I had a look at my much thumbed copy of Dan Kennedy’s “The Ultimate Sales Letter” last night (the link takes you to my book review) and he says that to be effective, you need to start thinking like your prospective clients.
Kennedy identified 10 questions that you should ask yourself about your prospective customers before you start writing your sales letter or any other form of copy:
- Ask yourself what keeps them awake at night?
- What do they worry about? What are they afraid might happen?
- What do they get angry about?
- What are their big frustrations? What drives them crazy?
- What trends are happening that could change their lives? For the better or worse?
- What do they want so much that they won’t tell anyone about?
- Is there a preference for a particular type of emotional or logical appeal?
- Do they have their own jargon or language that you have to use to fit in?
- Who else sells to the same target customers? How do they make their appeals?
- Who else has tried to sell to these customers but failed?
You see, the more you know about the way your prospective customer thinks, the more you can understand their individual motivations to move away from pain and towards pleasurable gains.
The more you understand them, the better you can communicate in ways that they will understand and appreciate.
The more they understand and believe that you have a bond with them, the more likely they are to do what you ask them to do.
Simple really.
People don’t want to read about you. They are probably not interested but there is one thing you can rely on them being interested in.
Themselves and how they can make their lives better, easier, simpler or richer.
They want to read about how you can help solve their problems in a way that they can relate to.
Look out for my full review of Dan Kennedy’s “The Ultimate Sales Letter” which will appear on this blog in the next few months.
In the meantime, if you would like to know more about how to write copy from one of the great copywriters, take a look at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com for more details (affiliate links).
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