I have to admit that Halloween is one of my favourite celebrations.

I’m a big fan of everything scary (even though I get scared very easily!)

This year I’ve been so busy with my business, that I haven’t had much time to prepare an amazing costume or big Halloween party.

However, I had more time to analyse how different brands do their Halloween marketing campaigns and that made me think how Halloween can have an impact on businesses.

As you probably guess, Halloween is all about fears. But fear for different businesses means a different thing.

What Halloween taught me about copywriting: How fear affects businesses

Clients always have fears in their minds when they’re buying. This may seem obvious, however not every business knows how to dig deeper in their clients’ fears.

Most of them try to avoid talking about these fears, but that’s not going to make them disappear.

For example: Premium stores that avoid exhibit their prices in their windows not to scare clients. Although they’re forcing clients to get in the store to ask for the prices, they’re also losing those clients who are too scared of these prices being too high for them.

 

Some businesses do tackle their clients’ fears, but they still do go deeper on what is causing them.

For example: The beauty sector, businesses know that they sell their products because people like to feel beautiful and healthy. However, what is causing that? Why people like to be healthy or beautiful? Maybe they’re scared of getting old, or they are scared of the fact that if they don’t look beautiful, they’re not going to be accepted among their social circles.

[Tweet “If clients can’t see that the products can’t tackle their fears, they won’t buy.”]

 

How to identify your clients’ fears?

One effective way of discovering your clients’ fears is to analyse why they’re rejecting your quotes and estimates.

For example, imagine a client who rejects one of your quotes because it’s too expensive. (I bet this sounds familiar.) This client’s fear may be the risk of a high investment that may not go as planned.

If you go deeper than that, you can find out that maybe this client isn’t aware of the benefits that you’re offering. Maybe your copy isn’t really conveying what your offer could do for him/her.

This Halloween campaign reflects perfectly the fears of a client:

Costumers are scared of additives in their food. If we go deeper than that, we can say that customer are scared of an unhealthy diet due to these additives, being unhealthy, getting fat, etc.

[Tweet “The deeper you go in your clients’ fears, the better you’ll be able to tackle them.”]

What you must do at this stage is to sympathise with your Ideal Customer Avatar. Think about why s/he wouldn’t buy from you, and make a list of all the objections that they may have in mind when they’re browsing through your website.

Then you have to come up with a solution to tackle all these fears to guarantee that your clients get rid of all these buts to finally buy from you.

3 effective ways to tackle fears in your copy to sell more

 

1. Prove the features of your products/services

A very common fear that your clients may have is that your product may not solve their needs. This may happen because they have never tried one of your products, or they don’t really know you yet, or even because they’re not aware of their own needs.

You can see this technique in LG’s Halloween campaign:

2. Show your clients the consequences of not using your products/services

Selling online is challenging. Clients can’t touch the products that you’re selling, or they don’t always talk to face to face about your services. They’re not aware of what they’re missing.

That’s why you need to highlight the consequences of not buying from you. How are your clients going to feel before and after buying from you?

Snickers decided to go for this technique in its Halloween campaign:

3. Explain the fear and how to overcome it

This may be the most obvious technique.

Some of your clients won’t be aware of their fears. They may consider the situation that they living as the way things may be. However, they may not know the solution that you’re offering.

That’s why you have to explain fear and how can be solved through your products and services.

This is how Heart & Stroke Foundation explained how to perform a CPR:

Have you ever used one of these techniques? Have you got a favourite Halloween campaign? Share your experiences with us in the comments bellow!