For entrepreneurs and small business owners, learning to write marketing copy that generates new leads is vital to building a customer base.

Effective marketing copy is arguably one of the most inexpensive means of adding customers to your business because it not only demonstrates what you do, but why people should buy your products or take advantage of your services.

For the most part, to write marketing copy is essentially to create a long-form sales pitch. This content is typically found on sales pages that convince people to make a purchase, as well as in business email newsletters and campaigns.

While many people think that this type of copy is a “hard sell” in nature, the true purpose is to convince the reader that the products or services are needed. Whether hard or soft sell tactics are the basis when it comes to having to write marketing copy itself, the end result is to have a sale take place whether immediately or in the near future.

How to Generate Leads

Learning how to write marketing copy to generate leads is one of its basic functions. To generate leads means to find new potential customers who are generally interested in the products or services that are being offered. Actually, generating and converting leads nearly always involves your website, if you are running an online business.

When a person visits your website, they should be greeted with a lead magnet (also known as a free offer or high-value free gift) that includes a sign up form. What you offer should be compelling enough to entice them to trade their email address, so you will need to provide a service that is worth their while.

A free report or eBook is one of the most popular offerings, but in any case you will want to pull in new leads for your marketing copy to really work.

There are other ways to generate leads of course from running contests, offering sharp discounts, creating interesting posts and material on social media networks, writing informative articles for directories and so forth.

However, it all comes down to the type of marketing copy you can generate for your business that will lead to grabbing strong leads who are most likely to purchase from your business.

How the Pros Write Marketing Copy

Professionals use a number of tactics to write marketing copy in order to ensure that it delivers maximum results. A pro with years of experience will have seen what works and what does not generate interest and focus only on the elements which bring results.

They run the winners long and cut the losers short.

First, write marketing copy for the audience and includes what is important to the reader as to the information being presented. It’s more than just telling someone why a product is important, it’s why the product needs to be purchased that really counts.

It’s all about the story. Write marketing copy that tells an interesting and persuasive story to capture imagination and create emotion. This in turn will create behaviour - which can be tuned in towards lead capture.

Tried And True Tactics

Write For Your Audience
In order to generate the most results, you will need to write marketing copy specifically for your main audience. This means breaking down your potential customers into which particular segments are most likely to respond to your products or services. A demographic breakdown could include the following:

• Age
• Gender
• Interests
• Location
• Behaviour

 
Personalise
Always try to put the name of the person in the text when you write marketing copy if at all possible. Many successful email newsletter campaigns for example individualise by putting the person’s name in the subject line which may be done by using specific email software. The more you can personalise each piece of marketing copy, the better you will grab the person’s attention.

Write In The Second Person
This means using terms like “you”, “me” or “us” in your sentences to really personalise what your products or services mean to your potential customers. For example, a sentence that reads, “You can certainly use the free information found in our newsletter” will appeal more than saying, “Free information is available”.

Ask The Reader To Buy
This is one of the simplest, yet most overlooked aspects in knowing how to write marketing copy. Simply ask your readers to buy your product or service. Most of the time if you do not ask, a person will not answer in the manner that you want, so be sure to actually ask your audience to buy.

Track The Results
Even the most seasoned pro will not hit a home run every time they write marketing copy, so it is important to track results to evaluate its effectiveness and make changes along the way. It may take some time to refine, but if you track what you do, you’ll constantly improve upon your ability to write marketing copy that generates leads.

Things To Avoid When You Write Marketing Copy

Just as there are certain aspects you should emphasise, so there are things you should avoid when writing your marketing copy as well.

Don’t Be Bland
Your words need to leap off the screen and not just sit there where they can be overlooked. This doesn’t mean an exclamation point at the end of every sentence. You should build up your content so that it entices the reader and gets them to respond.

Avoid Insider Jargon Or Lingo
Corporate-speak is one way to doom your marketing copy, so avoid any bit of insider jargon so that anyone can understand its meaning. You don’t have to talk down to your audience, but you do need to be careful in assuming that everyone knows what you are talking about. This is especially true if you use a word that may be common in your industry, but not so to the general public.

Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS Principle)
One of the things that really trips up effective copy is including more than one idea at a time which can create confusion to the reader. You really want to keep focused on one idea and hammer that home with good, interesting sentences that pull people in. Including different aspects in one single piece of content lessens the overall impact it could have and may even create some confusion which can turn the reader off. Keep it simple and you won’t dilute your messaging.

 
Overall, having to effectively write marketing copy means putting yourself in the shoes of the customer and appealing to their needs. The better you know your audience, the more leads and sales you can generate from what you write.

What do you find most difficult about writing marketing copy? I’m keen to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.