Alan Gayle is a sales and marketing consultant specialising in the construction industry and working in the stone sector for more than a decade. In this column he offers advice on how to make an impact in the market. This time he takes a further look at writing good copy.

Last month I promised to give you some copywriting secrets to help you convert prospects into customers. But before we get started, a quick re-cap:

• Marketing is all about communication and after talking with your potential clients directly, writing is the most important communication method in marketing
• Because of quick and easy access to our competitors through the internet, high quality, persuasive copywriting is more important now than ever before
• Copywriting in promotional material such as brochures, websites and advertisements should persuade your readers to take action
• Your copywriting should relate specifically to your customers’ needs.

And, to be clear, do not confuse copywriting with copyright. Copyright is intellectual ownership of published material such as words, photographs and, these days, computer programs that is automatically conferred on the owner (usually the person who created them) by law. Copywriting is writing words.

I ended last month’s article with a promise of ‘easy-to-apply copywriters’ secrets so you can write copy that converts’ and presented a preview of what was to come this month.

I’m sure readers who are keen to improve their copywriting will be eagerly awaiting this article to learn those secrets.

What I did by engendering that anticipation is called ‘creating an open loop’. The idea is to generate curiosity and anticipation so the reader comes back for more.

The other thing I did was to focus on my reader’s needs. The same principles apply to marketing your business.

Asking your potential customers to read your newsletter or watch your video is a self-serving request. You might benefit from them reading / watching it, but how will they benefit? If you want them to do what you’re asking, you’ve got to address their question: What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM).

So tell them why it’s relevant. Let them know how it addresses their needs, what they will gain, or how other customers benefitted. If they can see what’s in it for them, they will be far more likely to read your message.

Now, on to those copywriting secrets I’ve been promising. Space is limited, so I can only devote a few lines to each point. But, depending on your responses, I can cover certain aspects in more detail in the future.

Headlines

The headline (or subject line in an email) is the single most important element of the message. Why? Because it will determine whether or not the advert, website page or email is actually read. There are lots of theories about what types of headlines work best – long versus short, questions versus statements, labels versus sentences and so on. But, above all, keep in mind that the purpose of your headline is to get your reader to read the first sentence of your message.

Images

The use of images in whatever you are producing can certainly help to get your message across. It is true that a picture can be worth 1,000 words. But it is not true that it inevitably is. It can get in the way. When using images in your promotional marketing (this doesn’t apply to technical literature and case studies, which really do need images for illustrative purposes), the primary objective of the image is to draw attention to the copy (text) so your words are read and the message reaches its target. When you are trying to persuade potential customers to do something, images alone will have a limited effect. It’s your words that will convince them to send you an enquiry, not your images.

Language

To help build trust and confidence, you want your intended readers to feel you understand them. To achieve this, adopt their language, terminology and tone of voice. Don’t be afraid to use technical terms but don’t over-do it. If you want architects to contact you early in the design process, by all means suggest Stage D is the ideal time for a meeting. Just make sure your language is easily understood and relevant to the person you are addressing.

I’ve run out of space for this month, so I’ll cover the remaining five points I want to make next month… leaving you with another open loop.

Alan Gayle has worked in sales and marketing roles in the construction industry since 1993. Following a successful career with some of the UK’s leading building product manufacturers, he has worked in the stone sector more than a decade. He now runs Keystone Construction Marketing, a marketing agency specialising in the construction industry. The agency works with building contractors, subcontractors and building product suppliers to help them increase their sales and improve their margins.