Post-holiday blues.

Does it ring a bell?

 

Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to get back to reality.

 

This was exactly what I was thinking when I decided to look back and analyse this Christmas season.

 

I was watching the movie of Steve Jobs when the idea for this post popped in my head.

If you like marketing as much as I do, I’m sure that you have been following different Christmas campaigns. Some of them very tempting, and I admit that I’ve even clicked a few of them (guilty!)

 

And all of them had the same element in common, as well as the Steve Jobs movie.

 

Feelings.

 

[Tweet “Feelings are essential to sell online.”]

 

It’s not the first time I talk about feelings. But this time, I’d like to give you a few easy-to-implement tips to double the effect of your web copy.

 

Grab a piece of paper and let’s see what we can do!

 

The AIDA model to write web copy that sells

 

Do you remember the sales funnel that I talked about last month? We should understand the AIDA model as a similar funnel.

 

[Tweet “4 steps that your web copy must have to lead your clients to the final step to buy from you.”]

 

Before, explaining each step one by one. I’d like to show an example that illustrates exactly what I’m going to talk about today.

 

This is the presentation by Steve Jobs of Apple’s first iPod:

Step 1: Awareness

The first step in a marketing campaign must be making people aware of your offer.

 

At this stage, headlines are very powerful.

 

As you can see in the video, Steve Jobs starts the presentation with two headlines that aren’t directly related to the iPod in a first instance.

 

“We love music” and “a part of everyone’s life”.

 

As you can see, these two headlines convey two very powerful feelings.

 

I’m sure that you have read posts about how to write the best headline. You must have read that headlines must have figures, statistics, keywords, etc.

 

But for me, the best headlines convey a feeling.

It’s at this stage where 73% of your clients decide whether to buy your product or not.

If you don’t make your reader feel something, they’ll probably stop reading your copy.

 

Did you grab a piece of paper? Then, answer these questions:

• How is your client feeling before buying your product?
• How is your product going to change their current situation?
• What feeling do I want to convey with this copy?

 

Step 2: Trigger interest

Once you have attracted your potential clients’ attention, we need to make them be interested in our offer.

 

We could do that with a powerful promise.

 

Following the example of Apple, Steve Jobs promises 1000 songs in a device that fits in your pocket. That’s the main promise and it’s linked to a feeling.

 

At this stage we introduce our products or services by linking them to a feeling conveyed by a headline.

 

Step 3: Generate a strong desire

Now that you’ve defined your offer and know the feeling that you want to convey with your campaign. You need to turn your offer into a need.

 

The secret to design a successful campaign is to fill a gap in the market. You need to know you Ideal Customer Avatar to get to know what’s his biggest desire when he buys from you.

 

Steve Jobs in the video is linking to ideas to do so. He says that the iPod is a part of everyone’s life and he’s saying that you can have this part of your life in your pocket.

 

There were different music players in the market by the time he did this presentation, but the way he presented the first iPod was innovative. Nobody in the market had launched the same offer.

 

Step 4: Call to action

Finally, we need to tell our audience what we want them to do.

That’s the objective behind our campaign.

 

If you have done the first three steps correctly, you should have captivated your readers.

 

Most people at this stage forget about the last step. If we don’t explicitly tell our audience what you expect them to do, they can leave without taking any further action.

 

That’s why a good call to action is so important to turn all these leads into clients.

 

As you can see, copywriting is more than just write what services or products are about. Implementing tips like this one to write web copy that sells is essential for online businesses.

 

Steve Jobs knew it. And now you do too.

 

What are you going to do about it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!