One of the most effective ways to persuade a potential buyer to try out a new product is by making him believe in the claims. The best way this can be achieved is through convincing articles. Once known as ‘advertorials’ which featured on the top, bottom or sides of a page, these articles were written with hard-sell in mind and often read as such. Times have changed today – when articles are used more as a soft-selling tool for the brand. They are more subtle in their claims and can easily be mistaken as an unbiased review by a professional correspondent.
Also known as ‘marketing articles’, the writing requires a special knack to write about a product, services or a cause in such a manner that it does not seem as if someone is trying to sell something. It is informative and articulate but never forceful enough to look like a written coercion to a reader. These marketing articles can be used in various formats which include: submission to a local print media like a newspaper, magazine or a trade journal; as an ‘expert’ comment and combined with other communication tools for marketing that product; or as web content in the marketer’s own website. The whole idea behind a marketing article is that it should never appear as an ad, though the hidden agenda could be simply that!
While the subtle nuances of marketing articles are ultimately to convince the reader of the product or services, it should never be treated as some kind of trick which the marketer or the writer is deploying to achieve his goal. All that the article is trying to do is to harness the reader’s attention and trigger a desire to know more by appealing to his finer senses. For instance, a man not be interested in flower arrangements but would like to know the significance of presenting different types of flowers to a woman. Reading this article he would not only know where such special arrangements of flowers are readily available but he also becomes aware of some interesting statistics and meanings behind a flower, which he had no clue about! The fact that emotional appeals work best with a potential customer is known to advertising agencies for many decades now. The marketing article simply does that – it appeals to readers’ emotions, which a normal ad, however well designed and written it might be, can not achieve.
Finding the right link between the article and the reader:
You could also call it as finding the right angle to appeal to a reader’s emotions. For instance, not many housewives will be ready to try out new herbs for cooking at home, unless she is an avid cooking enthusiast. But every woman would love to read about the funny incident which happened when a woman tried out the herbs when her husband’s boss was coming home for dinner! This is because she is essentially interested in the topic of cooking and can relate to the incident better. Thus, to make a success of your article, try and find a link with which your reader can find a connection or may be able to relate to what you are trying to say. If you find an angle to your article to which they can related to, you can make them read anything.
Don’t hard sell:
The strategy behind writing a marketing article is not to sound like some one who is desperate to sell his products or services. In stead the article should portray a seemingly unbiased opinion about the product or services which the reader finds useful and informative. It does not matter when the reader turns into a buyer or not.
Finding Clients and Setting Rates:
Who, you may ask, will ultimately buy these articles from you? In fact, anyone who has something to sell would be your potential buyers. Business houses, doctors, marketing organizations or service providers – anyone who wants to make a dent in this consumer-driven, highly competitive world of marketing would need marketing articles for grabbing consumer attention. Contact the local marketing organizations with plenty of samples of your writing and prove it to them how these articles can increase their customer base. Some public relations companies also need freelance writers to do this type of jobs. Online freelancers’ sites can also be approached with these write-ups. Your compensation would largely depend on the size of the organization, the type of products or services you have to write on as well as on the length of experience you have in this profession. The average fees could be anywhere between $50 and $1000 for these types of jobs.
