12th Feb 2008
Yesterday’s blog-post was completely off-track
Have you ever started a conversation or starting writing something intending to talk about one thing and then ended up with a completely different subject?
That’s what happened when I was writing yesterday’s blog post. I intended to share with you 36 different appeals you could consider when writing your sales letter. Instead I went off at a completely different tangent because, as I was thinking about how we identify our ideal target prospect, I remembered how sometimes recommending an apparent competitor instead of trying to ‘close the sale’ sometimes turns out to be the best action to take.
So I thought today I would get back on track and share the original thought with you…
Getting the Right Appeal
When you are deciding upon your offer and crafting your sales letter you need to know your target prospect in as much depth as possible, as I mentioned yesterday. Once you have that intimate knowledge of them you can position your offer to match what appeals best.
Here’s some popular appeals that might resonate with your target audience:
He (or she) wants to:
- Satisfy their curiosity
- Be successful - in life or in business
- Be comfortable
- Make their work easier
- Gain recognition or praise from their peers or superiors
- Save money
- Make money
- Satisfy their ego
- Gain self-respect
- Be fashionable
- Be a recognised expert
- Protect themselves, their family & their possessions
- Protect their reputation
- Avoid embarrassment
- Save time
- Gain status through possessions
- Get a bargain
- Get something for free
- Protect the environment
- Prevent or relieve boredom
- Get ahead - in their career or social status
- Enjoy beautiful items
- Be popular
- Be their own boss
- Enjoy leisure pursuits
- Gain better health
- Become fit
- Get rid of aches and pains
- Be sexually attractive
- Satisfy their own sexual desires
- Gain knowledge
- Be good parents
- Relax - with friends or alone
- Be safe and secure
- Live longer
- Enjoy their life more
Which of these do your products or services satisfy? Could you make an offer that would match other desires?
The more of these appeals you can meet the better chacne you have of increasing the response to your sales letters, adverts and web pages.
~ Carol Bentley
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Depends on the target market but I have always found copywriting appeals to “fear of loss” to be more effective than your list of “items to get.” Several psychological studies show that people will make illogical financial decisons, always erring to protect what they have (fear of loss) than taking trhe better odds of a gain.
Hi Bob,
that’s a valid point and certainly one to consider whenever writing copy for a sales letter or advert. Of course you can use one of these appeals within your sales message AND include a description of the loss they would suffer if they don’t take what’s on offer.
I frequently use both tactics within the body of the letter and occasionally write a headline that concentrates on the prospective loss rather than gain.
As with all these approaches, knowing your target market in detail is key to the decisions you make when planning your copy content.
Thanks for contributing Bob.
Carol
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I like to include #37 make sure that what the client says they want is what they really need!
This post was also in my blog carnival - I didn’t do the carnival for quite a while. Stumbled too.