Learn How to Improve Your Marketing Copy & Get A Giant List of Action Verbs As A Speedy Resource

If you’re on this page it means that you’re probably an entrepreneur or small business owner who has to write much more than you ever thought you would when you started your own business.

You have to write to:

• Educate your audience
• Communicate with your prospects and clients
• Sell your products, services, and programs
• Market your business
• Promote special events, sales, or opportunities
• And more!

I’ll bet it’s safe to say that while you know hiring a copywriter is a valuable investment, it isn’t always feasible with your budget or your time constraints. That means you are doing most of the sales and marketing copywriting for your business.

You are responsible for writing content that will be used on/in your:

You also know you need to create new and fresh content consistently to build your brand visibility and market your business effectively. After all, copywriting is the ultimate key to effective, successful, money-making marketing.

Your content, call to action, and design are the three biggest factors in the success of your online sales conversions.

The problem is that copywriting isn’t your favorite activity — in fact it’s probably safe to say, that for most entrepreneurs, copywriting is often a stressful and somewhat intimidating task that often gets pushed aside.

IT’S OKAY! You’re not a professional copywriter!

Plus, it isn’t your fault. You were just taught how to write all wrong! In fact, most of our past writing instructors were teaching us wrong! Well maybe not wrong for imaginative and creative writing … but definitely wrong for sales and marketing copywriting.

Do you remember your high school or college writing instructors constantly berating you to be more descriptive and to use more adjectives in your writing?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I distinctly remember turning to the magic adjective on more than one occasion to boost my essay word count. Unfortunately adjectives don’t help us when writing sales and marketing copy because adjectives are simply weak support words that describe nouns.

There are two big problems with using adjectives in your sales and marketing copywriting:

1. Adjectives sound sales-y and hype-y. When you use too many adjectives while describing a product, program, or service, you begin to sound like you’re hard selling all the time — and worse, you start to sound like you’re trying too hard to convince the reader to buy.
2. Adjectives are imprecise, leaving the intended meaning of the word up to interpretation by the reader. Adjectives mean different things to different people. When you rely on adjectives in your sales copy, you lose control over the meaning, and that can mean disaster for your sales conversions.

Effective copywriting for sales and marketing is all about verbs, not adjectives. More specifically, smart business copywriting is about using ACTION VERBS, also known as vivid verbs, hot words, and power words.

So What Is an Action Verb?

An action verb is a verb that expresses something someone did, does, or will do in a clear and concise manner.

An action verb is a powerful and persuasive word, that in its simplest form, shows an action that has been performed or will be performed. Using strong action verbs in your sales and marketing copy instead of weak adjectives ensures your writing is clear and concise, which is easier for the reader to understand. Action verbs appeal to the reader’s senses, emotions, and feelings, adding interest and deepening the connection.

Action verbs gain strength and power when they are as used in the most specific way possible and create an emotional feeling or mental picture for the reader. Here’s an example:

Basic Action Verb Example:

• Get new strategies to attract more ideal clients

Strong Action Verb Examples:

• Discover new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Uncover new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Acquire new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Compile new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Learn new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Leverage new strategies to attract more ideal clients
• Master new strategies to attract more ideal clients

As you can see, in the above example each phrase, based on the action verb used, has a slightly different perceived meaning. Using action verbs have a big impact on the strength and meaning of a sentence, especially when it comes to writing benefit statements and calls to action.

Remember, don’t include fluffy adjectives that give away your control over your message and leave the meaning of your statement up for interpretation. Keep it clear, concise, simple, and direct. – And, focus on action.

Improve Benefits Statements With Action Verbs

A benefit statement is a clear and concise statement that communicates a benefit of a product, program, or service to the reader.

Writing benefits statements in sales and marketing copy is the toughest part about copywriting, because in many cases, the features do seem like benefits to the creator of the product, program, or service.

In the features vs. benefits marketing debate, benefits will always win. Why? Well, let me ask you a couple questions…

• Do you get excited to read the owners manual for anything you buy? Doubt it.
• Do guys read the instructions for assemble-it-yourself toys or furniture? Rarely.

Why? Because marketing with features is boring and no one wants to read that!

Your audience wants to know instead how your product, program, or service is going to help them. They want to know how it will benefit them or how it will make their life or business better. They want to know “What’s in it for me?”

For example when marketing with benefits, ask yourself, will it:

When you only market with features, you’re making your audience do all the work to figure out how it will benefit and help them. When your prospects have to work at making a buying decision, your conversions will be low.

Your customers, clients, and prospects want an easy, no-brainer buying process. They want you to do all the work for them and show them the answer to their biggest question, “What’s In It For Me?”

But here’s the catch: Usually the benefit you associate with the feature is the assumed or perceived benefit. It’s usually what you think they think is the benefit. This isn’t what your audience is looking for. They want the results. They want to be shown exactly how they will benefit.

So, when you’re marketing your services, products, and programs, you need to be marketing benefits and you need to do it with these three steps:

1. Know what action you want them to take. Will they experience, discover, develop, create, build, capture…
2. Know your ideal clients’ do anything, pay anything problem/need. Stop thinking like you and start thinking like them. Put yourself in their shoes, get in their minds, and get to know their problems, struggles, frustrations, and needs as if they were your own.
3. Know what result is going to occur. Communicate exactly what results they can expect if the take the action you are suggesting, and whenever possible, quantify the results with numbers.

So the formula to a strong and powerful benefit statement is:

Action + Problem/Need + Result = Benefit Statement

When I am crating benefit statements, I first start with listing the feature, the benefit of the feature, and the end result. Second, I turn the result into the problem (HINT: the result should be the opposite of the problem), and decide the action they need to take. Finally, I combine my list into one specific, powerful benefit statement.

Below is an example of the process, showing you the creation of a single benefit statement for a Strategic Online Marketing Plan:

• Feature:
  A crystal clear plan outlining what to do to market your business
• Benefit:
  You know exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it
• Result:
  No more frustration and struggling to figure out what you should be doing to market your business effectively. No more trying a different marketing method each week and hoping one works
• Problem:
  I am on information overload. I am not sure what I should be doing to market my business, if I am doing the right things, or if I could be doing it better. I feel scattered and unsure of myself, which makes it hard for me to market my business.
• Benefit Statement:
  Create a Simple Strategic Marketing Plan with the exact information you need to take purposeful and confident action to market your business and attract at least three new clients in the next 60 days

Now, if we apply the formula mentioned above:

Action + Problem/Need + Results = Benefit Statement:

• Action = Create a Simple Strategic Marketing Plan
• Problem/Need = The exact information you need to take purposeful and confident action
• Result = Market your business and attract at least three new clients in the next 60 days

Improve Your Call to Action With Action Verbs

A call to action is a persuasive statement that compels a reader to take action and perform a conversion.

Whether you want your reader to buy, sign up, subscribe, contact, call, email, download, or take any other action, the most important thing to remember when writing your call to action is that your audience wants you to tell them EXACTLY what to do.

They want to know what you are offering, how they will benefit, why they should care, and what they need to do to get it.

Call to Action Examples:

• Sign Up for My Newsletter
• Download The Special Report

To improve your call to action even further, you want to include your point of differentiation in your call to action. Tell your reader what makes you different and why they should buy from you and not your competition.

Call to Action Example:

• Grab My Success Kit Free When You Sign Up for My Weekly Newsletter
• Download The Brand New, Never Before Released Special Report

To compel your reader to take immediate action, you want to create urgency in your call to action with a discount, limited time offer, giveaway, sale, special offer, or a deadline. Your readers don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity – especially one that could help them achieve the results they want so desperately to achieve.

Call to Action Example:

• Grab My Success Kit Free When You Sign Up for My Weekly Newsletter Today!
• Download The Brand New, Never Before Released Special Report Now!

As you can see in this example, the call to action started out as a basic and boring statement, and blossomed into an informative, intriguing statement that compels the reader to take action.

Remember, conversions = action, and to get your readers to act, you need to use action verbs in your call to action.

The Ultimate Action Verb Resource List

In our a quest to improve our own copywriting, Bourn Creative has compiled the ultimate resource list of action verbs … and we’re sharing it with you for FREE with no opt-in required. It’s just our gift to you!

If you want a copy of this resource to keep for reference while working on your sales and marketing copywriting, we’ve created a FREE PDF version that includes all of the valuable copywriting tips on this page and a full list of action verbs in alphabetical order and sorted by key topics!

Download our Action Verb Resource List now and you’ll be writing better sales and marketing copy in no time!

Best Wishes and Much Copywriting Success,