The Importance of Copywriting and Sales
Have you ever given this a thought?
Everyone is selling at some point or the other. Be it a product, an idea, or a service. Sales is an integral part of our life.
How we do it is a skill. How to make people say yes is what makes a world of difference.
Attracting your customers with a fancy looking advertisement will not help you sell, you need to think, analyze, and go beyond.
As a marketer if you are successful in driving traffic to your website but then fail to monetize it, then it’s like pushing all your efforts to go down the drain.
Generating views and sales is a difficult task. You need to “aim at generating high traffic and then do deep marketing”.
There are two types of advertising. One is your regular advertisement (ad) that just informs or educates the prospects about your product or service with its creative outlook.
While on the other hand there is direct response advertising. Direct response advertising is something where we get the customer’s response on an ad to gauge its performance.
It induces the customer to take some action, which in return helps us in understanding the effectiveness of the ad and drive sales.
A successful advertisement is a combination of
- Creative design and
- Compelling ad copy.
An ad copy is also known as copywriting is the art of creating persuasive text or words to entice the target audience.
It’s the tool you can use to drive your prospective buyer into taking a specific action. If you want to get the most out of your ads, then it’s important to learn about Copywriting and it’s a role in Sales.
Many misunderstand copywriting, as creating a fancy looking advertisement that gets maximum adulation.
Though at times, it may enjoy the benefit of high retention value in the consumer’s mind, it may fail to get the desired action from them.
Some big brands have failed to survive for a lack of implementing the right sales strategy.
As a digital marketer, you may lose out on a huge potential if you do not give importance to copywriting.
“The ad has to do the talking for you, it has to speak the language, the customer can understand and reciprocate.”
There are some very powerful sales triggers that can help you build an effective sales strategy.
Tap these 7 psychological sales triggers to convert strangers into buyers.
1. Reciprocity
When people are familiar with you and your product it becomes a little easy to drive sales. So, does this mean if you are new to the market you cannot sell? Definitely not, use reciprocity to penetrate the market and make an impact. People tend to give back to somebody who has helped them. Provide continued value to your target audience. Be consistent in doing so and then, when you make them an offer they wouldn’t refuse.
2. Consistency
Most people are consistent in their buying preferences. They tend to purchase from the same brand if they have tried and liked their products. Their brand loyalty keeps them intact with the brand and its products. As a marketer if your product has exceeded the customer’s expectation and provided a huge value add to them, then you are sure to be their preferred choice for any other offerings you may have.
3. Authority
When an advertisement has an endorsement from someone worthy and credible in their niche, the advertisement garners good results. We listen to health recommendations from Doctors, legal recommendations from Lawyers, educational recommendations from Facilitators or Coaches, and so on. As an authority, their views and opinions are perceived as positive recommendations by people. Once you have established yourself as an authority, nothing can stop you. People will follow you and your recommendations.
4. Social Proof
In today’s digital era ratings and reviews of your product in social platforms decide its destiny. It is true that people like to possess something if it is bought by many. Social proof plays a major role in driving sales. Most consumers do detailed research to understand the product or service through the ratings and reviews. Ensuring you aim at 4 stars and beyond can be a real game-changer.
5. Scarcity
SALE a word that pulls consumers like a magnet. A product or service receives maximum reach when subject to any offers. People prefer to possess more of what is less. It has been proven that when a product or service is scarce the demand for it is high. Hence using this principle to convey your product’s unique selling proposition (USP) is highly effective in driving sales. Using the method ethically is also of utmost importance.
6. Liking
If people have a liking towards your product/service or you, for that matter they are more likely to say a YES. But, why do we like someone? We like them if they are similar to us, if they appreciate us, if they agree with us and share common interests, preferences or if they share a common goal with us. In the online space to harness this trigger to drive sales is worth a thought. Create an affinity towards your product/service by continuously providing value to your audience. Keep them attracted to you by your offerings.
7. Fear
What if I lose a client or a job opportunity? What would I do if “a product” is no longer available? What if my health deteriorates if I don’t take this supplement? so on and so forth. People are always under some kind of fear or the other. Marketers capitalize on this and generate a need for their product or service. The Fear of missing out (FOMO) drives people to say YES. Again, being ethical while using this strategy would result in better and continued customer relations.
All the above triggers if used in the right proportion and intention would surely assist in getting a positive response for your product/service.
Be careful, not to manipulate these strategies as in the long run it may harm your brand value and credibility.
Let us now understand the Basics of Sales
What we discussed so far was the sales strategy, let us now understand the customer.
Understanding their current state and taking them to their desired state would help us with the right product fit.
Our product/service would act as a catalyst in moving them closer to their desired state.
- Establishing the Current State & Desired State
- Ask where they are right now
- Ask where they want to be
- Ask them how their life would change if they reach the desired state (future pacing). Future pacing is letting them know how it would be like once they are at their desired state. Showing them a realistic picture.
- Ask them what’s stopping them from going there by themselves (releasing control). Let them open up and give you the consent to help them. They need to realize their pain points, only then they will be willing to buy without much sales effort. It has to be a pull effect and not a push effect.
- Ask them, why don’t they remain in the same situation. You educate them by showing the true picture without any manipulation. This is buyer enablement where you enable them to make an informed decision.
“Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. You know you can’t bore people into buying your product, you can only interest them into buying it.” – David Ogilvy
- Positioning Your Product Between the States
- Ask them if they think you can help them with the transition.
- Ask them for permission to share your solution with them.
- Create scarcity and persuade them to buy (ethically without manipulation)
- Generate profit.
- Deliver the solution, reinvest profits back into lead generation.
A paradigm shift in deploying these sales strategies would help you be Sales-Ready.