Writing persuasive copy is an art, and that art has changed more in the past few years than it has at any other time in history. In 2022 you need to:
- Be Relevant.
- Be Pain-point focused.
- Be Benefit-driven.
- Use Storytelling.
- Show Proof of product benefits.
- Avoid Language barriers.
- Use Authentic brand voice and tone.
- Be Mobile first
- Authenticity
The Internet and mobile phones have transformed the way we buy products, interact with brands, and even think about the world around us. If you want to be a master of persuasion in this era of technology, you need to understand how your audience thinks—and purchase—in this new technological age. So let’s explore ten tactics that will help you write persuasive copy for today’s market:
1. Be relevant
Relevance is the cornerstone of persuasive writing. If it’s not relevant, you’re wasting your time and the reader’s time by not just reading something else or ignoring it altogether. You’re also missing out on a golden opportunity to sell products, services, and ideas that people actually want and need—and that they might even pay for!
And if there’s one thing I know about consumers in this day and age (and I’ve spent enough time watching them), they love being entertained while they shop online or in person at retail stores near their homes or offices. Relevant content doesn’t have to be boring; it can be funny sometimes too! Just make sure that whatever style you decide upon matches up with your brand identity so as not to confuse potential buyers who may otherwise get confused into thinking they’re buying something else entirely (eek!).
Relevance means that you are connecting with your audience on a level that they will understand and appreciate. The way you do this is by taking the time to understand their needs, challenges, and desires. You want to create an argument that resonates with them and makes sense for them. In order to do this, you need to know who they are and what they want. Once you know those things, then all you have to do is create something that will convince them.
2. Address pain points
Pain points are the reasons people buy. They’re also the reasons people don’t buy, and they’re your chance to address those pain points in your copy. For example, maybe you sell a book on how to be a better writer, but your audience gets frustrated with their work because their ideas aren’t coming together as well as they’d like. If that’s the case, then you could make it clear that this book can help them meet their goals by providing specific instructions for writing better stories that will get readers excited about what’s next.
That’s just one example of how pain points can be addressed—you can find more by asking yourself: “What do people want most?” and “What is standing in their way of getting it?”
3. Focus on benefits
Benefits are what your customers will get from using your product or service. Benefits are the things that make your customer feel good.
Benefit statements are statements that tell the reader why they should use your product, not just what it is. Your benefit statement should be a sentence or two long and should convey to the reader how their life will improve by using what you have to offer.
For example: “Enjoy being in control of all of your finances without any effort on your part” is a benefit statement for a financial management app.
Benefit statements do not need to be boring or too wordy, nor do they need to be too short (or else people won’t understand what it’s about). Here are some examples:
4. Use storytelling
You know what’s more interesting than a bland, generic story about how your product can help someone? A story that’s personal. If you’re selling something like luggage or eyeglasses, use a brief anecdote from your own life—or from the lives of others—to illustrate how it could be useful. Tell us why you need it, and why we should care.
For example: “I was recently traveling with my wife to visit her family in Arizona. She had packed all her clothes into just two suitcases…a problem I knew would arise when she went to wash them.” This simple setup lets me relate directly to my target audience—a man who travels often with his family—and tells them exactly how they will benefit from using my product (suitcases). It also makes me seem like an expert because I’m using industry language (“suitcase” versus “suitcase”).
5. Offer proof
Offer proof. You’ve convinced the reader that you understand their problem and have a solution, but how do they know it works? How can they be sure that what you’re offering is trustworthy, or even real?
There are many ways to offer proof: testimonials from other clients who have seen results using your product; statistics showing how many people downloaded your eBook or signed up for a workshop; data on how much money was saved by switching from one insurance provider to another. The key question is, “How does this help my audience?” For example, if someone is looking for new ways to save money for retirement, there’s no point in quoting the average life expectancy in 2022 or explaining why one investment strategy may be better than another—those aren’t relevant pieces of information for them. Instead, show them what happens when someone does something differently—show them why it’s important enough for them to spend time reading about it!
6. Avoid language barriers
You want to write copy that’s easy for your readers to understand. This means you need to avoid complicated language, such as:
- “Is it not fair to say…” instead of “What I’m going to say next is…”
- “This is not exactly the case” instead of “Here’s how things really are…”
When writing the content for your marketing campaigns, it is important to use language that is not only clear and easy to understand, but also appropriate for the audience you are trying to reach. If you want to ensure that your message resonates with your target audience, you need to make sure that the language you use is universally understood.
It’s a good idea to avoid using technical terms or jargon in your copy. If a term is unfamiliar or difficult to understand, then it will be lost on most readers—including those who speak English as a first language!
Writing in an engaging and accessible way will help ensure that your message reaches its intended audience.
7. Highlight authenticity
If you want to be persuasive, authenticity is key. Your audience can tell when the words coming from your mouth are just a bunch of fluff and marketing speak, so it’s important that you write in a way that reflects who you really are and where your experience comes from.
If you’re selling coffee beans, for example, focus on how much coffee means to you personally—perhaps it helps get you through long hours at work or inspires creativity in your daily life. If someone needs convincing that they should buy from your store instead of another one nearby (or online), emphasize the fact that this is what makes yours different: “We roast our own beans fresh every morning! Come by and taste the difference!”
You can also use real photos and testimonials from customers who have experienced first-hand the benefits of purchasing at your business. Social proof is another great tactic; share posts about positive reviews on social media or write reviews yourself if possible (this usually isn’t allowed unless there’s some kind of affiliation between yourself and Yelp/Google).
8. Be mobile-first
Mobile-first means you write for mobile first, and then expand to other devices. It’s an important concept because more people access the internet from a phone than any other device (according to Pew Research), and it’s also easier to write content that works well on smaller screens.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post and plan on publishing it as one long page on your site, but you know that most readers will be reading your content via mobile devices (as opposed to desktop or laptop computers), then you have two options: 1) break up the text into three or four different pages so that readers can easily find what they’re looking for when using their phones; or 2) make sure the text is short enough so that all of it fits onto one page without requiring extensive scrolling by readers.
9. Use Authentic brand voice and tone
Your brand’s voice and tone is a huge part of what makes you unique. It’s the way you speak to your customers, the way you write copy, and the way you engage with them on social media.
Your brand’s voice and tone guide everything you do as an organization. They’re what sets your business apart from its competitors. And they’re what make your customers feel like they’re interacting with a person, not a machine or a faceless corporation.
But it’s easy for brands to lose sight of their authentic voice and tone in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of running a business. Over time, we can all get so focused on getting things done that we forget why we’re doing them in the first place: to connect with people, and make them feel good about themselves and their lives!
So how do you stay connected to your authentic brand voice? Here are three tips:
1) Keep up with your customers’ needs and desires through surveys, interviews, or focus groups (or even just by paying close attention to their comments on social media).
2) Be intentional about engaging with them in authentic ways (like sending handwritten notes), not just because it feels good to do so but because it helps build trust
3) Use these insights to inform the tone and content of your content.
Conclusion
As you can see, persuasive copywriting is a lot about writing for humans and not machines. Although the tips above might seem simple, they are often very difficult to pull off in practice. Don’t be disappointed if you struggle at first—copywriting is a skill that takes time to master.
Good luck! If you have any questions about persuasive copywriting in the future, please feel free to reach out to us by email at hello@trufan.io or on Twitter at @trufan-io!
