7 Reasons Why Your Marketing Copy is Failing Your Small Business

When you take on the task of writing persuasive marketing copy for prospects and clients, it's easy to fail. Why?

• It's not easy to appeal to everyone
• People have a short attention span
• Many businesses make the mistake of tackling copywriting the wrong way

There is no standard cookie cutter approach to writing good marketing copy for 100% of your audience. But read on for some advice that can help you overcome the most common reasons for a low conversion rate:

1. Your copy is unappealing.

Different people respond to different marketing elements and people have different learning styles.

By keeping this in mind when you write copy you'll have a greater chance of appealing to a wider audience. A good mixture of proven marketing and presentation styles will help you. A few things to consider include:

• Eye-catching layout
• Short paragraphs, bullet points, a readable font and bold subheadings
• Adding in photos and videos so that there is more than just text to look at

2. You're not their GRABBING Attention!!

The wording, colors, fonts, and content you use can help grab attention. People also want to know that there's a benefit to reading your copy.

Remember to state benefits early on in the copy. Beyond grabbing their attention, you want to hang onto it. People are more likely to read on past the first few sentences if they can see that reading on presents value for them.

3. Your approach is wrong.

Many businesses that fail at converting readers into buyers aren't doing enough to take the reader through a sales courtship.

Some prospects are fine with a whirlwind romance and don't have time for a song and dance, but others require that you build a relationship over time. Ask yourself which is more appropriate for what you're selling.

If you're selling things that are inexpensive and/or one time purchases, whirlwind is probably fine.
If you're selling something more expensive or are selling a membership to something that people will use regularly, a bit more of a courtship might be in order.

It might take some split testing to see which approach converts the best for your audience and if you deal with multiple demographics you may want to run simultaneous campaigns with varied approaches.

4. Your marketing copy isn't customer centric.

Do you write about how great your product is, how great your company is, or how successful you are? This could be the wrong approach.

Don't forget to write about what you can do for your customers. If people see that there are many benefits to dealing with you versus the competition, this is going to have a greater chance of impact.

You're more likely to entice a prospect to buy if you show them that dealing with you is smarter, better, and more efficient than dealing with your competition (without directly badmouthing your competition, of course). People want value. Don't just tell them. Show them.

5. You're forgetting something.

Make sure you're not forgetting important things. Be sure to include relevant details about your offerings, customer testimonials, and information that shows value. If prospects can't readily find what they want in your copy they may not bother to try to find it out.

• Does the copy address potential objections?
• Does it outline the ordering process in a way that is easy to understand?
• Does your copy talk about warranty and guarantees?
• Does it point people to where they can go if they have questions not answered in your marketing copy?
• Have you remembered to ask for the sale?

6. You need better Call to Action

Does your call to action compel people to act? Is it too hard of a sell? Again, the ideal approach is something that will depend on what you're selling and how you're selling it.

If the readers are not ready to buy today, is your marketing copy set up for a secondary call to action that could help close the deal later? Carefully look at your copy to make sure you maximize the potential of capturing leads as well as closing sales.

(Tips: Add an opt-in box for a newsletter sign-up or if you use the Future Simple Base CRM (which is free), you can quickly add some code to your online marketing copy that creates a lead capture widget that allows people to leave their details so that you can call them personally.)

7. You don't know your audience!

Knowing your target customer well is going to pay off because you'll be able to write in a customer centric way and tailor your marketing copy to their wants and needs. Making your customer a priority from the moment they first begin to deal with you will help you gain their confidence, respect, referrals, and ongoing business!