How To Sell Products You Don’t Own
When it comes to reviewing products, it’s best to get your hands on them and really get to know them before writing about them or selling them. After all, the easiest way to sell products is to have an intimate knowledge of how they work. This is always the best way to go about reviewing and selling products.
However, sometimes you’re going to want to sell products that you don’t own. I’m not going to go into the usual disclaimers because everyone reading this is an adult who knows you shouldn’t be scammy and big up products that might be terrible.
The two paragraphs above might be contradictory though: On the one hand, you want to know about your product and use it if possible so you can give an honest review, and on the other, sometimes you’re going to have to write articles about products you don’t own.
This article will give you the why and it’ll also give you the how-to. I’m also going to keep you all honest and tell you how to do these things ethically as well.
How Can You Possibly Sell A Product You Haven’t Used And Sleep At Night?
I could give you some cute analogy about big corporations and the billions that get spent on advertising by shady marketing companies, but instead, let’s keep it honest.
There’s no reason you can’t sell products you don’t use. There’s no reason it can’t be ethical either.
I hinted at the biggest problem have with this sort of sales process in the introductory section. Specifically the idea of “bigging up a product that’s terrible.”
The first thing you need to do is not sell terrible products. The quickest way to tank your credibility as a business and individual is to hawk products which are terrible, or that run contrary to your individual moral code (whatever that might be.)
This leads into the second part…
Research Is The Key Part Of Any Sales Letter
Whether you use your product every day or you’ve never seen it in your life, the key part to creating a good sales piece is researching the item.
If you haven’t used the product, then you need to double this research. Ultimately, you’re getting into the head of a consumer, and if you’re not that consumer, then you’ve got to research and find out what is in their heads.
Now, this extends to the pros and cons of a product. If I’m reviewing a product that I own, then I self-generate my own pros and cons. Say I bought a new suitcase. I might write five things I like about it and five things I don’t.
Then I research.
Does anyone else have those cons? Say I find my suitcase is weighted unevenly. Every time I wheel it anywhere, it favours one side and I have to compensate as I’m pulling it along.
I have to research this. If I don’t and I’ve got a faulty suitcase, then I need to send it back. If nobody else on the planet has this issue, then my sales letter is faulty. If I write a review and then someone responds, “You idiot… you’ve installed the wheels incorrectly,” then my sales letter won’t work either.
If you don’t own a product, then you need to curate the pros and cons of said product and use your own judgement to craft that balance into a realistic yet usable sales product. You should also do this if you do own the product.
IF you are a freelance writer or copywriter for online clients, then you’ll have to do this anyway, because clients will want you to write sales letters for products that you have no access to.
(Obviously, you should ask them for access to the product. At worst they say “no” and compromise their own sales material, and at best you get free stuff and a better service to provide. As you progress in your freelance career and your work carries more weight, you won’t need to compromise on this.)
The Company Are The Moral Party… Not The Salesman
When you’re writing sales letters, regardless of whether you own the product or not, you aren’t starting from scratch. The company who has hired you (or, the company whose products you’re advertising off your own back) will give you a list of things that’ll help you build a sales letter.
They’ll give you product descriptions.
“This product is 45cm x 12 cm x 32cm”
“This product helps people with knee troubles stand up.”
“This service connects businesses with customers.”
If you follow the above section’s advice and you cross-reference these claims with reality, then you’ll be providing true statements that are also effective.
You’re Not Important: The Power Of A Testimonial That Isn’t Yours
The same is true of testimonials. Most products will come with a testimonial – whether that’s a YouTube review, one of the testimonials on the company’s sales page or an Amazon review. You can build a sales letter around those. It’d be perfectly ethical and legitimate, and work in the same way as any other story-based sales letter.
You should obviously write these testimonials as you see them. So if you’ve never touched a product before but you’ve found an Amazon review that details its use in amazing detail, then don’t claim it as your life.
Let’s use an example here. You see this Amazon review:
“
Since the Fire TV stick was announced, I’ve heard a lot of people wonder if it was something worth picking up, essentially asking “what does this thing do that my TV doesn’t do already?” The answer is going to be different for different people, but here’s an easy way to think about it; Amazon Fire TV Stick is an excellent purchase if:Your TV is not a “smart” TV. Meaning your TV or dvd player did not come pre-loaded with apps such as Netflix, Youtube, Pandora etc…
-Your TV is a “smart” TV, but apps do not perform well. Some smart TVs have painful performance when streaming video, apps can be difficult to update, wifi connection can be spotty etc…
-You want to access Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Pandora, and other such apps on your TV
-You are an Amazon Prime Member and want to access your Prime Video, Prime Music, and Prime Photo accounts
-You want to participate in casual gaming on your television.
-You want to listen to music on your TV
-You want to have portability. In other words, Television access to the above services while you are travelling. (Amazon says the capability to use in hotels/dorms etc… with shared wifi that requires frequent password entry is coming soon)
So, the bottom line is that the Fire TV Stick allows you to access your movies, music and photos as well as games and more via your television. If your TV already does these things well, or you’re already doing them via other devices such as a game console, then this may not be worth your while.
So, how easy is it to use? I’m telling you, you do not have to have an ounce of technological know how to have this thing up and running in a matter of minutes.”
The above is an actual review (well, I say that…it looks a bit suspicious to me) from the first page of the first product I saw on Amazon today. You can read it here.
It’s an ideal review for the marketer who wants a list of pros and cons of a product as well as a “real user experience.”
We could easily turn this into a sales letter. It touches on pretty much everything we’d need to include. There are millions of reviews like this on Amazon.
The key thing here is that you can do one of two things. One is ethical, one not so much.
The unethical option: “I bought a Fire stick and blah blah blah.”
The ethical option: “The Amazon Fire Stick has the following pros and cons. Some users have found…”
The point of this section is that in a testimonial, the speaker isn’t important. The customer isn’t important. What’s important is that it solves the problem.
Why You’re Not An Evil Marketer
Let’s say that someone devises a cure for baldness or acne or something tomorrow. They come to you as a copywriter. You don’t suffer from acne or baldness, but they love your copy and want you to help them. They’re perfectly happy to tell you how it works and provide you a ton of supporting information and case studies, but you’ve got to write the sales material.
By all accounts, this cure is legitimate.
What do you do?
Presumably, you take the money and craft a great sales campaign so that you can help as many people solve their problem as possible.
You might save a million people from troubles that kill their self-esteem, keep them up at night or worse.
On the other hand, you could say, “Nah… I don’t have direct experience with this problem or the target market, so it’d be unethical to help you solve this problem for them.”
Which is less ethical?
Ultimately, copywriting, sales and business in general are about helping to create solutions to problems and connecting those with problems to the solution.
As I’ve said before, the product is largely irrelevant anyway. Your opinion on a potential solution is largely irrelevant too. People want to know if the problem can be solved by the product. If you can convince them of this, then that’s great. Job done. Everyone sleeps a little happier at night.
Final Thoughts
Let’s reiterate here: if possible, you want to use and find the pros and cons of a product for yourself. That’s because it’ll help you come to decisions about the product and give you direct experience with the product.
However when you’re using that product, it’s not for fun and games. It’s because direct use of a product is a form of research which will allow you to give an honest and authentic end product i.e. sales letter.
Direct experience isn’t the only form of research, and it’s not a necessary form of research. Ultimately, your opinion of a product isn’t a great reason for someone to buy it unless you’re a super-expert, and it’s probably not going to be the deciding factor for most buyers.
The first stage of a sale is curating all the information you know about the product. Whether your opinion is included or not is up to you.
The second stage of the sale is to take that information and turn it into a narrative. It’d be unethical to lie at this point and say you’ve used a product you haven’t, but in most cases you don’t need to anyway. Product creators and other users can supply a framework for you to build a narrative if you need to. If you don’t, then you’ve got all the facts you need.
You should be doing these things whether you own a product or not for the most part. Ultimately, if you solve a problem for someone, you’ll be able to sleep at night with your ethics intact. If you’re not solving a problem for someone, then your sales letter won’t work anyway.
As a final final thought, you’ll only encounter these problems for the most part if 1) the product you’re writing about is terrible or 2) you’re writing about something you’re ethically at odds with… say drugs paraphernalia if you’re a straight-edge guy.
Needless to say, you should avoid both of the above situations.
Keep it honest, sell good products, do your research and write authentic information based on that research. You’ll do fine.