Writing winning sales copy is easy when you know how. For a start, you're writing about your own business. You know your products or services better than anyone. You know why customers should buy from you and you alone. You also know what makes your customers tick.

Now you just need to take this information and turn it into a powerful mail-out. Follow the 10 Steps below and your sales message should virtually write itself!

1. STRUCTURE - the AIDA formula

• A: Attention (Subject line and headline)
• I: Interest (First paragraph)
• D: Desire (The middle bit)
• A: Action (What you want them to do next)

Attention 1 - Subject Line: Grab their attention with a lively subject line. Promise benefits if they open the email. But keep it brief. Send the draft to yourself to check the whole of the subject line is visible in your inbox.

Attention 2 - Headline: Open with a bang. Immediately show the reader what they'll get from reading your email. But keep it brief and single-minded.

Interest: Get straight to the point. Feature your biggest selling point first - the main reason why your product/service solves their most urgent problem. Be enthusiastic and passionate. But be brief!

Desire: You won't win customers just by fulfilling expectations or being ordinary. So demonstrate how your product makes their life easier, gives them more time or money, or makes them better business people.

Tell them something they didn't know rather than the same old stuff. Everything in your sales message should have one purpose and one purpose only: to get a response. So give it the ‘wow’ factor!

Action: Don't leave anything to chance. Make it easy for them to respond and make it urgent. Include your phone number, a link to your website and an email address.

2. Decide your USP

A Unique Selling Point (USP) means just that: unique. Not the same old boring stuff everyone else is saying. Your USP forms the basis of your main sales message. It is the trigger that will make even the busiest, most difficult-to-please reader ‘down tools’ and take action.

Nothing unique to say? Then dig deep. After all, it's your business so the sky's the limit. And if all else fails, make them an offer they can't refuse!

3. Who are you writing to?

Pick just ONE person from your target audience and write to them, never a ‘crowd’. This person should be the most difficult person you need to convince - the person that’s teetering on the brink, waiting for you to give him that extra push.

4. KIS - Keep It Simple

An email should be like a conversation. So use the kind of words you'd use in a conversation. Read it aloud. If you wouldn't say it like that, then re-write it.

Short words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs work better than long ones. Talk in the active. ‘We do XXX’ rather than ‘We will do XXX’. Cut the number of words. For instance ‘Because’ instead of ‘Due to the fact that’.

Imagine you've caught your customer as he's running for a train. How would you persuade him to take action? You wouldn't mess around - you'd go straight in there, guns blazing!

5. Benefits not features

Always focus on you rather than we. Push benefits rather than features. ’Because we do this, you get that’ rather than the bland ‘We do this’. Involve the reader by asking a question - just as you would in a conversation. Then provide the solution. Anticipate their objections and clarify anything that may be unclear.

6. Selling not telling

Don't be too formal. Ditch archaic or legalistic words and phrases. Also, say ’You'll’ instead of ’You will’. And don't be afraid to start sentences with ’And’, ‘But’, ‘Or’, ‘Because’ etc. Your English teacher mightn't like it, but your customers will.

Abolish clichés and management speak. Plain talking wins respect and customers. Say ’Now’ instead of ’At this moment in time’. ‘Creative ideas’ instead of ’Blue sky thinking’.

Don't lecture. Remember it's a conversation, not a business tender. So be interesting and enthusiastic. Be positive, confident and urgent. You'd be surprised at how many sales messages come across as being almost apologetic, especially at the end when you're trying to get people to act.

7. If you've got it, flaunt it

Never assume your reader knows everything about your product or service. Even if you've told them before, remind them of your main benefits - the reasons why they may have bought from you in the first place… the reasons why other customers buy from you. But as ever, be brief.

8. Bite-size chunks

Keep your copy as short and to-the-point as possible. Make it even more digestible by splitting it into bite-size chunks, by including short benefit-packed sub-headings and bullet points. Make it easy for people to scan your message and get the general drift.

9. Bolds, underscores, etc

If your sales message is hyped up to the eyeballs then it will look hyped. If you wouldn't speak like that in public, then don't.

Also avoid too many bolds, underscores, capitals, exclamation marks, etc. Too much emphasis emphasises nothing. Remember that bolds and underscores can be confused with hyperlinks.

10. Length

How long should your email message be? The rule of thumb is to only say as much as you need to and not a word more, or less.

Finally…

Once you've written your first draft, leave it. Then come back the next day and read it again. Ask yourself ‘Does the reader care?’ at the end of each sentence. If the answer is no, then re-write it until the answer is a resounding yes.

Last but not least, test your draft on a customer or colleague. Someone you can depend on to be brutally honest. Ask them: ‘Would this make you buy the product?’

To find out more about Creative Copy, visit one of their three websites: www.creativecopy.co.uk, www.profitpullingsalesletters.co.uk and www.copywriterdirect.co.uk.