Creating eye-catching, interesting and relevant copy is not easy.
Whether you write your own in-house, or you hire in a professional copywriter, your copy has to address your reader directly and really sell the benefits of your product or service.
Let’s assume for a moment that you’ve got some stonking copy written. Your website looks amazing and has all the latest social gadgets and gizmos. Your brochures look slick and really grab attention. Even your emails are pretty snazzy.
But you’ve got a problem.
Despite all that, your conversions are really low. Your phone isn’t ringing and rather than your inbox being full of leads, it’s full of junk mail from companies trying to sell you Viagra.
What’s gone wrong?
Your CTA is AWOL
The most probable cause is your Call to Action (CTA), or rather lack of one.
There is an argument that states that your customers are intelligent and will therefore know what you want them to do.
Granted, they are most probably intelligent, but that doesn’t mean they will make contact with you. If you want that to happen, you have to tell them that’s what you want them to do.
A clear, commanding and effective Call to Action is the crowning glory of your copy.
1. Relevant
The first thing to remember is that your CTA must be relevant to your business.
If you want them to sign up for a newsletter, tell them and provide a link so they can do it easily. If you want them to call you, tell them and give them your phone number.
2. Commanding and clear
Don’t make them hunt round your copy for your CTA because they won’t bother. Make sure it stands out and is commanding.
Adding a line such as “It would be really nice, if it’s not too much bother, to hear from you. So if you have time, we’d be grateful if you could perhaps call us at a time that’s convenient to you” is not going to inspire them to pick up the phone.
“Call us on xxxxx”, “register now by clicking here”, “Email us today on xxxx@xxxxx for more information”.
Be commanding and tell them exactly what you want them to do.
3. Make it part of your copy
Your CTA doesn’t have to be left to the end of your web page, brochure or email. You can dot them liberally throughout the text. But make sure they fit the context.
If you randomly add one halfway through a text section it’s going to jar and leave your reader confused. Make sure the content immediately before your CTA leads up to it so it’s a natural progression.
4. Make it visible
You can make your CTA stand out by placing it in bold text and having it as a paragraph on its own. As I mentioned above, don’t feel as though you have to wait until the end before adding it.
If the content allows, add them in several locations so they are always visible to your reader. That way, as soon as they’ve decided they want to make contact, they can without having to hunt round for your details.
The best Calls to Action are:
Clear
Simple
Commanding
Be bold and tell your reader what you want them to do.
Over to you
Take a look at your marketing materials.
Do they all have clear CTAs? If not amend them quickly. If you don’t have a CTA, you’re unlikely to get great conversions.
When I was growing up, the most annoying thing anyone could say to me was “Ah, but you wouldn’t understand.”
As if anything was going to be so difficult I couldn’t even grasp the basics.
Admittedly, had it been something along the lines of Quantum Physics, I doubt I would have understood. But the most irritating thing about that sentence was the assumption that I wouldn’t understand.
Surely, if they explained it clear enough I would.
Where’s this going? Well, copywriting is a funny thing. It involves a skill we all have – the ability to write – and yet, it is something few people can do well.
That’s not to say that if you hired me to write your website copy or brochure copy, I would immediately turn round and tell you that you can’t write the content because you don’t have the relevant skills and that’s why you need me.
If I did, you’d probably show me the door.
So why would you hire me?
Copywriters add value and a whole new perspective
You and I have one major difference (OK, probably more than one, but for this blog post I’m only going to talk about this particular one).
You know your company inside out and I don’t.
Believe it or not, that gives me an advantage.
As a professional copywriter, I add value to your team because I can look at your business and its products/services from your customers’ point of view.
Let me explain.
You already know your products/services and think they are best thing on the market (if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be selling them). You would, without doubt buy them yourself. Therefore, you think all your customers think the same way and would also buy them – why wouldn’t they?
I look at your products from your customers’ view point. In fact, I become your customer.
From that perspective I can discover the true benefits of your offering. They are not to be confused with their features. Your customers don’t really care how many colours they come in, they want to know how they will:
Improve their lives
Save them money
Save them time
Make them more desirable…
By stepping into your customers’ shoes, I see your products as they do. That means, you have to convince me to buy – and I’m not easily convinced.
By throwing every buying objection possible at you, eventually we’ll drill down to the golden benefits that will make your customers say yes.
I will admit that this won’t work on everyone. Customers will constantly hurl buying objections at you. Plus, when it comes down to it, not everyone will want or need your product.
But by placing your customers at the heart of all your marketing materials, you will maximise your sales opportunities.
Over to you
If you normally write your own sales copy, try a copywriter next time. Compare the results you get and discover why customer-focused sales copy is so important.
Perhaps you’ve already done this and seen an improvement in your conversion rates?
Whenever I speak to people about social media, the question as to whether or not you should automate your activities usually divides opinion.
There are those who believe that social media should never be automated because, after all, it’s supposed to be a social activity.
And there are others who believe that, to be effective, you have to schedule updates so that there is a constant stream and therefore a constant presence.
My own personal view is that it shouldn’t be automated, or at least not all of it.
The key to social media
I’m about to make a bold and obvious statement: Social media is about being social.
So if you don’t like people then it isn’t going to be for you.
It’s all about listening, engaging and conversing. You can strike up a debate or offer help and advice. But if you automate it, you can’t be reactive because you’re not there.
Earlier I said not all your social media activities should be automated which would suggest that I’m not totally against it.
Normally when you see me tweet that means I am at my desk working and keeping an eye on the Twitterverse ready to drop in when something interesting pops up. But my blog posts automatically feed into my twitter account through RSS. Therefore when a new post is published an announcement is automatically sent out with a link to the post.
No one’s home
If you automate 90% of your tweets you can’t engage with others.
Just think about it for a moment. If you set up a load of tweets to be scheduled and one of your followers responds to one or asks a question, what impression of you will they have when you don’t reply?
I’m not saying that your followers will expect an instant reply but an acknowledgement within an hour or so would be welcome.
Some people also tend to schedule the same tweets over and over. Even if you vary between half a dozen or so, it’s going to get very repetitive and could lose you followers.
So I guess what I’m saying is, if you want to automate your social media activities keep it to a minimum.
To get the most out of it you need to listen and participate. Show your followers you are a real person and interested in what they have to say by engaging with them.
Have fun with it – after all it is meant to be social.
That just about sums up my reaction when I read an email I received from Boostcrt.com.
They recently compiled a list of the best copywriting blogs on the internet and, you guessed it, they included mine in the list.
I am truly honoured to be included especially as I’m nestling along copywriting greats such as Copyblogger, Michel Fortin, Bob Bly and Jeff Sexton (to name but a few).
We’ve all seen them – videos that are produced by companies to market their products that go viral. They’re viewed thousands of times by people all over the world. People talk about them and share them through social media.
So how do they do it?
Why is it their video goes global but yours remains unloved on YouTube?
Stop marketing
“Stop marketing – are you serious?”
Yes I am.
Think of marketing as a whole rather than just relating to video marketing.
Do you like getting cold calls or unsolicited mail shots?
Probably not – and if you don’t why do you think your customers do?
Here’s a news flash for you, they don’t like it. They don’t like being disturbed during the day by a company they’ve never heard of before trying to sell them something. They don’t like having their inbox cluttered with unsolicited emails and they don’t like getting piles of junk mail.
They would rather you engaged them, got to know them, help them with advice and tips. They can then get to know you, get to like you and get to trust you. That’s when they may decide to do business with you.
OK, going back to video marketing, what do you think a successful video should be like?
A) One that harps on about your company all the time
B) One that makes an emotional connection with the viewer
It’s the emotional connection that will make people want to share your video. Here are a couple of examples of companies that used their videos in precisely that way. They are not blatant adverts – they offer the viewer entertainment and a few laughs which in turn made thousands of people share them offering the companies a perpetual marketing machine.
Samsung’s video which took a novel approach to promoting its LED TVs
Bensons for Beds unique way of promoting their products
T Mobile
A whole new way of thinking
Many companies go wrong because they continue to use the old fashioned advertisement within the new social media context.
Social media is all about engagement not direct selling.
When you use video marketing, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform you must learn to talk to people. Success in these new marketing arenas is all about engaging them, conversing with them, and building relationships.
Your videos shouldn’t be seen as TV adverts, they have to give the viewer something.
Plus, if you want people to share your video make it easy for them. Upload it to YouTube, provide a link to share. If you don’t what was the point in creating the video?
So next time you create a corporate video, forget the direct sell and your company and think about your viewer. Give them something they can engage with, enjoy and want to share with others. That’s when you’ll benefit from viral marketing.
Creating eye-catching, interesting and relevant copy is not easy.
When I was growing up, the most annoying thing anyone could say to me was “Ah, but you wouldn’t understand.”
Whenever I speak to people about social media, the question as to whether or not you should automate your activities usually divides opinion.
