Agencies, Freelancers, Design, Copywriting & more.: [Copyblogger] Three Questions Your Copy Must Answer to Succeed

Three Questions Your Copy Must Answer to Succeed

Three Questions Your Copy Must Answer to Succeed

Three Copy Questions

We’re all the best. I don’t know one single person who tells a prospect, “I suck at this. Don’t work with me or buy from me, because I can’t do a good job or deliver a quality product.”

No, of course you wouldn’t say that. You’re great. You exceed expectations.

Is it enough?

Most likely not. Prospects are tuning out “best”. They’ve heard it before. They don’t care. They’re applying selective perception and suffering ad blindness to get rid of the noise.

So how do you go about telling people you rock? Easy. Prospects have three questions that factor into the decision to purchase. If you answer these three questions properly, you’ll convince them that you really are the right choice.

1. Why Do I Really Need This?

People often know what they need, but that’s irrelevant. They don’t take action to fulfill those needs because they often can’t justify the purchase to tip the scales to “Sold!”

You need to tell them why they really – and I mean really – need what you have.

Look beyond the obvious. The short-term benefits are a given. What’s beyond that? What’s down the road for the customer? What changes can you provoke right now that create an impact in a person’s life going forward?

Let’s day you're a freelance writer. Seriously, the client doesn’t need great content for his site. What he really needs is the ability to pay off his Visa bill, feed his kids, and make the mortgage each month. Your job is to convince him that great content will achieve his real goals.

That means tapping into the emotion of the buy. Find the root emotional needs whispering in the person’s mind, and you’ll turn that person into a customer.

2. Why Should I Choose You?

We all know the competition is stiff. There are few barriers to business entry and even fewer in the virtual world. That means a vast selection of people can fulfill any need under the sun.

Tell a story that convinces people you’re right for the job. It’s going to be a challenge, trust me – everyone is fast, affordable, professional and creative these days. But you can do it.

Delve into who you are. What are your qualities? Flaunt your brand image. What’s your personality? Show your values, both business and personal. What do you stand for? Aim for the heart. Tap into what matters to people.

Now use all these answers in your copy. Your “About Us” page is a great place to start. If you have a “Mission” page, stick them in there too. In fact, just about every page of your site could have these convincing answers sprinkled around to encourage people to choose you.

3. Why Should I Decide Now?

Most people are great procrastinators when it comes to spending money and changing their life. Put those two actions together and convincing someone just got tougher.

We like things just they way they are, even if things aren’t so good. Stagnation is nice and comfy. Change? Ha! What if trying to change doesn’t work out? What if we fail? Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t. We’ll sit right here and ignore opportunity, thank you very much.

Convincing people that you can change their life for the better is hard. You can’t prove good things will happen. They have to trust you – and extending trust can be risky.

So try to instill that sense of trust. Focus on all the potential positive effects of taking the decision. Talk about the benefits – short term and long term. Discuss the domino effect of change: the good that will happen immediately, the nice stuff that might happen as a side effect and the change that might happen in the future.

Of course, there are more ways to help convince people you’re the best (without saying you’re the best) – can you think up a few?

About the Author: If you want someone who tells you the truth, holds your hand when you need it and makes you look good so that you can earn more clients, money and reputation, then visit James Chartrand's blog, Men with Pens. Better yet, grab his RSS feed here.