Striking the right balance in ad copywriting

B2B and D2C (if that is even a term)

[debvh]

Hello all, I have been reading this forum and its excellent library for awhile and have found it very informative. (I never thought of myself as writing ad copy but it turns out I have been doing it all along, just not always very well) And it seems you want to talk about writing, so hopefully this will spur some interest.

I use my website to promote both my established customized business-to-business services and also a new prepackaged direct-to-consumer service. My B2B clients are mostly word-of-mouth or referred from a niche directory, and they don't buy anything directly from my website - I want them to email or call for a consultation. In many cases there is a lengthy delay during which they apply for grant funding, etc., before ultimately commiting to the service, and any hint of high-pressure sales tactics would be completely inappropriate. My direct-to-consumer business will need to be from much more diverse sources and I will want them to CLICK HERE TO PAY or at the very least PRINT THE REGISTRATION FORM NOW.

My question is, how to be more assertive in the "you need to buy this now" message without alienating my "I'm here for you whenever you are ready" client base?

[drunkSEO]

Lets take a step back into the world of marketing. So you want your customers to buy your stuff. Well for one, you are an online business. Any online business is looked at now a days as very "shady" unless you are a profound and well known company outside the internet world. You need to take the stand point of offering free information that will benefit your readers and lead them into knowing you are the company to be with. Lets approach this in a way that you are writing a book and you leave them at the end with knowing there is a sequal to your book and of course your book is so great that they will buy the second book the minute comes out. Well in the same case of your website you need to provide enough information that will soak them into needing to come to you. Hire a content writer, build a sitemap with atleast 40 pages of relevant information to your industry and what you provide. Once the writer has finished 40 topics min 400 words per page on great stuff that deals directly with the industry you deal in you can then place it on your website in a way that makes it look like a book. Make sure on each one of your pages you have a visible box and a catchy slogin or graphic that promotes what you sell and how they can get it. The users will be so interested in reading what you have to offer that by the time they are done they are ready to look no more for anybody else but will come directly to you. This is also the same theory as writing copy for PPC however you are looking to get phone calls. having 40 pages of pure solid content that is facinating and insightful will pull your customers in. Then you have to do the rest to sell them at the other end of the phone line. Hope this helps you out. Take care and good luck

[Syzygy]

Whoa there...

In terms of striking the right balance in (ad) copywriting; sorry, drunkSEO, but could you repeat that - but just bit slower? If you don't mind? :-)

As an aside:

D2C: Direct to Customer? Sounds so much better than Direct to Consumer?

Syzygy

[debvh]

drunkDEO - Thanks for your reply. It sounds like I am already on the right track with respect to having lots of free content (except for the part about hiring a copywriter - I do all my own writing). And most of my pages include "contact me for a free consultation" which happens often enough that I have more B2B clients than I can handle. So maybe I will try adding a click-here-to-buy, etc., to the content pages without changing the overall informative tone of the site.

Syzygy - this just shows how little I know about marketing. I know "B2B" but if there is a catchy name for selling your service directly to the public then I don't know what it is. Or is direct-to-customer actually a term?

[steve]

I know "B2B" but if there is a catchy name for selling your service directly to the public then I don't know what it is.

B2C - business to consumer