Okay, I admit it...copywriting is seriously addicting.
I know firsthand. Turn out compelling copy, disguise sales pitches as conversation, make the most boring subjects sound irresistable...it all gets under your skin.
Not to mention the fact that people pay you never to stop.
Anyway, through a 12-step program -- and the loyal
support of my family -- I managed to kick the habit.
I'm officially on the wagon now.
Well...Okay...Just a Sip Though
What do you need? A sales letter? Direct response ad?
Some hard-working fulfillment pieces?
Whatever it is, I'll bring 25 years of skill and experience to your job. That's 25 years sprinkled with honors and awards (eight, to be specific).
(It was inevitable I'd fall off this wagon anyway.)
Advertorials: When Ads and Articles Collide
You open a magazine and see this interesting
one-page article with a compelling headline.
Yes, you notice the word, "Advertising" in tiny
print at the top, but because it looks so much
like an article (even matching the magazine's
design format), you start reading. And what you
read informs and intrigues you. You notice
there's a mild call-to-action and a phone# and
email at the end. So, moved by the editorial
content and objective writing, you decide to
check the product out further.
Congratulations. You've just been seduced by an advertorial.
The beauty of an advertorial is this: For all its editorial horsepower, it really is a sales tool. A powerful, yet camouflaged sales tool. Sure, it looks like an article. And it's certainly written like one. There's a lot of content in there. And, missing, is the screaming call-to-action of an ad and the over-the-top design and headline gimmickry, too.
Even so, advertorials exist solely to generate sales.
Now here's why an advertorial is actually a stronger sales tool than articles or ads are on their own.
= First, you can put an advertorial anywhere you can put an ad -- not so with articles where you'd need, of course, hard-to-get editorial approval. You can place advertorials where and when you want.
= Next, advertorials carry virtually all the credibility of articles -- readers don't always distinguish them from the real thing (and some magazines forget to put that little "Advertising" label above them). That means advertorials get read more often and more thoroughly than mere ads.
= They often come with the "implied endorsement" of the host magazine.
= Although restrained, an advertorial's call-to-action is hit hard by readers craving more information. "It just feels safer responding to an advertorial than an ad," was one person's recent observation.
You'll deliver a lot of informative, convincing content you couldn't in a regular ad...and that means your prospects will come to you very qualified.
My clients have had great success with the advertorials I've made. And, yes, there is a method to making them -- bases that have to be touched for these things to work well. Interested? You should be. Check out this advertorial sample. Then, if you think it would be smart to test an advertorial, click here. I'll answer all of your questions.
Are Clicks Stealing Your Sales?
Let's say you have one main thing to sell.
Sure, you've done okay selling it offline...then again,
offline, you could always take advantage of
marketing tools, like sales letters, that took your
prospects through your most compelling arguments,
past strong testimonials, all the way to a powerful
close.
That's always worked nicely, right? Too bad you
couldn't use a sales letter approach online, too.
Then again...why can't you?
The Typical Website "Fractured Focus"
Think about it. Most Websites are the exact opposite of a good sales letter. Instead of eight to sixteen pages of focused copy -- like your best salesman in print form -- the typical home page has a couple of luke warm paragraphs, some innocuous graphics, and a whole bunch of links. And off you go. Click, you go to the "About" page. Click, you go to the "Product Information" page. Click, you go to the "Pricing" page. Click, click, click. By the time you're past all those clicks, if you've even gotten that far, you've probably forgotten what interested you in the first place.
In other words, instead of having a laser-sharp focus, the average Website fractures a prospect's interest. And that won't sell anything to anybody.
No-Clicking Your Way to Profits
I create online sales letters.
You know what these are. They're Websites with the equivalent of several offline pages of strong sales copy. Prospects get hooked by the headline and subhead, as with a typical sales letter, then simply scroll down the letter, getting sold every step of the way until they reach the offer, the close and response device. It's all concentrated stuff -- there are no links to disrupt the sales intensity. If there is a click, it's at the very end,
after the sale is made, to get the prospect to
a more detailed ordering page.
Want to look into one yourself? Click here.
