If you read our last “Copy That 3” post, you’ll hopefully remember our tip for preparing to write good sales copy. If you missed it, this was the pearl that we provided:

“A great offer with poor copy will always perform better than a poor offer with great copy.”

A good offer – better still, an irresistible offer - can make all the difference in the world for generating desired results for your direct marketing efforts. Our Copy That 2 post is full of several suggested questions to consider when determining what your offer could (or should) be comprised from.

The following five points come from the Dan Kennedy school of copy writing in terms of what your offer might (or should) include:

1. Something new as in new products, new services, new prices.
2. A sale or specially discounted prices.
3. A bonus or premium for purchasing or even just for coming in.
4. A gift for responding.
5. A time limit on the offer to stimulate prompt response.

This is what Dan Kennedy has to say concerning these five points: “the best offer includes all five of these ingredients. In fact, whenever I write a sales letter for a client, I will typically include every one of them. Think of it this way. Why would you bother to go to all of the trouble, time, and expense to send your customers or prospects an offer and settle for a lousy result?”

So far, this Copy That series has only dealt with the concept of developing and expanding on the quality of your offer – and why? Good question, we’re glad you asked! The answer is two fold:

1. “A great offer with poor copy will always perform better than a poor offer with great copy.” – But you already know that!:-)
2. A crystal clear understanding of your offer, your value added, your unique selling proposition - with an accurate and complete list of features, advantages and benefits – allows for the creation of effective copy and interesting headlines that will resonate with a greater percentage of readers from your target audience.

The structure of your eventual copy is a pretty simple process - but not necessarily an easy process. Simple means that there is a formula that is repeatable and to a degree, elements of this formula are based on science and psychology that have proven to be successful.

Just be very, very clear on what your offer really means to your prospect - continue to add even more value – and that compelling selling proposition is what you want to communicate to your prospect.

WARNING: Knowing exactly what your market wants can be highly accretive to your success!

If you really want to super charge your offer you’ll need some real marketing muscle. Stay tuned to Copy That and we’ll show you how to feed your hungry audience exactly what they want!:-)