1. Probably the most effective and therefore the most frequently seen way to inspire confidence is with the use of testimonials. What other people say about you, your products and/or services carries much more weight with a prospect than what you say about yourself. Personally I would recommend that you use testimonials frequently if not in all of your advertising.

2. You can use indirect testimonials by listing the specific businesses that are using your products/services. Or you could list the industries you serve, the types of professionals that trust you, etc.

3. Relay case histories of some of your customers. Explain how someone solved a problem, or derived a benefit from you. You could also provide before and after descriptions of customers.

4. Show pictures or videos of people using your products or services. The picture can show benefits and seeing is believing.

5. When possible, show important or well known people using your product or service. Be sure to have permission of the celebrity or important person first, however.

You can probably think of may other things you can do, but it’s important that you do something to inspire confidence.

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Naturally, the better your offer is, the better your response will be. Raising response is not your only concern, of course. For example, it may be more profitable to get a lower response from a more loyal group of buyers. Or perhaps you want orders to come in faster. Or you may need to lower your cost per sale.

In most cases, though, it’s best to start by getting your response rate high, then adjusting your offer over time to maximize your profits. Every offer you make has different characteristics. So, it pays to test.

Here are eight offers that have proven themselves over the years. They almost always raise your response rate:

•    Free Trial. This may be the best offer ever devised. A customer can try out your product free and without obligation for 10 days, 15 days, 30 days, or more. The time frame should fit the product. This offer removes risk for the prospect, overcomes inertia, and works with just about any product.

•    Money-Back Guarantee. This is perhaps the second best offer. A customer pays upfront but, if dissatisfied, can return the item for a full refund. Like the free trial, this offer removes risk but allows you to use customer inertia to your benefit since few people will take the trouble to return something.

•    Free Gift. When you offer a freebie your customer wants, your offer will usually outpull a discount offer of similar value. That’s because a gift is a more tangible benefit. This also has the advantage of not devaluing your product with a price reduction.

•   Limited Time. An offer with a time limit gets more response than an offer without one. You can display an exact date or suggest a response time frame, such as 14 days or 30 days. This forces a decision. And the faster you can force a decision, the more likely it will be in your favor.

•   Yes/No. You ask your prospect to respond positively or negatively, usually by affixing a “yes” stamp or a “no” stamp or by checking one of two boxes. This offer is involving and usually pulls more response than an offer that does not offer a “no” option. It works because it clarifies the need for a decision right away.

•    Negative Option. This pulls better than positive option offers. You offer a free trial or a special deal on a product then automatically ship future merchandise unless the customer specifically takes an action to refuse. Just make sure this arrangement is clear. People become very unhappy when you start shipping and billing for items they didn’t know they were ordering.

•   Credit Card Payment. Nothing is easier than paying with plastic. These days, there’s no reason not to accept payment this way by phone, mail, fax, or the Internet. In fact, this has moved beyond an offer and has become an expectation.

•   Sweepstakes. This increases your order volume if you’re selling easy-to-understand impulse items. However, these customers aren’t loyal, and you may find yourself forever trapped in an endless cycle of contests.

Copyright © 2003 Dean Rieck. All Rights Reserved.
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Dean Rieck is a top-ranked freelance direct mail and direct marketing copywriter. He has been called “the best direct response strategist and copywriter” in America. Dean offers complete copywriting and design services for direct mail, B2B, print, sales lead generation, sales letters, e-mail and online marketing, and radio advertising. For more tips on improving your direct response advertising results, subscribe to Dean’s free direct marketing newsletter.

The Internet marketplace is jam-packed with plenty of fantastic ideas and wonderful products. However, the fact is this: if you do not know how to write an effective sales letter, you cannot turn your idea or product into a money-producing asset, no matter how great or high in quality the products actually are.

There are lots of rumors and myths about writing sales copy so I’m going to provide you with a FREE Ebook that will cover the key items you need to be aware of to write effective copy for the Internet. You can obtain your free copy by clicking on the download link here.

Depending upon your business even your customers may never meet you and your entire relationship will be sustained in print. Therefore it’s important that your copy be powerful and persuasive. Whatever media you intend to use, if you are writing for your website, for direct mail, for a magazine, or whatever there are some key items you should consider. Following is a checklist of items that you should have in virtually any advertisement:

•    Write bold and compelling headlines
•    Describe a problem or issue your reader would like to resolve
•    Describe the benefits and outcomes of your offer
•    Create more value than price
•    Support your claims with valid testimonials
•    Offer a guarantee
•    Add free bonuses
•    Limit your offer by time or by numbers

There may be time when the amount of space available will limit what you can say, but include as many of the above items as possible in all your ads.

You can write a headline in an infinite number of ways. However, certain types of headlines have proven themselves repeatedly for many years. By following the “formula” of these headlines, you can give yourself an edge when you are serious about persuading someone to read and respond to your copy.

The following 9 headline formulas are some of the easiest to write and the most powerful. When it comes time to write a headline, try one of these first. At the very least, this can give you a creative jumping off point to write a headline that works.

1. Say it simply and directly.

The direct headline should be used far more often than it is. No cleverness. No jokes. No wordplay. The direct headline gets right to the point. It works particularly well with strong offers, recognized brand names, and product or service types with which the reader is familiar.

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2. State the big benefit.

One of the first techniques you should always explore is transforming your major benefit into a headline. After all, your number one selling point should be up front. It stands the best chance of selecting the right audience and preparing them to respond. Plus, if they read nothing else, they have at least seen the best selling point you have to offer. If you have trouble writing this kind of headline, it’s a sure sign you need to think a bit more about your product or service.

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3. Announce exciting news.

People read newspapers and magazines because they love news. It’s just basic human nature. We’re curious. We not only want to know, we need to know. Casting your headline in a way that suggests news, rather than advertising, can have the same powerful appeal of a feature story in the morning paper. An important note: the product or service doesn’t necessarily have to be newly created to qualify as news. It merely has to be news to your reader.

    * At Last, American Scientists Have Created the Perfect Alternative to a Mined Diamond!

    * Introducing the newest idea in cross-training. From NordicTrack.

    * Now program your DVR by simply speaking to the revolutionary DVR VOICE programmer.

4. Appeal to the “how-to” instinct.

The how-to headline appeals to the need most of us have to improve ourselves or our lives in some way. The secret here is to focus on a need or want and promise to fulfill that need or want. Be careful, though. The how-to must highlight the benefit or final result, not the process itself. Look at this example:

    * How to make money working from home with your PC.

Suppose instead it read, “How to start a full-time computer business in your home.” This misses the point, doesn’t it? It sounds like a lot of work. It says nothing about the real motivator, which is using a computer you already own to make money easily. To write a how-to headline, begin with the words “How to” or “How” then immediately fill in the benefit.

    * How to stop smoking in 30 days … or your money back.

    * How You Can Profit From the 3 Greatest Service Businesses of the Decade!

    * How to do Central America on $17 a day.

5. Pose a provocative question.

Asking a question directly involves your reader. However, your question cannot be random or clever. It must relate directly and clearly to the major benefit of the product. It must also prod the reader to answer “yes” or at least “I’m not sure, but I want to know more.”

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6. Bark a command.

Sales copy often falls flat because it fails to tell the reader what to do. This headline type allows you to be direct, provide a benefit, and take a commanding posture simultaneously. It’s not conversational, it’s dictatorial — but in an acceptable way that readers have come to expect in clear writing.

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7. Offer useful information.

Let me clue you in on a little secret. Most people don’t want information. I know you’ve always been taught otherwise, but it’s true. People are drowning in facts. What people really want is a sense of order and predictability in their lives. We want to feel a sense of power over our world. Therefore, we seek out the secrets, tips, hints, laws, rules, and systems that promise to help us gain control and make sense of things. Notice how these headlines promise information that does just this.

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8. Relay an honest, enthusiastic testimonial.

A testimonial headline can do two things for you. First, it presents your reader with a third party endorsement of your product or service. Second, it capitalizes on the fact that people like to know what other people say.

    * “Quite simply, the finest design software ever released.”

    * “This diet program worked for me. It can work for you, too!”

    * “It’s the first book on personal finance that really made sense to me.”

A variation of this strategy is to write a headline in the first person and put quotation marks around it. This “virtual testimonial” gives you a more interesting headline and improves readership.

9. Authenticate your proposition with a little something extra.

People distrust sales copy. And for good reason. A lot of it proves inaccurate or downright dishonest. To cut through this distrust, you can add a little something extra to your headline that seems out of place, yet rings true. Look at the following headlines and notice how the words “Ohio man,” “Obsolete,” and “Frustrated bartender” stand out. Their specificity or quirkiness adds a truthful aura that traditional copy could never achieve.

    * Ohio man has 21-year tested formula to create multimillion dollar business from scratch, without bank loans, venture capitalists or selling stock.

    * Small Company’s New Golf Ball Flies Too Far; Could Obsolete Many Golf Courses.

    * Frustrated bartender develops incredible device to clean and disinfect your entire home…

There are many, many other ways to write a headline. Whatever strategy you choose, don’t make a decision too quickly. Take time to brainstorm. Write dozens or even hundreds of headlines. You never know exactly what you want to say before you say it, so giving yourself plenty of choices is the surest way to arrive at the best, most powerful headline.

About the Author: Dean Rieck is a leading direct marketing copywriter. For more copywriting and selling tips, sign up for Dean’s free direct response newsletter or visit the Direct Creative Blog.

Mediocre marketing aimed at a very well selected target can get superior results. Exceptional marketing aimed at a sloppily selected market may, at best, deliver mediocre results. Selection is where it’s at.

You should take the time to create a very detailed profile of your current typical customer and your ideally desired customer. Your success at finding the ones you want will depend on what you are looking for.

For instance, you must now grab them with a powerful, emotionally driven headline. Follow that with copy that supports and expands upon your headline, adding specifics and reasons why reading your sales copy is important.

A recent post by the well known copywriter Clayton Makepeace expands on this topic. He provides information on what he terms the basics that you must understand and then launches into seven proven ways to get your copy off to a fast start. To read his post and discover some excellent copy writing techniques and ideas go to his blog at The Total Package and look for his post dated May 21, 2009.

People have come to expect promotions around Christmas, but what about the rest of the year. There are numerous other holidays through out the year that you can use to get into the minds of people with your copy based on the holiday they are thinking about. In fact, every month of the year has something you could use.For instance, February (Valentines Day), March (St Patrick’s Day), April (Easter) and on and on.

If you are not aware of all the holidays available around which you could build a promotion, feel free to let me know with a comment below and I will be happy to send you a partial list of monthly holidays you can use.

No matter what your product or service, the most basic marketing starts with marketing yourself. You do this by building relationships. Think of it as a dating relationship. When you are in a dating relationship you cannot market yourself enough. However, you can not expect your date to buy everything you are offering.

Just like dating, copywriting (marketing) is all about building that intimate relationship with your target. There are many things that you would not do on a first date, right? Well, writing a sales letter is no different. Don’t be pushy, be kind, considerate, have some great conversation, enjoy each other’s company. That’s the type of activity that leads to building a relationship.

Relationships lead to sales. Always be marketing!