Writing sales content

An important part of selling is what we say.

The language we use, words and phrases.

The stuff we don’t say.

Intonation, cadence, emphasis.

Grammar.

Pausing.

There are many moving parts to a sales conversation and similarly there are many components to the structure of selling through the written word, variously described as a ‘sales pitch’ or “brand story telling”

Think about the last time you met a ‘brand story’ head on and it made a difference to your buying habits.

It doesn’t happen often for me.

More often than not its a more formulaic approach where features and benefits compete with algorithmic recommendations of words and key phrases that, if you’re lucky, make sense but fail to present a compelling and coherent argument for the reader to invest time in finding out more about what’s on offer.

Short on time, readers drive through content, reading a fraction and retaining even less.

Sales letters, blogs, telephone sales scripts, 1-2-many presentations all pull from the same content pool but each presents challenges when it comes to fine tuning the finished article.

If you are writing sales content, consider your structure as well as your words

Brand story telling is new to business but story telling can be traced back thousands of years to cave drawings in France and other places.

Storytelling is woven into our Irish DNA – in stories and in song.

Singer songwriters do it best for me – compressing stories into less than 240 seconds and at the same time sustaining interest and giving credibility to the events or people around which the song revolves.

The most powerful and memorable songs are seldom thrown together moments before going into the recording environment or entering the stage at a festival.

They are the product of blood sweat and tears, rewrites, countless failures and rejections.

They are the product of practice, rehearsal and peer critique.

They are tried and tested in favourable and unfavourable conditions.
They are recorded and analysed.

Again and again and again.

When you sign up for the job you know the terms and conditions of success and if you want to be successful you soon realise that corners cannot be cut and practice / rehearsal cannot be skipped.

And the worst thing is that even if you spend most of your life writing songs there are no guarantees of success.

But practice has a habit of making improvements if not perfection so consider your own brand story…

How often have you written content for your website?

How often do you review and revise your sales pitches?

If you’re still making brochures your content will last until a poor sales quarter will prompt revisions.

Have a listen to my recent podcast on the structures of story telling and see if there are some lessons you can apply to your own narrative.

Available ⬇️ on: 🔉🔊
🎙 iTunes: https://lnkd.in/g_5aZ2ed
🎙Soundcloud: https://lnkd.in/gSUgW5s6
🎙Spotify https://lnkd.in/g8FWy5G9
📺 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gJG9GenW

#marketing #sales #podcast #brand #storytellingforbusiness #storytellingmarketing #brandstorytelling #steveearle

If you need some help with writing sales content for your business or on sales strategy please get in touch info@shift-control.co.uk

Thanks for taking the time to read this article.