23 Mar
A good sales copy can make or break your business. And that is why it is critical that you find a credible writer. Even if you spend thousands of dollars to promote your brand or to place it on billboards, a lousy sales copy will get you nowhere.
Now, this post is intended for business owners, managers, and marketers. The tips here will allow you to assess what a good sales copy is. And from there, you can hire the person for the job. In fact, you can try writing a sales copy and who knows if you have untapped talent.
What Makes a Good Sales Copy?
The intention of a sales copy is to obviously bring sales to your business. Quite frankly, it doesn’t need to have that sophisticated language and tone you would commonly find in articles and blogs. The case is different when you are selling luxury brands, of course.
But the point is, you need to play with your words and highly persuade the readers to take the next action. Often, you would find a copy in landing pages, emails, and brochures. It’s an essential marketing skill one must learn.
Let’s scratch the surface a bit more and know the elements of a good sales copy.
First, it needs to be engaging. Remember, you only have a few seconds to spark the interest of the market. Next, it must be genuine. People hate overpromises, and it can cause a backlash against your brand. Let’s talk about this more in the succeeding sections. Also, your sales copy must be crystal clear, and people must grasp the idea in just seconds.
Without these elements, your copy is as good as nothing..
What’s a Poor Sales Copy?
Not all sales copies are created equal. In fact, if we are to be honest, only a few are good. Most of what we see today lack substance or trying too hard to be humorous. But it takes a perfect balance to persuade the market. Dropping the truth bomb here, we listed some of the worst things you can write for a sales copy. Avoid these pitfalls and save your brands from getting ruined.
Overpromising Statements
Remember that buyers are smart. They won’t immediately believe your claims, especially if your sales copy shows that your brand is too-good-to-be-true. Yes, you might capture their attention, and they would read the entire thing out of curiosity. But we bet they would be raising their eyebrows, and they will think that your brand is dubious. Don’t expect that they will hit that check-out button. Again, you have to be genuine when you write.
Monotonous Tone
Think about this. When someone talks to you and their sentence structure is the same all throughout, you have to admit that it can get annoying. It’s as if you are talking to a robot instead of a human.
The same works for a sales copy. Specifically for longer ones, you have to add texture to your writing. Otherwise, you will bore your reader, and they won’t read the next sentences. You’d lose them in no time.
Lack of Originality
This one is tricky because, at this rate, there are probably millions of sales copies that have been written by mankind. But a good sales copywriter will never back down to challenges. They will use past inspirations to come up with something more relevant.
Bad Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
Having common grammar and spelling mistakes on your sales copy indicates a lack of focus or ignorance. Either way, it’s not going to reflect well on your brand.
However, there are instances wherein sales copywriters deliberately use faulty grammar and spelling mistakes to capture attention. That’s good too, but you have to use this approach with caution. It needs to be clear that you are using humor. Otherwise, your brand will be the laughing stock of the town.
What are the Types of Sales Copy?
There are two general types of sales copy. These are the traditional long tail and the short sales copy. You can use these in social media ads, print marketing materials, sales pages, video scripts, product descriptions, calls-to-action, and non-SEO landing pages, to name a few. Let’s learn more about each type and some of the best samples for each.
Traditional Long Tail Sales Copy
From its name, this means that the copy has a longer description of the product or services. You can even include the benefits, specifications, and even recommendations from its current clients. This type of sales copy is ideal for those who are already familiar with your brand and would like to know more.
McDonald’s
What’s not to love about this long sales copy from McDonald’s? You would enjoy their approach because it’s as if the cheese is talking to you. Quite odd yet effective.
They started their copy with, “My name is Cheese”, and we have to admit, we didn’t stop reading until the last line. The clever use of wit while explaining how mouth-watering their new cheeseburger is will make you want to order one right away.
Volkswagen
If you ask an expert about the best sales copy of the century, they would probably give you some classic Volkswagen samples like the one we have here.
While the headline isn’t exactly directly related to their product, it’s interesting enough to read the entire thing. It talks about the journey of a paper clip from one country to another. And at the end of their sales copy, the reader was asked, “And what about you? Where have you been lately?”.
This approach worked well for the brand because they are known to use humor in most of their marketing collaterals. That’s good yet risky. When done right, it could make your sales copy viral.
Short Sales Copy
This type of sales copy scratches the surface of the brand and gives a brief description. Ideally, you would want to use this type when targeting a cold list.
Basecamp
We want you to take a look at what Basecamp did with their sales copy. They used the market’s pain points and highlighted how their services could help them. They did so clearly, and it has a conversational tone as well.
In addition, they included the number of companies that signed up with them. This shows that you can use social proof in your copy too. It’s especially true for B2B as the decision-makers love to see facts and data.
Moz
Most of the time, a straightforward approach works. But you have to be smart and use powerful statements that could persuade your readers. One of the best samples today is from Moz. With just two lines, you would be compelled to try the product right away.
The call-to-action worked perfectly as they highlighted that you could try it for ‘free’.
Here’s a pro tip. When we were doing SEO training back then, our mentor shared that the word ‘free’ is one of the most commonly used words on the internet. Use that to your advantage and get leads.
In a nutshell, a killer sales copy isn’t just about writing in perfect grammar or having the widest vocabulary. Its objective is to reach out to your market with high hopes that they will purchase from your business. It might seem easy and looks simple once you are reading the sales copy. However, the process is complex and you need experts if you wish to stand out from the competition.
