Using Words to Outshine Your Competition

There may be no other businesses that sell the product or service you sell, but you still have competition. Once that's understood you have a greater advantage when it comes to copywriting. You can recognize the other options your customers have before them and can position yourself as the only logical choice.

Competition comes from a variety of sources. Yes, there are those who sell the same things you sell, but there competition comes in other forms, too. Charitable organizations are a good example of "same but not". Your group may be the only one raising funds to save the green whale of Norway but that doesn't mean you'll receive a flood of contributions from everyone you call--there are a million and a half other charitable organizations out there all vying for the same money from the same people.

None of these other groups is trying to raise funds to save the green whale of Norway, but they are trying to get individuals to donate to their causes. That makes them all your competition.

How do you get around this problem? Assuming your traffic generating efforts or your mailing list is highly targeted, you'll want to make a strong case for your whale. In your copy, let the readers know why the animal is important to the environment (he's the only whale in existence with the antibodies that can cure AIDS). Tell them why the world would be a much sadder place without the gentle giant. Just like with any other type of copywriting, list the benefits of the green whale. Why is he important to nature, how will the ecology suffer with his demise and what will happen to the rest of the world if he becomes extinct? All of these are vital to convincing your audience that they should favor you with their contributions instead of some other organization.

Go to your favorite search engine and type in "copywriting course". There are a lot of options listed on the search results page. Are all these products the same? Absolutely not. Some are live workshops, others are e-courses, some focus strictly on one type of copywriting leaving all others by the wayside, some are correspondence courses while others are downloadable. But because they all appear in response to the query "copywriting course," they all have the potential to take sales away. Even if your site falls into the coveted #1 position, the others on the page could potentially grab some of your sales.

So how do you get surfers to click on your site's listing? Your title and description have to be first rate. If your copywriting course has a specialty (sales letters, search engines, catalogs, etc.) say so. Choose the most powerful benefit and a way to set yourself apart and use those in the tags for your search results along with your keyphrases. Simply having keywords in your title and description might get you ranked with the engine but it sure won't entice anybody to click to your site.

There are options and substitutes for practically everything in the world. If people don't want to pay for a computer and Internet access so they can send email, they can write letters or call their friends and family. If customers decide the cost of groceries is out of control, they can plant a garden and eat a vegetarian diet. There are even alternatives to cars: taking a cab (as most do in New York), bicycling (very popular in London) or walking (great exercise). All of these alternatives can be competition for you.

To overcome the pull of other options, when you write copy be sure emphasize why those other options really aren't viable. The sheer act of writing letters takes time in and of itself. Then you have to mail the letter and wait. If the person wants to respond, they have to get motivated enough to sit down and write a reply and mail it. Then you wait again. The phone? Yes, people could use the phone to talk like they always have, but what about when you want to show the person you're talking with something? A picture of your new grandchild or your new car can't be shown over the phone. You get the idea.

Drop the egotistical viewpoint that you have no competition and take a good, hard look around. Once you've realized that there is always an alternative to buying what you offer, you'll be in a better mindset to write copy that outlines why yours is the only option the prospect should consider.