Sales-generating Catalogue Copy: Secret Tips and Tricks
By Anna Hinds

Perfecting Your Catalogue Copy

How do you write irresistible catalogue copy? What does your customer need to hear in order to buy and buy again? Professional catalogue writers use the same tricks over and over again to get results. And you can too…

The Star of the Show

What’s the single most valuable thing any catalogue writer can do? Focus fully on the audience. Write for your customers – whether old or young, gadget freaks or gardeners, they should inform your writing.

Not for your boss, who knows every technical detail about every product.

Not from your own viewpoint – your interests are you own, not your reader’s.

This might seem like common sense, but it’s amazing how many catalogues, websites and flyers focus on themselves without giving a jot about the reader.

How to Get Into the Reader’s Head

It’s useful, before you start writing, to imagine a typical reader. Why are they interested in your product? What do they want from it? Do they prefer Corrie to Hollyoaks?

And – crucially – what questions are they asking as they turn each page? It’s important to answer their questions in logical order: remove all buying barriers.

It’s a common advertising technique to tap into your target audience’s dreams and desires. What do they aspire to and where do their emotions lie? Fifty-somethings are no longer ‘over-the-hill’ – they’re famously enjoying a new lease of life. You can reach this generation by acknowledging that and inspiring it…

Once you start writing (and editing), it’s a good idea to count the number of ‘you’’s you’ve used versus the number of ‘we’’s or company references. The reader doesn’t care about the writer or the company. ‘We’re the only suppliers to offer Thai lime trees’ doesn’t have the same appeal as ‘Everybody will be clamouring to know where you found this Thai lime tree!’

Unique Selling Points

Once you know what sets your product apart, writing sales copy is a cinch.