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Write Right: Getting your customers' attention

© Bert Markgraf

No matter what your product or how small your business, you're going to find yourself writing stuff for your customers. It could be for a web site, an ad, direct mail or letters to potential clients but you're going to have a very short time to make your point and attract your customer.

The great temptation and the usual pitfall for the small business entrepreneur is to write about himself and his business. "Hi, my name is _ and I have a lot of experience and excellent qualifications. We're located in _ and we offer the best _ at the lowest price anywhere..." and your target has already stopped reading because it's a sales pitch; he's saturated with sales pitches and he doesn't want another one, no matter how good it sounds.

Instead, picture your target customer. What is his biggest problem related to your product? What is it that your product is going to do for him? Now address his problem. "Hi, we solve problems in _ for our customers...". You're not selling anymore, you're helping and you've got your customer's attention. Keep it brief. Just give enough information to identify the problem, a general idea of your proposed solution and a number of ways to contact you. Then make sure that anyone who does contact you gets a high-service-level response.

The people who contact you are already excellent prospects. Now you'll have to write more to keep in contact with them, always staying focused on their needs and problems. A rather radical way to keep these missives short and to the point is suggested at the resources area of Marketing Magic where you can also find some other interesting business links.