Does Your Offer Get Bites? How to write an offer that sells

I’m in a ton of groups for entrepreneurs. A ton. And it’s how I connect with a lot of my clients and, better yet, referrals. What’s more, I’ve found that many entrepreneurs have absolutely incredible services and knowledge bases, but they have no clue how to write an offer. If your offer doesn’t get bites, then it might bite. And if yours could use improvement, you aren’t alone.

After all, copywriting isn’t everyone’s zone of genius. Instead, entrepreneurs come from all walks of life and types of experience.

Outside of networking, I love joining these social media groups to keep a finger on the pulse of the types of questions people are asking, their problems, and some very real issues they have that they may not even realize yet.

One of the biggest problems I see relates directly to how entrepreneurs promote themselves and their services, whether on sales posts or in promo threads. And some of them know that their copy needs help, while others have no idea why people aren’t taking them up on their free offer. So let’s dig in now to see how your offer stacks up.

1. What is the goal of your offer?

Are you “selling” a free lead magnet? Trying to get people to join a group? Follow one of your social media profiles? Or are you actually trying to get people to opt into a product? This will help you position your offer.

If it’s free, you won’t have to work very hard to get people to opt in. Although with all of the noise out there, you have to offer some very clear benefits in order to get people to exchange their email address for your offer. They have to get something good out of it.

If you have a paid offer, then you’ll have to set up the value of your offer early on. If you don’t mention that there’s a price or investment very early on, then when people click through, even if they were sold on it before, if there’s anything over $50, they may have sticker shock and click away.

However, if you nurture them just a bit in your offer, and let them know what they’re getting for their investment, the goal is to convert them before they even see the price.

2. Who is it valuable to?

This is super important, because even if you write an offer that Elvis himself would come back to life to take advantage of, and you market it the wrong place (say to anywhere outside of Memphis or Vegas), then you won’t reach Elvis or his clones.

To give you a more real example, if what you’re offering is most valuable to Generation Z, then you need to stop wasting your time in groups for 30-something and 40-something moms who are creating careers. Figure out who you need to reach and find out where they hang out.

This is also important when it comes to writing the offer itself. It’s far more powerful (and easier) to write an offer that speaks to a specific audience than it is to market to a generic group. What’s more, YOU aren’t for everyone. You don’t want to be. And, you can’t be. So better to figure this piece out early in the process.

3. What problem are you solving?

If your offer doesn’t clearly outline the problem you’re solving and why they need what you have to fix or solve it, then you’re going to be working way too hard to get people to sign up. Keep in mind, this may be SUPER obvious to you. Remember, you created this program or download. But, it might not be nearly as obvious to your potential clients. You have to spell it out.

So here’s an exercise for you: Take your offer and spell out three to five things that it does for people who download it.

Maybe this means taking a look at the features, and then spelling out why each is beneficial to people who you are hoping to connect with.

If you’re not sure, then ask a business buddy for some feedback. They may point out some really great things your offer does that you wouldn’t have considered. There is such a thing as being TOO close to what you do.

4. How does it read?

Are you using language that would have been great in a high school or college thesis or major paper? If so, I’ve got news for you! And it’s not what you want to hear. If you write your offer like it’s a college paper, you’re probably boring your clients and they’re moving on before they even give your Really Awesome Thing a chance.

The advice I always give people is to write the way you speak. Next time you’re on Facebook in one of those groups, take a look at posts that you really like. I’m guessing they probably read just like someone has spoken about them.

So if you can articulate what people are getting well, consider recording it on Loom or Zoom and then transcribing it. That will give you a super awesome starting point that you can then clean up from there.

However, I’ll caution you here: try to avoid writing an offer that is lengthy or stream of consciousness. While this can be a great way to write emails or blog posts, it’s absolutely not ok for your offer. Your offer must seem like a spoken piece, but it actually needs a great deal of structure.

4. Are you using images with your offer?

Having any image is better than having no image. An image can anchor your text to make it eye-catching and grab people’s interest.

However, a good image that relates to your offer can improve your results exponentially.

Maybe it’s a photo, or maybe it’s a template from Canva that you customize. And, some platforms allow you to use video or animated gifs, which can be even more powerful! A picture tells 1,000 words, so imagine how many a video tells!

And don’t forget the power of the emoji! They’re a great way to add personality to your offer and help break up your text!

5. Do you tell a story when you write an offer?

There is nothing more powerful for marketing than storytelling. (Fight me.)

How else can you draw on people’s emotions and get them to buy in than if you tell a story? I don’t mean “once upon a time,” but you must set up your marketing like you’re telling a story where you or your product is the hero.

6. How long is your offer?

People expect a certain length these days. So don’t worry about making your offer 2-3 sentences. If you can do it in 2 to 3 sentences, go for it. But find a way to make it eye-catching if you do.

If you simply throw up an image of a meeting with a sentence saying that you help leaders build their network and a link to your website or freebie, then that’s not going to entice anyone.

Use lots of white space to help your readers follow along. But, you also don’t want pages and pages of content. Longform sales pages have their place, just not in a social media post. Write a concise offer that sets the stage for what people will receive.

Do you need help writing an offer that sells?

If you’ve gone through this checklist and your offer stacks up, congratulations! You’ve probably written a really great offer!

But maybe you’ve taken a look at your offer and have noticed that it needs some help. If so here’s a recap of what your offer needs to do:

  • outline the problem so your market can identify.
  • explain how you’re solving the problem and why you
  • outline the benefits
  • give them a call to action
  • include an image

Remember YOU know your own messaging very well. However, most people who see your offer won’t know anything about you, so you have to give them everything they need in a relatively short space.

Using this framework will help you immensely when it comes to writing an offer. If you’re still not sure that what you have is doing the trick, I can review your offer.  In addition to giving you a Loom overview of your existing text, I’ll also explore it in the full context of your customer experience. Then I’ll give you some fresh, new copy that solves the problems and punches up your offer. Just click below to take advantage of this service.

Punch Up Your Social Media Offer

 

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