Today, people are just plain busy – busy working, busy running around doing stuff, busy worrying about being too dang busy. It’s what makes grabbing their attention long enough to get them to make a buying decision so challenging. Your message needs to connect right away or they will move on. Period.
So how do you create the urgency that gets distracted (and distractible) prospects to sit up and pay attention? How do you get them to take immediate action? You need to speak to what motivates THEM. You need to connect the dots between what they need and more importantly, want and what you offer.
The Formula for Writing Copy that Connects
Step 1: Find the Pain Point
Copywriting requires that you know your target audience. Not just the basic stuff, but the deep dark secrets that they barely admit to themselves. That’s where you find the motivation that will get them to take action and that’s where your copy needs to connect.
It’s a little like playing armchair psychologist. You need to undercover motivation behind the need – the underlying cause of the pain. For example, it’s not that they need an integrated software solution to improve productivity; it’s that they want to impress their boss.
Remember, people are more likely motivated by the fear of loss than they are the promise of gain, even if that fear of loss is missing out on a limited time sale or a deal using a coupon that is about to expire.
Step 2: Agitate the Problem
Think of it as picking the scab or poking the pain point (hopefully that colorful description will remind you to always agitate the problem). So what does agitate the problem mean?
After you open with talking about the pain point, you show them how it’s even worse than they first thought. Maybe it’s that the pain point is a symptom of an even bigger problem or that left unattended it’s likely that the problem will only get worse.
A classic example is late night TV commercials. The telltale sign that they are using the agitate technique is the transition that starts with “Did you know…?” followed by an even worse scenario.
Step 3: Shift their Perspective
If you have done your copywriting job right, by this point your prospect is kicking themselves and feeling kind of stupid for ignoring the problem or not realizing the full extent of the problem. It’s time to let them off the hook.
That’s exactly why you need shift their perspective. Show your prospect how it’s not possible that they could have known it or that it’s only recently been discovered and understood. It’s like the sales person giving you a hug and saying, “It’s okay.”
Step 4: Show how YOU Solve the Problem
Now that your target audience knows you understand their problem (probably better than they do), it’s time to show how you (and only you) can solve the problem.
Connect the dots between what they need or want and what you offer. Don’t forget to discuss your solution in terms of the benefits and not features – meaning focus on what it does for them, not just what it does. For example, a feature is the speed of the widget and the benefit is how much it increases productivity.
One final note! It’s important to remember that copy is copy is copy. It doesn’t matter if it’s for web, print or ads, or if it’s B2B or B2C, or even the type of business, the same principles and rules apply. Just follow each of the steps, adjusting your technique to suit the medium and the intended message!
Want more tips on how to write copy? Stay tuned for more Business 101 Back to Basics features on marketing and copywriting by subscribing to our RSS Feed!
2 Comments
Hi Carla,
You always write such great posts! I like that you make the copywriting basics easy to understand and I especially like step #4, where you remind people that to sell, you need to show how YOU, the entrepreneur, solves the problem. Thanks! I”ve posted a link to this post on my Facebook Page so other entrepreneurs can find it as well. 🙂
Pingback: Links: MLK, Jr. 2011 Edition