Attract The Burglars
Are you intrigued by the title? I hope you are, even though it seemingly has nothing to do with crafting or copywriting. In fact, it sounds like I’m gonna go off on a tangent about home security systems, but that’s all part of my plan.
No, not talking about security systems, but getting you interested and asking questions, that’s my plan. Any good writer knows one of their most potent weapons is curiosity.
I mean, that’s almost the entire reason movie trailers exist, to get you interested and curious enough to spend your hard-earned money on a story.
There have been many occasions where I’ve gotten on the computer to look up a crafting technique and ended up looking at something completely different. I told myself I was researching good primers, but then a small colorful corner of the screen caught my eye, and before I knew it I was halfway through an article about beading.
But how do you get your emails and website to be that appealing? To answer that question let me refer you back to the classic story of Goldilocks and the three bears.
Remember?
She trespassed on private property, committed grand theft of soup, and gave that poor little bear nightmares about burglars in his bed. What was the famous line from that story?
“But the third one was just right.”
Only Baby Bear’s soup was worth stealing, and only his chair and bed were worth occupying because they appealed to Goldilocks. This is a perfect example of how to bring in more customers and, unlike the three bears, you want Goldilocks to try your soup (and maybe buy some supplies for her new quilt while she’s at it), so your words need to be “just right”
Don’t Make It Too Hot
Hype may seem like a good idea, but it just makes you sound fake. Remember that you’re selling to crafters: they’re already excited about making things, you just have to tap into that enthusiasm so they become excited about your product.
Instead, of hype, tap into their emotions: you can accomplish a lot just by painting a picture in your reader’s mind of the benefits they’ll enjoy from your products. Using those word pictures can also help you avoid the fatal error of “dragging the customer” instead of showing them why you’re a trustworthy business that has the products they’re needing.
And another very important thing about Too Hot Copy is that it is easy to burn yourself with it. You may deliver what you said you would, but the buyer is so hyped up that they’re expecting more than that. This leads to a bad review at best and that person telling everyone they know about how they got “ripped-off” and to “never trust that company” when you did nothing wrong.
Don’t Let It Get Too Cold
Get caught up in explaining all the details about your product and it’ll start sounding like the encyclopedia. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to scroll through an encyclopedia just to find your punchline when they can just go to another website. This is especially true with people of strong imagination; we’ll read through an article, but it has to be worth it first.
Too Cold Copy is the exact opposite of hype: it’s dry, unnecessarily long, and isn’t any easier on the eyes than the screaming headlines in the Too Hot category. Fortunately, this copy can be fixed by adding a little warmth and friendliness into it. Dull pages can come to life with simple “slang” and frequently used sayings.
An easy way to remember this tip is to think of your website as a small quiet store and one of your regulars has just come in. Even if 1,000+ people visit your site every day, your copy needs to sound like a one-on-one conversation. After all, you want your customers to like you right?
Thankfully the craft industry is a BIG niche, and you don’t have to attract every Goldilocks in the world, you just want the ones who are just right for you.