Most websites you see today are online versions of a brochure. A brochure divided into the standard array of links: Home, Products/Services, Testimonials, Contact Me, About Us, etc.
The "About Us" link usually sums up the entire feel of these sites.
Many businesses, both the multi-million dollar corporation and your local pet-grooming store are using these types of sites. The content is "short and sweet."
It better be short. Most of these sites are ego-balm. (Comment: the italicized sentence is unclear.)
Early in my career, I studied with a top copywriter who writes for Fortune 500 companies. He admitted that his brochures and websites turn poor conversion rates. But most business owners, he explained, don't care.
The website or brochure is there for their "self-glorification" (I'm using this term loosely--I don't intend to offend anyone). It defines their image and their vision. Their goal is to impress the customer. The focus is completely on the business and its products/services.
As you know, if you start talking too much about yourself, it's best to keep it short. You better put up links, because the people who do bother to read your copy have come to learn specific points. Save for die-hard fans, they don't care about your business and how great it is.
How to Win Not Only Your Customers' Reading Eyes But a Bit of Their Hearts
If you move the spotlight of your sales copy from you to your customer... from your wants to their wants... from your achievements to their problems... then you win not only their attention but a bit of their hearts.
If your copy shows that you understand them, you make an immediate connection. If your sales letter or website demonstrates that you have listened carefully to their problems, their needs and their desires, you will come across not only as a business wanting their money, but as another human being looking to help.
Speaking from a point of empathy is the crux to the most effective sales platforms. It immediately connects and captivates, the reader.
This is why interviewing your prospects and customers is crucial to writing sales copy that will produce profits for your business.
Your typical Super-bowl ad costs near 30 million dollars and lasts 30 seconds. It does nothing to persuade a reader to buy. It merely reminds them of your products'/services' presence on the planet.
An empathetic piece of copy, however, costs a few thousand dollars and averages nine to twenty minutes. It takes the time to connect deeply with the reader at an emotional level. It naturally captivates the prospect with an offer to help meet their needs, solve their problems or quench their desires. It converts them gracefully into willing buyers.
Marketing Research That Dramatically Increases Your Sales
The most important bit of sales research you can do for your business is to spend time talking to your customers. Find out why they are attracted to your particular product or service. Uncover how it benefits them on the deepest levels. Not just the superficial benefits.
Most women, for example, don't care for fast cars. But when they have three children in the back seat and are about to go on the highway, they feel much better with a car that can accelerate quickly.
Understand your prospects' problems, needs and desires. Show them you care. That you listen. Offer your help. Prove to them you can make a difference. Give an absolute guarantee. And in a matter of pages, you can dramatically increase your sales.
Empathetic direct-response is a simple way to relieve you of your marketing worries. An inexpensive approach that connects deeply with your prospect as a human being.
About the Author
John's Natural-Persuasion Ezine is delivered weekly. It shows you the secrets to generating rising sales through "natural-persuasion" marketing methods. Indirectly persuade your prospects to purchase without sales-hype or budget-draining branding.
Subscribe for free at: www.natural-peruasionEzine.com
For non-hype copy that wins ideal customers visit www.natural-persuasionCopy.com
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