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Many entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’;t know about sales and marketing. This often has dire consequences for the bottom line. Good sales copy is an example of something that most business owners know nothing about. Dan Kennedy, aka the Millionaire Maker calls creating great sales copy, “writing your own check”.

Basically, a sales letter done right gives you a salesman that does the job around the clock and never asks for time and a half. You can tell good advertising copy because it is copy that creates money for your business. Too bad most business owners never employ a sales letter in any form.

This omission is devastating to the bottom line, or at least what the bottom line could be. To clear it up, there is no one way or format to create a blow them out of the water, panting for more sales letter. So have no fear.

First: Hit the library and go to the magazine area. You want magazines from the categories of sports, fitness, health, fashion and entertainment. From each category, pick a specific title and a more general title. For example, in beauty pick up Cosmopolitan and one of the magazines on hairstyles or something. Browse through them lightly and make note of the ads.

You’ll know the sales letters because they are usually full or half page, but not always. They frequently offer a free report if you contact them. Very often the focus is on the product or service and there is almost no mention of a company name. Trutfhfully, the big corporation advertisers you see during the final episode of Seinfeld or whatever, don’t have a clue about sales letters or how to use them.

How do you find really good sales copy? It finds you actually. It stands out and sucks you in and makes you interested enough to maybe spend money on the product offered.. Mark the page in the magazine and immediately go get a couple of recent back issues. Browse those for the same or similar ad. A repeat means the ad is probably successful. The more back issues it appears in, the better indicator of being successful.

The strategy of the big boys who throw their money around on the expensive ads is mass marketing to a mass market based on branding using singing polar bears and football playing frogs or whatever. It is highly likely that they have no idea of the ultimate effect of the millions spent. That’s fine, they have that luxury in many cases. For the purposes of bringing your product or service to everyday people with choices, you need to bring them benefit and make it real clear up front what that benefit is.

Rule #2 is to convey a unique benefit to your customer. The question to answer is: “Why should I be doing business with you and not others offering the same product or service?” What can you do for them? The ultimate question.

It is widely documented that a simple USP can have a powerful impact on a business. When Tom Monaghan started Domino’s Pizza, he basically took a fledgling mom and pop and turned it into an empire based on the USP: “Fresh Hot Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or Less, Guaranteed”.

By conveying a unique benefit, unlike any other in the marketplace, Dominos moved to the head of the pack.

So you might be wondering where Rule #1 is?

It is the headline. The headline is the first thing that captures the reader’s attention. It is vital. How to put together a good headline is a great topic for future discussions.

Last 5 posts by Scott Nelson

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Tags: Copywriting