Whaddup.If you're a business owner and you're selling STUFF - then you need to compel your audience to buy that STUFF. That's what I do.I've spent years learning about what makes people buy things - and I've learned how to translate that into compelling copy that converts. I want to share as much as I've learned with you.Like how to...Write copy because you know who your audience is, not because you're guessingWrite in the voice of your customerWrite copy that kisses the screenWrite in a way that you stand outEnd blank page syndromeYou feeling me?
How do you stand out on Black Friday?
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Reader You'll need a notepad and a cup of coffee for this one. It's a long one. And a goodie. You're going to KILL Black Friday when we're done. Here's what I've got for you today, in a 🥜: 💡My Favourite Finds (for more growth, engagement, and learning) 💡How to REALLY leverage Black Friday Cyber Monday 💡This week on the socials - my top LinkedIn experiences 💡The Friday YES-ness My Favourite Finds Something BOSH is here just for you I don't know what bosh means, I just made it up, but it sounds about right for what I'm about to tell you. Back in September, in all the circles I move in, I hear this: What are we doing for Black Friday this year? And mostly the reply is...let's put the loser on sale. The thing no one bought. The thing that's hardest to sell. Ummm...yawnsville. It's just so utterly lazy. Now, Black Friday is rough. You've got hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of other entrepreneurs, businesses and organisations to compete with. How do you stand out? How do you get someone to opt into your Black Friday offer over everyone else's? Two years ago, I ran a Black Friday offer, and it bombed. Not a single sale. It was so utterly depressing that last year I just couldn't face it. I could not face getting into that rat race and competing with the entire world and their Black Friday offers. You don't HAVE to get involved in Black Friday, Cyber Monday (BFCM). You really don't. You can let it waft on by... But, it's also an opportunity for you to stand out from some pretty shitty BFCM deals. If you know how. You ready? Let's go.
You cannot (must not) never sell to your email list or LinkedIn followers, and then on BFCM come out with some magnetic offer that you think will turn people from mere observers into keen buyers. You have to train people to buy from you. Every month, put out an offer - big or small. Get people to understand that your really good shit comes with a price. 2. Analyse BCFM marketing materials Save any and all emails that intrigue you, or get you to click a button, or move you to act in some way (download something, buy something). Keep those emails in a swipe file folder, and analyse the bejeezus out of them. What intrigues you? How have they been written? What are the hooks? What sticky language jumps out at you? Remember these tricks when it comes to writing your own BFCM emails and social posts. 3. Do your research What has your audience bought from you in the past? Where are they at in their journey? What are they after? This will take time to figure out. Hop on calls, ask questions, listen to what people are saying online. Everyone is signalling all the time - they have problems they need solving. How can you help them? 4. Voice of Customer Research This is something I bang on about all the time. HOW does your audience speak? What words do they use? How do they phrase their problems? When you lock into that, you start using sticky language in your writing. Your writing becomes less generic and more specific. And that's when you start to move the needle. (Pro tip: ChatGPT and AI can't do this work) 5. Now, plan your emails Based on your research, what is the single most life-changing offer you can present to your people? That's your BFCM offer. 6. The email sequence (10 emails in total) Right. Here's the juice. One email is not enough. Two emails are not enough. Neither is three. Nor four. You need a mininum of 10 emails for this campaign. Pre-campaign emails (Two emails) EMAIL 1: Tease the offer. Inspire curiosity to boost engagement. Establish the great reason you’re about to offer what you’re gonna offer. Describe the offer so it sounds particularly amazing, locking in your prospects’ desire for it. Invite them to vote! Encourage them to commit by saying yes, by driving them to a confirmation page that reinforces how smart they are by making this decision. You also need to tag them in your email platform so that you know they're hot leads. Go one step further by inviting them to OPT OUT, but discourage the opt-out by making the copy reflect a version of themselves that they don't want to be. Drive them to a clear confirmation page that explains the email address they used to opt-out will not receive emails in this campaign. Tag them in the email platform to opt subscribers out of the campaign (so you can suppress them). Make it clear to them that whether they opt in or not, it's happening. You're doing it, and if they want in, they should add it to their calendar (you can go one step further by creating a link that adds it to their calendar for them). EMAIL 2: Continue teasing the offer. Pick a fight with other marketers of the world and distinguish yourself as anything but them. Describe the core of your offer in detail, bringing your reader to early product aware, but don't state the price. Tell them how the world values this offer in dollars (or pounds, or Euros or whatever you work in) - but don't state the price. Tell your prospect when they can expect to get access to this offer and make it sound even better by comparing the price of it to something more expensive but much lower value. Directly connect the offer with the #1 outcome your prospect most wants. Get specific so it comes to life. If possible, make this outcome feel timely. Invite them to avoid missing out. Drive clicks to a confirmation page that reinforces the cleverness of their decision. Tag them in your email platform to indicate high intent. Do the same for people who want to opt-out. Campaign emails (6 emails) EMAIL 3: Focus on the "Why" to help your prospects see themselves as those who should buy your solution. State the essential Why that your prospect has for considering purchasing your product. Then agitate that Why. What’s the why behind the why? Add in layers here. Get readers nodding. Now, counter your reader’s assumption that they don’t belong in the category of people who buy your product by showing them the types of people who buy. Detail your offer. Finish by saying it’s okay if they inadvertently end up being the person they didn’t think they were, thanks to your solution. EMAILS 4-6: Speak to the fact that this is the best time to get this best possible offer. Use countdown timers. The takeaway, right out of the gate, needs to be “legit, this is it.” This is the last time you’ll get a chance at an offer this amazing. Create urgency by reiterating to them that this is all about NOW. So remind them why NOW is the best time to buy - not just because the offer is ending, but because the outcomes they want can’t wait another minute. Give a swift rundown of what they’ll get with this offer. If you’ve really gone for a Best Possible Offer, make sure your reader knows that this doesn’t come along regularly. HINT: To increase clicks to your sales page - which you’ll want to do if you know your sales page converts well - don’t state your price in your email. Hint at the awesomeness of the savings, but make your reader click to find the price. This is a great way to move your prospect to the highest-converting part of the funnel. Your prospect is at the tipping point - they can move forward and not let this moment pass, or they can fall backwards and avoid the good change (which they actually need and want but fear) - we need to remind them that the old way is not worth returning to. Then promise them your better new way. Keep the momentum going - if they’re still nodding with you toward the end of this campaign, in which you have opened up a whole new world for them and got them to the point of realising what they're missing, this is where you get them to say yes to this new world. Or get them to opt out. Decisively. Post-campaign emails (4 emails) EMAILS 7-10: Extend your offer and reinforce that the extension is very short. Recap the offer - but importantly try to avoid giving an excuse for the deal extension unless there is a valid, believable excuse. It's not enough to just mention the offer - you need to shine a light through your offer so they can see all its parts. Remember that not everyone opens your emails all the time - some people will have missed the deadline (and they'll be jazzified for the extended opportunity to buy… while others might have missed the whole campaign). Reinforce the fact that this is an offer you've never given before, and you never will again. This is it. Make them understand that this is the best reason for extending the deal. Are you excited yet? Need more details on how to get this all done? I'm offering one-on-one copy and content coaching. You can have my brain all to yourself - take a look here.
This week on the socials...
Like them? Pay me, in Likes👍, and Comments💬, and Shares🔁. And some Friday YES-ness I appreciate you, Ash. PS Listen to my actual VOICE (flat South African accent and all) Get 90 minutes (a one-off session) of my brain in your business - I'll help you with strategy, content creation, an email sequence, planning a lead magnet...whatever you need. Or we can shoot the breeze, drink coffee and talk about dogs - $597 for 90 minutes which I'll invoice you for once you've booked. Grab my 90-minute ChatGPT workshop, all the prompts and all the LinkedIn templates here. - Finally prompt ChatGPT properly so you can squeeze the juice out of it, and create content that stands out from the yawn of AI. Signed up for my newsletter by mistake? Maybe even drunk? No problemo. Take control. Unsub below.👇 |
Your Write Hand
Whaddup.If you're a business owner and you're selling STUFF - then you need to compel your audience to buy that STUFF. That's what I do.I've spent years learning about what makes people buy things - and I've learned how to translate that into compelling copy that converts. I want to share as much as I've learned with you.Like how to...Write copy because you know who your audience is, not because you're guessingWrite in the voice of your customerWrite copy that kisses the screenWrite in a way that you stand outEnd blank page syndromeYou feeling me?
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