The Art of Soft Selling: How to Get the Click Without (Really) Asking for It
We’ve all seen those old-style sales pages filled with yellow highlights and screaming red text and lots of “BUY NOW” buttons, and when we think of copywriting, that’s often what comes to mind. While that style of sales page can be effective, it’s not the only way to make sales. Let me tell you about the art of soft selling. Because by taking a more subtle approach, you might find that you generate more interest—and potentially more sales.
Stories Sell
One effective way to entice readers to click through to your sales page is with stories. These can be your stories or those of other people, with the goal of helping your readers to see themselves in the same situation.
Did you help a client turn her chaotic household into a calm oasis with better organisational skills? Her story on your sales page will get more clicks than all the yellow highlight you can buy.
What about that time you binned your entire business plan and started again because you simply weren’t passionate about your work? Your potential clients will be anxious to learn more, and will click through without even being asked.
Stories are powerful, and you can use them everywhere: in your blog posts, in your emails, on your sales pages, and even in videos and social media.
Be Genuinely Helpful
Want to build a reputation as the go-to person in your niche? All it takes is to help people. Answer questions on social media, volunteer to speak to groups who need your advice, write blogs that address the most common issues your readers face.
By volunteering your time and knowledge, you’ll attract a wide audience of potential customers who may need your services in the future. Who will they turn to? That very helpful person who went out of her way to offer assistance in the past.
Now I’m not saying you have to give away all your valuable time. But if you really want to show off your expertise, you can’t do better than a little volunteer work. Not only will you make an impression with the person you help. But chances are she’ll share with her friends as well, further expanding your audience.
Of course this doesn’t mean that there is no place in your business for a strong call to action. “Click here to buy” and “Learn more” are still useful (and even necessary) on sales and opt-in pages. The key is to know when to make a subtle offer, and when to offer a bit more hand holding. The art of soft selling isn’t an easy one to learn. But with a bit of practise it will become evident when to employ it and when to go in harder.
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