Marketing Magic and “Selling” Copy

I’m in the middle of working with a very frustrating client who thinks that there is some way to wave a magic wand and instantly create magical “selling copy”.  My client hasn’t voiced this in so many words – but rather it’s been the underlying theme of our interactions.

This client is like many small business owners.  She came from a corporate background and had little contact with the marketing and sales departments.  When she launched her business, she wasn’t trained to think in terms of “benefits” and instead keeps repeating lists of “features”.

If you think there’s any “magic” in marketing – this is it.  When you create marketing messages based upon “features” – your copy falls flat, your response rates are horrible and your conversions are frustratingly low.  On the other hand, when you create marketing messages based upon “benefits” – ah, that’s when the magic begins.

Marketing messages that focus upon BENEFITS are commonly referred to as “selling” copy.

It’s important to remember as you create your marketing messages that no one has EVER written advertising copy that FORCED people to buy something they didn’t want to buy.

So if you can’t FORCE someone to make a purchase – you must instead WOO them… and the best way to woo them is to make sure the sweet nothings you are whispering tell them what they want to hear… which is how YOUR product or service can make them: richer, thinner, prettier, sexier, smarter or any combination thereof.

Over the past few decades – I’ve been amazed at how HARD this process is for many small business owners to implement.  Then again, I find myself falling prey to the bad habits of listing features over benefits myself, so I’m very sympathetic to the syndrome.

In “Small Business Marketing Strategies Revealed” I share how I got caught in the swirling waters of a product launch which caused me to lose sight of what is important to my target customer.  Even though it’s easy to do – losing sight of your target audience’s point of view is literally the Kiss of Death for your small business marketing.  In my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results, I dedicated an entire chapter to the subject of why you must not target everyone as your customer.  The reason for the chapter – is because the topic of targeting your marketing efforts is by far the biggest challenge I face when I work with individual clients on their marketing and advertising.

If there’s any “marketing magic” to be had – it’s found in creating “selling” copy – copy that focuses upon the GDP (Goals, Desires, Problems) experienced by your target audience.  Twenty year olds have different GDPs than forty year olds.  Writing marketing copy that targets both these groups is almost a recipe for failure.  Meanwhile, writing copy that tightly targets individuals as tightly as possible – well that’s when the real “marketing magic” happens.