Freelance Copywriter Secrets: Removing Readers' Mental Barriers

By: Charles Brown
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:43:04
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As a freelance copywriter, I have come to think of my work as that of slowly, methodically removing a reader’s doubts, apathy and other mental barriers. In some ways, my job is like being a matchmaker between a good, quality product and the person who can truly benefit from owning it.

Here are a few of the mental barriers that a freelance copywriter may have to remove between a product or service, and the potential customer who truly needs and wants what this product can do:

• Lack of awareness that the person may actually have a need or a problem. Some needs require education before the reader recognizes that it exists. Paying for children’s college education might be an example here. Many parents have no idea what inflation will do to the cost of college tuition by the time their kids reach the age of 18.

• Lack of concern because the problem seems too remote. Insurance agents and financial planners face this issue every day. We all should plan for retirement, and out deaths are inevitable, but many people lull themselves into complacency because both events seem a long way off. In order to sell a product these people truly need, they must first be shaken out of that complacency.

• Lack of interest and attention. the average person is exposed to 10,000 advertisements and marketing messages a day. In order to grab a reader’s attention, you must start with a headline that appeals to readers’ self interest. Check out my article on Freelance Copywriter Secrets: How to Tap Into Your Readers' Deepest Needs to learn more about how to appeal to a person’s deepest needs.

• Doubts and skepticism. As a result of those 10,000 marketing messages, each claiming to offer the very best widget known to man, people are naturally skeptical of puffery. Support your claims with facts, specific examples, testimonials from satisfied customers, scientific data, etc.

• ”They’re all alike.” Shame on you if you allow people to think your product is just like everyone else’s. That is the sign of a freelance copywriter just not doing his or her job. Stand out! Draw attention to why your product is better, different and worth a higher price. But you can only do this by creating a category of one, and then come to OWN that category. Your product must be the biggest (or even better, the only) fish in the pond. Your job is to create that pond. Another article I’ve written that you should read is Freelance Copywriter Secrets: 10 Steps to Writing a Powerful USP, because it will show you how to create that category of one.

It is extremely important to understand why a person, who can truly benefit from a product or service, may still choose not to buy it. I want to anticipate these objections and barriers head-on, so I write out every reason, objection, doubt and misunderstanding my potential readers may have.

Then I write copy that answers each of these problems. In so doing, I am able to chip away at their barriers.

COPYRIGHT © 2006, Charles Brown All rights reserved.

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