What does selling mean?


Perhaps because a lot of people who write copy do it because they love words, they can sometimes forget why they’re writing in the fi rst place. Here are a few things we’re not doing. Impressing our reader with the depth of our vocabulary. Making them laugh. Producing literary fi ction (or any other kind for that matter). Writing prose poems. Now here’s the thing we are doing. Ready?
Selling.
Remember, we’re only writing copy because visiting each of our prospects personally is beyond our resources. And if we were able to do that, we’d spend our time selling, not passing the time with beautiful but pointless conversation.
What does selling mean? OK, without writing another book, how about this: selling means identifying who’s in the market for your products and services, identifying why they might want it, why they might be holding back, persuading them of the value, then closing the deal.
The idea From Waitrose Wine Direct, a supermarket’s mail-order wine offering When you’re writing copy about something fun, or entertaining or enjoyable—such as wine—there’s a real temptation to go off on an extended bit of color copy. You know, you just let your mind go, pour a glass of the product (for research purposes, naturally) and before you know it you’ve written three or four hundred words of fancy
2 REMEMBER, YOU’RE SELLING
100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS • 9
copy, painting a picture of Tuscan picnics, Ancien Régime Châteaux in the Loire Valley, or wine tours around the Napa Valley. Trouble is, you’ve left your reader cold and forgotten to sell them anything. Waitrose Wine Direct do it differently. In a mailer I received at home, the letter begins with some juicy lines to get me in the mood . . .
As I am writing this the sun is fi nally shining, the temperature is rising and all I want to do is to be outside and enjoy a crisp white on the hammock or perhaps a lightly chilled red as the barbecue heats up.
So far, so good. Though I worry about drinking wine in a hammock. But before it all gets a bit too “Year in Tuscany,” we get smacked between the eyes with the fi rst of many offers . . .
With its crisp and fresh style, Sauvignon Blanc is a great summer white and the Summer Sauvignon Blanc mixed case on page four is not only great value with £29 off but also a fantastic crowd pleaser.
Ah. Good old-fashioned selling. Get the product in front of the prospect. Describe it. Make the offer sound unmissable. And show them how they can get kudos from their friends for serving it.
In practice • Imagine you are face to face with your customer. Now write a script for what you’d say. You can start off softly, but you’re going to want to come to the point fairly quickly before they start checking their watch. • It’s fi ne to write copy that creates a receptive mood for buying. Just make sure it doesn’t become an end in itself.

(taken from the book of Andy Maslen)


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