Copywriting Power: Say It in a Sentence

Writing a sales letter? Great. Before you start however, write your sales message in one sentence. That single act will results in more sales for your client, or for you, if you’re writing your own copy.

Over the years, I’ve coached many business people and writers in copywriting. Here’s my best advice to them, and to you: “You don’t have to write amazing copy. You just need to be clear.” If you confuse the reader (or listener or viewer), you’re done. Confused customers don’t buy.

Of course, it’s a challenge to write your message in a sentence. You’ll need to think about exactly what you’re offering, exactly who it’s for, and exactly what the product will do for them… AND you need to address their primary concerns.

Here’s the payoff if you take ten minutes to do this: your sales copy will be clear, logical, and easily understood.

Using this simple technique, you can double the results you get from any copy.

Here’s how to do it.

Start by asking yourself these questions:

WHO? Who Does the Product You’re Selling Help?

The more narrowly you can define your audience, the more effective your copy will be.

Here are a couple of examples to start you thinking.

* “This product helps home owners in ________ (area) to avoid foreclosure.”

* “This product helps women 50 and over to prevent osteoporosis.”

HOW? How Does Your Product Help Them?

Again, ask yourself some questions. Express the primary benefit as clearly as you can.

Finally, you need to address the prospective buyer’s worst-case scenario.

In the case of our foreclosure example, the worst-case scenario might be that your prospect has tried everything he and his advisers can think of, and nothing has worked.

In the osteoporosis example, perhaps the prospect already has the early warning signs of osteoporosis.

Now that you understand exactly what you’re offering, put it into a sentence.

Don’t stop there. Try out the sentence on others. If they can understand what you’re selling, your buyers will too — and you’ll make sales.

By the way, this simple process will help you in all forms of copywriting, even if you’ve never tried to write copy before.