Your sales letter (or sales pitch) can make or break your marketing campaign.  Before you create a single ad, whether it be a post card flier, a telemarketing sales pitch, an email letter, or a 30 second TV or radio commercial, create the perfect sales letter first.  Once it’s done, you will have a strong template from which you can adjust for any type of marketing medium.

1. Identify the prospects problem (hook them).

Imagine your prospect giving you 5 seconds to keep his attention.  Don’t waste the precious time doing anything other than expressing the problem.  There is a difference in identifying the problem and relating to the problem (see must have #2).  Expressing the problem is done by writing a catchy headline.  It’s your chance to keep the prospects attention for an additional 5 seconds.  What we’ve accomplished so far is “the hook.”  Now lets start to reel them in closer.

2.  Relate to the prospects problem (comfort them).

Now it’s time to relate to the prospect by personally relating to his problem.  This may sound confusing, but trust me, it’s not.  Here, you need to express that you’ve had the same problem; that you know what it’s like to be in the same situation.  Be creative here and make sure you talk in the past tense.  You “had” the problem, now your going to introduce the solution, which leads us into must have #3.

3.  Provide the solution (educate them).

Now you have the opportunity to introduce the solution.  Talk about your product, it’s problem solving qualities and how it will solve the prospects problem as it did yours.  You have achieved capturing the attention of your prospect if you’ve written good hook and comfort lines.  You’ve earned some extra attention time so lets introduce the product.

4. Call to action (sell them).

You’ve done the basics and have met some pretty good requirements to be able to ask someone to spend money.  There is of course more you can do to seal the deal but for now, let’s give them an opportunity to respond.  This is what’s called a call to action or more specifically a “quick call to action.” we will cover here in a second.  A telemarketer would take this opportunity to ask, “will you be using your MasterCard or Visa today.”  You can do something as simple as a “click here to get started today,” or perhaps a “call now” with a phone number.  Just a quick opportunity for the prospect make the emotional decision to sale.  In the event the prospect needs more before he sales, we’ll continue to give him more.

5. Create urgency (motivate them).

Be creative again and create a reason for an urgent response.  Usually, we see the ads expressed “limited time.”  That’s a pretty generic approach.  When creating urgency, stick with it.  If your only offering a quantity of 50 at a discounted price, increase it when 50 are sold.   Newspaper coupon ads push weekly sales, ending usually on a Sunday.  One of my favorites is to pull the item totally.  This means you completely take the item off the shelf after a stated goal has been met.  Creating urgency is an important strategy and there are a lot of elements to go with it depending on the medium you’re using to market.

This is also a good time to add in another quick call to action.

6. Add value (entice them).

If the purchase hasn’t been made already, it’s time to throw in some bonuses.  Late night infomercials are great for throwing bonuses at you.  My rule of thumb is, it’s better to have 1 extremely good bonus vs 5 mediocre ones.  The bonuses need to relate to your product and add more perceived value to the package as a whole.  If you are asking the prospect to pay $100 for your product, your bonuses should add a perceived value equal to that.  Preferably more.  Much, much more if you can get away with it.

7. Provide a strong guarantee (secure them).

Backup what you say and provide a really good guarantee.  I like to use a 60 or 90 day return policy with a condition that makes a personal connection.  I also try to get a personal reason that I can fix later.  “If your not completely satisfied, return it within 90 days of the date you purchased and I’ll return it if you do me one favor.  Add a small note, handwritten is fine, telling me what I can do to improve the product and we can part as friends!”

Take the time view other ads online, in newspapers, infomercials (my favorite place to get ideas), and check out a few resources.  I really like Dan Kennedy.  He’s a writer however.  I’m a designer by heart.  We disagree on 1 very important point.  He suggests graphics not be used.  I totally disagree and say use graphics to bring your ad to life. We do agree that if you do use graphics, use them strategically/sparingly.

1.  Market hard when times are tough.

Across the world, during these extremely difficult financial times, our clients are reluctant to spend money.  Don’t cut your marketing budget.  When your clientele slows its spending, market more to increase your client base.  I relate decreasing a marketing budget in times like this to cutting back on bait when the fish aren’t biting.  You need to maintain or even increase your marketing expenses.  Add in some creative tactics to present your sales pitch and catch more fish.

2.  7 is the number of completion.

Zig Zaggler along with all the sales gurus will tell you, it takes 7 impressions to make a sale.  In all of my marketing campaigns, I have to say it’s true.  If your sending out post card mailers, buying television commercial slots or simply cold calling, you need to calculate into your plan whoever is listening, you have to push it to them 6 more times.  OK, that’s easy enough if you know what your doing.  A lot of small businesses “shot gun” different information.  This does not work.  You need to present the same message, service, or product 7 times.  It’s hard to gain a customer but once you do, marketing other products becomes easier.  When one bites, the 7 tries is no longer needed.  They trust you and will buy from you consistently.

3.  Joint Venture Marketing partnerships (JVM partnerships).

As a small business, you probably know and do business with other small businesses.  You can form small JVM partnerships to offset your marketing costs.   Jot down what you are planning to market, where you plan to market it, the costs of the campaign, and the expected results.  Type it up on your company letterhead and present it to a handful of other small business owners within your network.  The goal is to partner up with at least one.  The more you are able to get on board, the cheaper it will be to market.   This applies to flier distribution, bulk mailing, buying web traffic, radio, and even TV commercials.

4.  Give something your customers need for free.

This is nothing new to the marketing world.  Every decent marketing book will express the need to attract customers by giving something away.  What’s lost in translation is placing something of greater value to your business in the freebie.  When you give something away, make sure it’s valuable to the potential customer.  The goal is to convert, over time, the potential customer into an actual paying customer.   I like to give away free information.   I give a free 7 day business credit building course.  What do I gain from this?  A name and an email address of which allows me to communicate to a list of possible customers “over time.”

5.  Over deliver to ensure customer retention and a long term loyalty.

Marketing doesn’t stop once a sale is made.  The best way to make a strong and trusting impact on a client is to over deliver.  Give and give a lot!  When your client receives what’s been paid for, ensure that there’s a lot more than what was expected.  Things to consider in simple terms would be a basic thank you letter.  An additional insert to reassure product quality is to express the guarantee.  Depending on the profit margin, a phone call could really help.  Go crazy and be creative with your delivery.  This will keep your customer “on your side.”  You have already established trust with this customer – they have already proved this by sending you money.  Now, make them trust you event more.  If you build a nice long term relationship, your client will buy from you with less hesitation.  Over delivering equals sale after sale after sale.

6. Use other peoples money (OPM).

The most important part of my marketing plans are to use all the above facts without spending a dime.  Use other peoples money!  Use OPM whenever and however you can.  Marketing evolves around the success of your business and it’s all about taking calculated risks.  Never put your personal finances, family, or name in jeopardy.  Keep yourself out of your business and utilize business credit!  I’ve lost it all once before.  An awesome but extremely difficult situation to get through.  I know first hand based on real life experiences.  So much in fact that I’ve designed and sell a system on how to achieve business credit.  Take the needed time to read about it here – Establish Business Credit