Whenever copywriting is discussed, the over-the-top sales pages with yellow highlights and red text often spring to mind. While those types of pages can be successful, they are not your only option. You might find that a more subtle approach entices customers and leads to increased sales numbers.
With “The Art of the Soft Sell,” you can establish a relationship with your customers, rather than just making an instantaneous sale. This method works to gain the trust and faithfulness of those who purchase from you, eventually leading to more sales as well as customer loyalty for your business.
Soft selling is all about establishing an emotional bond with customers, understanding their needs and dreams, and furnishing beneficial information. Instead of aggressively trying to sell a product or service, soft selling techniques provide useful advice and counsel.
If you want to make selling easier, you need to create helpful content. This could be blog posts, videos, podcasts and social media posts. This will help people trust you more and it will show that you know what you are talking about.
It can help to talk to customers and be nice to them. You can also talk to them online and give them advice if they ask.
The soft sell is not about pushing someone to buy something. It is about gaining trust and making people believe in you. Give helpful information and make relationships with customers so that people will be loyal to your business and buy from you in the future.
So how would I get people to buy from me using this technique?
To use the soft sell technique to get people to buy from you, you need to focus on building a relationship with them and providing value.
Start by identifying your target audience: Understand who your ideal customer is, what their needs and desires are, and where they spend their time online.
Then create high-quality content: Develop content that provides value to your audience, such as blog posts, videos, and social media content. Make sure the content is informative and helpful, rather than simply promoting your products or services.
Make sure you engage with your audience: Respond to comments and questions on your social media accounts, and reach out to individuals who engage with your content. This helps you build relationships with your audience and shows that you are genuinely interested in helping them.
Provide personalised support: Offer personalised support to your customers, such as responding to their questions via email or chat. This shows that you value their business and are committed to providing them with the best possible service.
Please be patient: Remember that soft selling is about building long-term relationships with your customers. It may take time to build trust and credibility, but by consistently providing value and support, you can increase the likelihood that your customers will buy from you in the future.
Stories Sell
Storytelling is a powerful tool for drawing readers in and encouraging them to click through to your sales page. Whether it’s your story or somebody else’s, the aim should be to help readers relate on an emotional level by putting themselves in the same situation. By connecting to your audience, you can bridge the gap between yourself and them; this creates a stronger bond of trust.
Storytelling is a persuasive technique that can be implemented into your sales strategy to encourage soft selling. Stories captivate people’s attention and are an excellent way of making a genuine connection with potential customers while simultaneously inspiring trust in them.
By using stories, you can create powerful relationships with your audience which will ultimately lead to increased conversions and higher profits.
You can use stories to make your sales approach better. Stories can help people understand why they should buy something or why it’s a good choice.
Share your own story: One of the most effective ways to connect with your audience is by sharing your personal story. This can help to humanise your brand and show that you understand the challenges and struggles your customers face.
After years of blogging, I was listening to a Podcast about content. I heard something that turned my relationship with blogging on its head. I realised I had NO content mix.
Everything I wrote was a how-to!
As a coach, I was trying to show how much I knew and share my knowledge. That was me providing value. But value comes in many forms, and I looked back at my blog catalogue and thought arghhh – this is just generic rubbish that people can look up on the internet.
I was SO disappointed in myself.
But you learn from mistakes, so I started mixing things up. Not only did it change the way I felt about what I was putting out into the world, but it changed the way the world responded.
Use customer success stories: Sharing stories of how your product or service has helped customers can be a powerful way to showcase the value you provide. These stories can help to build credibility and trust with potential customers. Who doesn’t love a good hero story, and letting your customers be the hero is a great way to tell a story that isn’t about you.
Incorporate storytelling into your content: Whether you’re creating blog posts, videos, or social media content, try to incorporate storytelling elements to capture your audience’s attention. Use anecdotes, metaphors, and other storytelling techniques to make your content more engaging.
Make it relatable: When telling stories, make sure they are relatable to your audience. This means using language and examples that resonate with their experiences and emotions. We are all looking for connection, for the community, to feel like we aren’t the only one.
This is why storytelling has such power. It makes us feel something, feel a certain way. And when we can connect at this level, it makes the process of buying from you feel easy for the customer. Because the buying decision starts with the heart.
By incorporating stories into your soft-sell approach, you can create a more compelling sales message that resonates with your audience on a deeper level. The emotional connection that stories create can help to build relationships and trust, ultimately leading to increased sales over time.
That’s the power of stories, and you can use them everywhere: in your blog posts, in your emails, on your sales pages, and even in videos and on social media.
Let’s talk more about creating an emotional connection with your audience and demonstrating the value of your product or service. The way you craft your story matters.
Start with a compelling hook: Your story should grab your audience’s attention from the very beginning. Start with a compelling hook that draws them in and makes them want to keep reading or listening.
Then focus on the benefits: As you tell your story, make sure to focus on the benefits of your product or service. Highlight how it solves a problem or improves the lives of your customers.
Use vivid details: Paint a vivid picture with your words by using sensory details that help your audience to visualise the story. This can help to create an emotional connection and make your story more memorable.
But keep it concise: While it’s important to provide enough detail to engage your audience, be mindful of keeping your story concise. A long, drawn-out story can lose your audience’s attention and dilute the impact of your message.
Don’t forget some social proof: Incorporating social proof into your story can help to build credibility and demonstrate the value of your product or service. This can include customer testimonials or success stories.
Be Relatable
Finally, make sure your story is relatable to your audience. Use language and examples that resonate with their experiences and emotions.
When you tell stories about your product or service, use elements that make it sound powerful. Focus on what it can do for people instead of just saying its features.
If you can make people feel something when you talk about it and show them why it is valuable, they are more likely to buy.
Be Genuinely Helpful
Do you want to be known as the best person in your area? Help people. Answer questions on social media. Volunteer to speak and help people who need advice. Write posts about common problems that people have so you can help them solve their issues.
When you are trying to sell something, it is important to be helpful. Don’t just try to get people to buy your product or service. Focus on giving value to them. This will help people trust and believe in you.
Listen to your audience: Take the time to listen to your audience’s needs and concerns. This can involve reading comments on social media, responding to emails, or conducting surveys. By understanding your audience’s pain points, you can create content and services that address their specific needs.
Provide educational content: Create content about topics related to your business. This can be instructions, teaching stuff, and blog posts with information. This will help people know you are an expert in the industry and trust you more.
But don't just write too many how-to articles like I did!
Offer free resources: Giving away helpful things like ebooks, webinars, or templates can make people think better of you. It also gives people an idea of the value you can offer and makes them think that you know a lot about your industry.
Provide personalised support: Offering personalised support to your customers can go a long way in building relationships and trust. Responding to their questions via email or chat, providing guidance on how to use your product or service, and offering follow-up support are all ways to be genuinely helpful.
By focusing on being genuinely helpful to your audience, you can build trust and credibility, which can ultimately lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. The key is to prioritise the needs of your audience, rather than your own sales goals.
It is still important to tell people what to do in your business. Things like “Click here to buy” and “Learn more right now” are helpful on sales and sign-up pages. You have to know when you should be gentle and offer help, or when you need to be more direct.
While educational content can be valuable in building trust with your audience, it’s important to strike a balance between providing information and promoting your products or services.
If you focus too heavily on how-to content, without providing a clear call-to-action or showcasing the value of your product or service, you may struggle to convert your audience into paying customers.
By finding the right balance between providing educational content and promoting your products or services, you can build trust with your audience and guide them towards becoming paying customers.
While educational content can be valuable in building trust with your audience, it’s important to strike a balance between providing information and promoting your products or services. If you focus too heavily on how-to content, without providing a clear call-to-action or showcasing the value of your product or service, you may struggle to convert your audience into paying customers.
Here are some tips for finding the right balance:
Align your content with your business goals: Make sure your content is aligned with your overall business goals. While educational content can be valuable, it should ultimately lead your audience towards taking action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.
Include calls-to-action: Be sure to include clear calls-to-action in your content, such as encouraging your audience to sign up for a newsletter, schedule a consultation, or make a purchase. This helps to guide your audience towards taking the next step in the customer journey.
Showcase the value of your products or services: While providing educational content, be sure to showcase the value of your products or services. Highlight how they can solve your audience’s pain points or make their lives easier.
Mix up your content: Avoid getting stuck in a rut of only producing how-to content. Mix up your content with other types of content, such as customer success stories, industry news, or thought leadership pieces.
By finding the right balance between providing educational content and promoting your products or services, you can build trust with your audience and guide them towards becoming paying customers.
The secret to getting people to buy without asking for a sale is to create an environment where your audience feels comfortable and confident in making a purchase. This involves building trust with your audience, demonstrating the value of your product or service, and providing a seamless buying experience.
Here are some tips for achieving this:
Build trust: If you want to make sales, it is important to build trust with your customers. You can do this by telling the truth, doing what you said you would do, and giving them good service.
Demonstrate value: Tell people about the good things your product or service does. Make sure to show how it solves a problem for people. Show that other people like it too by using what they say about it.
Make it easy: Make it easy for people to buy what you are selling. Put clear instructions on your website about how to buy. Give them an easy way to pay and explain the shipping information clearly.
Use urgency: Creating a sense of urgency can make people want to buy something. You can do this by saying the offer or item is only available for a short time, that there are only a few left, or using a timer to count down. Sometimes this can feel too pushy if it’s used too much.
Focus on the customer: Make the people who are buying your home feel special. Give them special help, give them suggestions that match what they want, and make sure their needs come first.
