Copywriting for Beginners Part 3 of 3: How to Persuade

In copywriting, the offer is the incentive or reward that you dangle in front of your prospects to motivate them to respond to your marketing message. Offers are vital to the success of just about any marketing copy. You need to motivate action. Without a clear, compelling offer, your response rates will be low and your promotion unprofitable. Here’s why you need an offer.

In marketing, you are unlikely to reach prospects at the very moment they are ready to buy. And even if you do, you are not likely to close the sale with just one piece of copy. That’s because most buying decisions rarely involve just one step (such as dropping a cheque in the mail or placing an order using your toll-free number).

Instead, the buying cycle typically involves looking for information, learning about solutions, comparing brands, deciding on the best option, then making the purchase.

Because you do not usually know where cold prospects are in their buying cycle, your copy should try to hook them wherever they are. The best way to generate a response is to present more than one offer.

In marketing, the offer is the incentive or reward that you dangle in front of your prospects to motivate them to respond to your marketing message, either with an order or with a request for more information. Offers follow a, “you do this and we’ll do that” format. For example: “Place your order before June 3 and we’ll reduce your price by 40%” or “Phone now and we’ll send you a free demo CD.” Here are some examples of offers that businesses use to sell their products and services using the power of "free." 

In B2B lead generation, you are after a lead, not a sale. But you are unlikely to reach prospects at the very moment they are ready to buy. Because you do not usually know where cold prospects are in their buying cycle, your copy should try to hook them wherever they are. One of the best ways to generate an inquiry is to offer prospects information that helps them make an informed decision. Here are some ideas for informational offers.

Every piece of copy you put in front of customers or potential customers should contain an incentive that motivates your reader to place an order or request more information. In direct response parlance, this incentive is called your “offer.” Discounts are effective offers. Depending on what you are selling, and depending on who you are selling it to, offering a discount is likely to increase your response rate and the number of orders you receive. Here are four discounts that you can offer.

With few exceptions, every piece of copy you write should contain an offer. The offer is the incentive or reward that motivates prospects to respond to your marketing message, either with an order or with a request for more information. “Subscribe to Hook, Line and Sinker today and save 45% off the newsstand price” is an example of an offer. To be effective, your offers must pass seven tests.

Anglers in Maine catch trout using dry flies with barb-less hooks. Unless they keep tension on the line all the way to the net, they lose the trout. Your sales letters must do the same. But how?

The easiest way to increase the effectiveness of your sales letters is to make your copy more personal. Given the choice between reading a flyer and reading a hand-written note from a friend, most people will read the personal note first. Here are some ways to make your copy more personal.

A subscriber to my newsletter asks: "Got any good pointers on writing great sub-heads?" Yes, I do. Here they are.

One of your challenges as a copywriter is keeping your readers hooked so that they read all your copy, from start to finish. One of the most important places to keep your potential buyers hooked is your photos. Here are some rules for writing captions that keep your prospects reading.