15: How to simplify copywriting AND get more sales
Simplicity is the secret to sales, and in this episode of ill communication, you’re going to find out why.
The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your reader or sales prospect with too many choices. You don’t want to have a metaphorically jam-packed shelf of offers that makes your readers confused and so paralyzed about the choice that they choose to leave.
That’s why today’s episode about the rule of one is so important. The rule of one is the foundation for all great copywriting. It reminds us to focus on writing for one reader, talk about one big idea, provide one offer or promise, and ask for one call to action.
Focus on your one reader or ideal buyer. Imagine you’re having a face-to-face conversation with her. Talk about her problems, desires, objections, and dreams. When you write to your one reader, she’ll know you’re talking to her and that you understand her and her problems.
In every sales message you write, whether it’s a Facebook ad, social media post, or sales email, you want to focus on one big idea or theme instead of trying to tackle them all. You also want to give them only one action to take so that you can increase your conversions or sales.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Why you don’t want to have too many offers
The rule of one
Why you should focus on one reader
Why it’s important to include only one call to action
The exceptions to the rule of one
The next time you sit down to write an email, Facebook ad, sales page, or social media post, keep the rule of one in mind. This will make sure you don’t overwhelm or confuse your reader with too many options.
If you follow the rule of one, you'll find it easier to write your own sales message and your reader will appreciate the simple elegance of your message and take action on it.
Would you like to hang out with me and other women business owners doing rad things in the world just like you? Join the Joy of Copy Club! It’s a group copy coaching experience where you receive access to my sales templates, writing prompts, and copy recipes. You’ll never wonder what to write again. Check it out here!
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Welcome to Ill Communication, Copywriting Tips and Sales Strategies for Small Business. I'm your host, Kim Keil. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and changemakers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soul mate clients. Let's get started. Hello friend. Welcome to episode 15 of Ill Communication. Today you're going to find out how and why simplicity is the secret to sales. But before I begin, I have a little confession. There is nothing that makes me more agitated, angry, or frustrated than going to the hardware store. And it doesn't matter which hardware store, whether it's Canadian Tire or Lowe's or Home Depot, I get the same overwhelming feeling every time I walk in because it's so big. I don't know where to find what I'm looking for. It's jam packed. Those aisles and shelves are so tall and filled with stuff I get overwhelmed. Last week I went to the hardware store to pick up some black hinges for the door that my husband was swapping out for the old brassy ones.
He told me to get four inch four hole hinge packs that would come in a two pack with screws. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. First, it was confusing finding the aisle for the door hinges. And second, when I found the right section, there were at least a dozen options to choose from. There were silver, nickel, antique brass, regular brass, onyx, black. Some had rounded corners, some had square, some were squeak free. And of course, the packs I needed were sold out, so I had to buy them individually. But then I needed to find the screws. And did I need two inch or four inch? Did I need wood screws or regular screws? Do I need a Robertson or a Phillips? Oh, what should have taken me maybe 5 minutes, ended up taking me over an hour and included a trip to a second store to find what I needed. I was overwhelmed with too much choice. There were so many options to choose from. I felt paralyzed. I was second guessing, third guessing, and fourth guessing every permutation and combination. And I almost left the store without buying anything. And you may be wondering, what does this have to do with you and your business and your sales messaging? And I'm telling you, my friend, it has everything to do with your business because the last thing you want to do is overwhelm your reader or your sales prospect with too many choices.
You don't want to have a metaphorical jam packed shelf of offers that makes your readers so confused and paralyzed for choice. They choose to leave. Which is why today's episode about the rule of one is so important. The rule of one is the foundation for all great copy writing. The rule of one reminds us to focus on writing for one reader. Talk about one big idea, provide one offer or promise, and ask for one call to action. So let's break it down. When you're writing your sales message, focus on your one reader, your ideal buyer. Imagine you're having a face to face conversation with her in your copy. You're going to talk about her problems, desires, objections and dreams. And when you write to your one reader, you'll attract your one reader. She'll know you're talking to her and that you get her and you can solve her problems. And yes, your one reader may actually be a composite of several different buyers, but just focus on the qualities, desires, fears and problems that they all have in common. In every sales message you write, whether it's a Facebook ad, a social post or a sales email, you should just focus on one big idea or theme rather than tackling all the angles in a single email or ad, choose one theme or idea or purpose for that email or ad.
This prevents you from putting way too much information into a single message. And this big idea even applies to long form sales pages or video sales letters. When you're writing your message, focus on one big promise. What's the one thing your reader wants most and what's the one way you can deliver that thing? Don't talk about all the things. Talk about the one big promise and in your sales messaging, always have one call to action. Not three different actions, not 13 different actions. One this means in your email, on your landing page, you don't have a bunch of links to many different things. This is so important when you're selling something, whether it's a paid offer or even a free offer. For example, just today I was meeting with one of my clients who's hosting a free film festival as a way to generate some new leads on the sign up page. I suggested we include a short section that introduces the organization, kind of like a mini about a section because they are attracting some new followers or some cold leads who may not be familiar with the organization. My client asked, Could we just have a sentence that says, To find out more about us, click here and then link off to the about a section of our website.
And my answer was no, the only button or link we want. People to click on that sign up page is the sign up button. We want to capture readers emails. We only want to give them that one choice if we have the other call to action where they can click here to learn more. Then we run the risk of someone clicking that link before they sign up for the film festival and then poof, they're gone. They may not come back to the signup page because they'll get distracted. So always, always keep your primary goal in mind when coming up with your one call to action. Whether it's to buy something, to book a call, or to give an email in exchange for a free download. If you want to increase your conversions or sales, only give your reader one action to take. Now, the rule of one keeps things simple for your reader because they're not confused about what to buy. They're not staring at a shelf full of different kinds of door hinges. They are making a decision about one thing, and the rule of one is beautiful because it also keeps things simple for you, the writer. It forces you to be clear about your goal for your flash sale, for your email, or for your ad. Instead of cramming everything you do and offer into an email, you focus on one thing and getting one action.
You focus on one element of your offer in an email instead of all the elements. Now the rule of one takes a little discipline to follow, but it will help you create more effective, less confusing copy. When I'm coaching my clients inside the Joy of Copy Club, I often find they're covering too many different things in an email. It's often so jam packed it could actually be split into two or three different emails, which makes it simpler to write and simpler to read. But with every rule there are a few exceptions to the rule of one. You won't follow the rule of one on your home page. Your home page will naturally have multiple calls to action because people who visit your website will want to get a snapshot of who you are and what you do, so you'll have links to your different offers to your podcast or blog and probably to your about page. Just be sure not to overwhelm your reader. Create a clear and easy path for your reader to find what they're looking for on your home page. The second place you won't follow the rule of one is in an epic blog post where you're linking to lots of other resources or posts. Those kinds of articles are very strategic. They are designed to optimize SEO search engine optimization.
They're designed to create cross posting and backlinks. So it's normal to have multiple links. But perhaps at the bottom of that blog article, you guide your reader to take one next step, and maybe it's to subscribe to your newsletter, or maybe it's to join your free Facebook group. Just give them one next step to take with you. And the last place you'll disregard the rule of one is in a weekly or monthly digest, kind of a newsletter. In these roundup newsletters, you're delivering lots of value. You're linking to your latest podcast episode to a recent blog article, and maybe you're talking about some upcoming events. It's okay to send emails where you link off to different things as long as that's the goal. So that's it for today's episode. On the Rule of One, The next time you sit down to write an email, a Facebook ad, a social post or a sales page, keep the rule of one in mind. Think about who your one reader is and write to her. Talk about one idea, element or problem. Make one promise and leave your reader with one call to action. The rule of one makes sure we don't overwhelm or confuse our reader with too many options because if you confuse, you lose. Your reader will bounce off the page or delete the email. If it appears too confusing, you do not want to give your reader the hardware store CBGBs and I know if you follow the rule of one you'll find it easier to write your own sales message and your reader will appreciate the simple elegance of your message and take action on it.
You'll see how and why simplicity is the secret to sales. Thank you so much for joining me. See you next week. And I'm really hoping I don't have another hardware horror story for you. Hey, would you like to hang out with me and other women business owners doing rad things in the world just like you? Then you should join the Joy of Copy Club. It's a group copy coaching experience where you receive access to all my sales templates, writing prompts and copy recipes. So you're never wondering what or how to write. Once a week you can pop into my open office hours where we'll live, review and edit any kind of copy you've written. Seriously, you can bring a social post and email or even some edits to your home page and I'll help you optimize it before you send it out into the world. The Joy of Copy Club gives you the tools and the confidence to get your message out there so you can grow your impact and your revenue. Find out more at Kim Qualcomm's Copy Club. I'll see you next week.
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