When I mention, “sales,” what do you think of?
Maybe you think of a vacuum salesman in a suit and fedora, going door to door offering to vacuum people’s living rooms to demonstrate how well his products work.
Or maybe you think of a car salesman in a Hawaiian shirt, smiling broadly from behind his mirrored sunglasses as he tries to convince you a Ferrari is just what you need for your family of four kids.
Or maybe it’s the guys at the circus, walking up and down the aisles, bellowing, “Cotton candy! Get your cotton candy!”
You’ll notice that in all of these examples, “sales” comes across as pushy, loud, maybe even slightly uncomfortable. (I mean, who wants a stranger vacuuming her living room carpet? Okay, okay, you’re right: getting someone—anyone—to vacuum your carpet is a pretty sweet deal.) 😉
But if you’re a businesswoman or entrepreneur, chances are you don’t love the idea of selling, even though you know your product or service has the potential to provide your clients with dramatic transformation.
If that sounds familiar, stick with me.
We both know you have to sell in order to grow your business, right? Right. So today, I want to offer you an alternative to traditional selling … an alternative that emphasizes some of your feminine characteristics, like nurturing and empowering others:
Replace fear with love in your marketing materials.
This idea is inspired by my second love-based copy book, The Love-Based Copy writing System, and as one of your fellow women in business, I am really excited to share it with you! I have a feeling it’s going to change the way you feel about marketing … and therefore, it’ll hopefully change the results you get from your marketing, too.
First, a little background:
You know those really long sales letters you find on the Internet where you scroll and scroll and scroll, looking for the price?
You probably dislike them for several different reasons, right? As a businesswoman, you may feel pressured to use them in your business, even though they make you feel kind of “icky.” You may feel unsure of how to convey what you want to through the writing.
Maybe you don’t even like writing. You may feel extra-cautious about coming across as pushy. You may feel like it’s impossible to describe, in words, the transformation you provide.
I have some good news, and some bad news.
Bad news first: those long copy sales letters work. They’re really effective in selling. So you’re doing yourself and your business a disservice if you don’t learn to write them.
Now, the good news: you can learn to write those long copy sales letters—and lots of other promotional/marketing materials—in a way that feels good to you and your prospects … and in a way that works!
First, you’ve got to understand the reason why so many pieces of traditional sales copy feel so icky. It’s the same reason you imagine pushy, loud salespeople when I mention the word, “sales.”
A lot of traditional direct response copy writing (which what it’s called when you write those very long sales letters) is based in fear.
People make buying decisions based on emotions. So that means if you want to have effective direct response copy, it must tap into emotions. Fear, of course, is a very strong emotion… but it’s also exactly what makes you feel “icky” around sales.
Here’s some even better news:
You have a choice.
You don’t have to use fear.
You can tap into love-based emotions like respect, hope, and transformation instead of fear-based emotions like shame, guilt, and worry.
I can hear you right now: “This sounds great, Michele! But how do I do that?”
I won’t leave you hanging! Today, I’m sharing 3 concepts to keep in mind as you write your promotional materials. These can guide you in writing love-based copy … and in turn, selling more.
- Get to know your ideal clients. I’m not talking demographics like age and career choice. I’m talking about who they really are – straight down to the values that drive them. Identify what their values are, what motivates them, what moves them and what keeps them up at night. Know them as closely as you know a good friend. When you write, write directly to their values, motivations, inspirations and worries.
- Be respectful when you touch on pain. I know, I know, you don’t want to talk about their pain at all, right? So many women entrepreneurs shy away from talking about their ideal clients’ pain/problems because they don’t want to be arm-twisty. I admit, this is a little confusing. Here’s the thing: talking about someone’s pain is NOT the same as using fear-based tactics. Pain is a part of life, and you provide your product or program or service to help people move beyond a specific type of pain. If you don’t mention that pain in your promotional materials, how will your ideal clients even know if you can help them? How will they ever see what’s possible beyond the pain they’re in? That being said, it’s important to touch briefly on pain and then immediately move into your solution. You see, suffering is different from pain. Suffering takes place in our minds, thanks to fear-based emotions, and exacerbates the pain.
So, where fear-based copy causes suffering, love-based copy acknowledges the pain and shares a solution—an opportunity for ideal clients to choose to get out of the pain they’re in.
- Write your promotional materials as if you’re writing to a friend (not someone you spotted as a “sucker” across the used-car parking lot). Remember earlier when I said you should know your ideal client like you would a friend? This is why — I want you to sit down to write to your friend when you write to your ideal client.
Instead of looking at your promotions as arm-twisty events where you have to be conniving and pushy, look at them as an opportunity to share your passion and energy around providing a powerful transformation: helping your ideal clients get past their pain so they can experience what they want and deserve to experience. When you come from a place of passion and friendship, you naturally move away from the fear-based emotions and into love-based.
That feels better, doesn’t it?
I invite you to spend the next few weeks focusing love, and see if it transforms the way you think about marketing! I have a feeling you’re going to enjoy this!
What I’ve covered here is truly just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re interested in learning more, definitely check out my book “Love-Based Copywriting System: A Step-by-Step Process to Master Writing Copy That Attracts, Inspire and Invites,” on Amazon.
Michele PW (Pariza Wacek) is the best-selling author of the “Love-Based Copywriting” books that teach people how to write copy that attracts, inspires and invites, and the owner of Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, the premiere direct response copywriting and marketing agency through which she guides entrepreneurs in attracting more clients and boosting their business. Grab your FREE Love-Based Biz Kit here: http://www.MichelePW.com