Your Copy Must GIVE Your Audience VALUE!

[Mark Pescetti]

The single BIGGEST thing you can do in your sales copy is GIVE your audience something of INCREDIBLE VALUE – in & of itself!

You’ve absolutely got to weave into your copy that GOLDEN NUGGET (or two, or three, or four) your prospects can take away from reading your website – whether they buy your product or sign up for your service… or NOT!

Here are a few problems I’ve observed that inhibits this from happening:

• You aren’t selling something that has enough substance to “give away” anything.
• You haven’t even hit the tip of the proverbial iceberg – in terms of animating the emotional possibilities (i.e. benefits) for BUYING your whatchamacallit (your product or service).
• You’re positioning your product or service in front of the wrong audience – and everything you’re saying is falling on deaf ears… (Or blind eyes in this case.) This makes you feel less inspired to give more.
• You don’t understand the basic premise that the more you give… the more you get or receive.
• You’re too lazy to keep building upon your brand and expanding your authority with blogs & videos (or any other medium to communicate your insights.)

In regards to that last bullet, it’s so important to acknowledge that there’s no such thing as being done with your copy and marketing.

In other words…

If you’re not CONSTANTLY growing your business model by developing NEW, innovative ways to express how people’s lives can change as a result of what you’re selling…

…You’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to become the leader in YOUR market and earn people’s trust with your in-depth awareness and unique knowledge.

Also…

Blogging, article writing, making YouTube Videos, etc. are great ways to DRIVE RELEVANT TRAFFIC onto your website or sales letter.

Here are a few steps to get you started:

• Write down all of the benefits you can think of that your product or service provides… Now take each benefit and flesh it out into a stand-alone blog or video… Keep in mind, this is an EMOTIONALLY-DRIVEN form of writing – just like your sales copy. (Remember your ABC’s – ALWAYS BE CLOSING!)
• Break down your BRAND message into simple tips that your prospects can use to better their lives, marketing, love life (or whatever the hell it is your whatchamacallit accomplishes for people.
• Demonstrate and/or ANIMATE all the different ways your business (and industry) can HELP your audience – FROM YOUR TOTALLY UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE!

Just to bring home step #3…

…Copywriting, for instance, is SO MUCH more than piecing words together.

As you can see in this forum alone, there are an abundance of perspectives and opinions about copywriting.

Some threads/comments affect certain people, while others don’t.

But each thread is a birds-eye-view into seeing how every copywriter positions him or her self within the industry/market to appear like an authority.

In other words…

Your copy exposes how you think and who can connect with you (i.e. what type of person/prospect) – so make sure the way you come across in your tone & approach is HOW you want people to perceive you, your company and your product or service.

At the end of the day…

If you aren’t giving people VALUE in your sales copy, they’ll feel it.

Sometimes the value is REALLY hitting an emotional chord within your readers and giving them an amazing solution.

And sometimes, it’s just information they’ll find NOWHERE else.

Regardless…

When you GIVE people something to REALLY chew on, they’ll respect you for it and be more apt to follow through on your call-to-action…

…Which means more money in your wallet or purse!

Mark

P.S. What do people do when they appreciate someone? They want to give back to them, right? On my ebook site, I’ve received all kinds of AWESOME donations from readers just for taking the time to put up new articles. You just never know how your insights will affect your prospects… VALUE SELLS!

[Daniel Scott]

I love your posts, Mark. They've always got some great gems in them.

Not sure I agree about always giving away something in the sales letter - sometimes I think this is best accomplished in a free report or whatever, and doing it in the letter can kill your flow...

But I definitely resonate with the idea.

-Daniel

[Jason Kanigan]

Brand building can be tough if you haven't thought about what you want to express prior to starting your project. For painfreeprofits, for example, I wanted the brand to be friendly, comfortable and approachable. All my content, from my approach to what I wear in videos, stems from that decision.

Contrast with a "tough love" approach to sales training that's possible, which I've implemented on other sites.

[Mark Pescetti]

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Not sure I agree about always giving away something in the sales letter - sometimes I think this is best accomplished in a free report or whatever, and doing it in the letter can kill your flow...

But I definitely resonate with the idea.

-Daniel

A free report or ebook would be awesome.

That's a tremendous way for people to establish credibility in their niche, especially if they're a newbie just starting out.

Also, from the perspective of generating credibility...

...I think it's important to GIVE VALUE because prospects need to see that you know what the hell you're talking about.

And again, you can approach ANY subject from a multitude of perspectives.

So let's say you're selling a "Learn How to Write a Sales Letter" for new small business owners.

You could give a dynamic array of bullets describing the step-by-step process of organizing your ideas to start blueprinting a letter.

However...

You can ALSO throw in your unique flare and perspective about the blueprinting process.

Every copywriter on this forum could offer a vantage point that's based on their own experiences for drafting a sales letter that MASSIVELY converted.

All you're doing is SHARING your experiences and giving extra VALUE to the reader to establish your own credibility, brand and authority in the marketplace.

I, for instance, love to perform Emotional Mapping on my sales letters:

1) Hope
2) Despair
3) Fear
4) Hope
5) Reprieve
6) Excitement
7) Confidence
8) Desire
9) Uncontrollable Urge
10) Relief

So if I were selling a "learning sales letters" ebook, I might take your advice and draft a FREE REPORT to give away that gives prospects a ton of valuable information to work with...

...And also continues to sell my main product and brand.

The point is...

There's always another perspective you can come from to GIVE VALUE & build your brand, whether it's in the sales letter itself, a free report, an auxiliary blog, YouTube videos, etc.

Anyway...

Thanks for the props Daniel. I struggled a bit writing this yesterday. The flow wasn't there, but I felt like I got the point down enough to put it up.

Mark

[Mark Pescetti]

Originally Posted by kaniganj

Brand building can be tough if you haven't thought about what you want to express prior to starting your project. For painfreeprofits, for example, I wanted the brand to be friendly, comfortable and approachable. All my content, from my approach to what I wear in videos, stems from that decision.

Contrast with a "tough love" approach to sales training that's possible, which I've implemented on other sites.

Establishing and developing your brand is a MUST before moving forward on ANY project.

For instance...

A guy found me on here who's selling a DVD.

I've already spent a couple hours on Skype with him to learn about his process so we can brand it.

I'll do this all the time, every time, BEFORE writing a word of copy.

In the interviewing process, I can start getting an idea about the most important messages...

...And pick out the ALPHA message - that becomes the facade of the company.

Also... since we're selling a DVD, part of my job here is to give tons of VALUE to prospects so they can see the HUGE consequence of owning his AWESOME program.

So... brand building is the first step in being able to GIVE VALUE.

No brand, no message.

No message, no organization.

No organization, NO VALUE!

mark

[OliviaHoang]

Mark, I agree with Dan. This is why I have a section in my OneNote notebook titled "Mark Pescetti" :-P.

And believe me, I'm RUTHLESS about the notes I actually keep on file. I am a decluttering NUT!

You have this gift of being able to inspire people.

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

I love your posts, Mark. They've always got some great gems in them.

Not sure I agree about always giving away something in the sales letter - sometimes I think this is best accomplished in a free report or whatever, and doing it in the letter can kill your flow...

But I definitely resonate with the idea.

-Daniel

[bruceetz]

Great post. Especially love:

"If you’re not CONSTANTLY growing your business model by developing NEW, innovative ways to express how people’s lives can change as a result of what you’re selling…

…You’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to become the leader in YOUR market and earn people’s trust with your in-depth awareness and unique knowledge."

[Mark Pescetti]

Originally Posted by bruceetz

Great post. Especially love:

"If you’re not CONSTANTLY growing your business model by developing NEW, innovative ways to express how people’s lives can change as a result of what you’re selling…

…You’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to become the leader in YOUR market and earn people’s trust with your in-depth awareness and unique knowledge."

Yup, I ALWAYS tell my clients when I sign off on their project that they have a fantastic foundation...

...And they will make LOTS of money (assuming they know how to drive relevant traffic to the new copy.)

But I also make a point to give them the ideas, awareness and tools to keep building their brand - so they can animate, from totally different perspectives, how their product or service HELPS people.

And in doing so, they're simultaneously providing VALUE by revealing new possibilities that their audience likely never thought about before.

This makes the reader feel appreciative and experience an organic trust that increases purchases exponentially!

Cheers!

mark