by: Daniel Levis
Here’s one of your biggest opportunities to outflank the competition online. Use your website as a Direct Marketing vehicle, in the classical sense. Have a very tightly defined action that you want people to take, and focus all of your efforts on getting people to take that action.
Few websites operate under this cardinal rule of Direct Marketing.
As a result, all too many business people labor under the fatal assumption that their prospects will make buying decisions based on minimal information. They assume that if someone is interested, they will take the next logical step.
Not so.
Minimal information might work for ultra low-ticket items, but chances are, what you’re selling takes more explaining than you think.
Like any good Direct Marketing piece worth it’s salt, your website should actively “anticipate” and address all of the questions your prospects are likely to have about your product or service.
Questions like,
How do I know your product or service does what you say it does?
Why should I believe your claims?
How do I know your product or service will work for me?
How long will it take for me to start making a profit with my purchase?
How much effort will it take for me to begin using your product?
Where can I get it cheaper?
If your price seems low, why is it low? If it seems high, why is it high?
I could go on & on, but you get the picture.
Now let me ask you, do you know the top ten questions that are running through your prospects mind when they visit your website? Are you answering those questions in the copy, or are you waiting, hoping, and praying they’ll ask?
If you’re serious about growing your business exponentially & marketing your products for big profits, you’ve got to educate your customers. There’s no getting around it.
What exactly does that mean?
It means you’ve got to make a commitment to getting your complete story out. And in that story, you’ve got to address all of the concerns that are going on in the minds of your customer. It sounds simple, but there’s a catch.
You have to do it in a way that holds their attention. Learn to write benefit driven direct marketing style copy, or hire a professional copywriter to do it for you.
Then decide how you will communicate that story in a way that is at once effective & cost efficient. On the web, there is never an excuse for vague generalities. You’ve got all the room in the world for meaningful specifics. Can you think of a better, or less costly place to tell a clear concise, and complete sales story?
Name another advertising medium where it doesn’t make a cost difference whether you put one word on a page or 10,000.
Make a commitment to learn all you can about your customer’s buying process. What are they thinking when they have a problem you can solve? What’s running through their minds when they need what you’ve got?
You’ve got to answer those questions.
Don’t gloss over this. It’s really important!
And then forget your fear of telling your prospects too much on your web site. Concentrate on telling all of the facts, in a way that captivates their interest & attention. Once you have that, you qualify for their desire & action!
Direct marketing readership tests prove that with well written copy, readership doesn’t fall off dramatically until about 300 words, & then stays constant right up to about 3000 words, before dropping off again significantly.
Most advertising is hollow. Educate your customers with panache, & articulate the reasons why they benefit uniquely from purchasing from you. Then sit back & watch your business grow & your profits soar!
Copyright 2005 Daniel Levis