Write Sales Copy People Actually Want to Read

Welcome To The Orbit Marketing Newsletter 🪐 

This Week We’re Diving Into:

• 🧠 Tutorial: Writing Sales Copy That Doesn’t Feel Like Late Night TV

• 🎙️ Podcast: 5 Proven LinkedIn Strategies for Small Business Growth in 2025

Read time: 4 minutes

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5 Rules for Writing Sales Copy That Doesn’t Feel Like Late Night TV

You know that feeling when you read sales copy that makes you cringe?

The kind that sounds like someone's about to throw in a free set of steak knives if you "act now"?

Most businesses write sales copy that sounds desperate, inauthentic, or like those late-night infomercials we all mock. Here's the problem: that style of writing actively repels the exact people you're trying to reach.

Good sales copy builds trust. Bad sales copy triggers skepticism.

Here are five rules to write sales copy that doesn’t scare people away.

Adapted from Ann Handley’s Total Annarchy essay on writing sales copy that respects your reader, and doesn’t sound like a late-night infomercial.

1. Start with your buyer's reality, not your product

Your buyer is stuck in a specific kind of hell right now. Maybe they're drowning in manual tasks that eat up their entire Tuesday. Maybe their inbox is a graveyard of ignored outreach emails. Maybe they're staring at analytics dashboards that make zero sense.

Start there. Not with your features list.

Ann Handley puts it perfectly: "What hell is your buyer in? What salvation does this offer them?"

Compare these two approaches:

Generic product-focused copy: "Our automation platform offers 200+ integrations and advanced workflow capabilities to streamline your business processes."

Buyer-focused framing: "You just spent three hours copying data between spreadsheets. Again. While your competitors were closing deals, you were stuck doing repetitive manual work. There's a better way."

See the difference? One talks at you. The other shows you they get it.

2. Use white space like oxygen

Dense paragraphs kill conversion rates faster than a broken checkout button.

Your readers are skimmers. They're scrollers. They're people juggling multiple priorities who will bail if your copy looks like a wall of text.

White space creates mental breathing room. It gives readers space to process what you're saying and actually make a decision.

Here's how to add oxygen to your copy:

• Break long paragraphs into 2-3 sentence chunks

• Use bullet points for lists (like this one)

• Add subheads every 3-4 paragraphs

• Leave space between major sections

Think of white space as the pause between sentences when you speak. Without it, everything runs together into an incomprehensible mess.

3. Speak directly to one person

"Our clients love our innovative solutions" speaks to nobody.

"You'll finally stop wasting Fridays on reports nobody reads" speaks to Sarah in accounting who's sick of Excel.

Good sales copy uses "you" constantly. It visualizes one specific reader taking action. Close your eyes and literally see them: reading your email, clicking your button, pulling out their credit card.

Watch this transformation:

Before: "Companies can reduce operational costs with proper automation."

After: "You'll cut your operational costs. That means budget for the new hires you need. Or the marketing campaigns you've been planning. Your choice."

The second version puts the reader in the driver's seat. It makes the benefit tangible and personal.

4. Use action words you can see in your brain

Weak verbs make weak copy.

"Utilize" sounds corporate, "Use" gets the job done, and "Leverage" sounds like jargon.

Ann Handley notes that "discover" sounds more adventurous than "learn." She's right. But go further. Choose verbs that create mental movies:

• Transform beats improve

• Slash beats reduce

• Build beats create

• Unlock beats access

Try this exercise. Take these three bland phrases and make them vivid:

1. "Enhance your marketing efforts" → "Turn your marketing from background noise into must-read content"

2. "Optimize your workflow" → "Cut the fat from your workflow until it runs like a Formula 1 pit stop"

3. "Increase engagement" → "Get people to actually care about what you're saying"

Vivid language helps readers see themselves succeeding with your product.

5. Make it sound like a real person wrote it

If your sales copy sounds nothing like how you'd explain your product over coffee, you've got a problem.

Marketing speak is a conversion killer. Nobody trusts copy that sounds like it was written by a committee of MBAs who've never actually used the product.

Read your copy out loud. If you stumble over phrases or feel ridiculous saying certain words, rewrite them. If you'd never say "synergistic value proposition" in real life, don't write it in your copy.

Common phrases that scream "I'm trying too hard to sell you something":

• "Revolutionary solution"

• "Best-in-class platform"

• "Cutting-edge technology"

• "Seamlessly integrates"

Replace them with plain English that explains what you actually do and why it matters.

One quick fix

Pick one piece of your current sales copy. A landing page. A product description. An email.

Run it through these five rules. Tighten it up. Make it sound like something you’d actually say to a real person.

Sales copy doesn’t need to be clever. It needs to be clear. And the clearer you are, the more people will trust you enough to take the next step.

We all have the capacity to write well… once we stop trying to sound like marketers.

🎙️ 5 Proven LinkedIn Strategies for Small Business Growth in 2025

The HubSpot team lays out five LinkedIn tactics driving small-business leads, plus a repeatable ‘3C framework’ to keep your growth on track without living on the app.

In this video, you’ll learn:

• 🧲 Turn Your Profile Into a Funnel: Treat your LinkedIn profile like your homepage. Sharpen your headline, rewrite your about section for your ideal client, and pin a lead magnet or bold post in your featured section

• 💬 Engaging Can Outperform Posting: Commenting daily often drives more reach than posting daily.

• 👤 Personal beats business: Your personal profile will outperform a company page for reach and engagement—lean into your own voice.

• 🔁 Stretch One Post Into Many: Repurpose top-performing content into carousels and videos to extend shelf life.

Whenever you are ready, here’s how we can help you:

1. Done-For-You Weekly Newsletter - Start a weekly publication to nurture your prospects on autopilot, build authority, and stay top of mind. Learn more.

2. Tune Into The Orbit Marketing Podcast - Actionable tips and insights on email marketing, directly from industry leaders. Listen now.

3. Join The Orbit Marketing Partner Program - Learn more about how to partner with Orbit Marketing. Get more info.