One of the reasons I recommend online business owners DIY their copywriting before outsourcing to a freelance copywriter is that DIYing gives you the freedom to build things and break things with very little consequence and investment.
The first year of business is all about refining your offers and messaging.
You should test your offers and messaging first, then hire a copywriter to amplify or redirect the copy you already have.
Even if you’re a veteran business owner you should make it an annual practice to review your products and services for:
- Profitability
- Audience Needs & Preferences
- YOUR Needs & Preferences
- New Opportunities/ Gaps In The Market
When it comes to evaluating offers already on the table, you might think a product is worth keeping in your shop until you realize you haven’t made a single sale in six months. Perhaps the product description needs tweaking.
Or you might realize one of your service-based offers isn’t profitable—meaning you’re spending more time completing the project than you’re getting compensated for. You need to either restructure the offer to be less time-consuming or increase your prices and the messaging that justifies the higher price point and value to your clients.
Something else to consider is that the online ecosystem is constantly changing. New platforms launch, new tools are created, and the algorithm shifts–all of this can affect how relevant your products and services are to your audience.
Here are 7 tips to set your offers up for success each year.
1) REVIEW WHAT WORKED AND WHAT DIDN’T
You’ll want to look at this from both a qualitative and quantitative lens. Pull up a spreadsheet or ask your bookkeeper for a sales review. Which products or services were booked the most and the least? For services, which were the easiest to sell and which took extra hand-holding to get the contract signed?
Most importantly, which offers brought you the most joy? Which did you dread performing? Try to pinpoint which part of a project left you feeling ground down and ask yourself if your process can be tweaked to make it more pleasant for you to perform or not.
2) CALCULATE WHICH OFFERS ARE MOST PROFITABLE
This is where time-tracking software is your best friend. You can guess a ballpark estimate if you’re not in the habit of tracking your time, but be generous with your estimates if you’re someone who tends to think a task will take an hour and find yourself in the hole, four hours later.
The simplest way to check for profit is to complete the formula:
Profit = Selling Price – Cost Price
How much a service costs depends on how much your time is worth/your hourly rate. There are also a ton of other factors you can consider to get a completely accurate estimate (working hours per week, admin hours per week, vacation/days off, etc.)
I took Shanna Skidmore’s The Blueprint Model to figure out my hourly rate and price my products for profitability. I can’t recommend Shanna’s live program enough.
3) ASK YOURSELF WHERE YOU WANT TO GROW
Where do you want to shift your focus? Do you want to work with a different kind of client or phase out your 1:1 offers and lean toward a more passive model? Explore your options and make a plan so you’re not saying “One day I want to do more of X” but you’re actually doing it.
4) CONSIDER REVAMPING YOUR OFFER “LADDER”
A clever way to package your offers is to think of them as rungs on a ladder. After your client reaches one rung, they are ready to climb the next, and then the next. This not only maximizes the lifetime value (LTV) of a client, it breaks larger projects down into smaller, budget-friendly chunks.
Take the Big Picture Offer Ladder for example:
Step 1) Brand Discovery
Step 2) Website Copywriting
Step 3) Email Marketing VIP Week
Step 4) Copy Tune-Ups, Opt-In Creation, Lead-Gen Quiz Creation, and more.
Stacking your offers so they build off each other helps you to continually serve your clients wherever they need you next. If you find that you’re not reaching a particular rung of the ladder, or people are requesting different services, ask why and consider rethinking your offer ladder.
(P.S. Grab the Offer Ladder Worksheet to build out your offer suite and the essential info you need to figure out before (re)writing your Services Page copy.)
5) ANALYZE CHANGES TO YOUR THE INDUSTRY
Has anything shifted that requires you to make changes to your offers? Are people’s expectations changing? Have marketing channels or platforms changed? What’s the algorithm favoring and why? If you work in social media you know the app’s features will change the deliverables your clients expect you to fulfill, but even slower-moving or more traditional industries should pay attention to changes in consumer expectations and what the big scary E, the Economy, is doing.
6) MIND THE GAP
The upside to things evolving at a break-neck speed is that when something is new, we need new methods of help. Is something happening in your field where people aren’t getting the help they need or are you starting to get asked for help with something you don’t currently offer? Can you integrate something new into your services or should you create an entirely new offer?
If you tend to find these conversations annoying, challenge yourself to shift your perspective to see these as new opportunities where you can scoop up the business as a first-mover advantage.
7) MIND YOUR MESSAGING
Obviously, you need to edit your messaging across your website and social channels to match any new changes to your business, but you should audit your copy annually, even if your offers remain the same.
Consumer expectations change, the words we use change, and the sentiments change. But most importantly, looking over copy you haven’t read in a hot minute gives you the power to see your words in a whole new light.
With fresh eyes, ask yourself if your current copy describes your offers accurately knowing what you now know about the client/customer experience and feedback. Is it persuasive? Could it be better? Look at how your offers converted (views per page, calls booked, products sold) and mark which copy needs to be updated and why. Then block out a few Copy Days on the calendar so you know it will get done.
Don’t leave your prospects wondering if they missed something…
DEVELOP HIGH-VALUE OFFERS AND SPEED UP THE COPYWRITING PROCESS WITH THE OFFER LADDER WORKSHEET.
Grab the Offer Ladder Worksheet to build out your offer suite and the essential info you need to figure out before (re)writing your Services Page copy.
