Selling Without Selling Out.

Every sales post I write gets submitted to the “who cares” test.

I write my copy. And then I ask myself: “who cares?”

It might sound harsh, but it’s what allows me to reconnect to what my audience ACTUALLY cares about. It ensures that I’m showing how the product or service meets a need.

“Get ready for winter with these brand new boots!” Okay…who cares?

“We made these boots for empowered women who love fashion.” Okay, but…who cares?

“We’ve sourced the sturdiest vegan leather on the market, and created boots for people who want to go straight from stomping the pavement to scaling a mountain.” Who cares?

You can see how the question seems much less justified on the final post – because you can answer it. You can clearly see who it’s for, and it gives a super concrete reason WHY they should care.

The next test: Would I feel stupid saying this to a friend at a coffee shop, or sharing it on my own timeline?

If the answer is yes: the tone is wrong. It’s likely pushing too hard for a sale, or doesn’t sound like “you.”

Marketing is human to human. So…make sure you’re talking like a human. If the tone of your sales post is a world away from how you talk to your crowd most of the time, it’s going to feel jarring and that’s going to reduce clicks (before I write a sales post for someone else, I will sometimes spend days familiarising myself with their tone and patterns of speech just to avoid this).

My final test? It comes back to our “three things” on day six.

I ask myself, even if the person doesn’t buy – is this post going to feel good in their newsfeed? Is it a positive addition to their day?

That final test pushes me away from THIS PRODUCT IS SO GREAT (which everybody hates – you’ll know this from your own experience of social media) and toward: hey, let’s talk. It encourages me to tell a story.

The next step in this process is choosing visual creative.

I will choose a high quality image that has NOT been edited to the gills – one that looks like something a friend might have posted, or is just enjoyable to look at.

I tend to avoid text.

Final step: 

Make it STUPID easy for them to act and buy. Have a link there and waiting. If you are cross-posting, be very aware that “link in bio” does not work on Facebook and will have negative impact, because people will assume you’re just over on Insta hitting share and aren’t there to answer any questions. If you can get people to act as soon as your post compels them to – your conversion rate will go up (giving people time to think is rarely a good thing).

Here’s a few examples of great sales posts – you’ll see that none of them are pushing too hard for a sale, and are really connecting with what actually matters to their niche

(disclaimer: yours truly may have written all of these except one…which is how I know they converted well!).

You can go direct to sales, or tell a relevant story and then drop it in; whatever is going to feel most cohesive with the rest of your feed, capture your voice, and be a POSITIVE addition to the newsfeed.

Remember: you have something to say, and a conversation to have, whether people buy or not. We’re not hustling here, or going over the top trying to explain and convince. We’re just showing people something cool, that they might like.

If you push too hard for the sale, your post will get terrible reach and engagement.

Look at your three things.

• Remember your “why” that has absolutely nothing to do with your product or service ending up in someone’s hands. Write from that place.
• Ask them to buy, don’t demand.
• Offer something up for their consideration, don’t shove a product in their face.

Again: you know what you make or is cool – so show them why it’s cool. Just that. Keep it simple

JO MURPHY
Community Manager Team Traffic 

Jo Murphy specialises in Facebook and Instagram, works primarily with environmentally friendly eCommerce businesses.  She is passionate about providing solid information and education to businesses of every size and believes that meaningful connections and collaborations are one of the biggest keys to success.

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