Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 170

Step 4: Show ease of use
The key to this part of your sales letter is to communicate (if applicable) that your solution
is easy to do or quick to deliver results (or both). Now more than ever, prospective
customers want results quickly and easily. If you can demonstrate ease of use or speed of
results through text, images, or video, do it.
Step 5: Forecast the future
In this part of the sales letter page, you paint a picture in the minds of your readers of what
it will look like if they solve their problem. You want your readers to imagine and feel the
sense of being free of their problem.
The easiest way to start this section of the sales letter is by filling in the following blank:
Imagine what it would be like to _______.
For example, Ford Motor Company might write the following to sell the Mustang GT:
Imagine pressing the gas pedal and feeling the thrill of the Mustang’s 435
horsepower engine.
What problem does buying a Mustang GT solve, anyway? It won’t cure
customers of the flu or get them out of credit card debt. In Chapter 1, we talk
about articulating the customer ’s movement from the Before state to the After
state. In your sales copy, you must be able to articulate the value of that After
state. In the case of the Mustang, you’re freeing people from their boring, old,
and slow car of the Before state and delivering to them a new, beautiful, and
exhilarating car.
Step 6: Establish credibility
In this step of putting together your sales letter, you need to address a question in your
visitors’ minds: Why you?
That is, why are you or your organization qualified to solve their problem? You need to
establish why the solution you have is credible. You have a number of ways to demonstrate
your credibility, including the following:
Use a testimonial: If you have a broad testimonial from a happy customer that fortifies
your credibility, you can place it here.
Give your credentials: Provide any credentials that give people a reason to believe in
you as a solution — for example, you’re a doctor, earned your MBA, served as an Air
Force pilot, or other credential that relates to the type of solution you’re offering.