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Advertising Copywriting for Beginners

Author: The Maverick Marketeer

When most people think of advertising copywriting they tend to think of large lettered blurbs like “On Sale!” or “Half Off!” that always seem to announce the latest and greatest bargain to be had. This is quite honestly, a very narrow glimpse of what sales copy is and what sales copy does.

A very broad but accurate definition of advertising copywriting would be: Any and all text based material in any way relevant to your business a potential customer comes into contact with. Whether it’s in the form of a catchy headline, a compelling email, or an iron clad money back guarantee, these are all various forms of sales copy.

The important thing to remember is that no matter what the format for presentation, all sales copy is designed to accomplish three main tasks. Good sales copy should essentially perform the task of good sales person. Those three tasks are…

Introduce the customer to the service or product…

Explain the benefits of the product or service…

“Selling” the customer on the offer…

There are several key elements that make up a strong effective letter of sales. However, each element is designed to help accomplish your main tasks and smoothly transition your customer through the process of making a purchase.

There are two basic types of advertising copy to become familiar with; long copy and short copy. The common rule of thumb regarding which type is most appropriate is this: multiple products and or services (i.e. a catalog of products) use short copy, and for a single service or single product with limited variation long copy is by far the most effective.

Long copy works extremely well for small business, especially for a new startup because long copy gives you the best opportunity to properly introduce customers to your company, product and or service, as well as begin building a relationship with your customer

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/advertising-copywriting-for-beginners-156857.html

About the Author

Why are entrepreneurs still struggling to realize the near infinite business potential of the web? http://www.better-online-business-opportunity.com/Ab

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Business Letter Writing: What’s Involved?

Author: Shawn Thomas

The internet and the age of text messaging, instant messaging and voicemail has caused some to stray away from the formality that is necessary for making the best impression in business. However, computer technology and the internet can also help in learning how to write business letters correctly. A simple internet search can provide you with a wide assortment of resources and tools to help you better understand the principles of business letter writing.

A business letter differs greatly from a personal letter. Business letter writing requires the use of formal language and the adherence to strict structural rules. Personal letter writing permits the use of informal language, permits the infusion of emotions that are best avoided in business letters, and the structure of a personal letter is not quite so strict. I hope that the following tips for business letter writing will help you in writing polished, straightforward, professional business letters with more ease.

Respect the valuable time of others by keeping your business letters short and direct. Readers should immediately understand the purpose for the business letter you have written to them. Leave the sharing of jokes and gossip with business associates for occasions that are more informal.

Relevancy is crucial. Make sure that every word you write in your business letter is relevant and necessary for furthering the comprehension of the topic addressed in your letter for the reader. Take as much care to ensure that you write your business letters to the appropriate people who should receive them. You would not want to write a business complaint letter and then send it to someone in the product development department whose role in the company does not include the handling of complaints for example. In doing so you have wasted yours and their time as well as delaying a resolution that may have arrived sooner had you sent that letter to the right person.

It is also important to note that formality from start to finish in writing your business letters is necessary. If you are aware of the name and title of the person, to whom you are sending a business letter to-use it. Use Dear Sir/Madam when you do not know the name and title of the person who will be receiving your business letter. Also, remember to use the department title that is most appropriate for your business letter, if you do not know to whom to direct it to. Do not use slang or inappropriate language when writing your business letters.

Use personal pronouns when writing your business letters. Use "I" for yourself and "You" for the recipient of your business letter. You need to be cautious about using "we" in business letters with your company letterhead on them. These can be easily misinterpreted as a representative of the company as a whole when you in fact intend them to be attributed to you alone. Use"We" only when your business letter is indeed a representation of the company as a whole.

Clarity of each point presented in your business letter is important not only for avoiding misunderstandings, but also because it illustrates your knowledge about the subject that your business letters concern. Before even beginning to write your business letter, take a few minutes to clarify for yourself why you are writing it and the outcome you expect to gain from it. This will provide you with a clearer picture of the message you want your business letter to convey and a clear direction to begin writing your business letter. If it helps for you to have a list of main points you don’t want to forget to refer to as your write your business letter, go ahead, and make yourself one before beginning to write the letter.

Proofing and editing your business letters in order to eliminate mistakes in spelling and grammar usage, as well as to spot and correct breaks in form structure, is very important. It is unwise to rely solely on computer spellcheckers to do this important task for you. These programs are not perfect and can easily "miss" a variation on the spelling of a word that can make a big difference in meaning when read in body of a business letter you have written. You need to read your business letter aloud all the way through from beginning to end at least 3 times, sentence by sentence. No quick scanning allowed. It is also helpful to have someone else in the office read aloud your business letters so that you can "hear" the mistakes your readers are certain to if you do not fix them before mailing them out.

The aforementioned letter writing tips can be accomplished by anyone. Focus and patience are great attributes which will help boost the quality of your business letters. These tips are important to remember because, in many cases, your business letters are the initial contact you may have with new business contacts and co-workers as well.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/business-letter-writing-whats-involved-639001.html

About the Author

Shawn Thomas is a freelance writer who writes about writing rules and grammar, letter writing and etiquette, often focusing on specific products used in writing such as business stationery.

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Elements of a Winning Sales Letter

Author: The Maverick Marketeer

Writing an effective sales letter is more a science than it is an art. This simply means that that even a person who isn’t the necessarily the best writer can create strong and effective sales copy by following a proven formula.

This proven formula for a winning sales letter is:

* Establish a unique selling proposition

* Target your audience

* Create excitement with an attention-grabbing headline and sub headline

* Establish credibility

* Present benefits

* Transfer ownership

* Provide a strong guarantee

* Add value with free bonus items

* Create a sense of urgency

* Last but not least…Ask for the sale

Include the elements of this proven formula in your sales copy to create the most effective sales letters possible.

Establish a unique selling proposition:

Your unique selling proposition or USP is what make your product or service stand out from all the competition. Whether your product is faster, takes up less storage space, or is the most durable; all these examples present a distinct USP that creates recognition and the opportunity to expand upon the usefulness of a particular service or product.

Target you audience:

Whatever you product or service may be, your presentation must speak directly to the needs of your particular target group. We’ve all seen ads for household products that reduce the work of busy home makers as well as those for office supplies that make organization a snap for business professionals. When writing your sales copy, think of who your customers are likely to be and what their individual needs might be. This is how you target an audience.

Creating excitement with headlines and sub headlines:

Most people are almost completely absorbed with their own lives and their own problems almost all the time. An attention-grabbing headline allows you to enter into their train of thought just long enough to direct them to your wonderful, incredible, out of this world “thing” that you have to offer them that is guaranteed to make life just a little bit easier. Without a headline that catches your customer’s attention your incredible offer could easily be lost in their daily shuffle.

Establish credibility:

Establishing credibility is especially important for small businesses. Larger companies don’t have to work nearly as hard to assure customers who they are and of the quality of the product and or service they represent. The important question to answer for you customer here is, “Why should I trust and do business with you?”

Present benefits:

This is a very important aspect of the sales letter. You must be able to distinguish between features and benefits, and present the benefits to your customers. Customers don’t really care as much about a product or service as much as they care about what that product or service can do for them.

People don’t buy shampoo because they want shampoo. People buy shampoo because they want clean good looking hair. Someone doesn’t buy a brand of cell phone because it has the best reception, but because having the best reception means they can carry on conversations with limited interruption. Selling with benefits means answering the customer’s all important question, “What’s in it for me?”

Transfer ownership:

Transferring ownership simply means that while reading your sales letter, customers should smoothly transition from reading about your product to learning more about their product they are about to purchase. Even in the snazzy car commercials we see on television every day, the intent is for each of us to see ourselves in that sleek new ride and imagine how much we’d enjoy ourselves.

Provide a strong guarantee:

By providing a strong guarantee you effectively reduce the risk involved in making a purchase. Someone is much more likely to spend money if they feel like they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Add value with a free bonus:

Adding additional value to an already attractive offer with little or no risk is effective way to seal the deal so to speak. This feature is often combined with…

Creating a sense of urgency:

Creating a sense of urgency simply encourages people on the desire you’ve already created to own your/their product and or service. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the phases, “order today and receive an additional…” or “call right now and we’ll throw in…”

Ask for the sale:

This may seem overly obvious, but it’s very important that you actually ask your customer to make the purchase and provide an easy and effective method for them to do so.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/elements-of-a-winning-sales-letter-156858.html

About the Author

Why are entrepreneurs still struggling to realize the near infinite business potential of the web? http://www.better-online-business-opportunity.com/Ab

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How to Write a Sales Letter

Author: David Johnson

Let's start with some very basics.

So, what exactly is copy? Copy is the salesmanship via the written word. Each time you are writing copy you want to convince people to perform a precise step. This is known as selling. Selling is attempting to transfer an idea to another person.

How do you learn copy ? It is essential that you study successful writers and create a swipe file. This is a saved file of other writers' copy. This can be hard copy or electronic. You use this to give you ideas when it comes to writing copy. You can handwrite and examine some of the sales letters. This will give you the flow, and you will learn what words are more swaying.

The four main principles of successful copy.

The first principle is to be yourself and be genuine. If you study a writer's copy you will find that most write as if they are talking to a friend. They show their personality through the copy backed up with substance, education, and results.

The 2nd principle is to be very exact. Do not speak in sweeping statements. If you write about how many leads someone can get, write the number of leads. Sweeping statements show mistrust on the writer's part. The reader will be wondering why the generalizations and not trust your copy, so be specific.

The third principle is to position yourself as an expert. If you do this, you are no longer a sales person, but an expert and promoting yourself. Remember, people will always see you as you would perceive yourself. You need to start believing that you are an authority. If you really believe this, others will see you as an expert.

Although believing is essential, the lone way to become an authority is to start training. As you learn, write articles, do videos about what you have learned. The best way to learn something is to teach it. You will portray yourself as someone of value and offer solutions to other marketers' problems.

The 4th principle is to hide your sales pitch within valuable information and provide proof backing up your claims and promises. This will make everything a win-win. Your readers will learn some valuable content; they will perceive you as an authority, someone of value, and buy from you.

The 6 steps to writing copy

1. Know your target market intimately. Your copy's success rests on how well you know your target market. By knowing the problems of your target market, you can then give solutions.

2. Pick a specific angle. An example of this is Mike Dillard, he has a product line on specific topics. Pick a specific angle when you write copy.

3. Begin to use your swipe file that you created. You will get ideas about headlines to include in your copy.

4. What is the ultimate benefit of your product or service? What pain will it relieve and what ability will it give the reader?

5. Write benefit bullets. Let the reader know what they are going to get and how your product or service will help them. If one of your bullet points promises a solution to a problem that is more painful to the reader than the monetary price, then you will get the sale.

You must know the difference involving a benefit and a feature. What a product or service offers is a feature. This is exactly what company website present. Unfortunately, no one cares about features. Since company websites only list features and no one cares about features, the websites offered by companies are terrible at converting sales.

People do care about benefits. A benefit is what that feature means to the customer. For example, a feature would be, "Our system has a video to use in PPC ads." A benefit would be, "Our system has a video to use for PPC ads, to generate 50-100 leads daily on auto-pilot. See the difference?

An easy test to tell if something is a benefit is to ask, "So what?" Why should the customer care about this? If you can answer this question, you have a benefit. However, if you cannot answer it, you have a feaure.

Remember, to be specific, and always close the bullet with the benefit.

6. The last step is to provide your offer.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/mlm-articles/how-to-write-a-sales-letter-1610845.html

About the Author

After reading How to Write Copy many have improved their copy to make more sales. Dig into more MLM training at The Pro Lead System.

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