If you want to make a profit online by selling stuff, there’s no other venue more powerful and more cost-efficient than a newsletter. However, it’s not as straightforward as connect-the-dots – there are a number of things that you need to establish first just to get your readers in a buying mood. If you fail to establish these elements in your newsletter, you’re not likely to see any sales- at least, not enough to make the whole endeavor worthwhile.
1. Establish Rapport – you need to establish rapport first, which essentially means that you have to give the reader the feeling that you’re coming from the same side as them. There are myriads of ways you can do this, from adjusting the tone of your writing to creating content that they can relate with on a personal level.
2. Create a Need – for all the talk about “want” being more powerful than “need” due to the lack of constraints on the former, the truth is that outside of basic commodities (food, shelter, clothing, etc.,) there lines separating want with need tend to blur. People will feel the need for something even though they don’t really require it to survive their day to day life, simply because they want it so much. You have to create this feeling with whatever you’re selling. One way of approaching this is by putting yourself in the shoes of the reader and thinking of a possible problem they are not completely aware of, that the product you’re selling can address or solve.
3. Emphasize Importance – as mentioned above, there are problems people they have that remain unsolved or that they forgot, because they don’t consider it important enough to solve with urgency. Create this urgency by reminding them of said problem, explaining why it’s important, and tying everything with how it relates to the product you are selling. For added weight, you can create a sense of urgency on your end by giving them the impression that they have to buy the product before time runs out.
4. Lastly, Be Confident – this is important. It’s hard to imagine how you can show confidence through writing, but believe us when we tell you that it shows in your content if you’re confident in the product or not. The best and most straightforward way of doing this is to assess the product from the perspective of a customer instead of an advertiser, then write your content and be sincere. If you’re confident at the product at this point, it will show. If not, then you shouldn’t be advertising the product in the first place.
