, 2008 | 8 Comments

Matthew Stibbe of bad language fame recently blogged about the difficulty of defining what he does at dinner parties. Should he say he’s a writer (and risk disappointing the dinner table when admitting he’s not the creative kind), a marketing copywriter (when people hear ‘copyright’ and yawn) or a modern day ‘Mad Man’? Well, if you’re a business writer defining what you do is getting complicated, and it’s all thanks to the internet.

A copywriter can be defined as ‘a person employed to write advertising or publicity copy’. However, now that people are using the web as a fountain of knowledge for solving questions and looking up product and service information, copywriters need to add a journalist’s hat to their wardrobe.

Allow me to explain why with the aid of this handy chart (courtesy of Mark Smiciklas at Intersection Consulting):

Prior to the web, businesses were reliant on the traditional media to get their messages heard.

Whether it was paying for magazine inches or mail bombing journalists with press releases, businesses had to constantly push their marketing onto consumers at every opportunity. The thinking being that the more times people read or heard your name the more likely they’d choose your brand when browsing supermarket shelves or flicking through the yellow pages.

Well, times have changed.

Google’s impact on marketing

When you’re looking for answers it’s becoming common to tap a few keywords into Google and then click on the most relevant result. So being on the first page when people tap in your product or service name can be like tapping into an oil well, with seemingly limitless reserves.

So how can you get setup and drilling on the first page? Well, you could spend your budget on pay-per-click ads (a short-term solution which receives less clicks in the UK compared to the natural results), pay an SEO agency a monthly fee or you could invest in valuable content.

Valuable content keeps your website updated with useful, relevant information and can attract links from other sites, the two keys to unlocking a page one ranking.

Useful content which answers questions and solves problems can also help convert browsers into buyers because sticky content keeps visitors glued to your website longer, giving you more time to build a relationship with them.

This is the ‘new marketing’ you might have heard so much about: using the web to engage the shared passions and interests of your customers. Marketing isn’t one way anymore, but an ongoing ‘conversation’ between a business and its customers in which the language is that of transparency, relevancy and value rather than sales spiel and corporate speak.

Customers want to engage with businesses which help to solve their problems and present answers to their questions, exactly what great content can achieve.

The only drawback for businesses is that they now need to find someone to write all this great content for them, which is where you come in.

Are you a copywriter, PR writer or brand journalist?

Great content sells through education. It responds to the information needs of customers, allows them to sleep better at night and soothes their pain. It’s not about praising the business, but focusing on the customer.

Whilst thinking about the customer instead of the product might seem a waste of words to some old school marketers, the fact is that useful content is what people want to read. They want storytelling, editorial and honest answers which will help their buying decisions, not a sales pitch.

So whether you call yourself a copywriter, PR writer or brand journalist, being able to engage customers with valuable content, which relies on the soft approach rather than the hard sell, is a skill that’s going to be in demand.

Brand journalism might have first been coined by McDonalds’ global marketing officer, but it has got nothing to do with peddling cheap junk which leaves people hungry soon afterwards. Brand journalism is about offering high quality information in exchange for attention, and is how businesses need to think about marketing online.

Procter and Gamble continue to be the poster child for engagement marketing, but the UK’s TopSkips and Englishcut are two smaller scale examples just waiting to be imitated.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here are a couple of recent podcasts in which two of the internet’s smartest marketing brains discuss the importance of great content now and in the future:

David Meerman Scott author of ‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR’

Joe Pulizzi from Junta42 author of ‘Get Content get Customers’

Next week I’ll offer some tips of my own for launching and running a content marketing campaign. But I’ll leave picking a new job title up to you.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Content marketing, Copywriting, Marketing 

Email Marketing Copywriting Tips - Delivered, Opened, Read and Responded to

October 16, 2008 | 3 Comments

So as promised, please find below my tips for writing email marketing campaigns which build rapport, relationships and responses from readers:

Getting emails past the spam blockers

With spam about as desirable as raw sewage, junk filters are getting ever more zealous in blocking suspicious messages. This means the tactics used by spammers to get their emails noticed and read are constantly being added to the blacklist of unacceptable email marketing behaviour.

So you need to avoid using a spammer’s language if you want to pass the gatekeeper; don’t use words and phrases such as FREE, amazing, buy now, congratulations, dear friend, great offer, investment, special promotion or winner.

Before you send your email give it a quick health check using Lyris’ free content checker. Simply paste in your email content to get a report on its spam rating and what you can do to remedy any of its ills.

You’ll want to ensure your email marketing campaign is permission based with a double opt in mechanism, which means after people register they receive a confirmation email with a link to click on to confirm their subscription. This should notify your subscribers’ inbox that your email address is kosher, and asking them to add you to their address book is always a good idea.

Getting emails opened - the irresistible subject line

As with every type of copywriting, your subject line is the most important part of the email: if it’s not compelling or intriguing enough to get the email opened then you’ll have wasted sweat and tears crafted all those words for nought.

Having said that, writing an irresistible subject line that gets every email opened by every customer is tricky (if not impossible).

However, a good place to start in creating your attention grabber is to create an impression of your target reader and what makes them tick: what are their interests, problems and aspirations? How can you entice them with information in your subject line they’ll be rushing to read?

Remember that email is more personal than your website, so your subject line needs to sound intriguing and friendly, rather than formal, hype or salesy (leave  corporate copy for the brochure).

A couple of ideas for subject lines include:

  • Describe a benefit they’ll get from your email
  • Offer to solve a problem
  • Arouse curiosity with an interesting fact or question
  • Appeal to their desire for information by hinting at your email’s content
  • Use an editorial magazine style headline
  • Finish a partly completed subject line with an ellipsis (…) to create a sense of incompleteness that must be resolved
  • Use your database to personalise your subject lines with the receiver’s name or the product they’ve shown an interest in
  • Don’t be too clever and use deceptive ploys and promises you can’t backup. Trust is easy to lose and difficult to win back

Getting emails read - focus on the reader

As discussed in my previous post, email is a potent conversation tool that can create a dialogue and build relationships with customers. So the way you communicate should be in the manner of a one-to-one conversation between friends.

You want to sound like a trusted pal getting in touch with useful advice to help them solve a problem. Certainly not like a pushy salesman, whose only interest is in their credit card number.

Write in a style that appeals to the personality type of your target audience (whilst also reflecting the personality of your brand). So remember to picture your target reader in your head whilst writing and imagine how you’d address them face to face.

To structure your email you can rely on the trusty AIDA copywriting principle to guide your words. After a brief intro or comment on the news, discuss a problem the reader might have (or might not yet be aware of). Offer to sound sympathetic and understanding, tell them a story which shows how it’s a problem you’ve experienced yourself.

Then it’s a smooth transition to the desire trigger by explaining how your product or service is the solution, whilst sounding helpful and trustworthy, of course. Give factual and descriptive information to add concrete to the foundations of your offer.

Remember to stay on point throughout your email and guide your readers along a single line of thought, because you don’t want them to be confused or distracted with too much information before they’ve reached your call to action.

Getting emails responded to - tell them want to do next

Email marketing is about building rapport, relationship and trust with prospects. You can leave the hard sell for your sales page.

However, your calls to action could include visiting your website, calling your sales team or emailing you for more information. If you really want to push sales then send them to a specific page to discover more about your offer.

After your message has been sent, remember to track your stats for unopened messages and unsubscribers. Find out what parts aren’t working with a polite request for feedback and perform slight alterations or complete reconstructive surgery to shape your email copy so it keeps subscribers engaged for as long as possible.

People like to trade with those they know, trust and like, which are feelings a carefully written email marketing campaign aims to grow.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting, Email marketing 

Wordpress Autoresponder Plugin Released

October 6, 2008 | 7 Comments

Do you wish you could do more with posts you spent hours researching and writing only to see them disappear into the dark depths of your archives? Well, now you can thanks to a new autoresponder plugin for Wordpress.

Whilst autoresponders are nothing new, the best thing about this plugin is that enables you to create and automatically send out emails from your blog for FREE. So no need to sign up to a monthly subscription if you just want to get more use out of old content by repackaging it as a newsletter.

Admittedly, the free version is light on features (e.g. you can only create one email series at a time) so you might want to consider upgrading to their paid version for more bells and whistles. However, if you’ve got a Wordpress blog and would like to start experimenting with email marketing then this gives you everything you need.

So start digging through your archives for the forgotten gems you’d like to see unearthed and given more time in the limelight. A newsletter can enhance the marketing power of your blog because, as any internet marketer knows, the ‘the money is in the list’, and emailing useful content can dramatically increase your website’s sales.

Here are a few reasons why:

Maintain contact - The vast majority of visitors to your site aren’t ready to buy. By some estimates, you’d be lucky to sell to more than 1% of targeted visitors. However, a free newsletter offering useful information enables you to maintain contact with prospects long after they’ve left.

Qualified leads - The opt in form enables you to build a list of potential customers. The fact that they’ve opted in and taken action indicates that they’re already interested in what you have to say.

Relationship building - Providing useful, relevant content on a regular basis enables you to get closer to prospects. People like to do business with those they like and trust, and email marketing can enable you to speak personally and directly to them as individuals.

More personal - An inbox is a private place closely guarded from uninvited intruders. Being granted entry to this personal place means whatever you say will be listened to more intently than the sales pitch on your website.

Conversion - The content you provide enables you to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, which in turn enhances your credibility and encourages prospects to become customers.

Multifunctional - Email is regarded as one of the most potent tools in your internet marketing arsenal (after copywriting of course). It can build relationships, enhance your brand and increase sales.

Next week I’ll share a few tips for writing newsletters and emails that get delivered, read and acted upon.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Content marketing, Email marketing, blogging 

One-to-one marketing and its implications for copywriters

September 18, 2008 | 3 Comments

In recent weeks, I’ve discussed why you need to adjust your copywriting’s personality to appeal to different audiences. It just comes with the territory.

Well, the rise of one-to-one marketing means the ability to mould your language and style to match your target market could soon be in greater demand.

What is one-to-one marketing?

With marketing budgets being dragged towards the guillotine, marketers are scrambling to deliver campaigns that provide a better return on investment.

The cost of mass, untargeted campaigns is becoming harder to justify, and annoying prospects with irrelevant messages is to be avoided when customer retention is so high on the agenda.

In order to improve their relevancy and appeal, marketing campaigns need to be personalised to match the preferences of each prospect. This can be achieved by capturing data on customers (e.g. with personalised URLs) and then using it to customise future campaigns.

Subsequent email and direct mail messages can then be delivered that feature the products and services a target has shown an interest in. Better one-to-one targeting in this way means campaigns can be more relevant, generate more sales and stave off a marketing budget’s execution.

So what has this got to do with copywriters?

As far as I’m aware, currently the main elements personalised within one-to-one campaigns are the name, images and products offered. However, as more data is added to the pile then future campaigns can be more finely tuned and personalised to match the profile of each customer.

With the personality of copy so important to marketing’s effectiveness, it’s not a wild leap of faith to envision the language of campaign’s being customised to appeal to the personality type of each prospect.

Different personality types (B2B buyers, the technically minded, service orientated etc) respond to different emotional triggers. So it would make sense to be able to adjust the copywriting of one-to-one marketing campaigns to match each segment.

Speculation, but worth considering

If your product is targeted at a wide cross section then delivering one-to-one marketing with copywriting customised to appeal to a particular profile type could reap rich rewards.

Pure speculation at this stage, but something worth ‘added value’ copywriters being aware of because the effectiveness of one-to-one marketing means it’s a strategy that’s set to grow.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Blog, Copywriting, Marketing 

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