Free Web Tips > Tips on 'writing' your flyer content

TIPS ON 'WRITING' YOUR FLYER CONTENT.
avoid the mistakes we see every week.

You've heard: "Sell the benefits not the product" right?  Well, nearly every flyer or promotional writing you see around you makes this number 1 mistake (amongst many other mistakes) and it's a biggy - the rant about 'features' (not the same thing) or worse still, they rant about 'themselves'.

Another way to think about this is to reverse the well-known S.T.A.R. writing style (Situation Task Action Result) to R.A.T.S. (Results > Actions > Tasks > Situation) - WHY? Your potential prospects are not going to trawl through 'stuff' to find the results - so put the 'results' first!

CONSIDER THIS: If your onlooker is interested in the Results you've taken the time to put first or emphasise, then, they'll likely take the time to read further your Actions (what you do), your Tasks (skills you have), your given Situation (the setting or scenarios your product/service helps).

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SOME SALES 'WRITING' RULES TO BEAR IN MIND

Our 'Rule of thumb' guide!

In order of highest impact, your likely biggest sales writing mistakes are:

1. First EMPHASISE (or Bullet point) the 'Results'.
   (e.g. My help will "Get you more enquiries" and "suits your budget" is better than "We help with Marketing and Web Stuff ".).
   Describing 'what you do' is merely listing your tasks, features or services.  Try instead to first describe 'the results' of what you do.
   
2. Don't hide the 'actual benefits' amongst a paragraph.
   (e.g. "blah blah blah  and in doing so we'll save you money time and hassle. We also do blah blah blah")
   Prioritise your text to describe what 'commodity' your customer gains through choosing you and/or What 'problem' you solve on their behalf.
   Write in order of: R.A.T.S. (Results > Action > Tasks > Situation)
   
3. De-Clutter!
   (e.g. More than 2 fonts, more than 2-3 colours, too many words.)
   General design rules: use 1 or 2 font 'families', 3 colours or less, use no more than 3 sized fonts (from a family ideally), try to use no more than 3 zoned areas in your promotional piece, clearly emphasise hooks & benefits.
4. 'Predict' + 'address' the most common barriers to sale & misconceptions.
   (e.g. Price, Industry Traits/Cliches, Effort required etc)
   Example... "Prices range from only £25 - £75",  "We speak plain english and not your typical computer geeks", "No stress or hassle, we'll lead and handle your project and measure the reults!"
   
5. Avoid Superlatives
   (e.g. We are the best/biggest, we are the most experienced.)
   State 'facts' instead of 'claims'... How are you better? Experienced with whom or how?
   
6. Cater for skim-readers
   (Don't jumble all content as same size etc)
   Bold key points or Bullet key points where possible (as above). And clearly communicate what a 'content area' is about ideally without your onlooker having to read the text. 
   

HOW TO APPLY THE ABOVE - AN EXAMPLE
For ease, see how you can apply the above tips to our following sample.

SAMPLE - COMMON SALES WRITING...
"We offer years of experience at Web Design and Web Marketing for small businesses. With a variety of price packages and spread payment terms. Saving you time, money and costly mistakes you can choose from DIY starter packages, monthly support packages or simply outsource the lot to us."

ANALYSIS...
1. Many would think the benefits are: 'years of experience', 'variety of price packages', 'spread payment terms' - actually they are more like features. The only benefits in the above sample are: Saving you time, money and costly mistakes.
2. You'll notice these benefits are hidden in the middle - place them at the front and with emphasis.
3. 3 sentences should be split into 3 separate paragraphs if needs be.
4. Claiming to have years of experience.
5. Does not cater for skim readers - all jumbled.

IMPROVED SAMPLE...
"Save time, money and costly mistakes - Benefit from our wisdom and experience in a variety of sectors  since 1998.

Avoid pursuing the wrong direction - We'll advise and lead you on various your opportunities and which to prioritise based on result and easy-wins; from Web Revision to Web Marketing Channels, we advise your Small Business on where your web efforts are going wrong.

CONSIDER: Tailored packages ...

• DIY starter packages, (£25+)
  
• Monthly support packages (£25+pcm x 3 months minimum)
  
• Simply outsource the lot to us. (Spread payments as standard)
  

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