Make Sure You Produce The Right Sales Copy For The Right Customer

By Erika Lawal
Posted Friday, December 3, 2004

Ever wondered how one writing style could possibly suit all your visitors? Get an introduction to the main personality types of your customers and how adjust your writing style to get maximum interest from each type.

Why is it that "the gurus" think one size fits all when it comes to copywriting? You know what I mean; you'll read about the techniques Mr. X has used to turn over $5 million worth of product online, and you can bet your bottom dollar that he works to a formula that is pretty much unvarying.

"So what?" I hear you retort; "if he's shifting $5million worth of product, not only is he doing something very right, I want some of what he's doing too!"

Well, you have a point, but you're missing something.

The Mr X's and Ms Y's of the internet are where there are partly because they are early adopters. They got in 3, 4 or more years ago when competition was pretty thin on the ground and they had the space to establish themselves as THE authority in their subject area.

Don't get me wrong, once the traffic gets to their site, these gurus still have to close the deal, but my point is, they got in on the action at the beginning and spawned a generation of people who thought they could get rich simply by repeating the formula. The problem with any formula is that the buying public soon gets tired of it and doesn't respond.

Any of these gurus will tell you that to stay ahead, you need to keep being inventive. Nowhere is this more true than in the arena of writing to sell.

While there has always been, and will always be a section of humanity who will buy anything that moves if you show it to them, the rest of us need the seller to dress it up a little. Not only do we want it dressed, we want it dressed up in the clothes we like, or put simply, in order to be convinced, we need to be sold to in the way that appeals to our particular personality.

Since the world is full of many personality types, it follows that there are also many ways of selling a product.

If you're really serious about selling, you're going to have to take the time to find out about the personality types found in your actual and potential audiences, then tailor make your sales copy for EACH of these personality types. So what are these personality types?

It depends which psychological theory you're running with; the names or labels may vary, but the types all come out pretty much the same.

I'm going to run with the DISC model (Dominant, Influence, Steadfastness, Compliance) of personality descriptors here, since it's easy to both remember and understand.

WHAT'S IN A DISC DESCRIPTOR?

Here's a basic outline of the characteristics which stand out in each personality type within the DISC model.

Dominance

positive
high ego
problem-solver
likes challenges
drives hard for results
loves power and authority
motivated by direct answers

Influence

socially and verbally aggressive
optimistic
can see the big picture
people-oriented
fast mover
motivated by praise and strokes

Steadiness

patient
loves security
loyal to those they identify with good listener
wants to see benefits
oriented towards family activities
motivated towards traditional procedures

Compliance

critical thinkers
high standards
well disciplined
accurate
motivated by the right way to proceed

Which one are YOU, and how do you like to be sold to?

Get to grips with how to sell to each of these different types of people, and you've got a much, MUCH longer shelf life than any of the copycats trying to emulate the gurus!

If you're interested in learning more about writing for different audiences, Karon Thackston, a copywriter of some 19 years experience, has done a sterling job in using these personality types as the basis of her "Step-By-Step Copywriting Course".

Unlike so many copywriters I've come across, Karon seems to have been able to take the skills she's learned offline and apply them to the special situation that is internet marketing.

She covers every type of sales text used by internet marketers from pay-per-click ads to headlines, closers and most importantly, copy that's search engine AND people friendly.

Assignment based, the course also provides monthly access to free teleconferences, at which you can get help and support with your copywriting headaches.

To learn more about Karon's Step-By-Step Copywriting Course, visit here;

(http://www.dailyinternetmarketingtips.net/karon.html)

In many ways, as entrepreneurs who sell online, we're in a wonderful position. When it comes to building our web site, we don't have to try to accommodate all personality types within one
newsprint ad.

We can write half a dozen different versions of our sales page and submit them to the search engines, we can write the same number of articles, all selling one product, but from a different perspective and submit them for free publication. We can choose which links (basically free ads) we place on which type of sites. Essentially, we can schew our product to specific audiences, all without paying a dime if we so choose.

Rather than seeing these personality types as a chore, see each type as a new opportunity to sell your product, to write the "perfect" sales letter. Of course, you're never going to achieve that goal in reality, but you'll earn a good few more sales along the way!

Did you find this article useful? If so, you'll want more! Make sure you never miss a trick by subscribing to Daily Internet Marketing Tips. Delivered to your mailbox, you'll receive an original tip about marketing, promotion or search engine optimization just like this every day. (http://www.dailyinternetmarketingtips.net)

About the Author
Erika Lawal writes Daily Internet Maketing Tips for beginning and intermediate webmasters who feel overwhelmed by the steepness of the learning curve they need to climb in order to start serious selling. She provides a plain english, no-nonsense guide that moves the reader towards running a successful online business without employing expensive or nasty "tricks".