Carol Bentley

How do you get your creative juices to flow when you need to get that sales letter written?

When you are immersed in the day-to-day flow of your business it can be difficult to pull yourself away enough to allow those innovative, compelling words to materialise.

And sometimes we need to get back the imagination and free thinking of our childhood - see things through fresh eyes, with a new, vibrant perspective.

But how?

In my sales letter writing workshops I aim to get that free feeling in the delegates, before they even put pen to paper. Sure, I go through the ’science’ behind writing an effective sales letter (or advert)…

• craft eye-catching headlines
• structure the letter to follow my skeleton outline
• write a personal letter to your prospect
• paint the picture of what the reader gets - benefits - in a language that resonates with him

All of this is important. But facing a blank page or empty computer screen is a real dampener for many.

So I start off by giving everyone a small bottle of champagne.

What?!

Encourage people to drink - like a writing equivalent of dutch courage?

Absolutely Not!!

The bottle is champagne bubbles - the type you see at weddings.

Having fun - for some going back to the childhood pleasure of blowing bubbles - lightens your mood.

It generates laughter; lessens the sometimes sombre and serious mood of business. And thoughts and ideas start to percolate through.

And, happily, for many it does make writing easier, because writing about your passion; your business is fun! Isn’t it?

Give it a go - what have you got to lose? You might surprise yourself with a flow of creative writing that ‘hits the mark’.

~ Carol Bentley

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I read other blogs - but you already knew that. And some of them give me food for thought. But the posting I’ve just read made me go “doh!” slap my head and go a little pink with embarrassment.

Why? Because it reminded me of a fundamental method of encouraging people to take note of what you are doing.

You can read the post here (and my comment in reply): 5 Powerful Ways… It was the blue boxed paragraph in tip number 1 that made me exclaim.

As a result I’ll be changing my blog subscriber sequence to offer a gift, which hopefully, will encourage new visitors to subscribe.

A Gift for You…

If you’re already subscribed then I’ll make sure you get the gift as well.

I’ll send a link for it by email and put an announcement in a post on here so you can keep a look out for it. I’m not sure when I’ll do this because I want to check through all my material to find something useful for you. And this week is manic (it doesn’t help that my PA is on holiday too) so I may not get time to do it before next week.

But I won’t forget! Promise!

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. And NO! This is not an April’s Fool prank! (I’ve just noticed the date).

A letter I received in the post this morning broke the two golden rules when writing to prospects, which are:

1. Target your audience
2. Write to your audience

The sender did successfully use some of the copywriting techniques I share with you - but the fundamental research hadn’t been done. Either that or they purchased an inaccurate mailing list!

After the headlines, here’s the start of the letter…

Dear Carol:

As an active investor, you’ve experienced more than your share of losses.

But did you know that professional traders also have losses? Yet they have skills and understanding of the market that makes them successful while others lose a fortune!

A little later in the letter it said…

This FREE workshop is perfect for anyone with an interest in investing.

So what’s wrong with that?

• I do not trade on the stock market so this is not relevant to me. I am not their target audience.

• If I did trade, the writer is making a huge assumption that I’ve made losses. You could say in view of recent events in the financial world this is probably a fairly safe guess. However it could alienate someone whose trading has been a bit more successful than he is implying, but who would otherwise be interested in what he has to offer.

This was a well written letter and if I had been correctly targeted I would probably have responded.

Learning From Others Mistakes

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because we can learn from the mistakes other people make in their copywriting. And it’s often easier to see these mistakes in letters we receive, whereas sometimes we can be too close to our own material and not realise the trap we’re falling into.

Tell me, how well targeted is your audience? How well do you know them? Are you writing your letters with their circumstances in mind and in such a way that you are not eliminating a good portion of your recipients?

And - just for a bit of fun and practice - how would you have started the letter (assuming it is going to a targeted audience of trade investors).  Share your suggestions using the comments link below.

~ Carol Bentley

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When I talk to business owners, clients or prospects the most frequently asked question is “What works best in a letter or web sales page?”

It is a question any marketing professional or experienced copywriter is asked time and time again.

And none of us know the definitive answer! In fact the only people who do know what’s working is your customers. Because they are the people who responded to your offer and bought.

That’s all very well - but until you get the content of your message right; targeted specifically to the people you have identified as your ideal audience you’re not going to get those customers, are you?

Test, Test and Test Again…

I’ve said it before - and any marketing expert worth their salt will say the same thing - you must test. The 3 minimum things you should be testing are:

• Your offer:
  -what your prospect will receive
  -how it will be delivered (post; special delivery or, if online, digitally)
  -price
  -payment method (single charge or spread payments, or ‘try before you buy’)

• Your headline
• Your guarantee

Fred Black gives a good description of testing in his blog post Test, Test, Test.

Testing Takes Time…

Testing can be time-consuming - especially if you are testing and sending by post. And in this age of ‘instant satisfaction’ that delay may be too much.

If you are getting high traffic (large number of visitors) to your website you may decide to create an online sales page and use that for testing these different elements.

If you are not getting streams of traffic you can use Google Adwords - or a similar PPC (pay per click) advertising to drive traffic to your test sales page. (If you want to know more about Google Adwords check Ed Rivis’ Google Adwords Voyeur [Aff])

One distinct advantage of using an online sales page is that you can test more than one element at a time. It is known as multivariate testing.

You can use testing software to control this more complicated testing. I’ve just discovered a software package that looks extremely easy to use without costing an arm and a leg; I’m looking into it in more depth and if it lives up to its initial promise I’ll tell you about it in a future post.

In the meantime - remember - only your customers truly know what works.

I can only take an educated guess based on experience. ;¬D

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are wondering what the [Aff] I occasionally include in my posts means, it indicates the link I’ve included is an affiliate link, i.e. if you follow the link, like what you see and decide to buy I get a commission from the vendor.

This is one of the ways you can create an income stream with your online blog.

Is there a difference between corporate businesses and SMEs or entrepreneurs? Three questions asked in my recent survey raised this issue. My answer; Yes… and No!

Am I hedging my bets here? ;¬) Maybe… but let’s look into it a bit further.

First here are the three questions posed about dealing with big companies:

Q1: How to generate more interest in my business from larger organisations.

Q2: How do you adapt your copy if your targets are senior executives and buyers in major corporates? Most of what I read about copywriting proposes big, bold headlines with “huge” specific benefits. And I must admit that when buying myself, these offers can be very seductive. Yet I know from over a decade working with senior executives in major companies that this sort of hyperbolic language and copy tends to go straight in the bin - it’s just not credible.

Corporate executives (in my experience) tend to react better to more conservative approaches. Is my experience out of touch? Obviously these people are human too - and have the same underlying psychology. Yet their experience and background (in my view) means they don’t react well to over-strong selling messages.

Q3: How to find out who makes all the purchasing decisions in a large organisation.

Don’t expect to do a bulk mailing to corporate businesses and get a great response. It’s unlikely to happen. You have to work a little harder for those lucrative contracts.

I advise selecting 10 companies to target and work on, adding others as a rolling prospect line as and when you are able to deal with them properly.

Decide and Research

• Decide which companies you want to do business with. Define exactly what you are offering and which companies benefit most from your solutions. When you contact them talk about a specific ‘niche’ area. Don’t give a smorgasbord of products and services that confuse your prospect and - in their eyes - dilutes your perceived level of expertise and ability to deliver a focused result.

• Do your research. Research the company; the department or division your product or service applies to; discover the challenges the company or that division are currently facing. Check news releases (they are often shown on the company website); is something they have announced likely to give them logistic or ‘knock-on’ effect problems you can resolve?

• Find your target buyer. Don’t go to the HR or purchasing department (unless your offer is for them); aim for the person who heads up the area you are targeting. Read the corporate website; some do give contact names in their ‘about us’ section, although this practice is dwindling. Use the phone; call and ask “who takes care of …. in the company?” (you fill in the blank).

  Careful! You are in information-gathering mode NOT selling mode. One whiff of a sales pitch and the person you are speaking to is likely to clam up.

  In her book, Selling to Big Companies, Jill Konrath describes how to make those important fact-gathering calls so you reach your prime target within the company. Steve Brewer also gives pertinent and easy to follow advice in his CD programme High Impact Cold Calling.

A Slightly Different Approach

• Write individual letters. I’d advise against using extremely large, bold headlines - it doesn’t give the right impression for corporate correspondence. But that’s the only change I would suggest to the structure of your letter. You are still writing to an individual who has challenges within his/her work life and wants a solution. So you do have to grab attention immediately.

  Start your first paragraph with a compelling statement of what you discovered about the company or department’s challenges. Then ask a question that is geared towards the problem he has - the one you identified in your research. Explain the value your offer could bring to his company; quoting case studies from other organisations rather than a general self-serving statement.

  For example, instead of writing “our QR2 system saves production costs” say “Xyz company discovered that 3 months after implementing the QR2 system, production costs had reduced by 2.8% which gave them a projected annual savings of £4.37million.“Be wary of creating a general ’sales pitch’ - it’s unlikely to work unless you are extremely lucky.

• In her book Jill strongly recommends avoiding subservient language such as ‘delighted’, ‘pleased’ or ‘honoured’ and I agree with her. All of your contact (whether letter, email or phone call) should be from a position of equality and strength. Talk as a peer-to-peer. Treat your prospect with respect but expect respect from him too. After all, you are the expert that has a solution to the problem he wants resolved.

Realistic Expectations

• Don’t expect to get an appointment with your first letter or phone call. Have a campaign of actions you will take to secure your appointment to meet. But make sure you deliver valuable information at each contact point; don’t make a self-serving push to get through the door.
  • Let your prospect know about case studies from other companies.
  • Articles from trade publications.
  • Informative reports you can supply (make sure they are informative not just a sales brochure).
  • Gift a copy of a good book you’ve read that gave some good insights to their industry or business or helps address issues they are likely to come up against. (Of course, if that book happens to be one you’ve written and published it gives you an even bigger boost in your prospect’s eyes because you are perceived as knowledgeable; assuming you’ve written good content in your book).

• If it’s practical, be prepared to secure a small contract initially. Once you are delivering great results and the company is pleased with your service you can start negotiating the larger deals.

Share Your Thoughts…

Have experience with larger companies? Either as a provider or perhaps you work (or have worked) within one of these behemoths? Use the comments link below to add your views.

~ Carol Bentley

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I read a great tip in a report for copywriter’s this week. Although it did seem a bit wacky, I thought it might just work. It is a tip that allows your creative juices to flow uninterrupted. Crucial for getting that great bit of copy written.

You see, one of the biggest problems I have when writing is stopping myself from editing as I go. I see a spelling mistake, I go back and change it. I check a phrase - doesn’t quite read right - I’ll stop to restructure it. And it breaks the creative flow - sometimes it even wipes out the great prose sparkling in my mind!

But this tip works! I tried it.

When you’re typing your letter, or copy for your web page, switch your computer screen off!

Yep, that’s what I said - turn it off!

With the screen off you can’t see your mistyping and you aren’t tempted to go back to correct or change things around.

When you’ve finished being creative then you switch the screen on and start editing, correcting any spelling mistakes as you go.  If you have a laptop set the text colour to white so it doesn’t show on screen. Then select it all (Ctrl + A) and set it back to the default colour ready for editing.

The tip originally came from Dr Joe Vitale but Karen Martiny shared it in the report I got.

Give it a try - if nothing else you may give yourself something to smile at when you switch back on and read what you typed!

Have a good Easter break - catch up next week.

~ Carol Bentley

Want to get your message across to your target audience? Want to get them excited and eager about your product or service? Want to draw them inexorably towards the sale without a moment’s hesitation?

Master the art of writing powerful ‘hit the mark’ bullets and you increase your chances of success ten, even one hundred-fold.

Look at the winning sales websites; those used to launch highly successful products, programmes, self-study courses and marketing programmes and you’ll see they all have one thing in common - bullet paragraphs drawing a clear picture of what you can expect when you take up the offer; or bullet descriptions of the problems you face to which they have the perfect solution.

Ever found yourself so caught up reading a website or letter you can’t draw away? It’s acted like a magnet to your eyes and senses? Why? What has fired your imagination?

Short, to the point, focused - a rapid-fire - of bullets.

Bullets are ideal for catching the skimmers - they are short and succinct. Great for highlighting the key benefits and results the offer is making.

Writing Bullets

You can learn how to write bullets. The easiest way? Write them!

• Find the web or sales letter that grabbed your attention, one that you found hard to resist (or maybe you didn’t; maybe you succumbed!).

• Grab a pen and paper and find somewhere quiet, where you won’t be disturbed.

• Copy the bullets in your own handwriting; absorb the phrasing, the rhythm. Notice the words.

• Repeat the exercise with other letters; just make sure the bullets you copy are vibrant, alive and speak to you.

Mark Hendricks, whose newsletter I receive on a regular basis, recommends taking the next step.

• Re-write every bullet point again for your own product or service.

Did You Know…

If you’ve followed some of my previous tips then you are already writing bullets - or at least the start of a bullet. Write 100 headlines, as I advised in my post Do your headlines grab your reader’s undivided attention? and some of those that are not powerful enough for your main headline are a good foundation for your bullets.

Examples of Stunning Bullet Writing. . .

Here’s a few websites where bullets are used to great effect…

Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits

Shrink Wrap your Brain

Ultimate Success Program

Write Letters - Win Sales

I urge you to take the time to write these bullets out - it’s the only way to really get the skill under your skin!

~Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting sales letters writing bullets

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Will you help? Will you answer just 7 questions and in exchange I’ll gift you an e-book giving you a wide scope of off-line marketing activities you can use to drive visitors to your website - actually you can even use these for generating your business sales off-line as well.

Why do I need your help?

Keeping the posts on this blog fresh, pertinent to what you want to read and offering valuable advice is both interesting… and challenging. Most of the time I’m asking myself “What would I be looking for?” “What useful advice would help me achieve my goals?” “What have I seen or experienced that has impressed me or created a measurable result I can share with you, my reader?”

And then I remember that only your ‘customer’ knows what’s right for him and you only get to find out when they respond to your offer.

And that’s where you come in… because only you can tell me…

1. Are these posts useful?
2. Have you taken any of this advice and put it into practice?
3. Have you got results from implementing these tips?
4. Am I delivering what you really, really want?

So now I’m asking you. Please give me your feedback in a short, 7-question survey (there is a question 8 but that’s optional). copywriting4b2b survey

And in return - as a ‘Thank you’ for your time, support and insights you get a great little e-book called Offline Marketing Strategies for Online Businesses; 24 pages packed with crucial tips on how to use ‘real-world’ marketing to effectively promote your website (valued at $47, aprox £25).

• 9 proven ways to advertise that do NOT involve the Internet.
• 8 ways to evaluate if your website is ready for offline promotions.
• Why print publications (like newspapers) aren’t going to disappear anytime soon.
• 3 tips for placing an ad in the classifieds.
• The secret to getting ads into newspapers and magazines for free.
• The number one rule you must follow if you’re going to invest anything in TV or Radio.
• How to launch your website’s presence with direct mail advertising.
• An easy way to add direct response (and direct profits) to your business plan.
• How to determine if your response and conversion rate is high enough.
• 6 places in your town you can likely advertise for free.

But it’s not just good for promoting your online website… all this important advice applies just as much to your ‘real-world’ business promotions.

You have 6 Days… but it only takes 10 minutes

The survey closes on Friday 14th March at 12p.m. (GMT) and, because there are only 7 easy questions, it only takes about 10 minutes to complete.

I wonder… are you like me?

If I don’t act on something straight away; if I put it to one side there’s a pretty good chance I’ll forget about it until it’s too late. If that’s a trait you recognise then, do me a favour, take a few minutes now to answer these 7 questions (they’re mainly multi-choice so you only have to click to choose your answer). Click here to go to the copywriting4b2b survey

I look forward to getting your feedback - have a good weekend,

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting marketing strategies survey

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Applying the Pareto Principle to your activities is the way to truly achieve more in the time (or even less time) than you currently have is the claim from some experts.

Although not an exact science, many studies frequently seem to show 20% ( or thereabouts) of effort generates 80% of the results achieved.

OK - hands up (mine are already waving high in the air) how much of your time is not as productive as you’d like it to be?

Gary Bencivenga (have you heard of him?) gives a great description in his Bencivenga Bullets newsletter of how this principle applies to copywriters and marketers; how he discovered it for himself many years ago and what action he took to turn it around so he didn’t continue to waste 80% of his time.

If you have ever looked back over your day and thought “Where the heck did the time go today? What have I got to show for it - nothing!” then some of the insights Gary shares in this bulletin (and his next one) may give you back a feeling of being in control. Read it here: Bencivenga Bullets

And talking of being in control… tomorrow’s post is an important one for making sure you get what you want from these snippets - don’t miss it.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting Pareto Principle Bencivenga Less time more productivity

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This post is giving you very short notice - and I’m sorry if you don’t see it in time.

I’ve mentioned previously about Ed Rivis publishing his book The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy [Aff]. If you took a look at his blog then you already know about his startlingly low priced 24-hour launch of his book which commenced yesterday (4th March) at 10.30 GMT.

As I write this post that means there is just over 2.5 hours before it goes from £6.99 back to its normal price of £19.97.

The description on the front of the book cover says…

“How everyday business owners can use the world’s most tested and proven online marketing strategies to attract thousands of new customers, hyper-gear revenues, boost profits up to 2.5 to 25 times and grow their business or professional practice within the next 12 months or less.”

I think that says it all - I’ve watched Ed testing and proving these strategies over the last year and, what’s more, in his book he shares how he’s discovered what works as well as explaining what to do.

If you want to take advantage of his ridiculous starting offer pop over to Ed Rivis’ 24-hour Special

~ Carol Bentley

I wonder if, like me, you turn to the internet as your first port of call when you want to find something; whether for business or personal use.

I’m always amazed at the stuff that is out there - literally at the end of your fingertips. And when I was looking for inspiration for verses for my Father’s memorial service that’s where I started to look.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I found something unexpected - although I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was an online website at which you can set up a memorial page. I thought it was a great way of sharing with family that is spread far and wide and is especially nice for those who can’t attend a funeral. www.imorial.com/bobcliff/

So what does this have to do with copywriting?

Everything!

Because there are times when your writing skills are needed for occasions outside your business; writing speeches for christenings, weddings, special birthdays and anniversaries and, of course, memorial services.

Writing for an emotional occasion is probably harder than when you are writing for your business. For me, I found that following the same principle of ‘writing to a friend’ helped me write Dad’s eulogy and the natural flow of the words made it easier for my brother to read out at the service.

And writing can be therapeutic as well, it certainly helps with the healing process.

Isn’t it nice to know that as you’re developing your writing ability you are creating a skill that is useful in all aspects of your life, not just business?

~ Carol Bentley

“I thought you were nuts about…” was the start of a comment on a hubpage I published on 9th February. But I had to smile as I continued to read because it went on to validate the advice I had given.

The subject of the hub is one I’ve mentioned in a previous post on this website… how taking time to write as many headlines as possible, before choosing the few you want to test, is time well spent.

On the hub I included a useful mind map, which gives an ‘at-a-glance’ reminder of my headline creating tips. You can download it from the hub page http://hubpages.com/hub/craftingheadlines, where you can also read the full comment left by the reader I mentioned above as well as those left by other readers.

Please give the page a thumbs up rating when you visit it. Thanks.

~ Carol Bentley

I’m getting withdrawal symptoms - not having written my daily blog post for a few weeks. I’m getting back into it gradually (time still being taken up sorting my Father’s estate) and I’m starting with an extract from my book that may be a reminder (if you have a copy) or a useful insight if you haven’t.

It’s taken from chapter 10 and is my unique way of looking at how to structure your sales letter. But… I’m starting to get to grips with hubpages so I’ve put the whole article on this hubpage: Outline of a Winning Sales Letter

Take a look and, would you do me a favour, give me a thumbs up rating? Cheers!

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: sales letters copywriting hubpages

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:

1. Satisfy their curiosity
2. Be successful - in life or in business
3. Be comfortable
4. Make their work easier
5. Gain recognition or praise from their peers or superiors
6. Save money
7. Make money
8. Satisfy their ego
9. Gain self-respect
10. Be fashionable
11. Be a recognised expert
12. Protect themselves, their family & their possessions
13. Protect their reputation
14. Avoid embarrassment
15. Save time
16. Gain status through possessions
17. Get a bargain
18. Get something for free
19. Protect the environment
20. Prevent or relieve boredom
21. Get ahead - in their career or social status
22. Enjoy beautiful items
23. Be popular
24. Be their own boss
25. Enjoy leisure pursuits
26. Gain better health
27. Become fit
28. Get rid of aches and pains
29. Be sexually attractive
30. Satisfy their own sexual desires
31. Gain knowledge
32. Be good parents
33. Relax - with friends or alone
34. Be safe and secure
35. Live longer
36. 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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Whilst doing my usual browsing of other people’s blogs a post on Ed Rivis’ called ‘Write Press Releases That Sizzle’ caught my eye. He described how to boost your company’s visibility, with both on and offline PR… so I followed the link he included and found an interesting article on Terry Dean’s blog offering some inspiring ideas at http://www.terrydean.org/21-ideas-for-hot-press-releases-part-1/

PR is a great way to get some free publicity. But you have to stand out from all the other businesses trying to get noticed. And news editors are looking for something that is interesting for their readers; something a little different from the ‘norm’.

Some of Terry’s ideas may seem a bit wacky - but they’ve all got merit. I particularly like number 20 - it made me smile.

Help Your News Editor Make Your PR An Attention-Grabber

When I first released my book I sent a press release to my local paper’s Business Editor describing some of the tips it contained and how they help business people get a good result. I wanted to make sure I had the highest chance of the news release being printed so I sent a bit of an odd picture to catch his attention:

The editor asked if the money I was holding was real - it was!

He published the picture, and a long article about the book , on the first page of the business news section. Great result!

In fact he used the picture again when a local Ottakar’s bookstore hosted my book-signing event a few months later.

So what can you do to promote your business? Perhaps Terry’s tips have given you an idea or two?

If you have never included PR in your marketing toolkit maybe now is the time to try. See which of his 21 ideas appeals to you and give it a go. Then come back here and share your results.

~ Carol Bentley

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technorati tags: press releases Terry Dean free publicity