Make your words work hard at selling

You can’t beat face-to-face conversations for selling to customers.

We’re not always there to talk though. That’s when the power of written words really counts. In ads, web sites, brochures, newsletters and more, it’s the written words that have to make the sale.

Grab attention

If someone lands on your web site, you have seconds to persuade them that they should hang around and read a bit about your business. The same’s true for any leaflets, brochures or ads you produce. Write yourself some really interesting headlines and make every word count.

“Who you talking to?”

In the sales and marketing world, it’s all about the customer. Think less about what you want to say, and more what your customers will want to hear. A great tip is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself “So what?” about everything you write.

Take this example from WigglyWormers, who have the unenviable task of making socks sound interesting. Their socks are made from pure goats’ hair. “So what?” you say. And Wiggly has the answer - it means they’re warm in winter, cool in summer and stay fresh for days (a great sales point for the single men in your life).

Or take any piece of technology. For most people it’s not the power or widgets of their laptop, phone or camera that interest them. It’s what that technology can help them do to make their lives better.

Keep it simple

When you’re writing to sell you want to help people take in information quickly and easily. So short sentences and paragraphs as well as words that are familiar to the people you’re selling to are all really helpful.

Make a few lists

Bullet-point lists can work well to make the page look more interesting. Keep each point short though – just a word or a single phrase is easiest to read. And just like when you’re planting out the herbaceous border, odd numbers seem to work best. Go for three or five, but no more than that.

Don’t forget the detail

Have you noticed ads that forget to mention important points, like names, locations or dates? Make sure people know how to find you, in person, on the phone or online.

Get the horse to drink

You’ve persuaded your readers to take the next step in buying from you. But what is that step? Whether you want people to pick up the phone, create an online booking or request more information – make it clear and make it easy.

Check it over

When you’ve worked so hard to build up your credibility, you don’t want misspellings and dodgy grammar to ruin the effect. If there’s no one around to proof read your writing, print it out and look at it later yourself.

Rules that confuse

There are some rules in English language that are hard to understand and remember, but can really annoy your knowing readers if you get them wrong. These are a few that people have asked me about recently. Please feel free to add or argue.

Some of this is simply about whether you use UK English or US English.

Less and fewer Less of one thing. Fewer of several things. Less cheese. Fewer slices of cheese. That's why people complain about “Less than 9 items in your basket”.

: and ; The colon : is the one to use if you're introducing a bullet list. Use semi-colons ; for the middle of sentences. Even better, avoid using semi-colons at all. They’re just joining up two thoughts and in marketing writing you want to keep your sentences short.

-ise and –ize on the end of verbs Check if you’ve got a house style and go with that. If you haven’t just be consistent. Common practice is –ise in the UK and –ize in the US. On the other hand I was once told that actually –ize is the original old English, so just make your choice and keep to it.

Apostrophes It’s not easy. There's absolutely no need for an apostrophe if you’re just making a word plural. If you’re missing out some letters to join two words together, that’s the right time to use an apostrophe (it's, that's, you're etc). The tougher one is if you’ve got one thing owning another – the cat’s mother or even the cats’ mothers if you've got several cats.

More apostrophes On the same topic, there’s no need to put an apostrophe in a decade. The 1970s is fine.

Programme Where are you? If you’re in a US English territory, you may be perplexed by this spelling of the word because you probably always use program. If you’re in the UK, you’d use programme for a series of events, the brochure at the theatre and just about everything else - except a computer program.

Say “comprises of” out loud. Ugly isn’t it? Best to say “consists of” or “comprises”, especially as they’re grammatically correct.

Unless your products are actually being extraordinarily nice to each other, the likelihood is that they're complementary, not complimentary.

And here's one I've just seen at Hallmark, which really should know better. Baby stationary has come to a standstill, while baby stationery is something to write home about.

Talk to your customers from their point of view to win sales

When I stood up at my first networking meeting and announced that I was a copywriter, I was met with blank faces all round – apart from those already in the know.

Afterwards I realised that I had done exactly what I exhort people not to do. I had talked about what I offer in the language of my own industry, when I should have been talking in the language of my audience. So this is what I said at the second meeting

I see myself as an interpreter. I help businesses translate all that they see as fabulous about their products and services into reasons why people would want to buy from them. And when we’ve got that sorted, I help them get the words right for their web site, brochures, newsletters, case studies, ads – just about anything that helps to sell.

Take the example of the two leaflets advertising massages and therapies. The one lists all the services that the therapist provides – deep tissue massage, Indian head massage etc etc, and leaves the reader to work out what they want. The other lists the issues that the customer wants to address – sports issues, pregnancy pains, stress … This therapist is talking about what she does from the point of view of what the customer needs. And she will be more successful in getting business in.

Take a look at what you say about your business. And then consider if you’re selling the benefits. Will it make them feel good, or save them money, or save them time? The more steps you can fill in for your audience, the more likely they are to buy.

Who are you?

It's the simplest thing to start with, but it's amazing how many people forget this bit.

What should be in lights on your home page? On the front of your brochures? Not just your name, but what you do and who you do it for.

Get some friends of friends to visit your web site. People who know nothing about your business. See if they can tell what you're selling and why they'd want to buy it in your first few lines of copy.

If you're not absolutely clear on this, you need a re-think. Don't make your visitors work hard at understanding you. You need to work at understanding your potential audience and spelling it out for them. In their language. You only have seconds to convince. Make the most of it.