The Magic of Writing Salesletters
By Anna Johnson on February 7th, 2009I began my professional working life as a copywriter at a major international advertising agency (Grey Advertising). I started off writing retail catalogs and developed invaluable skills and knowledge as I learned about the ad business.
But it wasn’t until I was running my OWN business that I learned about writing sales letters. And now I believe that writing sales letters is the BEST way to start off as a copywriter AND a marketer.
Even if you NEVER use sales letters in your marketing.
Here’s why…
Try this exercise. Really. In fact I promise you that if you do what I’m about to suggest you will develop the power to dramatically improve your marketing.
Just follow these steps:
1. Forget everything you’ve learned about marketing. Including all the great stuff you might have learned from the likes of Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, etc.
2. Imagine the ideal prospect for your product or service. See them in your mind’s eye and take a few moments to think about who they are. Their gender, age, occupation, interests, fears, hopes, dreams, etc. Give them a name.
As you’re building a picture of who your prospect is, try to FEEL how they feel. As much as you can, put yourself in their shoes and feel what they feel – their level of anxiety, tension, stress, passion, love, excitement, etc.
3. Once you don’t just ‘think’ you know your prospect, but FEEL you know your prospect, prepare to write them a letter.
Now, this is going to be a personal, heartfelt letter NOT a ‘sales letter.’ On that basis, you may wish to write long-hand or on the computer, depending on which will maximize your ability to be as personal as possible.
4. Write a letter to your prospect in which you express your empathy for what big problem or opportunity they face, and why and how your product or service will solve that problem or allow them to reap that opportunity.
But, again, do NOT write a ‘sales letter.’ In fact, imagine there’s NOTHING in it for you if they buy what you offer.
So forget about properly ‘structuring’ your letter. Forget about having a headline or subhead. Forget about where to put bullet points, testimonials, guarantees, calls to action or any of the ‘selling elements’ you’d typically find by a sales letter.
Instead, write a genuine letter to your prospect that shows that you ‘get’ them, that you care about them, and that you have what they’re looking for.
Express yourself as openly and genuinely as possible. Tell them stories, even YOUR story – about how you came to develop your product and solution. Say anything and everything that comes to mind that allows you to connect with them on an emotional level.
But, as much as you can, do it in a way that’s as CLOSE to expressing yourself honestly with someone you care about… and AWAY from being a faceless business trying to sell stuff.
Oh, and don’t worry about spelling or writing correctly. Remember this is not a marketing piece per se. This is YOU writing a personal letter to someone.
5. When you’ve finished the letter, notice how you feel and what you’ve just discovered.
Chances are you have just reached a new level of understanding about (a) your prospect and (b) how you can reach them on a personal, emotional level.
Why is this important? Because once you REALLY understand your prospect and know how to connect with them on a deep level you have the KEY to persuading them to buy from you.
You can now apply that new understanding to everything you do in your business, and particularly your marketing communications.
What’s more, even though the letter you’ve just written isn’t, strictly speaking, a sales letter, it probably forms the basis for one of the most powerful sales letters or other marketing pieces you could ever write or have written!
That’s right, even though I urged you not to write a ‘sales letter’… I really was prompting you to write a sales letter.
But not some artificial sales letter stuffed with all the tactical elements you can think of… a REAL sales letter that is first and foremost a personal letter from you to your prospect.
And, sure, now that you’ve written such a letter, you can go back (or get your copywriter to go back) and enhance it with appropriate headlines, subheads, testimonials, bullet points, a stronger call to action, etc.
But regardless of whether or not you end up using the letter, you will still benefit a great deal from this exercise.
You see, the best thing about the exercise – and why I believe writing a sales letter of this kind is so valuable to you as a copywriter and/or marketer – is the enlightenment you get from going through such a process.
Try it let me know what you think!
