Are you blogging with the purpose to sell? Content writing is a logical part of the marketing campaign.
You need to inform the target audience what the product is all about so they will be aware of the benefits they will get by using it. But, there’s a catch: your content mustn’t be sales.
No one wants to read a blog post that sounds like a TV commercial. Your target audience wants to know more about your products, but they don’t like being lied to.
That’s why you need to promote your products without making your motif visible. We’ll teach you how to achieve that impression.
Tips for Selling through Content Writing
High Quality Is a Must
If you publish content full of logical gaps and grammar errors, the purpose will be obvious: selling without making efforts to invest in the quality. Your claims won’t be believable, and the products will lose on appeal.
You may write your own content, or you can hire writers from services like Essays Scholar Advisor. The important thing to keep in mind is that you have to produce top-notch quality every single time. Otherwise, the grammar nazis won’t spare you.
Make It about Them
Scentbird is a company that sells perfumes through an interesting concept. But, that doesn’t interest us at this moment. What we’re interested in is the blog – it's super cool. Why? – Because it’s all about the customers. This blog helps women find their ideal perfume. It tells them stories about various scents, and it helps them learn about the notes they are attracted to.
Here’s the main lesson to learn: when you’re trying to promote your products through content, don’t make the content about the products. Make it about the users.
- Tell a potential buyer how their life will be improved when they use your products. Moreover, tell them how to use them in the best way possible.
- Help them find solutions to the questions they have.
- Ask them what they would like to read about. If you’re selling car tires, for example, maybe they would want to know how to maintain them.
Highlight the Benefits, but Don’t Lie!
When you’re trying to promote your own products, it’s easy to get carried away when talking about the features and advantages. The problem is: your potential buyers will notice the exaggerations. You’ve seen those before and after images for creams and weight loss products, right? You can tell when they are fake. That’s because the content writers are exaggerating, and the images follow that pattern of false claims.
The lesson: highlight the benefits, but be realistic. No photoshopped pictures, and no fake testimonials. Show your readers how they will actually benefit from your products. If it doesn't deliver the benefits you promise they will get, you can’t hope for a long-term success of your business.
Support your claims with actual testimonials and scientific facts. Can you find studies that support the benefits you present? If for example, you’re promoting an aloe vera product for skincare, you can certainly find such information.
Don’t Be Boring
When someone reads your content, bored is the last thing they want to be. Instead of using filters and tons of keywords, just cut to the chase. Remember: you’re not writing for the sake of achieving an accurate word count. You’re not writing because you want to sound smart. You’re writing to convince someone to buy your products. Thus, you want to skip the lengthy introduction and say only what you need to say.
Zappos, a really popular shopping site, does get into details in the product descriptions. However, you won’t read things like “This is an excellent item that will turn you into the queen of the night.” Instead, you’ll just understand specific characteristics of the product; those are the things that convince you to buy it.
Seduce the Readers
When you’re writing content for a blog, you cannot be extremely precise like when you’re writing product descriptions. In blog posts, you have to tell stories. You should inspire your readers to imagine how they would use your products. Sensory words will boost the effect.
What are visual words, exactly? They are descriptive words that help the readers imagine how something feels, smells, tastes, or sounds. These are only a few examples: sticky, slim, shiny, zesty, sweet, staggering…
Check out the blog at the Lindt USA website. “As bright fall foliage gives way to layers of fluffy white snow, it’s time to merrily retreat indoors,” – that’s how one of the posts begins. Doesn’t this sentence make you feel winter? That’s because of the visual style the writer captured.
Here are the main tricks that help you secede the readers: instead of telling, show. You don’t have to film videos to show how your products can be used. You can achieve that through sensory words.
The heavy promotion was so last year. When you’re writing promotional content, you want to be subtle. You are still presenting the greatest advantages of your products, and you’ll certainly avoid talking about the potential drawbacks. You will show your readers how they can use the product in the best way possible, and you’ll make them want it because it will improve their lifestyle. That’s what successful marketing is all about.
Behind The Scene
Stacey Marone is a freelance writer and a social media marketer working part-time on contract for a large consultancy firm in the US. She creates magnetic content optimized for search. In her free time, she also does volunteer work and organizes some activities for children. You can follow her on Twitter.