Copywriting Techniques for the Computer Business (Part 3)

How do you create a brilliant print ad for a computer repair business ...that gets the phone ringing off the hook? In the last two months we covered the basis of print ads using lots of explaining in emotive language preceded by an eye catching headline.

Learn these strategies and the net result will be a huge advantage over your opposition. Not one in a thousand business people know how to action it.

Begin your writing only after you have carefully thought about your service or product. You should be able to isolate as many benefits as possible.

Write down these benefits on 3 x 5 filing cards in telegraphic sentences which are short and exciting. Remember your customers will be asking themselves, “What’s in it for me?” The benefits written down will be the meat of your advertising.

It is very important to remember the benefits gotten from your product or service is ….all you have to offer! Your clients are interested in benefits and not much else. The benefits must be perceived as more valuable than the money you ask.

How do you think up a stunning headline that will get people to read your ad? The most important benefit sometimes becomes the basis of a successful headline. Often this benefit pops out strongly at you, as though by magic.

It is exciting when the biggest newly discovered benefit seems obvious, but only after you have found it. So how do you apply this new found knowledge to get loads of incoming telephone calls in a computer repair business?

In a computer repair situation there is always the opportunity to step in and supply hardware to converted customers. Why not advertise the fact you supply and install fixed price systems. You may offer basic entry level systems as workstations for small business customers.

Here you fulfil a need of supplying the whole package and get your customers up and running on a new system in a few hours. Your customers face a bewildering range of choices and it helps if the local expert can come up with a complete package of supplying and installing a new system.

So what would be a suitable headline for such a package? Why not, “How to Buy a Complete New Business Computer for $xxxxx.” Here you are inviting your customer to evaluate your fixed price offer. It is convenient for you as there is no messing around with quoting and you make the bulk of the profit out of the chargeable hours.

How would you break down the benefits for this particular proposal? The two main benefits would be: a “no hassles installation” and a cost effective solution …remember you are selling to converted clients. This example of a print ad has been successfully used by the author for many years.

How Your Future Customers Locate You, is Important!

Which is the better method of marketing your services …by advertising your business or by referral? Referrals are always the best way of getting business.

The reason is, because each party is more comfortable with this transaction. Think back and remember a time when you were forced to hire a contractor from the Yellow Pages or newspaper.

At the start of the exercise there is an unknown element …you never know who or what you are going to get, until after the job is done. If you hire someone on a referred basis it totally changes the mood and makes it a more comfortable arrangement.

How do we get the maximum number of referrals? One way is to keep in contact with as many people as possible on a regular basis. Sending your customers an informative newsletter is an excellent method of attracting referrals.

A constant contact newsletter is the most ideal way in the world of keeping a relationship alive. It gives you an excuse to contact them every month in an easy relaxed manner.

In addition, a newsletter can be passed around to other interested people. By this method you avoid any awkwardness or red faces and make sure your services are remembered.

One of the Most Overlooked Features on the Web

Businesses today involved with computer repair should all display web sites. It is a low cost method of promoting your services. “But what getting traffic,” I hear you say?

One of the most overlooked features on the web today is optimizing your website for your location. If you live in Timbuktu you should impregnate your site with phrases like “computer repair Timbuktu, computer sales Timbuktu, etc.”

If you use any sort of keyword generation software you can check these phrases and see they produce startling results. If you live in a city, it may pay to include your suburb rather than the name of the city.

In addition, your site should follow the principles of print advertising, which is explained in the last three editions.