Guest Post by Peter Hill.
Let’s think about it. A single cold email takes a high level of writing skills. If it’s badly written, it won’t get you any leads. And you know that email communication is crucial for any business niche.
Should we even start talking about blogging and social media marketing? What about personal branding?
All these aspects of your business are dependent on decent writing skills.
It’s time to make peace with that fact and start working on your written expression. If you’re aiming towards boosting sales, you’ll be surprised to see that writing is an essential element of those efforts.
9 Tips for Improving Your Sales Writing Skills
1) Write a Seductive Headline/Subject Line
You need it for your emails. You need it for your blog posts. You need it for your website content.
When you’re trying to convince people to buy something from you, the title is the first thing that gets their attention. It’s supposed to tempt them to read through the rest of the content.
The best way to write an intriguing headline is to focus on the benefits the reader gets from your offer. Offer a precise solution, but keep things realistic. Don’t promise something that your product/service cannot deliver.
You need inspiration? Cosmopolitan is the master of great headlines. Analyze them to see what triggers the reader’s interest.
2) Master the Art of Persuasive Writing
Cold emails, sales offers, social media marketing posts… all this content is based on a single technique: persuasive writing. If you check Apple’s website, for example, you’ll see a brilliant example of the persuasive style. Just read how they describe the iPhone. The style is rhythmic, factual, and straight on point.
With a few simple sentences, persuasive writing has the power to seduce the reader. So instead of wasting space and time on introductions, get directly to your offer and explain it in the clearest possible manner. If your product or service is good enough, a simple description of its feature is good enough to persuade the reader to try it.
3) Discuss Complex Issues in Simple Words
There’s complex technology behind the product you offer? So what? There’s complex technology behind iPads, but you won’t see it being discussed in the content Apple features at its website.
Keep things simple. A beginner reader, who doesn’t know anything about your product or service, should be able to understand what you’re talking about. If you want to explain the science between your products, you can gradually introduce it in separate blog posts. But the sales copy should be free of complexities.
4) Give Some Authority to the Text
Let’s say you’re selling a face mask that has a great effect on wrinkles. You’ll need some proof. You can provide it by sharing the results of case studies, or real experiences by real users.
It’s important not to lie about this. You may convince someone to buy the product that way, but let’s get real: you won’t achieve long-term success with such an approach. All those websites with photoshopped images of faces with wrinkles erased? People don’t fall for that.
5) Include Some Details
Let’s say you’re trying to hire a writing service. You’ll find numerous website and they will all say they are the best. Do you believe them?
Of course not! But when you see web content such as the one featured on this link, you see details that make the claims believable. You understand exactly why this service could be the best: they test and train their writers, they have strong guarantees, and they offer 24/7 support.
That’s the kind of details you want to include in a sales copy.
6) Be a Psychologist
If you’re sending a cold email to a potential business collaborator, think like a business person: what would make you accept an offer?
If you’re writing content for your customers, think like they would think: what problems do they have and what types of solutions are they willing to invest in? What questions and insecurities do they have? Address those insecurities in the content, so you’ll convince them to make the buying decision.
7) Share Testimonials
Everyone is after social proof. Before investing in something, they want to know what others think of it.
In the emails, blog posts, and web content, you can include real testimonials. You can ask for these testimonials whenever someone buys from you. But you can also allow people to review your business on social media. If you’re selling good stuff, you don’t have to worry about the reviews. Just do your part well, and the feedback will be positive.
8) Think about Formatting
The average attention span of an adult is around 14 minutes. But that’s the estimation about the attention span while watching TV or attending meetings. When it comes to reading content, it’s way lower. A potential reader will give you only seconds before they decide to keep reading or bounce off the site.
You’ll keep their attention only if you format the content in short sentences and paragraphs. Use visuals to break up the text!
9) Always Edit!
Grammar is important. A properly edited text shows you really invested effort into developing the copy. Grammar and spelling flaws, on the other hand, show you don’t have any respect for your audience.
At this point, you might need help from a professional academic writing service. They pair you with editors who can improve the quality, relevance, and appeal of your content.
Are You Convincing Enough?
That’s the main question to ask whenever you’re trying to write content that sells. If you look like you’re trying too hard, you won’t be convincing. So just be honest and stick to the facts. When the products or services are good enough, you won’t need much effort to start writing persuasively.
