For the next few posts, I’m going to share some tips on how to take a product or service and find the sweet spot to help you sell. There are many methods of doing this, so hopefully, you’ll find what works for you.

The key to copywriting is the research. The key to selling is KNOWING your target audience.

It’s really getting into the mind of your market. You just keep researching and finding out about the market until you feel like they do. Then when it comes time to write, you have the mindset and ideas write themselves.

[Read more →]

STEP ONE- Intro
STEP TWO- Defining a Target Market.
STEP THREE- Nailing a position strategy, playing with headlines.
STEP FOUR- Narrowing the position strategy and finalizing headlines.You are at Step Four.

Position Strategy: Position the product as a fun dance DVD that nurtures positive child development qualities like building confidence.

————————-
Possible Headlines:

Nurture potential, foster self esteem, provide opportunities for self expression. And enjoy the heck out of watching your child in the process.

Confident and accomplished young women start as confident little girls. You can foster that development with rip roaring fun dance DVD.It may look like a mild-mannered dance DVD. But it’s a rip roaring fun way to build a child’s confidence and foster self esteem.

It is a rip roaring fun dance DVD. It’s also an investment in your child’s positive emotional development.

This fun dance DVD causes serious side effects including but not limited to building confidence and a sense of accomplishment.

Don’t let the fun and frivolous nature of this rip roaring fun dance DVD fool you. It causes serious side effects such as increased sense of accomplishment.

This rip-roaring fun dance DVD is a confidence booster in disguise.

It may look like a fun dance DVD. But it’s a confidence booster in disguise.

It is a head bobbing, heart-pumping, rip-roaring fun dance DVD. Building confidence in your young child has never been so much fun to watch.

Nurture your child’s potential; foster her self esteem with a rip-roaring fun dance DVD.

From a child’s point of view it’s a rip roaring fun dance dvd. From your perspective it’s a rip roaring fun self esteem builder.

————————-

I’m going to let these marinate in my brain. Meanwhile, if you have an opinion, suggestion or alternates….

We’ll focus on the concept combo of fun and development.

From the prior list, here’s what we have. We need to flesh out some more headlines with this strategy in mind.

It may look like a dance DVD. But it’s a confidence booster in disguise.

It is a fun dance DVD. It’s also an investment in your child’s emotional development.

Your child thinks it’s a great dvd.

This is a good position but needs some finessing.

Foster your child’s self esteem by nurturing her potential and desires in a fun way

STEP ONE- Intro
STEP TWO- Defining a Target Market.
STEP THREE- Strategies and Headlines- You are at Step Three

I’ve drawn from ideas you guys have posted and my own to develop what you see here.

Strategy Positioning Statement:

This dvd nurtures emotional growth in children by inspiring self expression which is the key to fostering self confidence and success.

Target Market- There’s a lot more to the target of course. See Step Two for an idea of defining the target:

Women with daughters who want toys or DVDs that nurture something or offer some developmental or educational benefit. They are the segment of the market who will value this the most and are most likely to see the benefit of this DVD. While there are many potential target markets, we want the target who will value what it has to offer the most and aim communications at that market. Headline Ideas:

[Read more →]

STEP ONE- Intro
STEP TWO- Defining a Target Market- You are at Step Two
STEP THREE- Strategies and Headlines.

Definining this target and what they are like. Remember, there are probably many target audiences but we’re looking for the audience who will value it the most or simply an audience who will pay. So I’m going to define the group we’re after. As Emma says, the “baby einstein” crowd.

Once you exhaustively define the audience, the other parts, such as the position and the headline, start to fall into place. Our main audience is the stay-at-home mom.

[Read more →]

STEP ONE- You are at Step One
STEP TWO- Defining a Target Market.
STEP THREE- Strategies and Headlines.

This is actually more than a headline writing exercise. But it will illustrate what happens BEFORE you write a headline for any piece of communication you put out there for the purpose of selling a product or service. In this case, the end product will be a headline that defines a position for a product that will appear on a landing page on a website. It will engage the target market by hitting on something important to this market and sell the product as something that offers a benefit important enough to this target, they’d be crazy not to buy it.

By doing this challenge you learn a simplified version of the process of branding your product so that it sells to a particular market. You learn the value of positioning a product, establishing a strategy around which you can base all your communications and how to write headlines that engage the target and sell to the market that values the product and can understand the benefits. You learn something you can use for your very own benefit whether that is to sell something yourself or to learn more about how to be a better copywriter. Still others know the process and are sharing their expertise. Even if you can’t do clever, you can write a headline that offers a clear benefit to your target.

You don’t want the audience that will be hard to sell–an audience that would just as soon park their kids in front of a soap opera with a bag of cheetos. Or an audience for whom $45 represents most of their weekly grocery money. So here are the steps we’ll take.

[Read more →]

Phrases like that are basically internet litter. Only if you are in the business of selling welcome mats is this anywhere close to a targeted headline. Even then it’s a banal excuse for one. But it’s everywhere. Stop the madness! It is WASTED space.

‘Welcome to my website’ is nothing more than a flashing neon sign that says you have no earthly idea WHAT to say. You don’t want to take the time to use that very space to draw your target audience in. At the very least you could state in plain language what it is your blog or website is about. Stated as a benefit for the end user, of course. It’s the default headline because templates come with it as a placeholder. You don’t leave the placeholder banner and logo in there. You even go to the trouble to strip the designer’s line out– yet you leave welcome to my blog or website front and center in what is normally your most crucial space.

So consider it a missed opportunity. And work on something better.

I will be addressing headlines and how to make one more targeted soon. Translation: When I can get a break from real copywriting work and come play ‘headline fun’ with you guys.

I just hit over 20% open rate with one client. How? One, by building a very specific list and catering to my target market. Here are some tips for improving the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns and some resources that suit your style and abilities.

· Make your subject line credible and straightforward.

o Examples include: News from mywebsite.com. mywebsite.com invitation. I know it’s not super clever but the open rates for emails with the company name in the subject line stand a better chance of getting opened and not sent to the junk mail bin.

o Words like “shop” are too vague subject lines just don’t make the cut.

o More straightforward subject lines are less likely to end up as spam.

[Read more →]