To Hype, or Not To Hype?
This morning I was going to get straight to work on the marketing book proposal when I received an e-mail that gave me pause.
It was a reaction to a sales letter I put up recently for marketing consulting services.
From the start, I was a little hesitant to use the sales letter. To be honest, I’m a little hesitant about sales letters in general. I can only remember one or two that I actually liked reading, and even then I felt a little slimy because I knew I was being sold.
So I wasn’t terribly surprised when I read this e-mail, quoting from my site:
” >> But only if you contact me today. My client list is constantly growing, and I can’t guarantee I’ll have spots available forever … or even in a week from now. <<
Ah, c’mon… who are you trying to kid? For sensible and discerning marketers, such ‘Hurry, rain coming’ tactics went out with Noah.“
Use of such ploys reduces your standing – and that’s a pity, you seemed better than that.”
At first I thought, so what? It’s true—my client list is constantly growing, and there’s nothing to stop it from filling up completely.
Then I thought—OK, yeah, that line is a little pushy.
But what to do? As a copywriter, I know that in order to get responses, you need to create a sense of urgency. Period. It’s one thing to avoid hype and high-pressure sales tactics, but it’s another thing to be so wishy-washy that you shoot yourself in the foot by not asking for the sale.
This is something I’ve struggled with my whole career—finding the perfect balance. Marketing my services in a way that feels authentic and gets the sale. (After all, I do have a mortgage to pay.)
But I still struggle with it.
So what do you think? Is the line too hypey, or is it fair game? How do you promote your services and make the sale without crossing the line into hype? I’m eager to get your feedback, because this is rarely discussed in the world of marketing … and it’s about time that changed.
12 Responses to To Hype, or Not To Hype?
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Heck, that’s not hype at all.
A decent salesletter or similar project can take me 3 weeks. In the meantime I could get booked for something else too, so a potential client could easily find me unavailable for 4 or 5 weeks.
This is also why I always avoid promising fast turnaround or rigid deadlines. It undermines what I’m actually selling, which is more than scribbling on paper without any thought.
Hype would be something like:
My services are such demand now I’m making so much money I’m gonna retire this this year! To be one of the very final clients to bask in my infectious success, reaping scads of cash hand over fish in no time, just from my *glow*, you gotta ACT NOW! At this rate my services will soon be gone FOREVER!
Listen, you know what that means. More dull wet Monday mornings working for your boss, the one that hates your guts and badmouths you behind your back, the one that laughs every time he pays you that pathetic check. Yeah that guy, forever! Or you could explode into wealth, fame and hot babes, just by hiring me! No brainer or what? So why you waiting? ACT NOW or lose it!
Or something like that.
Just pointing out you provide a professional one on one service and may be booked is not hype. It’s the plain truth. Perhaps too plain?
Give em a little more of the why you can only concentrate on one client at a time, how you will set aside a large part of your business month just for them perhaps?
Alan C.
I’m no expert but I think it is the vagueness of how many spots. “Only if you book today” does sound a bit hypey because it sounds like there are people beating down your door. And if you were that likely to be booked out by tomorrow, why would you send out a sales letter?
But a specific limit on how many spots are available? that would be less so. Because it could take you a day or a week to fill, say, 10 spots. But if someone really wanted one of those 10 spots, they would probably call today just to make sure they got one. It is a small enough number that it really could be gone tomorrow (or the end of the week).
I’m assuming your time doesn’t get filled with just one activity and that this sales letter is for one of several things you do. So planning for a specific number of clients for this service and then booking the rest of your time for something else seems reasonable.
Personally, I can see the urgency in the sentence but I don’t feel like it’s beating down my door. In a sales letter you have to have something to create action otherwise there is no incentive for people to act.
In honesty I’m struggling with the same things myself, I find it much easier to critique other people’s writing and find the message behind it than my own.
I don’t think you can ever make everybody happy though, no matter how you look at it you have to ask for a sale before you’re going to get it. There is always that one person who’s going to resent it, but you’ve got to ignore that focus on the 3 people who give you the sale instead.
As someone who is not (yet) into selling lots of stuff at the moment, but has done and is up on sales talk, that line in particular does nothing for me.
I lie, it does. All I think is “huh, another one using the same old sales pitch” – I don’t believe it for a minute!! Not a second.
Personally, I feel its overused, it has no impact anymore – at least not on me. Some, depending on the number of cliched sales terms used, I just delete, delete, delete.
I get the sense of urgency, and I’m not sure how you get around this. But that line and similar just …. sorry, nothing but annoying and cliched.
And, slightly off topic, those great big LOOOOOOOOOONG sales pitches wtih “sign up now” every half a kilometre down the page really Pee me off!!! I don’t have time to sit and read stuff like that for 18 hours!
If you can’t convince me in the first 30 seconds, and need another 14 hours to do so, then are you really worth considering??
(not you personally, lol, businesses generally
)
Thats just my opinion. As someone who uses other businesses – a customer
I’m thrilled by all the discussion … and I’m learning a lot through your comments.
I’ve found through experience that most women tend to be turned off by the sales letter format. But copywriter Tracy Needham made a good point, too, by saying:
“Everyone says they hate them and won’t read them…until they actually need that service. There may be things you can do to make it feel less sales-y, but in general, studies show women like to have ALL the info before they make a decision so a long copy format is actually a good thing.”
Guess it all depends on how you phrase that information in your sales letter.
Hi Kelly, I have to say to me it seems rather pushy. If I am told by a salesperson or in a letter something to the effect that “you need to act right now or the offer is off the table” I tend to become suspicious. Don’t they trust that their product will stand up to research or scrutiny? What are they trying to hide? Is it a scam? Why would one more day make a difference? It is Reader’s Digest or Salehoo tactics, even if it is true. I think there are more subtle ways of asking for the sale (although I realise I’m not being particularly subtle). Those sort of lines reduce credibility. I am particularly cynical and like to consider all my options before making a decision so that type of line would be sending me off to a competitor.
I hope that helps and good luck with it all,
Sara
Sara – that’s how I feel
Kelly, I get the point of the long sales letter, but I, personally, check out the rest of the site to see what is on offer.
I don’t need the big sales letter, I don’t read them, even when it is a product I need, and more often than not, I don’t buy because of the sales letter.
Two ways that goes – the sales letter begins to really pee me off and I go “seeya”, or, I’ve looked around the site, go to the sales letter and find the first “buy now” button – if I can avoid the sales letter entirely, I do.
As a customer, I’d rather a short letter, and the rest of your site to show me what you have to offer – without all the sales talk!
HTH
Amanda
Hi,
I guess I agree with those that say one look at the sales letter and I stop reading. Too long, too many points, following the same old spiel I have been reading for years. It is not too the point, and is relying on triggers. At least you have not gone the whole hog of highlighting and so many extras. Your colours are also really nice.
I have no idea if the dislike of it is related to age or nationality or number of years on the net, but I am not sure about how many people who have spent time reading that sales letter format so many times before will read what you have to say now.
Maybe it is because I am Australian / South African, or over 40 or on the net for +10 years, but it is not a fresh marketing approach.
Sorry. hth
Marcelle
Fascinating responses — please don’t feel like you have to apologize, though, for offering me some “constructive criticism!” Your feedback is invaluable to me as a marketer, and will help me tweak my message to something that DOES resonate.
Guess it’s back to the drawing board for now …
Hi Kelly, I have to say to me it seems rather pushy. If I am told by a salesperson or in a letter something to the effect that “you need to act right now or the offer is off the table” I tend to become suspicious. Don't they trust that their product will stand up to research or scrutiny? What are they trying to hide? Is it a scam? Why would one more day make a difference? It is Reader's Digest or Salehoo tactics, even if it is true. I think there are more subtle ways of asking for the sale (although I realise I'm not being particularly subtle). Those sort of lines reduce credibility. I am particularly cynical and like to consider all my options before making a decision so that type of line would be sending me off to a competitor.
I hope that helps and good luck with it all,
Sara
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Most of us became desensitised to most sales messages surrounding us. Every day we are confronted to hundreds of headlines, slogans, adverts, etc…
I believe being genuine and honest in your copy helps you create a bond with the reader, who is literally tired of the hype going on the Internet, etc… and you become like a REFRESHING ALTERNATIVE to marketing hype.
Here’s how I personally close my sales letters:
PS: Time is my only constraint and since I treat each project with dedication and the highest level of attention, I can only take on a very limited number of new clients. So don’t delay…
David Garray recently posted…Brand Advertising – Don’t Waste Costly Advertising Space