Five Ways to Improve Your Marketing Material with Fewer Words
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Five Ways to Improve Your Marketing Material with Fewer Words
By Jeremy Cohen
http://www.bettermarketingresults.com
You can sell more by writing less.
If you are like many small business owners you may
unwittingly suffer from “too many words” syndrome. It
occurs when your marketing material features extra words
that don’t contribute to creating new business.
When your marketing material is too wordy you blur the
clarity of your marketing message. The less clearly your
prospects understand how you can help them the less likely
they are to buy from you. You want your marketing message
to come through without interference.
Too many words syndrome can rear its ugly head in just about
any copy. It’s been known to lurk in web sites, brochures,
direct mail and newspaper ads, to name just a few places
it’s been found.
There is no reason to fear, however. The causes of too many
words syndrome can be isolated and removed to improve your
marketing material.
Should you choose to inspect and upgrade your copy you will
need to know what to look for and what to do. Here are some
tips to help you spot and eliminate bloated copy.
In a nutshell, what you need to do is remove unnecessary
words. The first step is identifying them. Look for the
words that don’t contribute to one of the following goals:
Attracting Attention
Clients know what they want and are attracted to words that
describe their needs. When they read words that describe
something that concerns them they recognize something
familiar and take notice. Your ads will be noticed more
often by focusing your copy around words that that describe
your clients’ needs.
Describing Results
Clients buy results. They do not care about the fancy
process you use or that you are the leader in your industry.
What they care about is that you can provide what they
need. You can sell more when your copy clearly describes
the results and benefits you provide.
Conveying Value
Clients seek value. Your copy must help your prospects
perceive that they will get more for their money if the buy
from you. You can demonstrate value by offering something
none of your competitors offer or by doing something more
efficiently. You can also create value by giving away
something useful in return for your clients’ business.
Creating Urgency
Clients buy when they perceive their need for your product
or service as being at least somewhat urgent. The urgency
you seek for your prospects can stem naturally from their
current circumstance or artificially from copy you create.
If you’ve done your job conveying value you have a better
chance of successfully prodding your prospects to buy sooner
rather than later.
One way to create urgency with words is to limit the
availability of your offer. Just be sure to truly limit the
availability of the offer you make. If you don’t, you risk
losing credibility.
Requiring Action
Before your clients buy from you they must be told what to
do. It’s unfortunate, but true. An excited prospect may
choose not to pursue a sale simply because he or she wasn’t
clearly instructed to do so. Be sure your copy includes
explicit instructions that are simple and to the point.
As you spot words in your marketing material that don’t
contribute to one of the five goals listed above delete
them. You will most likely have to do a small editing job
to get your remaining words to sound just right. The work
is worth it.
While you scan your copy ask yourself questions like:
Does this word, phrase or sentence contribute to
accomplishing one of the five copy writing goals?
Would this sentence or phrase lose its meaning or be more
clear if I remove this particular word or phrase.
Are any of these word or phrases redundant in meaning?
When you’re done editing your copy it should be shorter than
what it was when you started. It should also be easier to
read and more crisply convey your marketing message.
What is your marketing message?
Copyright 2005, Better Marketing Results and Jeremy Cohen
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Jeremy Cohen
http://www.bettermarketingresults.com
Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and professional service providers improve response to their marketing, increase sales and be more successful with his coaching service and marketing guides. Download his FREE Business Building Marketing Guide Collection: http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/
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