Copywriting Techniques for the Computer Business (Part 2)

If you are walking past a local newsstand and a bold headline screams at you … “Huge Storm Approaching Batten Down-the-hatches”. The headline would give you a compelling reason to maybe purchase the newspaper.

If you walked past the same news outlet and the headline of the day was … “Fair Weather Approaching for the Weekend”, it may not give you the same incentive to purchase a copy.

In this case the key headline of the newspaper does the job of successfully selling the whole newspaper. It is the same with successful magazines. Months are spent designing the front covers and the headlines on the face …are what sell the magazines.

The most important part of a print advertisement is the headline! Print advertising is “selling in print” and you won’t get sales without ….a good headline. Great headlines have made fortunes for some ….lousy headlines cost you money or become your deadline.

It is a fact that ninety percent of success or failure of a sales offer in a print ad is in the headline. Based on hundreds of tests conducted, a good headline can be as much as 17 times more effective than a “so-so” headline ….and that is with exactly the same body copy.

So how do you test a headline? A headline is like a classified advertisement. A classified ad is a short one line sentence with a phone number for further info. All you need to do to test a headline is to add a phone number at the end and ask yourself the question, “Would anyone respond to my classified ad?”

For example a motel business in the Yellow Pages you may create a headline for your ad like this: “Mikes Motel”. Add a phone number to the headline and I would guarantee you would get a poor response. Add your town or suburb to the headline and you may get a little better response. (eg Mike’s Motel South Side) This still is a lousy headline.

Why not try a different approach and put, “How to get the best accommodation package at Mike’s Motel South Side”. This headline for the ad would induce people to read or phone about mid week, low season, group, business, regular or prepaid bookings etc.

How could you write a superior headline for a computer repair business? If some aspect of your business was virus removal why not call yourself a “Virus Removal Specialist”. Part of your advertising could include a headline saying: “Virus Removal Specialist, I supply & Install Antivirus Software.”

By this headline you could create a sideline where you re-supply your customers each year with a new addition of antivirus software and be on hand to do all the virus removal work. Also when there is a new virus outbreak send them an email warning. This of course would lead to other opportunities in your support role.

The Worst Thing in Business is to be Like Everyone Else

Recently the high profile CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina, was sacked. Why, because in five years she failed to steer HP into more profitable areas of business. In taking over Compaq a couple of years ago she created a mammoth low profit PC business.

IBM has sold its PC operation to a Chinese company for a relatively paltry sum. Remember, these are the guys who invented the PC! It's hard to make money manufacturing personal computers, and IBM wants to concentrate on more profitable lines.

Today, PCs are reduced to a commodity like, like toothpicks or telephones. The worst thing a computer repair business can do is to be just like everyone else. In addition, the most awful reason your customer can have for buying your product is that it’s the cheapest.

Live by cheapest price, die by cheapest price. What you sell should be re-packaged and re-invented to differentiate it from competitive products.

Make apples-to-apples comparisons difficult or impossible. Computer repair companies are in the same category of requiring good reasons to allow higher charge-out rates.

Don’t cut price but add value. Don't sell a product alone but combine it with a service.

Your Most Important Business Asset

The most valuable business asset you can ever own is a well maintained customer list. If your customer database is the most valuable thing you have, then maintaining it and expanding it should be your number one priority.

Just doing a good job of this task will give you a much more profitable computer repair business. It’s much easier and less expensive to serve your existing customers than to obtain new ones.

The experts tell us …it is a common fact in every day business; in the rush to find new customers, usually the old ones get over-looked.

Remember, that most of your existing customers are probably unaware of your entire range of products and services. They need from you, regular contact and good information.