Sales Content and Web Content
Too much "tellin" and not enough "sellin"?
The key to effective content is engaging the reader about what they care about......THEMSELVES.
The next time you read sales copy in trade journals and airline magazines or browse through a competitor’s Website, take note of some of the most common mistakes companies make when writing content for Websites or other marketing purposes:
- Using acronyms and industry-specific lingo to the degree that it is near impossible to understand what the company actually does! It's another version of "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull."
- Telling “us,” in excruciating detail, all about "them." No one cares about "them." We care about US, right? So why do so many companies insist on having a Web page titled "About Our Company"? When writing content for Websites, focus on the everyday challenges of your customers, not on all the nitty-gritty factoids about your company.
- Focusing on feature/function blather, "marketing speak" about ROI, time to market, operational efficiency, and money savings. These are all examples of too much tellin’ and not enough sellin’.
Effective sales content can be deployed in sales and marketing literature, brochures, sales letters, sales presentations, and Web pages.
I have developed a proprietary messaging process that enables you to give me what I need to make your story compelling:
- Who is your market.....personally? I want to almost be able to smell their aftershave or perfume by the time we finish profiling them as PEOPLE.
- What do your prospective customers want from their lives? They are much more than merely potential consumers of the products and services you want to sell them.
- What solutions do your products and services provide these people that directly relate to what they want in life?
Creating effective messaging and Website content is a process, not an event. Give me a call to discuss your objectives and start generating revenue from new customers.
Dan McCaughin