How I Wrote a Story-Based Sales Email That Landed Me in the Top 5 in a Copywriting Contest

February 1, 2020 by · 2 Comments

sales emails

Photo by Hello I’m Nik 🇬🇧 on Unsplash

I came in 4th place, to be exact. Now, that might not seem like much, but there were roughly 78 entries from copywriters who ran the gamut from fairly new to quite successful and experienced.

I’ve been doing this here copywriting and marketing thing since about 2001, but some of my fellow copywriters participating in this? Let’s just say I was a little (and by little, I mean a lot) intimidated.

In fact, initially I thought, “No way am I entering a contest I likely won’t do well in given the competition, especially since it’ll take me hours to write an entry. I’m already at capacity with work right now.”

[Can ya hear all the limiting beliefs nonsense going on there? Yikes!]

But deep down, I really wanted to do this. Because if you’re not making yourself uncomfortable from time to time, you’re not growing. So say the personal development geeks. Of which I am one. 😊

I’m sharing the contest details and my entry here, because if you pay close attention to the rules, template, questions, and other guidance Kevin and Chris presented, along the prep work I did before submitting my entry, you’re sure to learn a thing or two about what it takes to write a story-based email that sells.

The Background

The contest took place inside the Copy Chief community, which I’m a proud member of.

The emails were judged by Kevin Rogers, founder of Copy Chief and expert direct response copywriter who has helped clients earn $100M in sales, and fellow Copy Chief member Chris Orzechowski, email copywriter & consultant extraordinaire who helps e-commerce companies earn big paydays with email.

Kevin and Chris critiqued the email entries via video inside Copy Chief, and chose the top 5; we lucky 5 received a coveted Copy Chief “Nobody Writes Alone” t-shirt. Yee-haw! The grand prize winner also won a scholarship to Chris’s Email Copy Academy and an email sequence review.

The Challenge: Write a “story-based” email that sells

The fellas did a fantastic presentation explaining the elements of, and psychology behind, storytelling emails that sell to help us prepare for the challenge.

The Rules

We were given three products to choose from to write the sales email for:

A pillow, a pressure washing service, or a productivity course.

We were to pick the product, write a story-based email that sells people on buying the product, then post our entry inside the Copy Chief forum.

I chose the pillow, and used Casper for my model. But I renamed my “imaginary” product the Euphoria Pillow. 😊

We were graded on:

  • Subject line
  • Strength of the story/hook
  • Clarity & readability
  • Call to action language

Emails That Sell Need to Do a Few Important Things

In order to write a persuasive email that moves people to action, we had to do three things: determine what our ideal customer’s current beliefs were, tell stories to implant new beliefs that would get them interested in our chosen product, and give them an action to take that would bring them closer to their goal, such as making a purchase.

To determine what to say, we were instructed to:

  1. Talk to people in our market – I did this by chatting with couple of friends who had sleep issues and had recently purchased pillows. I also did lots of review mining: I sifted through pillow reviews on the Casper website, plus positive and negative reviews of other premium pillows on Amazon. I saved loads of this voice of customer data into a doc to use while writing my sales email. (You need to understand where people are now, the challenges and struggles they’re facing, and where they want to ultimately be – which is what your product or solution offers. You can’t write persuasive copy without research and voice of customer data. Full stop)
  2. List out their problems – The review mining mentioned above gave me lots of intel about problems and challenges. For example, many people suffer poor sleep and wake up with a stiff neck and other aches and pains because they don’t have a quality pillow. And we all know poor sleep has a hugely negative impact on everything else we do in our day-to-day lives.
  3. List the outcomes (results) they want in their life – On the surface they just want to wake up pain-free. But what they really want is to wake up feeling refreshed, well-rested, and ready to tackle the day. To slay the day. To handle everything with grace, ease and joy, the way you do when you’ve gotten eight glorious hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep.
  4. List their “false beliefs” – Some could include: “Spending $80 on a pillow is crazy, it’s not worth it.” “A premium pillow isn’t going to make that much difference in my sleep quality.”
  5. List “new beliefs” they need to gain in order to make a buying decision – “$80 is a small price to pay for something that can seriously improve your sleep, and because quality sleep is so important to health and overall happiness, it’s worth every penny.”

The Template

Chris shared a basic outline of emails that sell:

  1. Subject line
  2. Story
  3. Segue/The ‘Turn’
  4. CTA

(Optional): P.S.

(You’ll see these things in action in my email entry, below)

He also talked about eight kinds of subject lines, along with eight different story frameworks.  I chose the personal story framework for my email.

And of course, we covered the uber-important call to action: you must tell people what to do, why they need to do it, and why they need to do it now.

BUT … even after all this, we’re still not quuuuite ready to begin writing.

Nope, first, we needed to answer the following questions. My answers included here:

1. Where does this email fit into the context of the marketing funnel?

It comes after web visitors have read some info on the Casper website, or have otherwise been exposed to the brand, and they’ve signed up for the Casper email list to learn more.

2. What is the objective of this email?

To make a sale

3. What’s the new belief you want readers to have?

That an $80 pillow is totally worth it and can change their life

4. What’s a story/hook that can implant that belief into their brain?

Talk about how quality sleep is the most important health action they can take, as illustrated through a personal story about the before-and-after results of getting quality sleep; demonstrate through a story that shows – not tells – the transformation. Could also consider using data on sleep; benefits of quality sleep, etc.

5. What is your call to action going to be?

Buy now

6. What ‘reasons to act now’ do we need to add?

Don’t miss one more night of quality sleep and go through your days unable to do all you want to do, to the best of your ability. Life is too short, and you have too much you want to do, for that.

The presentation Chris and Kevin gave was so good, and so thorough, it’s not possible to share all of it here, but I’ve outlined the very basics above.

Prep I Did Before Writing

Once I decided to enter the contest, I was all in. Meaning, I did what I do with every actual client copy project I take on – research, research, and more research, which comes in a few varieties:

:: I talked to a couple of friends with sleep issues. I asked how the sleep issues presented, and what they did to resolve them.

:: I signed up Casper’s email list to see how they do email.

:: I spend loads of time on the Casper website, reading about their pillows (product research), AND, more importantly, reading customer reviews (to gather voice of customer data).

:: I did review mining of other premium pillows on Amazon to gather more voice of customer data on things like: where people are in their solution-seeking journey when they arrive at the place of deciding to spend upwards of $80 for a single pillow, what problems they’re trying to solve, what they’ve tried before that didn’t work, and to suss out the transformation they really want. Sure, they want a good night’s sleep, but more than that, they want all the benefits that derive from a good night’s sleep.

:: If this were a real project with a real client, I also would have: had the client fill out my intake questionnaire, had a call to review completed questionnaire and discuss the direction and goals of the copy, talked to a handful of actual customers, done loads more product research, and undertaken more competitor analysis.

My Sales Email Entry

(Chris and Kevin’s feedback is pasted in at the end of the email.)

Original email subject line ideas:

Red wine, tough love, and clouds made of rainbows

Alternative SLs:

Pairs nicely with success

$80 for a pillow?!?! You’re crazy.

A handful of other subject lines I considered, but didn’t post as part of my entry:

BOOM! This is how you improve every area of your life … for just $80

There’s not an app for that

As soon as I laid down, I was in love

This 5-letter word changed EVERYTHING

Why aren’t more people talking about this?

Is this the missing link to a better life?

You can’t put a price on this

__ % of adults don’t get enough of this

Pillow talk

Driving drunk or driving underslept … which is more dangerous?

Sixty percent of adults have done this life-threatening thing

EMAIL BODY COPY

One Saturday night a few weeks ago, Ronda, my BFF of 30+ years, committed one of the kindest acts a trusted friend can ever do.

She called me out on my bullshit.

Over a bowl of creamy cacio e pepe and a glass (or three) of Poggio Bonelli Chianti Villa Chigi 2016, I shared with her for what felt like the 187th time how my terrible, fitful sleep over the previous few weeks was really beginning to wear me down.

The truth?

My crappy sleep habits were actually wreaking havoc on my career.

Last Thursday was a typical night, I told her.

I woke up in the middle of the night with shoulder and neck pain. Again.

Tossed and turned for hours, couldn’t get back to sleep.

And the whole time I’m lying there, I’m stressing out more by the minute each time I look over at the clock, knowing I’m gonna have to go into work on the next day and give one of the most important presentations of my career, to our agency’s highest-profile potential client yet, on 3 freakin’ hours of sleep.

The stress and exhaustion made me want to weep.

“Well that sucks,” Ronda said.

I told her that wasn’t the worst of it.

After the presentation that Friday my boss called me into her office. Told me she didn’t think I brought my “A” game. Said if we don’t land this big account . . . then she kind of trailed off and didn’t say much else.

“Uh oh,” Ronda said.

Uh oh is right. Like me, Ronda’s worked in advertising. She knows the drill.

If the agency didn’t land this big client we’d been wooing for weeks, I might get fired.

“Crap, I can’t get fired, I just bought a house,” I said.

That’s when Ronda dropped the tough love.

“Kimberly, you’ve been complaining about this since early April. It’s now May. I told you 6 weeks ago about the Euphoria pillows I bought that totally eliminated my shoulder and neck pain. I told you how I’ve been sleeping through the night for the first time in years since buying them. I told you how I’ve never felt more well-rested. I waxed so poetic about these pillows you accused me of being a rep for the company. Hell, you even slept on one when you spent the night here a few weeks ago and said it was like sleeping on a cloud made of rainbows. BUY THESE PILLOWS, girlfriend.”

I’m embarrassed to say that’s when I nearly shouted, “But those pillows are $80 damn dollars a piece!”

With a sigh and what I swear was a little bit of an eye roll, she said, “Kimberly, I say this with love as your best friend: you can be kind of a miser sometimes. I know you spent well over $80 on this bottle of wine and the ingredients for the dinner you made us tonight. Why wouldn’t you spend $80 bucks on something that’s actually, you know, going to improve the quality of your life in an honest-to-god real way?”

I had to admit she was right.

“Oh alright,” I said, “give me the damn Euphoria Pillows website link. [à Link to website] And pour me another glass of Chianti.”

I’m happy to report that I ordered two Euphoria pillows that very night.

And while it took me a minute to get over the mild shock of spending $160 (I could buy four bottles of pretty decent Chianti for that sum), a few weeks on, I can say it was more than worth it.

Now I’m sleeping through the night for the first time in a very long time. I’ve never felt more well-rested. I’m ready to wax so poetic about these pillows you might accuse me of being a rep for the company.

And it’s not hyperbole to say that sleeping on Euphoria pillows is like sleeping on a cloud made of rainbows. [à Link to website]

Now, you might be asking yourself, “What the devil is Kimberly emailing me about pillows for? I got on this list to learn how to rock an ad agency career.”

But hear me out on this:

Think of superior quality pillows as a career enhancement tool.

That’s right.

A career enhancement tool, one of many in your arsenal.

You wouldn’t show up to the interview for the senior copywriter position at your dream agency with a resume written on a piece of paper ripped out of a spiral notebook would you?

Of course not.

You wouldn’t knock back two martinis at your agency welcome lunch the first day of your new job, right?

No. No, you wouldn’t. (Unless you’re Don Draper, in which case, you don’t need my career advice.)

So why would you rely on pillows that make it damn near impossible to get a quality night’s slumber, and potentially screw up your chance of landing & keeping that hot new agency career, all because crappy sleep prevents you from bringing your “A” game?

Don’t do that.

And don’t be me – don’t wait until a poor night’s sleep practically derails your career.

It just so happens that today – next Monday the exact kind of Euphoria Pillows I bought and swear by are on sale for $50 bucks off when you buy two.

$110 bucks to improve the quality of your life and, dare I say, your career prospects too.

Go on over to the Euphoria Pillows website right here, and get your $50 off today through Monday only. [à Link to website]

Your shiny new ad agency career prospects will thank you.

XO,

Kimberly, reformed miser

P.S. My hesitation about investing in Euphoria Pillows is now a small speck in the rearview mirror. It’s been overshadowed by 6 weeks of kick-ass quality sleep that’s seen my agency land that high-profile client (and I was even made the account lead after redeeming myself with a second presentation to the client last week, woohoo!).

Get your career-enhancement tool here for $50 off, through Monday only.

[END OF EMAIL COPY]

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

So, there it is.

Once I knew my entry placed in the top five, the next step was to watch the video Chris and Kevin recorded breaking down the email and pointing out what worked and what didn’t.

If I’m honest, I was terrified to watch that video, and put it off for days.

Turns out, it wasn’t so bad. Everything they pointed out that needed improving was spot on, and super helpful to know.

Sure, I winced a couple times, but as Chris said in his review, “I’m being nitpicky, but yeah, you know, you’re on the leaderboard, so I reserve the right to be.” LOL.

Feedback from the Experts

(The feedback below comes from the video review Chris and Kevin did. I took notes while watching the video, so they’re a bit rough.)

Kevin’s feedback:

This had me hooked top to bottom.
Although you risked losing me in detail here…

Over a bowl of creamy cacio e pepe and a glass (or three) of Poggio Bonelli Chianti Villa Chigi 2016, I shared with her for what felt like the 187th time how my terrible, fitful sleep over the previous few weeks was really beginning to wear me down.

I love how you framed the value in STORY.

Really well done, @KimberlyHouston

Chris’s feedback:

First up, the weaknesses / what needed work …

He said the subject lines were just “ok/decent.” He said there was some curiosity in the main subject line I chose.

Curiosity is critical to persuasive copywriting, and subject lines are one of the key places we need to be using it. If your SL isn’t compelling, ain’t nobody gonna open that sales email, and you know what that means … no sales. ☹

He also called out this section, saying that I was erring on the side of “a little too much detail” –> Over a bowl of creamy cacio e pepe and a glass (or three) of Poggio Bonelli Chianti Villa Chigi 2016, I shared with her for what felt like the 187th time how my terrible, fitful sleep over the previous few weeks was really beginning to wear me down.

Detail is necessary and good, and it’s sadly missing in much of the underperforming copy I see when I do copy reviews. However, as Chris pointed out, “There’s a fine line into crossing into too much detail territory.”

He said he would break this up into two sentences –> And the whole time I’m lying there, I’m stressing out more by the minute each time I look over at the clock, knowing I’m gonna have to go into work on the next day and give one of the most important presentations of my career, to our agency’s highest-profile potential client yet, on 3 freakin’ hours of sleep.

I say this to my own clients all the time: If people see long blocks of uninterrupted copy, they’ll usually be turned off and not read it, so this is good to keep in mind, whether you’re writing web copy, sales emails, landing pages, or anything else you write for your business.

He said about this paragraph, “It’s ok, but a little much,” and suggested I might want to pare it down. –> “I told you how I’ve been sleeping through the night for the first time in years since buying them. I told you how I’ve never felt more well-rested. I waxed so poetic about these pillows you accused me of being a rep for the company. Hell, you even slept on one when you spent the night here a few weeks ago and said it was like sleeping on a cloud made of rainbows. BUY THESE PILLOWS, girlfriend.”  –> Oh, and he didn’t like the “wax poetic” thing either, lol.

Here he cautioned against using “wax so poetic,” again, and suggested I not overdo that. Ditto, “accuse me of being a rep for the company,” which he pointed out, “is kind of redundant from before, so let’s not have that twice.” –> Now I’m sleeping through the night for the first time in a very long time. I’ve never felt more well-rested. I’m ready to wax so poetic about these pillows you might accuse me of being a rep for the company.

Here he said, “Ok, I don’t really know what that means, but alright.” –> And it’s not hyperbole to say that sleeping on Euphoria pillows is like sleeping on a cloud made of rainbows.

He said to tighten this up a little. –> You wouldn’t show up to the interview for the senior copywriter position at your dream agency with a resume written on a piece of paper ripped out of a spiral notebook would you?

Here, he mentioned something that has always been one of my weaknesses as a writer – long sentences. Sometimes lengthy sentences are 100% necessary, but when writing copy, generally not. –>  So why would you rely on pillows that make it damn near impossible to get a quality night’s slumber, and potentially screw up your chance of landing & keeping that hot new agency career, all because crappy sleep prevents you from bringing your “A” game? –> “So Kimberly you really have this tendency to, you know, these long sentences. They’re ok. I mean, you have that, then you have a 3-word sentence, and then you have a medium-size sentence. [Which is good, he confirms] So with readability, let’s try to make this a little bit better.”

And here, Chris made a smart observation about how he would have done this differently. –>“Oh alright,” I said, “give me the damn Euphoria Pillows website link. And pour me another glass of Chianti.” –> He said, “Now here, I might handle this a little bit differently, I might transition and zoom out from the story. ‘You know, she was absolutely right. So I went to the website and actually I got a link for it right here.’ Blah, blah, blah, ‘you can buy it through my link. And it’s changed my life and here are the benefits,’ you know really quick, and then, ‘I think you should buy one too, and it’s honestly changed my life and I started sleeping better, my performance at work started improving,’ and blah, blah, blah. That’s how I would have probably taken it. Instead of putting the link in the dialogue, just segue directly into it.”

Finally, he pointed out the “the whole CTA (call to action) could be tightened up just a tad bit.”

And now, what worked about the email:

Chris said he liked the storytelling, and the one-to-one conversation. He said it was very natural and flow-y, “very email.”

He mentioned that a lot of people tried to shove a sales letter into an email in this challenge, and he told people not to do that; my email was a story-based email, “which was exactly what we were looking for.”

He said this was a great opener:

One Saturday night a few weeks ago, Ronda, my BFF of 30+ years, committed one of the kindest acts a trusted friend can ever do.

Chris –>  “It’s a great opening line, because it hooks you to the next one. And both lines pull you into the email copy. And that’s what you want to do at the beginning of an email.”

Here Chris said, “Yeah that’s a real fear, the fear of underperforming. There’s all these problems in people’s lives, how they manifest, how they appear, how they are dimensionalized in people’s lives, those are a good kind of demonstration.” –> After the presentation that Friday my boss called me into her office. Told me she didn’t think I brought my “A” game. Said if we don’t land this big account . . . then she kind of trailed off and didn’t say much else.

“Here you’re piling on the fear, but it’s ‘good fear,’ not like, ‘you’re gonna DIE!!!’ A lot of other people took that angle. But this is like a real fear.” –>  “Crap, I can’t get fired, I just bought a house,” I said.

“I like this because it’s telling your customer, ‘buy my thing!’” –>  “Kimberly, you’ve been complaining about this since early April. It’s now May. I told you 6 weeks ago about the Euphoria pillows I bought that totally eliminated my shoulder and neck pain.”

Here Chris pointed out, this is “an awesome way of handling an objection. This is a nice job.” –> With a sigh and what I swear was a little bit of an eye roll, she said, “Kimberly, I say this with love as your best friend: you can be kind of a miser sometimes. I know you spent well over $80 on this bottle of wine and the ingredients for the dinner you made us tonight. Why wouldn’t you spend $80 bucks on something that’s actually, you know, going to improve the quality of your life in an honest-to-god real way?”

He said this worked. –> And don’t be me – don’t wait until a poor night’s sleep practically derails your career.

And he liked this. –> Kimberly, reformed miser

And finally, re the P.S., he said, “Good, there’s some resolution to the story.”

P.S. My hesitation about investing in Euphoria Pillows is now a small speck in the rearview mirror. It’s been overshadowed by 6 weeks of kick-ass quality sleep that’s seen my agency land that high-profile client (and I was even made the account lead after redeeming myself with a second presentation to the client last week, woohoo!). I was even made the account lead after redeeming myself with a second presentation to the client last week, woohoo! –> Chris: “This is kind of aspirational, an implied benefit. People will read that and go, ‘I want that too.” They start to place themselves in your story and they’ll be like, ‘maybe if I . . .’ and they start to connect the dots. ‘Maybe if I get better sleep, I might perform better at work, and good things can happen for me too.’”

In the end, according to Chris –>“Overall, nice job. I thought this was strong, and demonstrative, and very email native I guess is maybe the right way to describe it. So, awesome job, Kimberly Houston.”

Key Takeaways

#1: Do things that scare you. I came very close to not entering this contest, for all the reasons mentioned at the top of the post. And if I hadn’t? I wouldn’t have honed my story-based sales email writing skills, I wouldn’t have gotten one-on-one feedback from two uber-successful & skilled copywriting experts (<– priceless), and I wouldn’t have a valuable piece of content to post to the blog.

#2: Get in a supportive community of your peers. To quote the Copy Chief guiding motto, “Nobody writes alone.” There’s nothing like knowing a wise and experienced group of industry peers has your back anytime you need help with challenges or problems in your business, or simply when you want to share a win. The Copy Chief community is about so much more than copy feedback. Copywriters, marketers and business people of all experience levels are there everyday providing feedback, answering questions, seeking answers to their own questions, and as an added bonus – having a damn good time doing it. It’s no exaggeration to say it feels like a family.

#3: If you want to write persuasive copy that sells, you must do the pre-work before ever putting fingers to keyboard. See above, “Prep I Did Before Writing.” This is imperative if you hope to connect with your ideal customers and convert them into buyers.

#4: When it comes to selling via email, stories tend to work better than strictly transactional emails. (NOT in every case, but in many.) You can probably see why. Would you rather read an interesting story that actually demonstrates how a product can improve your life in real-world ways, or an email that whose sole purpose is to sell, at all costs, and screams something like, “Our biggest pillow sale of the year!! 75% off through midnight tonight! Click here to buy now!”

 

Next time you’re writing an email to sell your products or services, consider using a story-based approach. It can be a lot more fun for you – and importantly, your audience – than writing a standard sales email. And it may get much better results, too.

 

Filed Under: Content Strategy, Copy Sins and Copy Wins, Copywriting Tips, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy Tagged With: ,

Grow your email list with better opt-in copy using these two powerful tips

January 3, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Ah, the power of language.

If you’ve spent any amount of time online, no doubt you’ve come across many an email opt-in form.

Some use language that practically compels you to put down your pricey Starbucks beverage right.this.second, and sign up N-O-W.

Others generate a big ol’ “meh,” and send you scurrying to close your browser tab quicker than green grass through a goose.

You want your own email opt-in copy to be in the first camp, obvs.

What I’ve found far too often, however, is that my beloved audience of otherwise brilliant creatives with drool-worthy goods and services to offer are not converting their website visitors to email subscribers …

… because they’re not optimizing their opt-in form with language that:

#1: Conveys the benefit to signing up for their email list.  

AND / OR …

#2: Lets their personality shine through

Which is unfortunate, because we know that a responsive email list is critical to being able to market effectively and the key to building a thriving business online. 

The good news is, the fix for this is as simple as writing persuasive copy on the email opt-in form that addresses #1 and #2, above.

Here’s the kind of boring, lackluster opt-in form copy that does not get sign-ups:

o “Sign up for updates and special offers”

o “Join my newsletter”

o “Newsletter signup”

o “Join our mailing list”

You know you’ve seen ‘em. Heck, you might even be using that exact kind of generic copy on your email opt-in form right now.

Unfortunately, that kind of copy is a conversion killer (converting web visitors to email subscribers, in this case) because it’s generic and offers no benefit to signing up.  

Plus, it’s entirely lacking in personality.  And let’s be honest – the opt-in form copy above is just plain l-a-z-y marketing.

What you want to do instead is speak to something your audience has challenges with and convey how signing up for your email list will help them solve that problem, i.e., demonstrate value and relevancy to your target audience.

For example, one thing creative service providers often struggle with is getting the right kind of clients – clients who understand the inherent value in hiring a creative pro, and are happy to pay a premium price for that that pro’s services.  

The copy on my own opt-in form addresses that, and offers a solution: 

Enter your email to get instant access to the FREE Creative Rebel Guide to Writing an Ideal Client-Attracting About Page (so you never have to accept work from someone simply because they have a checkbook and a pulse, ever again.)

By the way, the biggest objection/hesitation people have to sales offers – “do I really need this?” – is the same thing they’re thinking when deciding whether or not to sign up for your email list, so you have to give them a clear, compelling, benefit-driven reason to do so.  

You need to be able to answer the question for your audience of “what’s in it for me?”

2 Simple Opt-In Copy Rules* 

(*I dislike “rules” intensely, so let’s just call these opt-in copy “suggestions”)

  1. Demonstrate value and relevance:  be clear about what’s in it for your audience if they opt-in to your list, based on their particular needs and goals – what do they get and how will they benefit from it?
  2.  Show some personality, fer cryin’ out loud 😊

Examples:

#1:  Opt-in copy I wrote for an Interior Designer:

Enter your email below to grab my free guide, “From Chaos to Calm: 7 Simple Steps for Transforming Your Busy Young Family’s Home into an Oasis of Practical Luxury.” (Plus weekly design tips and inspiration I only share with email subscribers.)

#2:  Opt-in copy at Archie McPhee website (I highly recommend reading as much copy on this site as you can – it’s hilarious and brilliant.):

Sign up for the Cult of McPhee Email Newsletter and you’ll receive free monthly emails (normally a $700 value!) announcing our upcoming events, contests and specials. You’ll also get advance notice of our coolest new products and qualify for special members-only deals!

#3: Simple, short and to the point opt-in form copy from Tara Gentile:

Want to know what your customers are thinking? There’s a map for that. Get it!

#4: Funny, irreverent, and totally on brand opt-in copy from Laura Belgray:

Get the only emails anyone likes anymore*

Emails that make you a better writer — become a Shrimper and drink ’em up!

*According to an unscientific but totes accurate study

#5: One-of-a-kind, only-she-could-do-it opt-in copy from Ashley Ambirge:

25 DAYS TO $100K

Freelance Money Mentorship

For new and aspiring freelancers who do not like the action of pinching pennies nor kissing asses.

First Name:

Email:

Reveal First Secret: The $8,000 Rule

You’ll get one lesson from me, Ash, in your inbox every day for twenty-five days. Together, we’ll take your skills and learn how to sell them to other people for a premium rate, doing the work you love, wherever you are in the world.

#6: Opt-in copy from the funny & brilliant business mentor, Matthew Kimberley:

PSST:

Did you know that all of my best writing goes out by email?

Enter your email now and get your own copy of the infamously useful “5 Things You Need To Do Every Morning To Make More Sales In 60 Days”

 

And there you have it.

Can you see how the opt-in form copy in the examples above offers a clear benefit to signing up specifically geared to a select target audience and what they’re struggling with + how they use non-boring, non-generic, personality-centric language?

If you model that, you’ll be in good shape. 

Here’s another blog post I wrote about getting more email subscribers using the [totally free, how awesome is that?!] power of language, by the way:

Want More Email Subscribers? Implement These Two Ridiculously Simple Tips

But hey, don’t just listen to me. 😊

Here are a few other fantastic resources to help you out:

Use this Hollywood Secret to Write Addicting Opt-In Copy (from the esteemed Neil Patel)

Opt-in Copy that Doesn’t Suck: The Criminally Underrated Way to Grow Your Email List (especially useful if you like to nerd out on numbers and statistics)

The Best Opt-in Email Example (Plus 6 Extra!) and the Perfect Places to Use Them (you’ll find some great examples of opt-in form copy here)

 

Let me know how you do!

Filed Under: Copywriting Tips, Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy Tagged With: ,

Want More Email Subscribers? Implement These Two Ridiculously Simple Tips

July 27, 2019 by · 2 Comments

Photo by Jungwoo Hong on Unsplash

I’ve been doing loads of web copy & messaging strategy sessions this week, and here’s something I’ve noticed:

Pretty much everyone I talked to KNOWS that building a healthy, robust email list is non-negotiable if you want to build your business and get clients and customers online (without having to do the constant client-getting hustle).

Yet, most of the fine folks I had calls with had their email opt-in forms buried in a hard to find spot on their website, and/or the copy asking people to sign up for the list was the standard, “Sign up for updates here,” or “Join My Newsletter,” or similar.

And in most cases, there was also no dedicated landing page for the email opt-in opportunity.

That situation will not convert very many web visitors to email subscribers, if it converts any at all.

This wasn’t news to most of those I spoke to – they get it.

But keep in mind, every day your website isn’t optimized for email opt-ins is a day you’re not building your audience; therefore, you’re “leaving money on the table,” to use a terribly cliché phrase. (Cliché, yes, but TRUE? Also, yes.)

During every consult where the above was the case, I shared the following advice.

Two tips anyone can implement simply and quickly to increase email opt-ins

Tip #1: Create persuasive opt-in copy

What you want to do is create opt-in copy that gives people a compelling reason to sign up for your list. Make it about the benefits of signing up, and tell them how often they can expect to hear from you, if you can fit that info in.

So, not this:

Or this:

 

No, no, no no no. That will not do. No one wants to enter their email address into a mystery form like the ones above with no information about … anything.

Instead, give your opt-in copy some personality, and share those benefits! For example, the copy on my Home page opt-in says:

“Enter your email below to get instant access to the FREE Creative Rebel Guide to Writing an Ideal Client-Attracting About Page (so you never have to accept work from someone simply because they have a checkbook and a pulse, ever again.)”

The pop-up opt-in on my website says:

“Get Actionable Copywriting Tips to Grow Your Creative Business: Weekly copywriting & web marketing advice for creatives, solopreneurs & other non-marketing types. Sense of humor and Southern twang included at no extra charge.”

And check out the copy on Ashley Ambirge’s opt-in form for her “25 Days to $100K Freelancer Challenge”

Notice how much more enticing the idea of handing over your email address in exchange for valuable, interesting content becomes when the copy conveys benefits AND personality.

Tip #2: Create a dedicated landing page for email opt-ins

Create a dedicated landing page for your email list, and have access to that page it in the main navigation menu at the top of your website.

This link is what you’ll use in your social media bios. Because, again, you want to build the email list, and this will help you do it.

Here’s the power of a dedicated landing page for your opt-in:

The small opt-in form on my website Home page converts about 1.9% of website visitors. My email opt-in landing page converts around 48% of website traffic.

HUGE difference.

If all you have on your site is a tiny email opt-in form, especially if it’s hard to find AND the copy on it is not that compelling, you’re missing out on potential subscribers every single day.

And if you’re doing things to drive traffic to your site so you can GET more subscribers, that effort will be wasted.

So, what should you write on your email opt-in landing page?

You can go into a little more detail about the kind of information people can expect to receive once they sign up, and how often they’ll hear from you. You can share more about the benefits of signing up.

For example, on my email opt-in landing page, I say:

Enter your email below to get instant access to the CREATIVE REBEL GUIDE TO WRITING A CLIENT-ATTRACTING ABOUT PAGE …

You’ll also receive free weekly updates: tips and advice on how to use personality-driven web copy and bespoke web marketing strategy in your creative business to:

  • Instantly captivate clients who are perfect for what you have to offer . . . and subtly shoo away those who aren’t
  • Get client inquiries rolling in consistently so you can get off the feast-or-famine roller coaster for good
  • Book more projects & make more folding money

All while keeping your creative integrity intact.

Enter your email below and click “Give Me the Guide!”

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To recap, if you want to get more email subscribers:

#1: Create opt-in copy that gives people a compelling & benefit-driven reason to sign up for your list

#2: Create a dedicated landing page for your email list

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LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE I SPOKE TO THIS WEEK, I TOO WAS AFRAID TO MARKET TO MY LIST IN THE BEGINNING

I’ll admit, I wasn’t always about sending offers to my list when I first got online. 

Sure, I started an email list from Day Freakin’ One, but even as an experienced marketer and copywriter, I was hesitant to send anything other than high value free content.

“What if people get upset?” I wondered. “What if people unsubscribe?” I whined, to no one in particular.

Now I realize none of that matters. If someone unsubs because you sent out an offer, they aren’t your people, and were never going to buy from you anyway.

Or maybe they unsub because you’re just not their jam. That’s cool. You don’t want those people on your list. Let them go.

OH, BUT THEN …

Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like sending an offer to your subscribers, and getting people raising their hand, eagerly saying, “Yes, I want that!,” in return.

A few years ago, when I sent my very first true sales email to my list, I was pretty nervous, because up to that point, I’d ever only sent “value bomb” / educational emails.

But I got over my fear and hit “send.” The email announced a small $500 offer, and 5 people replied yes within 24 hours.

And no one died!! AND I generated $2500 in revenue!

I’d always believed in the power of email marketing, even if I was too afraid to make an ask at first, but after that first experience, I was well and truly sold.

Sold, I tell you!

$2500 in 24 hours from sending one email?

I’ll take it.

And I’m small potatoes. My list is TINY. Embarrassingly tiny.

There are folks out there sending one or two emails and making 5 or 10 times that. They’re more well-known, have pricier offerings and bigger email lists, but I’m living proof there’s still much you can do with a small, dedicated list of email subscribers.

Of course, it goes without saying that you have something valuable people actually want and are willing to pay for.

But you can start building your email list now, before you have all your products and services worked out; that’s what I did.

 

I hope by now you’re sold on optimizing your website for email opt-ins.

It’s one of the very best things you can do for your business, especially if, like me, you’re an introvert, and love the idea of doing most of your marketing online.

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Want me to write your persuasive opt-in form + email sign-up landing page copy so you can start getting more subscribers sooner rather than later, and build your audience of raving fans?

Email me at: Kimberly [at] kimberlydhouston [dot] com with “Email opt-in copy” in the subject line, and I’ll get back to you ASAP with details of how we can work together.

If building your email list is important to you, then let’s connect!

Filed Under: Content Strategy, Copy Sins and Copy Wins, Copywriting Tips, Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy, Writing for the Web Tagged With: , ,

Why Relevant Messaging for Your Target Audience is Non-negotiable [& how to create it]

June 22, 2019 by · Leave a Comment

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Recently I was on a strategy call with a client I’ve worked with on a handful of copywriting and marketing projects over the years.

Since we’ve known each other for a while, once the strategy session was over, we got to chatting informally about business, and life in general.

She asked me an interesting question.

“I’m curious,” she said. “I know what I need your help with, but what’s the main thing your other clients come to you for, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Even though I serve a varied group of creative service providers, freelancers, and solopreneurs, there’s not a long list of marketing-type things I help people with, or problems I help them solve.

My work with clients mostly boils down to a small handful of things. It’s largely writing email or website copy and/or working out their web & email marketing strategy.

And it always, always starts with getting clear on relevant messaging for their target audience, so their websites and email campaigns attract and convert more ideal clients.

Because without targeted, persuasive messaging, it won’t matter how much traffic you get to your website, how beautifully designed your site is, or how fantastic your work is.

Your ideal clients will not linger on your site, they will not sign up for your email list, and they will not inquire about working with you.

Full stop.

I’ve seen this over and over again, and I’ve been at this since the stone age, AKA 2001. (Which, by the way, I can’t even BUH-LIEVE I’ve been doing marketing communications that long. But I digress.)

This happens because not understanding your ideal clients’ hopes, fears, and dreams, together with your meaningful difference in the marketplace, results in messaging that’s generic, boring, bland and homogenous. 

And that means that as lovingly crafted and well-written as your marketing copy may be, it won’t convert enough web visitors into solid prospects and ideal clients to make all that hard work you’re putting in to “get the word out” worthwhile.

When clients come to me, they’re often experiencing the following challenge:

They’re getting some level of traffic to their website, but their site isn’t converting traffic into leads, and leads into clients.

In other cases, it’s doing a little bit of this, but not nearly enough.

This, despite having a beautifully & professionally designed website that showcases the work they do in a compelling way, or a perfectly serviceable DIY website that does the same.

Yet, people aren’t people reaching out to work with them often enough. Or at all, in some cases.

I have so much empathy for clients in this situation.

Because I was in this very same predicament when I was selling myself as a generic freelance writer way back in the day, a story I’ve told many times on this blog and in my newsletter.

What saved my butt and my business was getting clear on who I wanted to work with, what problems they had that I was uniquely qualified to solve, and how I could express this persuasively on my website and elsewhere through a clear and compelling marketing message.

That’s what changed everything for me.

I went from having a poorly performing website that wasn’t generating nearly enough qualified leads, and where email sign-ups were moving at a glacial pace, to getting high-quality clients from a tiny amount of website traffic and doubling my email sign-ups.

This was a result of clear, compelling messaging that appealed to my target audience.

Messaging that was not generic. It was also not based on what I thought people wanted, but instead on copious research + interviews I did with real, live, flesh-and-blood humans about their challenges and desires related to their creative businesses.

So, here’s my hot tip for you.

If you create a marketing message that appeals to your ideal clients and share that on your website and through your other marketing channels, it’s entirely possible to gain A LOT of traction – as in, leads, clients, and email sign-ups – without having to do loads of other things first.

Now, to be clear, those “other things” – a professional website, relevant services & packages that your ideal clients want to buy, qualified traffic coming to your site, consistent marketing, etc. – are all important, necessary, and need to be put into place.

BUT, the right messaging always comes first.

That way, when your marketing starts working and traffic starts coming to your site, your audience is met with messaging targeted directly to them and their needs/wants/desires, which in turn, makes them want to subscribe to your email list, inquire about working together, sign up for a free consult, or take some other step in your sales process.

To help you with that, the following is a brief excerpt from my recently released copy messaging guide, which you can purchase if you so desire, or you can get started by implementing the golden nugget below, without spending a dime! 😊

Your marketing message is the combination of things about you and your business — that you already possess! — that put together the right way, will help you attract and connect with your ideal clients & customers (your “ICA,” or ideal client avatar), stand out from the online crowd (instead of being a copycat version of every other person for hire out there doing what you do), and, once you’re getting consistent quality traffic to your website, help you get more business, bookings and sales.

It’s created from your ideal client profile, your unique selling proposition (USP), or what I prefer to call your “meaningful difference,” your expertise, and your unique backstory, among other things.

So, if it were a formula, it would look something like this:

ICA + USP + your expertise + your life experience & unique backstory + your worldview = your overarching marketing message

You’ll weave this in on your website, blog posts, newsletters, social media updates, and all your marketing communications, wherever you’re in conversation with your audience.

Your marketing message is what compels your ideal clients and customers to choose you over all the other choices they have, it tells them why you’re exactly the right person or business to solve their problems and challenges, and it begins to tell them how you’ll do so.

The right messaging should strike an emotional cord with your ideal/desired audience, and make them feel like, “Yes, this is exactly who I want to work with. Where do I sign up?”

Here’s another way to think of it:

The hook/big idea/marketing message of your business answers the question, “Of all the other [thing you do] out there who are equally talented, skilled, and experienced, why should your ideal clients choose you?”

And there you have it.

My hot tip for you is to spend some time creating your compelling marketing message and begin sharing it on your website and every other place you communicate with your audience.

Because again, even without all the other elements in place yet, this can work wonders for your business. I can’t promise that, of course, but it certainly worked wonders for mine.

Creating and sharing persuasive, targeted messaging that spoke to my ideal clients and conveyed my meaningful difference is what made all the difference between me giving up and crying into my Lucky Charms, and still being here, 7+ years into my freelance business journey, loving what I do and supporting myself with it.

If you want to go deeper on how to create a signature marketing message, you can grab my guide, Marketing Messages That Convert: A Step-by-Step Copy Messaging Guide for Solopreneurs, Freelancers, Creative Business Builders & Other Non-Marketing Types, for less than the cost of a Starbucks date.

And if not, use what I’ve shared in the excerpt above to get started on your own.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck!

Filed Under: Copywriting Tips, Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy, Writing for the Web Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Write a Simple 3-Part Email Marketing Campaign That Sells Your Creative Products and Services in 48 Hours or Less

July 31, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

 

(Photo by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash)

What if there was a way to bring some $$$ into your business ASAP, with a minimal amount of hassle and without spending hours slaving away to come up with a brilliant sales campaign?

There is.

If it makes sense for you (i.e., you have the bandwidth to write a few emails, and a receptive email list you’ve been “romancing” with valuable non-sales content between your sales offers), you can do it with a simple, 3-part email marketing campaign.

This email campaign is not difficult to write, and you can automate the entire process through your email service provider (ESP). I use Aweber, but other email service providers offer the same capability.

Caveat: While this is fairly simple to do, it’s not a magic, “easy button” solution. You have to be willing to spend some time figuring out what your clients and customers would love to have, then writing a handful of persuasive emails to tell them about it.

I’ve done this style of email campaign a handful of times, and found it to be one of the best ways to create a decent bump of revenue in a relatively short amount of time.

How It Works (for e-commerce or service-based offerings)

We all know holidays are a great time to launch a sale or special offer, especially if you’re in the e-commerce space.

You likely get dozens of emails around Black Friday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and maybe even obscure “holidays” like Groundhog Day or Summer Solstice.

And since Labor Day is coming up (depending on when you’re reading this), it’s the perfect time to plan your email campaign:

Determine your offer and nail down the details in early August; draft, then perfect your three emails by late August and get them pre-scheduled into your email service provider; test to make sure it’s all working properly, then launch the email campaign a week to a few days before Labor Day (which is Monday 09.04.17 this year).

BUT – but, but, but –  even if you’re not in the e-commerce space – for example, you sell services, like I do – your business could still benefit from running a 3-part email sales campaign.

Let’s Learn How!

Ok, so here’s what I’m going to do . . .

I’m going to point you to a series of guest articles I wrote about how to do a 3-part email marketing campaign over at the Artstorefronts blog, which will give you an overview of how to implement this if you’re in the e-commerce space.

Then, for those of you who sell services, I’m going to share how I implemented a very similar campaign to sell copywriting packages. You can easily adapt one or the other of these approaches – e-commerce or service-based – to sell your own creative products or services.

Now – whether you sell art, products, or services, I highly recommend you read (or skim – a couple of them are pretty dang long) the blog posts at the Artstorefronts blog first, so you can get a good sense of the 3 emails you’ll need to write.

In those posts you’ll find info on:

:: How to run a holiday email marketing campaign [works for non-holiday promotions as well] – how many emails to send, when to send them, and importantly, examples of subject lines and body copy, so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.

And no, you don’t have to follow every single thing suggested in those posts for this to work.

I used a version of the 3-part email campaign loosely based on the e-commerce model explained on the Artstorefronts blog to sell my copywriting packages, and I sold out of all the spots I had.

Check Out the Email Marketing Guides I Wrote for Artstorefronts Here:

(Each of these posts will open in a separate window so you can stay on my blog and read the rest of this post.) 😊

Valentine’s Day Email Marketing Guide for Artists 

Mother’s Day Email Marketing Guide for Artists 

Father’s Day Email Marketing Guide for Artists 

If You Sell Services

Ok, if you headed over to the Artstorefronts blog and read one or more of those posts, you’re now familiar with the overarching idea behind the 3-part email campaign, so I won’t go into more detail here about the whys and wherefores.

What I will do is explain how to adapt the e-commerce campaign you just read about to selling services, by sharing details of my recent email campaign.

I used the 3-part email sales campaign to sell a special copywriting package: website Home page copy + a compelling tagline. I made 5 packages available (because that was all I could fit into my summer project schedule), and ran the special for 48 hours.

My goal was to sell 5 packages within the 48-hour window. I sold all 5 within 24 hours, then, before I could send an email to my list to alert them there were no more spots available, I sold one more package, for a total of 6, which generated $2988 in revenue.

This was all from just one email, when I had planned to send three. Which is proof that a compelling offer + an engaged email list + a real, true, limited supply of something (i.e., none of that “fake scarcity” b.s.) can work really well when it comes to selling via email.

Let’s break down why I got these results:

#1: It was a special price. My standard fee for a Home page is $549, and for a stand-alone tagline, $297, for a total investment of $846. I made this package available for just $498 during the 48-hour sale period.

#2: I let folks get started for a down payment of just $150 (instead of the standard deposit, which is usually 50% of the total project fee).

#3: I let folks pay the rest of the investment in two installments of $174 each, spaced 30 days apart, which made things even easier on the wallet.

#4: The deal was available for a limited time, for just 48 hours, or when 5 spots sold, whichever came first.*

(*I kind of messed that up. Keep reading for details.)

#5: And, this is important – I’ve established a good relationship with my email subscribers over the years. I don’t make that many sales offers, generally 4-5 per year at most, and I send out really valuable copywriting and marketing advice each week without asking for anything in return. I don’t pummel my subscribers with sales offers, in other words.

The Emails I Sent

The thing I messed up?  Not mentioning in the first email that when the five spots were sold, OR when the 48 hours was up, whichever came first, the deal was over.

And I know better, because I’ve done this kind of campaign before. D’oh!!

The emails pasted in below are the actual emails I wrote to sell this offer.

NOTE: I only sent the first email below, because I sold all 5 spots within 24 hours, then an additional spot before I had a chance to let folks know all the spots were taken.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I’m sharing these emails so you can model them to do your own email sales campaign, but don’t copy them verbatim. That would not be cool. Put your own unique spin on them based on your personality, writing style, and service offerings.

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Email #1

Subject: 48 Hour Flash Sale on client-attracting Home page copy + tagline

Planned Send Date: Weds 05.31.17; 10:45 a.m. EST [This is the first email; it generated 6 sales.]

Hey there,

Hope you’re having a fantastic Wednesday!

Depending on how long you’ve been one of my email subscribers, you may or may not know that 2-3 times a year, I make a special offer on my website copywriting services exclusively for my email list.

This special offer is for email subscribers only, and not something I share on social media or mention anywhere else.

And guess what? It’s that time of year!

I ran the Get Your Client-Attracting Home Page Copy + Compelling Tagline special last fall and it was a BIG hit.

I’ve gotten lots of new email subscribers since then, so it’s time to roll it out again!

I’ve created a super-secret, hidden-from-the-general-public page on my website to tell you all about it at the link below.

So if you want to get the hands-down most important page of your website written by a copywriter with over 16 years of experience, and you want to get it at a very special price, go on over and check out my Summer Special Offer at the link below.

Because not only is there a special price, but there’s also an awesome payment plan for a limited time. Woohoo!

*This offer will only be available until Friday 06.02.17 at 5:00 pm EST, and I have just 5 spots available.*  [See my mistake here? I failed to mention that the offer would available until I sold all 5 spots OR when the 48 hours was up, whichever came first. Sheesh, Kimberly.]

To get the most important page of your website written so you can finally start getting the results you want, go check it out right here:

Get Your Client-Attracting Home Page Copy + Compelling Tagline at a Seriously Reduced Rate for a Limited Time [This linked directly to my sales page with a simple PayPal “Buy Now” button for the $150 down payment. To collect the next two installments, I sent a Freshbooks invoice.]

Warmly,

Kimberly

P.S. If you have any questions, simply reply to this email and let me know. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

P.S.S. You’ll be getting two more emails about this special over the next two days, so if this doesn’t interest you, just ignore an email from me on Thursday 06.01.17 and Friday 06.02.17, then we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled weekly Tuesday emails, full of copywriting & marketing advice geared specifically to creatives.

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Email #2

Subject: Ending soon: Big savings + awesome payment plan on client-attracting website copy

Planned Send Date: Thursday 06.01.17, 12:45 p.m. [This is the second email I planned to send, but didn’t for the reasons mentioned above. However, I’m including it here for those of you who want a template for creating your own 3-part email sales campaign.]

Hey there,

I know you’re busy running your own empire, so I’ll get right to the point. J

Yesterday I sent an email out to let you know about my Summer Special Offer – a special mini-copywriting package that includes getting your Home Page (THE most important page on your website) + your compelling tagline written, at a deeply discounted price, for a limited time.

In case you missed that email, here’s the important bit:

I’ve created a super-secret, hidden-from-the-general-public page on my website to tell you all about this special offer. So if you want to get the hands-down most important page of your website written, and you want to get it at a very special price, go on over and check out my Summer Special Offer.

Because not only is there a special price, but there’s also an awesome payment plan for a limited time. Woohoo!

*This offer will only be available until Friday 06.02.17 at 5:00 pm EST, and I have just 5 spots available.* 

To get the most important page of your website written so you can finally start getting the results you want, go check it out right here:

Get Your Client-Attracting Home Page Copy + Compelling Tagline at a Seriously Reduced Rate for a Limited Time [This linked directly to my sales page with a simple PayPal “Buy Now” button for the $150 down payment. To collect the next two installments, I sent a Freshbooks invoice.]

If you have any questions, simply hit “reply” on this email.

Warmly,

Kimberly

P.S. If you’d like to see a few examples of web copy I’ve written for other happy clients, check out the writing samples page on my website right here. [This linked to the Writing Samples page on my website.]

P.S.S. You’ll be getting one more email about this special tomorrow, so if this doesn’t interest you, just ignore an email from me on Friday 06.02.17, then we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled Tuesday weekly emails, full of copywriting & marketing advice geared specifically to creatives!

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Email #3

Subject: Ends Today: $348 savings + payment plan on copywriting package

Planned Send Date: Friday 06.02.17, 2:00 or 3:00 pm [This is the third email I planned to send, but didn’t for the reasons mentioned above. However, I’m including it here for those of you who want a template for creating your own 3-part email sales campaign.]

Hello & Happy Friday!

Here it is, your final reminder about the Client-Attracting Home Page Copy + Compelling Tagline special offer.

If you want to get the hands-down most important page of your website written, and you want to get it at a very special price, go on over and check out my Summer Special Offer.

Not only is there a special price, there’s also an awesome payment plan, through 5:00 pm EST today ONLY. That’s in just a couple of hours, and this is the last email about this offer, so if you’re interested, now is the time to take action, my creative friend! : )

To get the most important page of your website written so you can finally start getting the results you want, go check it out right here:

Get Your Client-Attracting Home Page Copy + Compelling Tagline at a Seriously Reduced Rate for a Limited Time [This linked directly to my sales page with a simple PayPal “Buy Now” button for the $150 down payment. To collect the next two installments, I sent a Freshbooks invoice.]

If you have any questions, simply hit “reply” on this email.

Warmly,

Kimberly

P.S. If you’d like to see a few examples of web copy I’ve written for other happy clients, check out the writing samples page on my website right here. [This linked to the Writing Samples page on my website.]

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In a nutshell, the 3-part email campaign looks like this:

#1: Email your list to announce a special offer. Share what’s special about this offer – it’s for a limited time, it’s a percentage off the regular price, it’s a special holiday promotion, it’s your birthday, you’re offering a solid gold baby with every purchase, etc.

#2: Send a second email letting folks know the offer will end soon. Here’s the thing – we’ve all been trained by the multitude of marketing emails we receive each day that the first email about a sale or special offer won’t be the last one, so we often ignore it. Plus, people are so busy, they may not have seen your first email at all.

#3. Send a final reminder email. A few hours to a couple of days before your offer expires, depending on the length of campaign you’re running, remind folks that the special offer is going away; most buyers will buy in the last 24-48 hours. You’ve done it, I’ve done it, we’ve all done it.

And there you have it: a simple 3-part email marketing campaign that sells your creative products and services in 48 hours or less. Yeehaw!

P.S. If you’d like to write your own email sales campaign and want the help of an experienced copywriter and marketer to help you polish and perfect it before you hit “send,” I’m now offering this service. This offering is not on my Work with Me page, and I don’t plan to add it there just yet, so if you’re interested, simply email me at kimberly (at) kimberlydhouston (dot) com with “Email Marketing” in the subject line, and tell me a little bit about your planned email campaign. I’ll reply within 48 business hours with information on next steps. 

Filed Under: Copywriting Tips, Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy Tagged With: , ,

What a Copywriter REALLY Does (How I Work)

March 28, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

In Part One of this blog post, Should You Hire a Copywriter? (The answer may not be as easy as you think), I shared my thoughts on when I think you’re ready to hire a copywriter, and the minimum required “good-to-haves” before you do so. I also shared links to a couple of other articles by well-respected copywriting experts addressing the same question.

In this installment, I’m going to share my process of working with copywriting clients in detail, so you can get a sense of what really goes on, learn more about how copywriters work and what they actually do (it’s SO much more than simply writing), and if you’re wondering, find out why the investment for copywriting can sometimes seem “high” (which of course is relative).

Hiring a Copywriter? Some Things to Consider

Something to keep in mind as you look to hire any kind of service provider is their level and type of expertise. If possible, you want to hire someone who specializes in providing services to your specific kind of business and/or the specific marketing channel you need help with.

For example, I’ve been writing marketing communications copy & content since 2001. I have a background in advertising, PR, sales, and marketing, so I understand the role that marketing copy plays in the bigger picture of business-building as a whole.

Over the last several years, I’ve narrowed my specialization to writing copy for websites and other online communication channels almost exclusively, and almost exclusively for clients who have a creative product or service to sell.

I still write other kinds of marketing copy occasionally [brochures, press releases, blog posts, e-books, case studies, etc.], but I’m mostly focused on online communications – email newsletters, autoresponder sequences, lead magnets, blog articles, etc., and website copy in particular. 

Writing web copy is a specialized skill. In order to write effective web copy that moves your site visitors to take the appropriate actions (for example, signing up for your email list, contacting you for more information about your products or services, setting up a free consultation, etc.), you have to have knowledge of how websites work, how people read and interact on the web, and an understanding of Internet-based content strategy and creation.

If you plan to write your own website copy, that’s fine, just educate yourself first about the differences between web copy and copy/content for other marketing channels. You can’t just throw some old brochure copy you had written once upon a time up on your website, or have your niece who’s an English major write your web copy.

The First Thing I Do When a Potential Client Reaches Out to Me

Not everyone who reaches out will be a good fit. If you’re a service provider too, as many in my audience are, you know this very well.

And as you also know, the pain of ignoring your instincts and working with a client who is not a good fit is not worth the money you made on the project. It’s just not. Life is too short for that nonsense.

And that’s why this first step is so, so important.

Once I hear from someone that they’re considering hiring a copywriter and want to find out more about working with me, I reply with an email telling them I’d love to hear more about their project, and that the first step is what I call a “get acquainted” call.

I also sometimes share the link to my Work with Me page if they haven’t checked it out yet, so the potential client can get a sense of what I do and the investment for my services before we get on the phone.

The “Get Acquainted” Call

The “get acquainted” call is a 15-20 minute no obligation conversation where we briefly look at the potential client’s website together, and I share a few top-of-mind thoughts about copy improvements they can make on their own.

I ask them questions about what’s currently working for them with their web marketing and what’s not, how their web copy is performing, and have them tell me about any big challenges they’re facing with generating clients and new business from their website.

I then ask them to share a few specifics about what they’re trying to accomplish with their website right now, and we chat about my services and determine if working together makes sense.

It’s my policy not to quote prices over the phone, but occasionally I’ll give a ballpark estimate of what the investment will be for the service they’re considering.  Not usually though.

At this point, we’ll end the call, and either one of two things will happen – they’ll need to think about all we discussed and agree to let me know within a few days if they’d like me to write up a customized proposal for the specific copywriting project they’re interested in, OR, they’ll ask me to go ahead and write a proposal for services then.

At this point, there’s still no obligation on either side. However, if I don’t think the client is serious, OR, if they’re not a good fit for whatever reason (say, they’re not far advanced enough in their business yet to drop several hundred to $3-$5K on copywriting when there are other things they need to have in place first), then I’ll share that with them, and ask them to circle back around with me if/when they’re in a better spot with their business.

Not all my copywriting services require a proposal. If a client chooses one of the services on my Work with Me page exactly as is, then there is no proposal phase, the project then moves on to the invoicing and service agreement stage.

The Proposal Phase

If, however, the potential client has a custom project, and is ready to move to the proposal phase, I ask them to give me 2-3 days to do the research and writing required to create the proposal.

Before writing the proposal, I do research into the client’s niche/market and competition, and review their current website thoroughly. I consider everything they shared with me during our initial call about what their challenges are and what they’re trying to accomplish with their website and other marketing outreach, and write a custom proposal based on that information, plus what I feel the best course of action is.

Each proposal includes the following sections:

  • Scope of Work
  • Copywriting Objectives
  • Target Audience Information
  • Possible Objections to Overcome
  • Initial Observations and Recommendations
  • An overview of background/prep work I’ll do before writing the copy
  • Investment (usually includes 3 options for moving forward)
  • Proposed Project Timeline
  • Action Items Needed to Commence Project
  • Next Steps (which includes the date by which I need to know if it’s a yes or a no; I usually ask potential clients to get back to me within 48 hours, or 3 business days at the very most after receiving the proposal. If they need longer than that to make a decision, I know they’re waffling/not serious/not ready for this step financially.)

In the Investment section, I typically give the potential client 3 options for moving forward: a basic option, which consists of exactly what they asked for and nothing more, say, home page copy + a compelling tagline; a mid-level option, which includes everything in the basic option, plus a couple of other copy deliverables I think would benefit them and help their business; and an “all the bells-and-whistles” option, which includes everything in the mid-level option, plus additional copy deliverables that are “nice-to-haves,” along with 2-3 months of strategy consulting, among other things.

To give you an idea of what that looks like, here’s an Investment section of a proposal I wrote in summer of 2016:

INVESTMENT

Option 1: Home page copy + About page copy: $998, with a 50% deposit of $499 upfront, and the remaining balance of $499 due upon project completion.

Option 2: Home page copy + About page copy + Newsletter Signup Landing Page Copy: $1498, with a 50% deposit of $749 upfront, and the remaining balance of $749 due upon project completion.

Option 3: Home page copy, About page copy, Newsletter Signup Landing Page Copy, + 2 Hours of Strategy Consulting to be used within 90 days of project completion:  $1649, with a 50% deposit of $824.50 upfront, and the remaining balance of $824.50 due upon finalization of all copy. (2 hours of strategy consulting at a 50% discounted rate of $75 per hour.)

[I’ve raised my prices since writing this proposal, so if I were providing these copy services today, the investment would be higher.]

I also let clients know that, given my typical project schedule, there will be at least 30 days between project kick-off and project completion, and sometimes as long as 6-8 weeks for bigger projects, which means a minimum of 30 days between paying the 50% deposit and paying the final balance.  I like to share this information with clients so they have it for budgeting purposes, as I find it helps them feel more at ease with the investment.

I have occasionally let people break up the investment into 3 equal installments if that works better for them.

The Proposal Review Call

A proposal review call isn’t always necessary, but if a client needs clarification on anything in the proposal, or just wants to talk it through together step-by-step so they’re crystal clear on each element of the document, the suggested service package, or any other details, we get on the phone and review the proposal together.

Once the client has the proposal, and a review call if necessary, they have 48 hours, or 3 business days at the very most, to let me know if they’d like to proceed. As I mentioned above, if a potential client needs longer than that to make a decision, I know they’re not serious, or they’re not ready for this step financially.

I always try to determine this beforehand, however. I don’t want to spend hours writing a proposal, going back-and-forth over email, and dealing with other “I’m-not-really-serious” waffling actions, only to have the potential client not move forward.

It’s fine for a client to make a decision after reviewing the proposal that they don’t want to move forward, I don’t mind that, but if it took them days and days, and multiple emails, and a phone call or two, and endless, relentless questions to get to that point of no, then that’s a huge waste of my time and theirs.

This is fresh in my mind, because I recently dealt with that very situation, and when all was said and done, I had spent 12+ hours dealing with someone who decided not to move forward.  This person did not respect my time, but I let it happen, so I have no one to blame but myself. That’s no way to run a business, and I’ve learned my lesson. Never again.

Invoicing & Client Services Agreement

Once the client says yes to the proposal, if it’s a custom project (service packages purchased exactly as they’re described on my Work with Me page don’t require a proposal), the next step is invoicing and the client services agreement.

The client services agreement includes a project summary, payment details, the project timeline, information about changes and revisions, cancellation policy, and so on.

I spell out in the agreement that when I say yes to a project, that means I must say no to other projects that come my way, so if the client cancels the project after I have already begun work, I retain the down payment.

The client is paying me to write copy, but they’re also reserving time on my schedule, and I cannot rebook that time if they change their mind.

The Work Begins!

Once the client signs off on the services agreement and pays the 50% deposit, the work begins, woohoo!

At this point I send the Client Intake Questionnaire. It consists of 25 questions about the client’s business, their audience, what sets them apart among others who do similar work (if they don’t know the answer to this, I help them figure it out), who their ideal clients are, their goals for the copy, and other questions designed to help me get crystal clear on their vision for their business, the copy, and the outcomes they want to achieve.

I’ve had so many clients tell me that just the act of filling out the intake questionnaire has helped them gain clarity on the direction of their business, what their competitive advantage is, and what they want to achieve with their marketing and their business overall.

I usually ask clients to return the completed intake questionnaire to me within 3-5 business days. I then go over it with a fine-tooth comb, highlighting anything I need further clarification on, noting concepts and ideas that will help them stand out in their niche, pulling out phrases and ideas I can use in the copy, and generally getting crystal clear on what I call their “big idea,”  – essentially, the answer to the question, “Among all the other _____ [thing they do] out there, why choose _____ [their business]?”

Next comes a phone call to review the intake questionnaire together before I start writing the first draft.

Now It’s Time to Do Research & Other Pre-Writing Prep

In addition to thoroughly combing through the intake questionnaire and reviewing it together with the client on the phone, I also do the following before I begin writing:

  • Review client testimonials and other feedback from previous clients
  • Review current website & website copy
  • Review any marketing collateral the client has used in the past or is currently using
  • Research competition online
  • Brainstorming and concepting to come up with the client’s “meaningful difference,” and what I call the “hook” – the combination of things that set them apart in their niche and that are part of their BIG IDEA, as mentioned above, which is the answer to the question, “Among all the other ______ out there I could buy from, why choose to buy from ______?”

This is an abbreviated list, but you get the idea.

After all the above is completed, I put together what I call the “Core Message Doc.” This document contains information about:

  • The client’s “big idea”
  • The common objections they receive for resisting the sale and how to overcome those objections
  • Information about their ideal clients and unique selling proposition or “meaningful difference,” and how to craft a compelling marketing message using this info so the client can authentically stand out in their niche
  • Voice, tone & other language notes to use when writing the copy
  • Features and benefits of the clients’ products and/or services
  • Values the client wants conveyed in the copy

And so on.

Then and only then do I begin writing.

So when I “write copy,” I don’t just sit down and write. The writing part comes after many hours spent doing other important things first, including gaining a deep understanding of the client’s business and the results the client wants to achieve, AND how I can help them get there. 

The Writing Process

The writing process is fairly standard.

Once the prep work above is complete, I write the first draft and send it to the client for feedback. I give them specific instructions about the kind of feedback I’m looking for, and ask them share anything else they think is relevant for me to know before I write the second draft.

With this first draft, I also include a document called a “Copy Rationale/Explanation of Approach” – this is a separate document explaining in detail why I made the copy choices I did.

Once the client has had a chance to review the first draft and the copy rationale doc, I ask them to put their comments, proposed edits, and feedback in writing on the draft, and send it back to me.

Once I receive this, we schedule a call to review the first draft together before I write the second draft. I like to do this to be sure we’re on the same page about changes that need to be made before writing the next draft.

I then write the second draft and send it to the client with their edits, feedback and suggestions incorporated, and give them the opportunity to give me another round of feedback.

Although I offer 2 rounds of revisions on all copywriting projects, it’s rare that I have to do more than one round of revisions. It’s happened 2-3 times in the last 6 or 7 years, but that’s it.

Once the final revisions are made and the client signs off on the project as “complete & final,” I send the invoice for the 50% balance of the project fee.

Then we hug and do a happy dance, and break out the champagne!

Ha ha, just kidding about that last part. My clients aren’t local, so we don’t see each other IRL, as the kids say. But I would love it if we could! 🙂

Final Thoughts

I hope this article helps you understand why copywriting is so much more than “just writing,” and that good copywriters, in addition to having strong writing chops, also know a great deal about marketing, sales, how to help you stand out and get traction online, and other business-building topics.

We’re not “just writers,” and copywriting is not “just words.”

I will leave you with this, in the words of the great marketer, businessman and copywriting genius John Carlton:

Working with a copywriter “is gonna be one of the most time-and-money intensive relationships you have in your business.”

Copy is the MAIN ELEMENT in your ability to attract prospects and close them as customers. (Yes, the quality of what you offer matters… but never forget that the Marketing Graveyard is crammed with superior products that died horrible and fast deaths because no one figured out how to sell them.) ~John Carlton

If you think you’re ready to hire a copywriter for your creative business, check out my copywriting services here.

If you’re not quite at that stage yet, but could use some expert advice on your current copywriting challenges, check out the super-affordable Creating Better Copy Personalized Help Session here.

Filed Under: Copywriting Tips, Small Business Marketing, Writing for the Web

Should You Hire a Copywriter? (The answer may not be as easy as you think)

February 25, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

When you’re first getting started in business, putting up your first website, dipping your toe into the vast world of building an audience online and marketing your products and services, creating content and driving traffic to your site, and all the other million and one things you need to do in a day to get your business rolling, you’re most likely in bootstrapping mode and watching every penny.

That’s certainly how it was for me when I first got started.

My Very First Business Investment

I remember the first time I spent $97 on something for my business – a course on how to use Facebook for marketing, I believe it was. It felt like a huge investment at the time. And truth be told, it was, because I hadn’t made any real money yet.

Nervous as my twitchy fingers hovered over the “Buy Now,” button, I felt like I’d jumped off a cliff without a parachute the instant I clicked the button and the $97 wooshed out of my checking account.

I tell you this because in the years since then, I’ve made countless other investments in my business:

:: $2200 for an online business-building program

:: $3600 for a 9-month group coaching program

:: $1200 for a 3-month group coaching program

:: $1200 for a course on course-building

:: $600 on a course about list-building

:: Many other $500 – $1000 investments into various other business-related courses, coaching and programs

:: Plus several one-off purchases of $100 – $500 for books and other resources

But I’ll still never forget that first $97 I spent and the way it made me feel. Like “sh*t just got real – I am really doing this here business thing.”

Which was a very good thing, because it meant I now felt serious about my business; I wasn’t just “playing” at business anymore, and “hoping” it would work. Spending that first $97 created the necessary mindset shift I needed if I was going to move forward and support myself with my copywriting and marketing business.

So, Should You Invest in Your Business by Hiring a Copywriter?

If you’re at the stage where you’ve gotten your business ducks in a row – you’ve launched your website, you have your products and/or services ready to roll, you have at least some idea about who your likely buyers/ideal clients & customers are, and you’re ready to start making some sales, then you may be considering hiring a copywriter or other service provider, and you’re nervous about the investment.

I’ve talked to loads of people over the years who reach out to inquire about my copywriting and/or marketing services. Some are clearly ready to hire a professional copywriter and marketer, and some most definitely are not.

It Can Get Really Confusing, Really Fast

Google “When should I hire a copywriter?” or “Should I hire a copywriter?” or “At what stage of business should I hire a copywriter,” and you’ll find plenty of articles with titles like, “14 Reasons You Should Hire a Copywriter,” “5 Reasons You Should Hire a Copywriter for Your Business,” “Why You Need to Hire a Professional Copywriter,” and so on. [Google returned 10,400,000 results when I did that search. Yikes.]

But the truth is, though these articles make some good points, only you know if you have the dollars to spend, if you’re ready for the kind of services a copywriter provides, and if you have the understanding of what a copywriter actually does.

That last one is really important, because I can tell you that the clients I’ve most regretted taking on over the years are the ones who are confused about what a copywriter does, don’t understand the serious investment of time and expertise a copywriter puts in to get to know your business, your clients, and your business goals so they can write copy that converts web visitors to sales, and who don’t understand that copywriting is a collaborative process that requires time, effort and input from the client side too.

These kind of clients have made my life, if not a living hell, then at the very least, deeply unpleasant during the time I was working with them. Luckily, I have a pretty good spidey sense of who those clients are when they first reach out to me, and steer clear of working with them. But every now and then one slips in, unfortunately.

If I Had to Go Out on a Limb and Say When to Hire a Copywriter . . .

For me the bottom line is, if you have a good idea who your likely buyers/ideal clients & customers are, you’re clear on the benefits your products and/or services provide to your clients, you’ve already proven the need/desire for your products and/or services through the sales you’ve already made, AND – this is important – you understand that hiring a copywriter can be a substantial investment and you understand why that is (i.e., you get that copywriting is about so much more than simply writing), and you have the dollars in your marketing budget to hire a copywriter without creating financial hardship, then by all means, go for it.

These are the minimum required “good-to-haves” before you hire a copywriter, in my book.

Wherein Other People Answer the Question of When Is the Right Time to Hire a Copywriter

One of the best articles I’ve read on whether you should hire a copywriter or write your own copy is Amy Harrison’s  . . . wait for it . . . Should You Hire a Copywriter or Write Your Own Copy?

As Amy points out, if you’ve got more time than money, “you’re already watching your budget, and you have a few hours a week to spare, it’s better you flex your own copywriting muscle.”

Check out the rest of Amy’s article here for six questions you should ask yourself before you hire a copywriter.

Another thing to keep in mind is what kind of copy you need written. For example, I specialize in website copy. I’ve written, and still occasionally write, other forms of marketing communications for clients, but my specialty is website copy.  

What this means is that I have knowledge and expertise in how people interact with online content specifically, what a website must do to move people from browsers, to requests for more info, and to clients and sales, and other web-specific attraction, marketing, and conversion knowledge.  

If it’s website copy you need written and you’re going the DIY route, make sure that you’re learning from someone who specializes in website copy, or if your budget allows, and you meet the other minimum required good-to-haves above, that you hire someone who specializes in writing website copy. There are a lot of us out there.

If you’d like to read one of the most trusted resources online about copywriting and when to hire a copywriter, check out Copyblogger’s 5 Situations That Demand You Hire a Professional Copywriter.

This is one of the best short, wise, and to-the-point articles on when to hire a copywriter I’ve read, and I’ve read A LOT. Also, as I tend to great wordiness in my blog posts (*cough, cough*) I surely can appreciate how much knowledge they pack into this brief blog post.

If you were confused when you first started reading this article about whether or not it’s the right time for you to hire copywriter, but based on what I’ve shared, and what the experts I linked to here have to say, you’ve made your mind up about what you need to do, then good on ya. I’m happy I was able to help.

On the other hand, if you’re even more confused now than when you started reading, leave a comment below, and I’ll reply as soon as I’m able and see if I can help get you on the right track.

Next Up

In Part 2 of this post to be published in March, I’ll share my process of working with copywriting clients in detail, so you can get a sense of what really goes on, learn more about how copywriters work and what they actually do (it’s SO much more than writing), and if you’re wondering, find out why the investment can sometimes seem “high” (which of course is relative).

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If you want immediate feedback from a professional copywriter and marketer on your website copy, customized-for-you answers to your top copywriting challenges, and clear ideas for improving your website copy ASAP to more effectively call in and convert your ideal clients, then check out my Creating Better Copy Personalized Help Session right over here.

Filed Under: Copywriting Tips, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy

Saying “No” to Black Friday & Cyber Monday

November 25, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

It is upon us.

That time of year when, if you’re in the U.S., you’re likely celebrating Thanksgiving.

Which is one of my favorite holidays, because there’s nothing I love better than an excuse to eat until I lapse into a food coma, then lay around in my pj’s all day the next day, reading, chilling, and nursing my food hangover from Thursday’s feast. Ah, sweet, overindulgent, bliss! 

You know what else is upon us?

That’s right, this year, just like every year before it, we’ll get those super-super-special, you-better-jump-on-this-now-or-you’ll-forever-regret-it, buy, BUY, BUY, emails from our favorite marketers.

(Heck, I’ve gotten a dozen of these already, and it’s only Wednesday, fer cryin’ out loud!)

I have never, nor do I plan to ever, do a Black Friday or Cyber Monday special offer of my own, because, A., I really dislike doing what everyone else is doing, and B., I haven’t figured out a way to do it that doesn’t feel hokey, cliché, aggressive, craven or desperate.  

That said, I don’t disagree with Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales on principle, because there are people out there who do them elegantly and authentically, with a minimum of carnival barker histrionics and buy-now-or-the puppy-gets-it fuss. And those people I love to buy from. L-O-V-E, love.

One thing I can tell you for sure, though, is that I will not be shopping in your standard retail venues over the next few days, because I really value my sanity.

Anyway, I’m writing this brief note today to say, buy on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, or not, sell your stuff on Black Friday/Cyber Monday if it feels good to you, or not, or just do what I’m going to do – lounge around and eat yourself silly.

If you’re in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving; let the gorging begin!

And if you’re not in the U.S., Happy Normal Day of the Week to you!!

XO,

Kimberly

Filed Under: Small Business Marketing

Afraid to Sell

August 22, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

By far, one of the most problematic things I see on websites I’m hired to review or write copy for is an unclear, confused marketing message. The web copy doesn’t resonate with the kind of clients the business owner is trying to attract, so when said client lands on the website, they spend 3-7 seconds looking around, don’t feel any connection to what they read, and leave.

And what compounds the problem in many of these cases is it’s nearly impossible for the web visitor to figure out how to actually make a purchase if they were so inclined.

Now, granted, sometimes the above scenario happens when you’re just starting out, and you don’t know what message your website needs to convey to appeal to your desired audience just yet, or when you’re still trying to figure out how all this marketing and copywriting stuff works to help you do business online successfully.

HOWEVER . . . .

Other times this website confusion (and the resulting poor sales performance) is a result of being afraid to sell, of being fearful of actually letting people know that, #1, you have something awesome for sale, woohoo!, and #2, hey, they can buy it right over here! (On the Work with Me, Products & Programs, or Services page of your website.)

And furthermore (well, don’t I just sound like my Mom when she was getting ready to read me the riot act?), many business owners, despite having an email list of potential clients and customers who might just love to buy something from them, have never actually shared with their subscribers that they have products or services available for purchase.

Bottom line, they’re afraid to sell.

You know, one of the questions I ask on the intake questionnaire I have all new clients fill out is “What are the last 5 things you’ve done to market your business or sell your products/services?” And I’ll tell you, an answer I rarely get is, “I made an offer to my email list/audience/blog readers/etc.”

If you’re not selling anything, let me ask you, are you offering anything? Are you sending an email to your list telling them you have something they can buy? If you’ve been at this online business thing for a while, and you haven’t made an offer to your list yet, my question for you is, why not?

Now, let me just say right here: I GET IT.  I was dreadfully uncomfortable coming right out and making an offer to my email list the first time I did it too, but I will tell you it gets much easier after you “break the seal” and do it the first time.

I actually wrote a blog post about this fear of marketing and selling called, They Want You to Be the One, So Stop Being Afraid to Market Yourself, which essentially says that, when someone lands on your website or signs up for your email list, they know you’re operating a business, so it’s not going to be a surprise to them when every now and then you let them know you have something they can buy.

They expect this.

And furthermore (geez, that word again), they were looking for the solution to a problem or the answer to a question when they landed on your website in the first place, and they’re hope, hope, hoping you will be the one who can help them solve the problem or answer the question.

So do not be afraid to sell.

Notice I didn’t say, don’t be uncomfortable about selling. I’ve been in the marketing/PR/copywriting/sales field my entire adult life and I still sometimes feel uncomfortable making a pitch for my services. That’s normal. I said don’t be afraid. Because at the end of the day, even if you do get rejected, you will survive. Rejection might feel crappy, but it won’t kill you.

And if anyone gives you any grief about selling, that just proves they don’t have the first clue about how real business works, and they’re not your ideal client or customer anyway. So not to worry.

So even though I’m not always comfortable selling either, I do it. And you know what I’ve noticed?

When I sent an email offering something for sale, people bought. I made sales. People participated in actual commerce, money and services changed hands, and we all lived to tell the tale.

And by the way, when you’re selling, you don’t have to behave like a carnival barker or be in your face, sleazy or aggressive about it.  You can do it subtly, the way I’m going to do it at the end of this blog post by letting you know I’ve revamped my service offerings and have a bunch of new services available.

You can do it in the P.S. of your email newsletter.

You can make a subtle mention of your promotion in your latest blog post.

Or you can send a full-fledged “sales message” (again, this can be done with subtlety) to your email list.

So please, please, if you have something awesome for sale, let your audience know about it. The sky will not fall if you do, trust me on this.

And here’s the part where I’m going to let you know about my new services. You can’t check them out right over here on my Work with Me page.

Or check out the abbreviated description of them below.

Happy Selling!

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{If you’re interested in any of the services below and want to find out which one might be a good fit for you, shoot me an email and we’ll set up a 20-minute, no-obligation conversation to explore the possibilities.}

The Irresistible Web Copy VIP Package: The 3 Key Must-Have, Uber-Important, Can’t-Do-Business-Online-Without-‘Em Web Pages {+ a little extra} Every Successful Business Needs

If you’re serious about having a successful website that calls in your ideal clients and sells your programs and services, you need:

  • A compelling Home page that grabs attention and gets your right people eager to find out more about you
  • An About page that conveys your unique personality and bonafides in accessible, client-focused language
  • A Services, Work with Me, or Programs page that demonstrates your singular value and gets your ideal clients dreamily thinking, “she’s/he’s the one I want to work with”

The Irresistible Web Copy VIP Package includes: Learn more here.

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The Copy Brilliance Web Copy Makeover

:: Not everyone needs their website written from scratch. You might have one particular web page that’s just not working for you – and it’s keeping you from calling in your ideal clients or making more sales.

:: In that case, I can apply my copywriter’s “let’s uncover and highlight the sales-inducing benefits in this web copy” brain to one page of your already written web copy to transform it from lackluster to luminous, so it persuasively conveys your value and appeals to your ideal clients.

:: If you already have the key must-have website pages on your site written, but you’d reallllly like some professional copywriting tweaking & fine tuning on one of those pages (or another page of your choice) to make it sparkle and shine to call in your ideal clients, the Copy Brilliance Web Copy Makeover is for you.

How it works: Learn more here.

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Copywriting & Messaging Strategy 60-Minute One-on-One Intensive

Think of this like a rapid-fire website audit from a copywriting, messaging and branding perspective. We’ll work side-by-side in one 60 minute session over the phone, as we look at your website together.

You’ll walk away with at least 5-10 ideas for improving your website copy ASAP to more effectively call in and convert your ideal clients.

 This is for you if:

:: Your website copy is in pretty good shape but you want to pick a professional copywriter’s brain for ideas on polishing it up to a fine “I want to magnetize my ideal clients to me” sheen, get feedback on your messaging, or ask questions about specific elements of your copy

:: You’re just getting starting and want some DIY copywriting advice you can run with on your own to write your own copy

 How it works: Learn more here.

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Strategy Consulting for Creatives

So, what you need doesn’t fit neatly into any of the categories above?

No worries, my creative friend.

You can invest in a pack of strategy consulting hours to discuss any of your web marketing and copywriting conundrums. This is great for things like ongoing web marketing advice, guidance and feedback on a specific marketing campaign or bigger marketing project or initiative, help figuring out who your ideal customers are or what your unique difference in the marketplace is, and so on.

How it works: Learn more here.

 

Filed Under: Business Inspiration, Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy Tagged With: ,

For Creative Business Builders: A Powerful Yet Painless Way to Market Your Business That Practically Does the Selling for You

January 24, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Most creatives I’ve worked with or talked to have some level of discomfort around the idea of marketing and selling. Sure, they want to earn a good living from their creative products and services, but they practically writhe in agony at the notion of actually having to market, or even scarier, having to sell. 

Look, I get it. Marketing and selling can bring up all kinds of uneasiness. You don’t want to seem intrusive, pushy, or even worse . . . scammy. 

But, and this is the truth, authentic marketing isn’t pushy or sleazy, it’s simply deeply connecting with your ideal audience and communicating that you can provide a product or service that is beneficial to them, that they already want, or they wouldn’t be searching for it online and have landed on your website in the first place. For more on this idea, check out a post I wrote called They Want You to Be the One (so stop being afraid to market yourself).

That said, there is a powerful way to market your stuff that feels genuine and easy, and in fact, practically does the selling for you, if done correctly.

What is this thing I speak of?

Client testimonials.

Client and customer testimonials are social proof and third party validation all rolled into one. And because of the third party validation aspect, much more persuasive to would-be clients than anything you say about yourself. Potential clients trust them because they’re essentially a referral from someone who doesn’t benefit directly if a new client signs on with you.   

It’s akin to a lesson I learned when I worked in advertising and PR: any business can pay for advertising, but not any business can get written up in Forbes or Inc. magazine, which is why third party endorsement via good PR was much more valuable to my PR clients back in the day than big, glossy ads in high profile publications. 

It’s the same with client testimonials.  

If you have a page of glowing testimonials on your website that speak to the transformational work you do and the results you get for clients, referring potential clients and customers to this page during the client-getting courtship phase can do a lot of the making-a-sale heavy lifting for you. And in way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re twisting arms or coercing anyone to do anything against their will.  And who doesn’t want that? 

So, how do you get your current and past clients and customers to give you the kind of testimonials that persuade new clients to find out more about working with you? 

Well, I’m going to share some wonderful resources on how to tackle that very thing at the end of this blog post, because it’s been covered very adeptly by other people I admire and respect who can show you how it’s done.

What I want to share with you here are a few patient testimonials I wrote for a medical center client that highlight transformation stories, a very persuasive form of third party validation. You can adapt the same idea for your own business to create client testimonials on steroids. 

Note the powerful impact of storytelling in these four examples: 

CPR Saves a Life and Forges a New Friendship 

NHRMC eased Eileen’s pain so she could get back to her garden . . . and start planning her African safari. 

A fall paralyzed her. The trauma experts at NHRMC helped her get back on her feet. 

Minimally invasive spine surgery helps Dianne get back to active life. 

Now obviously you don’t want to copy the style and layout of these examples. I share them with you strictly to use as idea generators for thinking about how you can have your clients tell the story of their transformation, or the key aha moments they experienced after working with you or buying your products. Then craft this client feedback into compelling stories that speak to what’s possible when clients and customers work with you, as in the examples here.   

:: If you’d like someone experienced at extracting persuasive stories from clients and creating testimonials like the ones above, get in touch with me at: Kimberly [at] kimberlydhouston [dot] com, and let’s talk specifics. I’ll create a custom proposal based on your specific needs.

Resources for Creating Powerful Testimonials

Here’s a brief article by publicity/marketing/business expert Melissa Cassera in which she shares a simple two-step approach to getting testimonials. Love her suggestion here that’s its less stressful for the client and will net better results for you if you ask for “feedback” rather than a “testimonial.”

How To Get Your Customers To Write AMAZING Reviews (Without Begging, Pleading Or Being Pushy + Creepy) 

How to Get Testimonials That Get You Business, wherein business coach Christine Kane share 7 tips for getting great client testimonials that will help increase your sales.

And from the fine folks at Copyblogger, here are 6 Questions to Ask for Powerful Testimonials. Highly recommended. If you only have time to read one of the posts linked up here, please make it this one.

And finally, here business coach and consultant Erica Lyremark shares 3 quick formulas for writing powerful testimonials, in Testimonials Made Easy.

And if you want to understand – and implement – the power of storytelling in your marketing (client testimonials are a great place to do this), read this article:

 Science of storytelling: why and how to use it in your marketing: A look at how humans have always loved stories, and six tips for incorporating them into your digital marketing 

And there you have it. If you have any questions or comments, please share them in the comments section below, and happy testimonials creating!

Filed Under: Get More Clients, Small Business Marketing, Web Marketing and Strategy Tagged With: , , ,
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