I’m sitting in my office now, my roll-top desk at my left elbow, a big picture window in front of me. It’s cold outside, and a chill has settled like fog over the room.
A steaming cup of tea sits beside me. It’s calling to me, begging me to stop typing and settle down with a good book. Not yet, I decide. I inhale the light scent of berries and flowers rising from the cup, and continue to write.
As I type, the clicking of my keyboard mixes with the murmur of the television. It’s two rooms away, and it crosses my mind that I shouldn’t be able to hear it this clearly. From the sounds of it, an old movie is playing.
The truth is, I love old movies…
Can you picture it?
Right about now, you probably want me to continue the story. Why? Because I set the stage for something to happen and you’d like to know what it is. I also painted the picture so clearly, you can see it.
Maybe you’d like to join me. I could pour you a cup of tea while you settle into my rocking chair and browse the books stacked on the accent table. We could chat for a minute before I pick up my writing again…
See what I mean? Stories, well written, can capture your attention like nothing else. Good copywriting should do the same.
Marketing has traditionally relied on a recital of benefits and features to make the sale. It’s descriptive but impersonal, out there. The problem is, people don’t want to buy something they can’t visualize. They want a product that’s personal, closer to home. They want to be able to see and touch it before they buy. More specifically, they want to see themselves using your product.
That’s why it’s so important your communications utilize persuasive copywriting techniques that draw in your prospects and make your product real.
Paint a picture with your words
Although benefits sell better than features, people still don’t buy benefits. They buy solutions to their problems, answers to their fears and desires.
They don’t buy your product for logical reasons. If they did, a rational discussion of benefits and features would do the job.
People buy for emotional reasons. So your marketing materials must help your prospects see themselves with no more fears, their deepest desires met, every problem solved — all because they’ve responded to your offer.
You’ve got to build their faith in your product.
Help them believe
The best definition of faith I’ve ever seen is in the Bible. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Good writing is like faith. It makes your prospect’s desires real.
Great copywriting focuses your reader’s attention on his problems, stirring them up and making them seem bigger than life. Then enter your product. Your description makes it real. You show how other people use your product to solve their problems, then help your prospect see himself happy at last because he has your product.
It’s storytelling with your product as the hero. And it makes your product irresistible.
To make it work, though, you must see the whole scene acted out in front of you: your prospect unhappy because he doesn’t have your product, then (joy) he takes action, purchases your product, and all his problems dissolve.
Can you see it? It’s got to be such a clear picture that you simply write what you see.
Before you start writing, think about your prospect. What’s bothering him? What’s he doing when your offer interrupts his day? What does he want to hear that will make him happier or give him hope?
Start by tying your prospect’s deepest desires to your product. Then help him see himself completely satisfied because he has your product. Back up every promise with proof, and you can make your prospect believe. Once he believes, you’ve got your sale.
First, you’ve got to see it. Then write it so he can see it.
