You’re looking for an agency to help you with your social media and you stumble on a LinkedIn post from an agency that caught your eye.

You click on the link to their website and as soon as you start reading the content, you can’t help but roll your eyes 🙄

You don’t believe a thing…

Because they just repeat what you’ve heard a thousand times before, without any charm.

Like this piece of copy from a website of a real agency…

“We manage your community, starting with the planning and development of a content strategy that projects your brand values to your potential customers.” 🥱

And after that wishy-washy opening, they just go on talking about themselves and you get the feeling that they don’t give a damn about what their customers really need.

So you just close the window and invest your attention in something more worthwhile.

But what about your own website and what you post on the socials?

Are you sure they are compelling enough to convince your prospects that what you offer is precisely what they need?

How can you make sure your copy won’t make people roll their eyes?

This is what we are about to see.

How to check your web copy and SM posts are persuasive

For a piece of copy to engage, it has to be:

• Clear
• Specific
• Valuable
• Reliable
• Actionable

Let’s look at this with an example.

Clear

Let’s say you sell office cleaning services. 

The first thing you need to do is make sure that as soon as someone lands on your website or Facebook page, they understand that what you are offering is actually office cleaning services.

You may be thinking “This person is discovering America for me”, and you’re not wrong, but when we see a LOT things like:

“Dream Mongers” for a company that organises parties, or “we only offer quality” as a catch-all for any kind of business…

Clarity always comes first

So make sure there’s no doubt about what you are offering.

❌ Broom Ninjas

✅Office cleaning services

People don’t want to solve puzzles when they’re in a hurry to find the service they need.

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Specific

There’s nothing worse for boring people and failing to convince than being too vague.

Generalities are neither interesting nor believable.

That’s why you need to add details that make your offer interesting and unique.

❌We meet your cleaning needs

✅Offices that look, smell and feel clean

The second headline solves a problem for your prospect and helps you stand out from the competition.

If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ll know that many companies clean so superficially that you hardly notice they’ve been there.

Valuable

The information you provide about your service must be of value to your prospects.

Information is valuable when it resolves a doubt or need.

In the example of the cleaning service we’re using, valuable information could be the price or the type of contract.

There are cleaning companies that have inflexible fixed contracts.

A difference in value could be:

✅ No commitment on duration, month to month, with the option to stop at any time.

There may be many companies that offer this flexibility but don’t make it clear in their communications.

Don’t expect people to guess.

Be transparent about the value you offer to your prospects and then emphasise this in your communications.

 Reliable

People are tired of hearing the same thing over and over again and have become very wary.

If you want to convince your audience that they can trust your company, show them how confident you are about the quality of your service, without going overboard.

One way to do this is to describe in detail how the service will be delivered.

Details make a concept more tangible.

They make it easy for your prospect to imagine what it will be like to have a clean and tidy office.

✅In the first week, we estimate the time it will take us to leave your office spotless. We take care of waste disposal and recycling of materials such as paper and packaging. Depending on the number of employees, we will clean the fridges 1-2 times a week.

These details will reassure your prospect, who will always doubt whether your service is worth it.

Details turn an intangible concept into a reality and they dispel objections.

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Actionable

Always remind your audience what they need to do to get the result they want.

✅Send us a message with your number and we will call you back within 24 hours.

Make the step they need to take easy and quick.

Don’t make them fill out a form with lots of questions because people don’t have patience.

Make it simple.

The ultimate litmus test to make sure your copy will work

When you’re revising your copy before publishing, always ask yourself these 3 questions to be sure you aren’t about to publish a 💩

1. Am I losing the reader?

You may have gone too far by giving too many confusing details and the reader (or viewer, if it’s a video) feels confused.

Imagine this person looking completely lost 😵‍💫

For example:

❌We don’t use EDTA products and we follow instinctive refinishing methods, i.e. when there are areas that need it more than others, blah, blah, blah…”.

Here your prospect is about to close the browser window…

To solve it:

Re-order your ideas and don’t overcomplicate things in an attempt to sound more professional.

Turn those complex concepts into easy-to-understand words.

✅We use environmentally and health-friendly products. We follow intensive zone cleaning methods. One day we clean the kitchen thoroughly, another day the stairs, and so on. This way all areas are clean at all times.

Always try to put yourself in your reader’s shoes who isn’t an expert in your field.

2. Is the reader thinking… “So what”? 🤨

Sometimes we don’t realise it and we talk too much about ourselves and not about our customers who should be the real protagonists.

Don’t make that mistake.

Every word you use must have value to your audience. Your copy needs to:

✅ Entertain them

✅Answer a question

✅Give them useful information that they didn’t have.

If you think what you’re saying doesn’t fit any of these characteristics, think again and fix it.

Add a personal anecdote, give them an easy-to-implement tip, let them see themselves in your words.

❌We are a leader in our industry. We use the most innovative cleaning processes and operate in 20 countries.

✅Did you know that more and more people suffer from allergies? In 30 years, 50% of the population will be allergic to something. A clean office with special products to kill dust mites is the key to the well-being of your employees.

3. Am I being called into question? 🤔

You’ve listed all the benefits of your product and you’re happy with the result.

But when you look back over your copy, you realise that you haven’t provided enough evidence to prove what you’re saying is true.

Can you see the reader rolling his eyes again?

It’s time to prove your point.

❌ We are the number one company in our industry

✅9 out of 10 customers stay with us after the first week of trial.

To prove your case, not only testimonials and case studies work.

You can also be credible by being honest. Not everything has to be perfect.

In the example above, we didn’t say that 100% of customers stay with us, there are 10% who don’t.

You can give reasons why they do not, such as price or relationship with another company.

You can also provide data, statistics, and cases that support your arguments.

Remember: People recognise and appreciate honesty in a world full of companies promising to 10x your income 🙄

See you around!

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